STATE COLLEGE
Take a deep breath, Penn State fans.
What happened Saturday came against Buffalo. Tenacious Buffalo, sure. Gritty Buffalo, definitely. Up-and-coming Buffalo, yes. But by the time things really started going pretty well for the Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium, it was more battered-and-bruised and worn-down and played-out Buffalo.
So, before anyone anoints Saquon Barkley as the next Ki-Jana Carter, and before even the most optimistic fan dares to dream that the changes Penn State made to the offensive line that went from 10 sacks allowed against Temple to none, zero, zilch against the Bulls has gotten that much better, relax.
This is a long season. This is just one game. Rutgers comes to town next weekend, and that’s going to tell a lot more about most of this Penn State team than facing the Bulls did.
That said, there’s one group of players on this team that did to Buffalo what it did to Temple, what it has done to everybody. One group that Penn State fans who still realize that a devastating opener against Temple means nothing in the long run could dare to dream about carrying this team everywhere it has wanted to go this season.
On Saturday, they gave fans one play in the at-times jaw-dropping, at-times lackluster 27-14 rain-soaked win over the Bulls that pretty much sums up everything these Nittany Lions are about on the defensive line.
Second quarter. Second-and-5 for the Bulls on their own 33. Penn State had a 7-0 lead and it wasn’t exactly inspiring confidence offensively.
Bulls quarterback Joe Licata took the snap, dropped back, and
kept dropping. Because defensive tackle Anthony Zettel beat his blocker so badly, Licata had no choice. He might have sprinted out to his right, but 6-foot-7 defensive end Carl Nassib did the same thing. One of the MAC’s best quarterbacks had no choice. He tried to fire the football over Zettel and to a waiting receiver.
The ball never made it.
Zettel leapt. The ball tipped off his hand, spun wildly in the air, which seemed like a bad break because fellow defensive tackle Austin Johnson might have picked it off otherwise. No worries. It still spun toward Nassib, who caught it and ran 10 yards to the Buffalo 12. It set up a Penn State field goal — a disappointing result, all things considered — but it also sent a message. Someone has to make big plays for this Nittany Lions team.
The group best suited to do it resides in the trenches on the defensive side.
“I think we all know our D-line can be really disruptive in the run and pass game,” coach James Franklin said. “I actually think they can still be more disruptive.
“At times, our D-line really took over the game. But I’d love to see them do that at a more consistent rate.”
That’s telling, because it’s difficult to even picture this group being consistently better than they have been.
On Saturday, Nassib had three sacks and two forced fumbles to go along with that interception. Freshman linebacker Troy Reeder said, simply, that he played like “a psycho.” Johnson had a career-high nine sacks, and his 1.5 sacks were also a career high — for a season. Oh, and Zettel, who had the reputation as Penn State’s most disruptive player, chipped in with five tackles, too.
But it’s not a matter of the numbers they pile up. It’s what they can do to surround a play, how they take every aspect of an offense completely out of commission at times. Like on that interception. Licata had to panic because of Zettel. He couldn’t run away, because of Nassib. And he couldn’t throw the ball with any finesse, because Johnson would have run away with it.
It’s not a matter of individuals beating the men in front of them. This defensive line is about a scheme, a plan, an execution that consistently keeps the Nittany Lions in games.
“With us, it’s just about communication,” Johnson said. “If one person gives another person a look, we know. We never have to repeat ourselves. It’s a connection we have with each other that makes everything better. Today, everything was pretty much perfect up front.”
These are three strikingly different players who complement each other so well, that it’s difficult to think of them as individuals.
Zettel is the dominant athlete who can rush the passer, overwhelming interior linemen with strength and quickness, and sometimes both. Johnson is the powerhouse who a double team can barely handle, enabling Zettel to do most of his work inside one-on-one. Nassib is the fiery leader, the former walk-on who has had to work for everything he has ever gotten from the game, and plays every snap like there’s no guarantee there will be another.
Put it together, and it’s not just a dominant group but, for the rest of Penn State’s young defense, a shining example of how to do things right.
“They’re freaks out there, as you can see,” Reeder said. “They practice hard. Each day is like a game. That’s something I learned when I came here: You’re playing against the scout team, but with them, every rep is a game rep. That’s why I think they can come out on Saturdays and play so well, so hard, because our practices are sometimes harder than the games.
“They’re always on the same page. They play hard. They play similarly.”
If Penn State is going anywhere this year, it will need guys like Barkley to run like he did against the Bulls. They’ll need Nick Scott to return kicks and DeAndre Thompkins punts the way they did Saturday pretty consistently. They’ll need the line to protect quarterback Christian Hackenberg this well every week.
None of that is fair to expect right now.
It is fair, though, to think this defensive front can dominate even the best opponents, that these guys are going to be the ones with the best chance to put this team on its back and carry it back to bowl season.
It’s not a bad group to put that faith in.
(Collins covers Penn State football for the Times Tribune. Contact him at dcollins@timesshamrock.com and follow him on Twitter at @psubst and Snapchat at PSUBST.)