I'm usually making glass half full posts on Sundays. But for the life of me, I am just getting so frustrated with Day's play calling. Why are we making this so hard?

Gap vs. Zone Runs: Last week we finally found something in the run game by calling what seemed like 80% gap scheme runs and getting Johnson incorporated in the run game. It was by far our best rushing performance of the year.

We largely stuck with this in the first quarter (sans Johnson) and had 7 carries for 34 yards (4.9 YPC). 

After that, from what I saw, we lost this identity and tried to do a little bit of everything again. This line cannot zone block -- they are not athletic enough. 

And Johnson only had two carries for four yards, one of which was a horrible reverse call that you could run against this PSU defense 100 times and it would lose yardage 99 times. 

Reverting back to zone runs was just utterly baffling to me.

Using Leverage in the Red Zone: The toss to Chip against Maryland is the best red zone call of the season. It keeps our best players (WRs) on the field. They are inconsistent run blockers (especially Tate). We made up for that against Maryland by calling a play where we maximized leverage via a toss to the field; our receivers literally just needed to impede the defenders so Chip could hit the corner.

Also, what happened to our orbit motion red zone plays? I can still see KJ Hill against Michigan in 2018 going into orbit motion after confirming Michigan was in man, and knowing 100% he was going to score.  It's not guardable. Where is that in the red zone, especially inside the 10? It's like it's disappeared from our playbook. 

Why are we getting in heavier personnel? Keep your best players on the field, use leverage, and get creative.

Lack of QB Sneak: Third and goal from the half yard line. We take off our world class receivers, which lets the defense get in heavy. Marvin should literally never come off the field -- he could occupy two players by himself.

But we take him off the field and bring in a defensive end to lead block, as if that is going to make up for us having inconsistent run blocking from our tight ends. Of course Stover lets the edge shoot the inside gap and the play gets blown up.

Just run the sneak or a wedge/power type play. This is not hard. Why are we over thinking this?

Lack of Mesh/Crossers: We finally dusted these off and brought them out yesterday. But with Harrison and Ebuka on the field, either of them are going to get a free release every time. In man they will win this matchup every time; in zone these guys are world class at finding the soft spot. 

Penn State's linebackers are as good as anyone and they didn't have an answer. 

Make it easier on McCord. These are easy reads, easy plays, easy yardage. If anything, I can see Tate having an Olave-type role on these same routes as MHJ/EE require so much attention. 

***

I'm ecstatic about the win yesterday, I promise. I was blasting fight music in my car after the game.

But this team is 10% better coaching away from being able to beat Michigan. That's all that matters to me. Beat Michigan. This offensive staff has to lean into what we are good at and get out of its own head if it wants that to happen.