Penn State’s 3-QB Competition Should Come Down To Just One

Bill O’Brien told the Associated Press yesterday that

the starting quarterback competition at Penn State is a three-man race

between Rob Bolden, Matt McGloin and Paul Jones. However, the late entry into the contest is PSU’s best chance to compete in the Big Ten this upcoming season.

Danny O’Brien went on a tour of three programs vying for his immediate service last week, but his return to State College on Monday in a Nittany Lion sweatshirt suggests a clubhouse leader.

An offensive overhaul is desperately needed if PSU is going to challenge for the conference championship in what should prove to be a wide open 2012. The existing pieces at quarterback offer little relief, which makes landing O’Brien all the more important.

PSU’s tumultuous 2011 included a peak of No. 12 in the rankings, nine overall wins and a second place finish in the Big Ten’s new Leaders Division. The tragic and horrific grand jury testimony that surfaced in early November understandably overshadowed anything football related. The actual on-field product suffered amid the turmoil. PSU went 1-3 from then on and apexed offensively at 20 points.

The Nittany Lions failed to reach 20 points in eight games last season. PSU’s defense was among the nation’s stingiest, personifying the cliche that if you hold an opponent to zero, you only need to score once. However, the Lions’ four losses were all games in which they failed to crack 20.

Running back Silas Redd was among the nation’s top 30 rushers with 1241 yards, and managed to eclipse 5 yards per carry despite opposing defenses stacking the tackle box. Stephfon Green and Curtis Dukes were used far less frequent — combined they didn’t carry half as many times as Redd — but the duo combined for seven touchdowns and over 500 yards in 102 attempts. All together, Lion ball carriers made the PSU rushing offense a respectable No. 46 nationally.

All signs, then, point to tremendous inadequacy in the passing game.

Establishing consistency at quarterback is a paramount concern. An offense playing musical chairs with the position won’t function, and few programs had the revolving door behind center quite like PSU. Bolden started 2010, was benched midway through yet barred from transferring in January 2011. Bolden’s ineffectiveness could be the result of physche — surely the quick-trigger decision Paterno made to bench him and back-and-forth duties with McGloin had some effect on his mentality.

Perhaps Bolden simply isn’t cut out for the challenges BCS defenses pose. He has a career 1:2 touchdown-to-interception ratio and last season, broke the 50 percent completion barrier in just a single game. His regression in 2011 suggested the uncertainty had affected his game. McGloin was a slight upgrade, but hardly a world beater. His best outings were those in which his pass attempts were limited to below 20, but keeping defenses honest with a more balanced approach is the key to improving PSU’s point outputs.

This blog has evaluated previously why Danny O’Brien would be the best fit as the Lions’ starting quarterback, but it bears reiterating that under James Franklin’s pro system at Maryland, he exhibited qualities PSU quarterbacks have lacked. His pocket presence in 2010 transcended his freshman status, and his decision making yielded a healthy touchdown-to-interception ratio of nearly 3:1. His greatest fault was lack of consistency in completing attempts, sporting a percentage around 57, but O’Brien’s lineage as a quarterbacks coach would go a long way to remedying that. Further, it’s a single issue that needs addressing, compared to the current Lion QB crop, which has struggled in virtually all facets.

Though initially met with confusion or outright resistance, spring football seems to have assauged some of the concerns surrounding O’Brien hire. His presence as head coach cleans the slate, both in separating PSU from the tragedy that ended the Joe Paterno era, and in rebooting the program’s style.

Sure, pessimists can dismiss O’Brien’s NFL successes as the byproduct of a once-a-generation quarterback, something he doesn’t have at PSU. O’Brien himself quipped on Tom Brady in yesterday’s AP report, saying “There were no quarterback controversies in New England.”

However, the realist can cite the Patriot offense of 2011 was much different from the 2007 version. The use of tight ends in prominent receiving roles certainly fits the overall Big Ten motif of smash mouth football, and O’Brien recruited well at the position.

With potential Heisman candidate Redd back in the fold, and a defense that ranked 20th in yards, and fifth in points allowed retaining some key pieces, quarterback play could be all that separates PSU from a very strong start to its new era.