This Penn State football defense under Tom Allen is going to better than last season's

this Penn State Defense is actually better than last year's you are locked on nit Lions your daily podcast on the Penn State nitty Lions part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day yes as a matter of fact Penn State's defense in 2024 is better than the 2023 Edition there is an underlying reason for it that not enough people are talking about so we'll discuss it and also highlight key performances both positive and negative from week one against West Virginia this is lockdown nney Lions I'm your host Zach Seiko and thanks so much for making us your first listen and watch every single day we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts including YouTube and today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet just $5 that's all it takes and you get a 3-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV visit fanduel.com to get started I'd appreciate it if you left a like on this episode but more importantly be a part of the conversation let me know down in the comments if you think this 2024 defense is in fact better than the 2023 defense that was coached by Manny Diaz was at the top of a lot of categories I I can't help but think no that this 2024 group is better than last year's group now why is that the case case this Penn State Defense is better because it's full of star power Playmakers across the board a and more overall depth that's really it you have a more Elite Playmakers and more depth to go along with it on this defense and there really isn't that much of a drop off from coordinators from Manny Diaz to Tom Allen they clearly at least from what we saw in week one Tom Allen can provide the same similar impact that Manny Diaz did as the defensive coordinator but Penn State this time around has Playmakers simply at every single position and more so than the 2023 group and that's really saying something that is really saying something because this is a roster that had chop Robinson who was a first round pick Adisa Isaac who was a third round pick Curtis Jacobs who for some reason went undrafted but Curtis Jacobs uh really did have an excellent performance his final year at Penn State and then in addition to younger versions of Abdul Carter KJ Winston deny Dennis Sutton but now I'm talking about true disruptive Playmakers Johnny Dixon kayn King dayquon Hardy were were good but they weren't that Superstar caliber that you can mention chop Robinson and Adisa Isaac and Curtis Jacobs within that Penn State Defense from a season ago so you lose those players that that I named but now you have a more experienced Abdul Carter a more experienced KJ Winston and a more experienced Deni Dennis Sutton all back with bigger faster stronger than ever before and that Superstar ability all three of those players could easily be first round picks in next year's NFL Draft then you have Zay Durant who had quite a performance against West Virginia Javon Devon J Thomas has now become more disruptive on the interior alongside Durant then there's Tony Roos Jaylen Reed who were flying around to the football almost it seemed like every single play in addition to a more experienced Kobe King then you add in the two-time captain and Don Duca AJ Harris and Jaylen Kimber who came from the transfer portal and and improv zachi Wheatley who's been talked about a lot in the off season and those are just the starters I've expressed my concern about the linebacker depth but separate that conversation from this in terms of the overall defense overall there is more depth in this group you look at the defensive line you look at the secondary they are stacked with purely cap able Big 10 players they might not be superstars in their own right maybe in the future but you have the depth okay so Smith vilbert Amin vanover kaziah isard along that defensive line Alonzo Ford who was lost a season ago due to injury is back and and better and it he is improved Hakeem Bean's in that conversation as well cam Miller aavan Collins Elliot Washington seconde cornerback had an interception Penn State's defense is not just just this top 10 group that we've been characterizing them as they are even more talented than last year's group and Tom Allen has an opportunity to prove that he's just not in a replacement but maybe even the similar caliber or an upgrade over Manny Diaz and that is crazy to think that is crazy to say out loud when Manny Diaz accomplished as much as he did in 2023 the bar is set high but this Penn State group can absolutely made it so let's look at the numbers right that's that's all great but Zack that's that's your opinion well let's look at the numbers to compare so Penn State's run defense was number one a season ago to that like I said they LED in a lot of different categories or were top five in other ones analytics or actual your regular basic stats here's one of them number one a season to go in terms of yards per carry 2.2 yards per carry anytime and I always like to preface this anytime you are looking to get a measure of a team's offense or defense look for yards per pass yards per Rush both offensively and defensively and you actually get a really good measure of how how talented a team is West Virginia has one of the best rushing attacks in the country from not only a season ago but you but they returned a lot of that Talent into this year's group they returned three different rushers including the quarterback and Garrett green who all totaled each 750 yards or more in 2023 sounds like that's great room a lot of room for improvement right there to cap capitalized on 2023 success and this defense in 24 held them to 85 total yards and 2.3 yards per carry in Morgantown they did that on the road so a a prolific rushing offense that I think had a 16 they had a 16 game streak of 150 yards or more on the ground that was snapped by this Penn State Defense now let's compare in 2023 at Penn State in Beaver Stadium West Virginia at 146 yards and 3.7 yards per carry I I think that's a stark that's a stark difference that's almost half the total taken away by this 2024 group on the road West Virginia's offense if you