Daryll Clark feels like his old self again. More importantly, Penn State's senior quarterback feels like his offense is regaining its swagger.
"My mother told me the past couple of weeks she hasn't seen that shine in my eye," Clark said Wednesday. "She wants me to get that back, man. Because I look a lot better, I play a lot better and look like I'm having a lot more fun when I get like that. It's on its way back man and it'll be there on Saturday."
So will the Michigan State secondary, a unit that is the best in the Big Ten, allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete just over 51 percent of their passes.
Clark has struggled to throw the ball accurately in his last three games, especially when pressured. The senior quarterback said from what he's seen on tape from the Spartans,
their defense is composed of "tough" football players.
Clark said the offense worked on picking up blitzes in practice Monday and Tuesday in order to give him more time and space to throw.
"Michigan State does a lot of blitzing as it already is," Clark said. "And that's something that we're really working on this week. We've done it Monday, we've done it Tuesday, and I think we've done a good job of picking it up."
Clark will be throwing into a secondary that has profited from aggressive defensive play calling. The Spartan defensive backfield has baited opposing quarterbacks into throwing 13 interceptions this season. Spartan strong safety Otis Wiley -- the only senior in MSU's defensive backfield -- leads his teammates with four picks, seven pass deflections and a forced fumble.
Although the Spartans are good at defending teams' aerial attacks, Penn State center A.Q. Shipley said Tuesday an adequate passing game is what is needed for Penn State to overcome its recent sluggish starts.
The Lions have scored just 13 points in their last six first quarters.
"We've gotta be able to mix it up," Shipley said. "We've gotta be able to do some things that throw them off balance and we're just going to keep them on their heels all game. That's been our plan every game, just to be explosive on offense -- run or pass."
The senior captain said after last weekend's game teams have been stacking the box with more defenders and bringing more pressure against Clark.
This creates mismatches when Penn State is lined up in its spread offense, as five Penn State linemen can't block four defensive linemen plus blitzing linebackers.
Despite their early ineffectiveness against blitzing defenses, Clark said the Lions haven't added anything new to the playbook this week. The most recent addition to the offensive scheme has been the addition of the Wildcat offense, where senior wide receiver Derrick Williams lines up at quarterback.
Instead of adding new plays, Clark said Penn State would have to execute better, like it did in the first eight games.
"I know that we're capable of doing way, way better than that," Clark said. "I really, really have a great feeling that that's going to change this week because of the sense of urgency we have and how big of a game this is."
