MMQB - Defensive Numbers

I was watching the Penn State-UCLA game this weekend, and I had something of an insight.

Do you all remember watching the Penn State offense circa 2020 - the Kirk Ciarrocca era?

That offense was all about ball control, and was exceedingly happy going the three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dirt route all the way down the field, dinking and dunking for a few yards at a time, chewing up clock, and limiting the other team’s chances at possessions.

I remember at the time thinking that the offense was fine but the biggest problem was simply the sheer volume of snaps needed to actually score points. It seemed to always take the Lions forEVER to score, and if a single bad play happened - tackle for loss,…