Penn State's Offense Finds More Issues After Loss to Iowa

With the offense practicing inside, reporters had no chance to see the quarterbacks, specifically redshirt sophomore Jaxon Smolik, who was hurt at Iowa. Smolik ran four times for 3 yards and played 11 snaps in his most active game of the season. He left the game after a fourth-quarter run and went to the locker room for evaluation.

Smolik did not return to the game at Iowa, and Smith on Tuesday did not comment on the quarterback's status. But if Smolik is unavailable, Penn State would have just one quarterback on the roster who has taken a snap this season.

Starter Drew Allar, an Ohio native who was looking forward to a second chance against the Buckeyes at Ohio Stadium, had surgery last week for a broken ankle and is out for the season. True freshman Bekkam Kritza (6-5, 198 pounds) has not been active for any game this season, having been listed as out on all seven Big Ten availability reports. Smith said that Kritza is “coming off the IR” list and would be available against Ohio State.

Still, that could leave Ethan Grunkemeyer as the Nittany Lions’ only healthy scholarship quarterback for the game against the Buckeyes. Penn State’s fifth roster quarterback is Jack Lambert, a 6-3, 209-pound redshirt sophomore walk-on from North Carolina. Lambert last played a live snap at Topsail High, where he threw for 1,014 yards as a senior.

“Yeah, we’ve got this bye week, so we're going to take that time to see where [Smolik] is. But there's no update right now,” Smith said. “... We have Bekkam Kritza coming off the IR list, and he'll be listed as one of the quarterbacks.”

Smith didn’t comment on the possibility of readying an emergency quarterback for the Buckeyes. He also was not asked about starting left guard Vega Ioane, who missed the Iowa game. Smith said he expected Ioane to return.  

What the offense can build on

Penn State’s offense is coming off a 17-point, 266-yard showing against Iowa. However, Grunkemeyer was 15-for-28 passing for a season-low 93 yards and two interceptions. Of Smith’s positive takeaways from the loss, one was the run game, led by Kaytron Allen’s career-high 145 yards. 

“I thought we ran the ball really well on Saturday, so we want to fine-tune that,” Smith said. “We want to get Nick Singleton going. We need both of those backs to really be at their very best, and we're just kind of tuning that up. … Obviously Kaytron is running the ball really well. We want to try to get Nick the ball out in space. He's a faster back. He has the home-run capability, so [we’re] just trying to be strategic in getting the ball to him in space. That's going to be a focal point for us.”

Freshman Koby Howard made his first career catch, a 14-yard reception in the second quarter. Howard had earned preseason praise from the coaching staff, including James Franklin, but did not play during the first three Big Ten games. Smith said he planned to make Howard and redshirt freshman receiver Tyseer Denmark a bigger part of the offense. 

“They’re competitors. We need guys that are willing to compete and lay it on the line to win, and I think those guys can help us,” Smith said. “... I've seen Koby and Tyseer because I coach the DBs. I see them every day and I know what they're capable of, so I'm going to give them a shot.”

Improving the passing game

Grunkemeyer went 0-for-4 against Iowa on passes 15+ yards downfield, and the offense converted just two big plays (both runs) for a combined 43 yards. Grunkemeyer’s longest completion was to Howard, and he averaged 3.3 yards per passing attempt.  

Downfield passing was an issue under Allar as well, and Smith said he has talked with the offensive staff about improving it. 

“We had those conversations last week, and we continue to have those conversations,” Smith said. “Tyseer and Koby are going to be a part of that; how can we get the ball in different areas of the field? We've just got to continue to grow our pass game beyond the intermediate zone.

“That's your digs, your curls, your comebacks, and then vertically deep. With our run game starting to click and starting to hit on all cylinders, we've got to be able to play action off of that and go in behind the linebackers and develop that pass game.”