Boos cascaded down from the temporary seats. From the north end zone. From the east side. From the student section.
The No. 2 team in the land headed off to the locker room. There was a bizarrely tense tenor in the air as the Blue Band trotted onto the field at halftime. Rarely does this crowd voice its displeasure in a relatively unified manner.
Rarely does this crowd voice its opinion in that manner when their team is leading. Rarely does the team playing for the crowd deserve them.
As Penn State took just a 10-0 lead in the half against a Conference USA foe, it was a reminder of the expectations set this offseason. It was a reminder of the pact that is made between fan and team. It was a reminder of the tension that will build as this season gets deeper for Penn State football.
It was a reminder that everyone is aware.
In an effort that was uninspiring until it wasn’t, Penn State found a way to fend off Florida International – even in a 34-0 shutout.
“Some good things, but not where we need to be,” James Franklin said after the game. “But also, winning consistently is hard to do, and we have found a way to do that.”
Back in the summer Penn State’s head coach struck a similar tone.
“The reality is, when it comes to the Lasch Football Building or when it comes to local, these are always the expectations at Penn State,” Franklin said at Big Ten Media Days. “We had what a lot of people would consider a really good season last year. We were a game away from playing for the National Championship, and you could actually make the argument a drive away from playing for the National Championship, but it didn’t feel that way, right? Because the expectations at Penn State are really high.”
Much of the march from last offseason to the start of this season – now two games old – was this self-built bravado that expectations are high but those expectations should, must and will be met.
Yet for much of Saturday afternoon’s contest, Penn State’s football team seemed to forget to uphold its end of that bargain.
Its offense was sloppy. Its defense was just fine.
And with that, against a perceived “cupcake,” Penn State fans voiced their displeasure.
At least they – both fan and player – were aware.
Mustering just 152 of first half yards, several stalled drives and only 10 points to show from it, the Nittany Lions offense bumbled across the turf for much of the first half.
There were poor throws by Drew Allar – who seemed to regress to sophomore-like Allar. There were dropped passes. And there was window dressing that provided no rhythm.
It was scheming that seemed not to settle the quarterback, not settle the tempo of the game and not settle the anxiousness coursing through the 103,818 in attendance.
“I didn’t think he was in his normal rhythm,” Franklin said. “We had some drops. He had some throws that he normally makes that he didn’t. That was a major factor for us on third down. But we just couldn’t seem to get into the rhythm on offense, and that was part of it.”
Allar can play much better, particularly much better than he played in the first half on Saturday. He has to be better, especially with his seniority in college football. Allar himself admitted as much after the game. But Penn State’s offensive game planning from Andy Kotelnicki can also do a better job of helping him find that rhythm that he was desperately missing Saturday afternoon.
The clever play design is fun eye-candy. But when the execution of that falls through, it’s hair-pulling. In the first half, dropped passes plagued Penn State. At one point, Penn State needed a few yards to pick up a first down but Nicholas Singleton, instead of finding a wide-open hole, opted to run out wide directly into an FIU defender. Even on a trick play after a touchdown in the second half on a two-point conversion, a holding penalty erased two points and a fun moment.
It frustrated the quarterback who appeared to gesture in self-reflection several times throughout the afternoon. It frustrated fans when Penn State went just 1-for-5 on third down and 1-for-2 on fourth down in the first half.
Fortunately for Penn State, while its defense fended off the FIU attack, the sputtering in the offensive engine was able to find a gear – even if it was first – in the second half.
Allar helped lead Penn State’s offense down the field before finding Devonte Ross for a 42-yard contested touchdown catch – by far the best ball Allar threw all afternoon.
Still Penn State never fully shifted out of first gear.
Penn State took just a three-score lead into the final quarter – and after a three-and-out, FIU took over with 10 minutes left.
Instead of pushing Penn State, Willie Simmons and FIU seemed to almost do Franklin and co. a favor, puttering around the field for a 13-play, 50-yard drive that ate nearly seven minutes of clock with seemingly no urgency that a positive outcome for the Panthers would create more tension.
Had Simmons, who struggled with clock management with several fascinatingly timed timeouts, potentially worked Penn State harder, he could have had his “cupcake” of a squad within two scores of the No. 2 team in the country and plenty of time to do something about it.
Then after stopping the Panthers’ offense on fourth down, Penn State found a jolt it needed to smooth those concerns – even just ever so slightly – as Kaytron Allen ripped down the sideline for a 67-yard touchdown, the longest of his career.
Later, highly-touted freshman Chaz Coleman nearly returned a forced fumble to the end zone. Singleton completed the job by scoring his 35th rushing touchdown to move him into fourth all-time at Penn State.
In the end, the boos may not matter. Penn State fans and their team left Beaver Stadium on Saturday with a shutout victory – something that never comes easily.
But the effort was ever so slightly enough to create a cause for concern. It feels like a tired troupe, but if Penn State is going to continue to schedule teams like the non-conference slate it’s dialed up for this season and spend much of the season emboldening expectations, it should back those up – regardless of opponent — with a strong, consistent effort, especially with the resources being pumped into this particular team.
In the same way Franklin has chorused the expectations message over the last few years, he’s also preached the 1-0 philosophy that treats every opponent the same.
So when the opponents won’t be the same as FIU, particularly the one that comes to town on the last weekend of the month, sleepy efforts when the lights are half as bright don’t quell concerns for what’s to come. And furthering that concern is the fact that between now and Penn State’s game with Oregon is another “cupcake” in FCS Villanova. Even when Penn State likely steamrolls the Wildcats, there will be an inherent uncertainty of how things will go on the last weekend of September.
“I have the same concerns that you do, but that’s what they are. They’re concerns,” Franklin said. “They’re things that we’re going to emphasize and focus on this week, and we’ll get better. That’s what we have done, really, in my time here is we focus on getting better every single week, and usually it leads us in a good direction. We have to speed up that process a little bit.”
It’s clear that Penn State caught the message. Franklin’s tone in the postgame press conference was reflective of that. As was the quarterback. As were the conversations that were happening in tailgate lots. As were the messages being sent online.
Everyone in this team-fan relationship knows what needs to improve. Everyone in this process wants better.
Everyone is aware.
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