can believe it Penn State's defense certainly made them look bad but West Virginia's offense does they're capable they're a solid group top 15 offensive line in the nation three capable Runners at any given time between Jem white Garrett green and CJ Donaldson a veteran group with just with just pure experience and an experienced quarterback leading that group they are solid and Penn State shut it down on the road there were about three Elite Playmakers on the 2023 defense and depending on who you ask maybe maybe a couple more but 2024's group might have eight or nine depending on who you ask if you ask me as the host of lock on nney lions Abdul Carter Deni Dennis Sutton zann Durant Devon J Thomas K Kobe King pardon me Kobe King Tony Roos AJ Harris KJ Winston and Jaylen Reed those guys have NFL Futures ahead of him and it's not to say that anybody else doesn't but these players that showed up showed Elite playmaking ability against a capable West Virginia offense in week one and that is not to discredit Dom Duca we a jing Kimber cam Miller in those Ro in that rotation at cornerback zachi Wheatley as well who had a very strong off season but when I look at the starters on defense and compare them to the group a season ago that had chop Robinson Adisa Isaac and a lot of similar names but now they're all back the Abdul Carter and KJ Winston right Kobe King Dom Duca all the all those names that contributed were strong contributors a season ago are now back and better than ever and had that Elite playmaking ability in addition to the other changes that Penn State's defense made now there is one underlying reason why this defense is better in 2024 for some reason not enough people are talking about it so let's discuss it on the other side of this break and Today's Show is brought to you by eBay Motors passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to its Peak Performance you have superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more and whether you're into speed power or style eBay Motors has got you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one rid or die you'll always find exactly what you're looking for and with eBay guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back because with eBay Motors you're burning rubber and not cash with all the parts you need to the prices you want it's easy to make your car into that mvp and bring home huge wins keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com that is ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions apply eBay guaranteed fit is only available to us customers that underlying reason for why the defense is better in 2024 actually has nothing to do with the defense it's the offense Andy codal Nikki Drew Aller the offensive group and the word I want to use here is symmetry the offense and the defense work handin hand with one another now I know that's not rocket science but two good units here on a football team can actually make for a great team if they're able to complement one another let me explain what I mean by that so last season the offense could not get out of its own way to help the defense out and I'm talking about sustaining drives playing with Hefty leads sure that was against weaker competition but pen even against the in the games of Northwestern Illinois right it it really took some time for the offense to pull away from whatever opponent and what that does that you know kind of limits when it when you're talking about inspiring confidence in a defense right those two groups play off of one another a defense is I I like to think of it as a wrecking ball you're trying to destroy your opposing offense's game plan and when you can't do your job with confidence that the offense is going to at least give you a break you're not going to be as successful as you should be so under the circumstances that's I kind of mentioned that passively in the first segment that Manny Diaz orchestrated this really Elite overall defense that was number one in a lot of categories and top five top 10 in other ones as well given the circumstances that the offense just didn't help you out just didn't pull its side just didn't carry its side of the weight right long story short Penn State's offense didn't do that last season they didn't allow the defense to have time to rest by having those long drives sir selectively they were able to do that but not consistently that also took away from building momentum think about the times that the defense would create a short field make a big play fourth down turnover on Downs an actual turnover itself and the offense just wouldn't capitalize on that turnover would not capitalize on a short field to work with the defense always bailed out the offense in 2023 and it was never the other way around so you can see why subconsciously that's not going to inspire a lot of confidence so if the defense didn't play a perfect game Penn State was not in a position to win as we saw Michigan Ohio State I mean for crying out loud the defense did play a perfect game against Ohio State and it still wasn't enough that's my point we saw it there were tangible results that we can point to to say that you know what the offense bailed out the defense really but in 2024 we see a different version of that we saw an early glimpse of what pen State's offense can do and will continue to get better at the first part of it is the scoring at will the offense scored in 22 seconds to finish up the first half 20 22 seconds defense makes a a good stop right I think the the fourth down conversion we don't need to talk about that I already discussed that in the live recap but you hold West Virginia to a field goal that is a win in the mind of the defense you hold them to three points instead of seven to close out the half and you got to go into the tunnel thinking okay it's going to be 13 to6 here at least we have a seven-point lead wrong Penn State's offense with 22 seconds marches right down the field puts up another seven and it's 20 to6 going into halftime as opposed to 13 to6 you have a two-score lead so that's what I'm trying to describe here that inspires confidence that inspires momentum and then the the defense can