For the first time since week 3 against Buffalo, the Penn State run game appeared to have some life in the 31-17 win over Purdue this past weekend.
The team went 269 yards on 51 carries, averaging 5.3 yards per carry, with three touchdowns against the Boilermakers.
During a game without their top two receivers, Penn State absolutely needed to be able to rely on its run game, which has been hit-or-miss (at best) since getting into Big Ten play. And rely on it they did.
For starters, the running back
rotation was significantly limited. Only Carson Hansen and Cam Wallace recorded carries from the RB position, with Hansen reeling off 96 yards on 17 carries, and Wallace breaking out with 135 yards on 22 carries. Rocco Becht also got 11 carries, either on designed runs or QB scrambles, for 27 yards.
The most fun entry has to be standout cornerback Audavion Collins who got one carry for 11 yards. It’s been awhile since the Lions have tried players on multiple sides of the ball, but if your players can ball out, why not?
The offensive line also seemed more comfortable, opening up holes all day long as the Lions racked up 457 total yards, 22 first downs, and 43:27 in time of possession.
Caveat of all caveats: the Purdue defense is not great. But neither was the USC defense, and still the Lions struggled to run. Which, when you can’t run the ball, you have to pass, and having to rely on Rocco Becht to be good-to-great all the time has not been a recipe for success.
So it was refreshing to see the Lions dominate at the line, and for running backs to spring free time and time again.
If PSU can get either Koby Howard or Chase Sowell (or both!) back, this team could make a run in the back half of the year and finally make some noise in conference play.
Either way, it’s nice to know that the Lions have some answers on the ground. Let’s hope it keeps up going forward.
