Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Under the lights at Yankee Stadium, Penn State won in exciting fashion 31-30 in overtime over Boston College of the ACC. The Pinstripe Bowl victory marks the Nittany Lions’ first bowl win since crippling sanctions in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal, a critical step forward for the embattled football program. Despite the victory over a solid BC football team, James Franklin still has a great deal of work to do before Penn State returns to its former glory.
Franklin’s team has battled limited scholarships all season to mixed results. After an encouraging freshman season under QB guru Bill O’Brien, Christian Hackenberg regressed in 2014 with 15 interceptions to just eight TD passes in the regular season. The extra practice seemed to help the young quarterback, as Hackenberg threw for 371 yards and four TDs in the Pinstripe Bowl, but the program’s glaring weaknesses will be hard to fix this offseason.
The Nittany Lions had one of the poorest offensive lines in the country in 2014, as the team averaged just 2.9 yards per carry on the season. No Penn State rusher finished with 700 or more yards, and big plays were very hard to come by. The offensive limitations don’t stop in the running game, as Penn State is extremely young out wide. Receivers DaeSean Hamilton and Geno Lewis had success at times, but are not big play threats. Franklin will need freshman WR Chris Godwin, the star of the Pinstripe Bowl win with seven catches for 140 receiving yards, to develop into a consistent deep threat to take the pressure of his quarterback and stretch defenses vertically.
On the other side of the ball, Penn State has been stout, particularly against the run, but will lose its leader and best playmaker in LB Mike Hull. Franklin has recruited well and reinforcements are on the way, but the Nittany Lions are still probably a year away from having a chance against the elite teams of the Big Ten East in Ohio State and Michigan State. A solid showing and a bounce-back outing for Hackenberg are good signs for the future of the program, and Penn State could be a dark horse heading into the 2016 season as its youth comes of age.