start to do its thing and be more of a wrecking ball rather than kind of playing cautious like okay we don't want to make that big mistake you now have room you now have a margin for error to make so think of those penalties the offsides a late hit out of bounds penalty here and there some pass interference calls that were made granted some of these calls came later in the game but that's my point is that Penn State's defense could play freely as opposed to again all we got to avoid making a big mistake if we get a little over aggressive here so yes they had those couple of penalties but didn't cost them anything and Penn State's defense could play comfortably then sustaining drives that's the second part of it James Franklin pointed this out in the halftime interview on Fox and said when he spoke to Jenny tap and said that the offense was actually not not a direct quote but implying that they were playing a little bit too fast we need them to sustain a drive to just give the defense a break the defense is constantly on the football field and and it's nice because Penn State's offense is scoring but at the same time you're not helping your defense out and then event especially against a team like West Virginia that type of game plan where they like to be physical they capitalize on moments like that it didn't happen this time around but against other against other inferior opponents West Virginia will be able to do that but this conversation isn't about the Mountaineers bottom line is the offense needs to be able to help out the defense and give them a Break by sustaining drive so that didn't happen immediately but in the second half you saw Penn State's offense and the way that Andy cotal Nikki was calling plays that it started to work itself out 10 plays plus keeping the drive going on third Downs not forcing any punts or not allowing West Virginia to force punts I should say so they settled down and they did just that the fact that Penn State's offense can go from slow paced sustain a drive be methodical to lightning quick they can score literally in almost 20 seconds is going to just give an insane boost to Penn State's defense for a team that again that is going that's just high energy a lot of those guys are just high energy good passion highly emotional players and Tom Allen's the same way Manny Diaz was like that with his aggressive style of Defense but Tom Allen I think is like that in a sense with his personality too I I I don't know Manny Diaz personally but just from interacting with Tom Allen and what the players say about him in interviews that he's just he inspires that passion with how intense he is as a defensive coordinator to speak on to speak on what Allen is doing in the present at Penn State so all of these things come together the actual Elite playmaking ability to the depth of the defense to now the offense gives that group a chance to rest relax reload and play at 110% throughout the course of a game rather than playing at 50% if you will based on what we saw in 2023 and that's still pretty impressive that Manny Diaz's group did that under the circumstances but now Penn State's defense has everything going for it from not only itself as a group to the complimentary parts of the whole team and the whole roster best individual performances from week one against West Virginia there are not some surprising names but reassurance from those names that I mentioned earlier really stood out against West Virginia there was one negative performance though that we do need to highlight and we'll talk all about it next here on locked on nney lions and today's episode is also brought to you by FanDuel you've heard us talk a lot about FanDuel America's number one sports book well we have something a little bit different for you now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers that's right all FanDuel customers can bet just $5 that's all it takes $5 and you get a 3-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV then with a YouTube TV base plan you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of Market game and all you need is a Google account and a current form of payment and you can cancel at any time so there's no obligation and all you have to do is visit fanduel.com to download America's number one Sportsbook that's fanduel.com and if you look over at fanduel.com you can see the lines for Penn State versus Bowling Green Penn State is a hefty favorite 342 half points against the Falcons the total is set at 482 if you like those lines you can bet them right now at fanduel.com once again that's FanDuel America's number one sports book to wrap things up we'll merge the ey test the stats and the analytics all together here to get an understanding of who had the best performances against West Virginia in week one from Penn State's defense and Elliot Washington actually had the best game in terms of analytics according to PFF now this had to do in part to his coverage his late game interception but he actually graded as Penn State's best overall Defender personally if you're asking me I thought Jaylen Reed had the best game he was either making a play or he was near the play every single time James Franklin you saw James Franklin in a a postgame video go up to Jaylen Reed and just said hey you look different you look faster and you were all over the football field so it it's consistent Reed really did look like an NFL caliber player against West Virginia the analytics back it up he was the second best graded player by Pro Football Focus and the stats say this nine tackles two passes defended and a fumble recovery I would argue that Jaylen Reid had the best overall game I test statistics and and the grades them and the analytics themselves KJ Winston statistically had the best game and in terms of accolades too was recognized as the Big 10 player defensive defensive player of the week the Chuck bedner player of the week as well 12 tackles and a force fumble so he did lead the team in tackles and KJ Winston was up there in terms of analytics as well but Winston overall had the best performance in the box score on defense AJ Harris logged the most snaps at cornerback and had the best