Through Penn State's first two games, running back Austin Scott, the offensive line and the Nittany Lions' struggling first-half rushing game have been the source of intrigue. Tomorrow will be another glimpse at their collective progress, albeit against a less-than-spectacular Buffalo program.
"Just hoping that we start to mesh earlier off in the game," Scott said this week.
No. 12 Penn State (2-0) hasn't been able to effectively move the ball on the ground in the first half of both games this season. The Lions have rushed for a combined 68 yards in the first half. In the second half, they have rushed for 306.
"It's a young offensive line. I think that's what it shows us," Joe Paterno said of the statistic. "It shows us the minute there's something that goes on that is a little different, something that makes them a little bit hesitant to come off the football, they get a little bit unaggressive."
The Lions offensive line has had difficulty adjusting to defensive-line schemes, which have confounded the rushing attack early in games against Florida International and Notre Dame.
Though the season is only two weeks old, FIU ranks 88th nationally in rush defense and Notre Dame is 100th. Buffalo is 39th.
The Bulls (1-1) are allowing 200 rushing yards per game. They employ a 4-3 and have two starters returning on the defensive line from last year's team, Trevor Scott and Ronald Hilaire. Scott is the defensive line's only senior.
The source of confusion in prior games stemmed from unanticipated defense alignments. Penn State needed time to figure out the FIU defensive line stunts. The Fighting Irish came out playing nickel with a four-man front against Penn State, an added twist from the 3-4 Notre Dame played against Georgia Tech in Week 1.
"They ran four down linemen, two linebackers and then dropping the safety," center A.Q. Shipley said after the Notre Dame game. "So you do the math. That's eight people in the box, six blockers. It's kinda tough."
After a half, the coaches isolated a few problems, pointed them out and the rushing game had more success, allowing Austin Scott room to break past the line of scrimmage.
Scott has struggled to find a rhythm in the first half. He rushed for 16 and 39 first-half yards against FIU and Notre Dame, respectively. But he showed progress last week against Notre Dame late in the game. He finished with 118 rushing yards on 28 carries for two touchdowns.
His career-high 28 carries were "what I should be getting" in terms of carries per game, he said. But he also said he might have been pressing.
"First two games I felt that I was trying to make too big of plays in the first half," Scott said. "I was trying to make too big of plays on any given carry. Then I settled down and started to get the essentials, 5 yards a carry."
