Episode Details

Penn State football continued their second-half spiral with a 24-10 loss to Arkansas in the Outback Bowl on New Years Day. It was the team's sixth loss in the final eight games and the fourth time they failed to crack 20 points during that time. How did things get so bad for the Nittany Lions offense? Film analyst for Blue White Illustrated and host of the BWI Daily Edition, Thomas Frank Carr, looked at the film and answers.

He starts with his scouting report of Arkansas, which depicts a defense that wants to play with two different styles of attack based on what type of quarterback it is playing. Penn State knew this about Arkansas and crafted a game plan to beat both defense styles. But, unfortunately, it didn't work because of one key component; the quarterback. 

T-Frank explains how Arkansas rendered Clifford ineffective early in the game, which caused a cascade of problems for the Penn State offense. Next, he provides stats to back that up and quotes from head coach James Franklin. 

Aside from Clifford, several other familiar characters from Penn State's struggles surfaced in the game. For example, how did Juice Scruggs fare at center? How did that change affect communication with the offensive line? T-Frank explains what he saw on film and how it all ties together. 

Finally, T-Frank examines the Penn State running game. He starts with a quote from James Franklin about not running the ball enough. Next, T-Frank explains how simply criticizing the design or scheme of the offense isn't the whole story. He shows how offensive coordinator Mike Yurich designed some specific runs that exposed the defense but followed that up with alarming numbers in the run game. 

All of that, along with the strengths of the Arkansas defense, led to a day that Penn State fans will want to forget soon. All of this begs the question for the offseason; how does it get better? 

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