overall coverage grade out of the entire secondary so Jaylen Reed KJ Winston factoring in a Jaylen Kimber a cam Miller Elliot Washington had a good game but AJ Harris had the best overall coverage grade Smith vilberg graded out by far as the best pass rusher according to pro football focused and it really wasn't even close he the Penn State's pass rush was a little lacking James Franklin addressed that in his press conference because they only had two sacks overall Smith vilbert had one of them that Force fumble that denied Dennis Sutton recovered later in the game it was a business decision by Garrick green Carter uh got a good hit on him early in the game when they were chasing after a fumble and then he saw Deni Dennis Sutton 6'6 Deni Dennis Sutton chasing after the football with him and he said you know what I'm good we're we're down by a bunch don't need to risk the don't need to risk getting hit again here Zay Durant's in this conversation as well another player that in terms of the box score maybe not have maybe might not have impressed everybody it impressed me because defensive tackles don't typically pad the stat sheet unless you're an Aaron Donald or an indomican Sue that can light up the stat sheet in the Box Score it's typically difficult to do that as a defensive tackle you're typically double team being on the interior your job is to essentially block for the linebackers but Zay Durant made plays Zay Durant did show up in the Box Score had a sack had four tackles and someone that's emerging as a true star playmaker in his third season had lofty expectations as a true freshman when he enrolled early and you're starting to see that development take play fully take place and in the present here so Zan Durant I think more of an ey test rating here but had a very good performance against West Virginia now I was disappointed this is where we will finish I was disappointed in Abdul Carter's performance but this is nothing to worry about this is just an honest assessment he did not play well and I'm not referring simply to well he had a couple offsides penalties he was jumping ahead of the snap he had the laid hit out of bounds he he really wasn't flying to the foot football like some of the other Defenders were this this doesn't have to do with the penalties that obviously did not help his case but Carter only had one tackle no sacks he did he was an integral part of forcing that early return fumble Nick Dawkins Drew Aller had the fumble right with West Virginia's defense clapping before the snap that caused a miscommunication and then they fumbled it and then on the bat snap by West Virginia Center Abdul Carter was one of the first ones to disrupt the play by chasing down down Garrick green and forcing the ball to just continue to roll away so that jayen Reed could go and get it outside of that Carter didn't really do anything except those those penalties th those mistakes that weren't egregious at the end of the day the point above all of it though is that this isn't a concern Carter is making adjustments here now being a full-time defensive end that is a big change especially at high school's one thing that's a big change in high school it's an even bigger change in college or the NFL when you go from playing offb linebacker I I understand there are similarities to the position with the way that Penn State utilizes that linebacker spot to chase after the quarterback and essentially be a standup pass rusher at points in time but when you're a 425 or a 43 defensive end that is night and day compared to being a standup linebacker that's going to drop into coverage and do a lot of other things and have to know other aspects of the defense as opposed to being just a true defensive end which is what Abdul Carter is he's a true defensive end he's that replacement for Chop Robinson they're going to line him up in a myriad of ways the bright side is Carter's a superstar still in his own right just given his overall athletic ability and his talent when it comes to the sport of football he will get better he will get a lot better temper your expectations for him if you're looking at that and saying he had a bad game he had one tackle he didn't get a lot of pressure on the quarterback sure he helped force that fumble but other than that he was either non-existent or showing up in the game in the wrong ways temper your expectations because like a rookie with him now playing a new position this is someone that is going to need time to fully get adjusted and I know he's been working on it since April and had the off season but you don't just learn everything overnight allow him time to get to the middle part of the season and that's when you can expect him to be a true Superstar a disruptor on defense once again but now at defensive end so there is optimism here that's going to do it for this edition of locked on nitty Lions defensive takeaways in the books a lot a lot to talk about from this West Virginia game especially since Bowling Green Kent State even Illinois and UCLA that next true test isn't going to be until that plane trip to Southern California when they played the USC Trojans so still to come un locked on nitty Lions we will preview that game again it's still a game you got to go one and0 we will pre review and discuss Bowling Green and what they will have planned for Penn State this upcoming week along with post practice interviews and everything else that you can expect here on locked on NY lions please leave a like on this episode I'd really appreciate it be a part of the conversation let me know your thoughts on the Penn State Defense after week one and if you're not already becoming everyday or subscribed to locked on nney lions on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast for the latest conversations around your favorite Penn State sports teams and once again thanks so much for making locked on nitty Lions your first listen and watch every single day for your second listen you got to check out locked on college football with Spencer mofin college football is here it's back and there's been upsets like Florida State in back-to-back 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