Penn State Football: 3 takeaways from Week 14 takedown of Rutgers

3. Penn State passing game limited with Will Levis

When Sean Clifford was forced out of the Ohio State game with a leg injury, it opened the door for Will Levis to get his first start at quarterback for the Nittany Lions. While Penn State emerged with the victory in the regular-season finale at Beaver Stadium, Levis left a lot to be desired in terms of the way he managed the passing game.

The redshirt freshman went just 8-of-14 passing the ball, throwing for 81 yards and a touchdown against a Scarlet Knights secondary that came into Week 14 giving up 246 passing yards per game. It was a rough showing in his first start, as Levis threw an interception in Rutgers territory late in the first half as the Nittany Lions were driving to open up the score before the intermission.

Levis was better running the football, as he led the team with 108 yards on 17 carries. What Saturday’s home finale against the Scarlet Knights revealed, though, is that the Penn State offense is far more one-dimensional with Levis on the field than it was for most of the season with Clifford at the helm.

That makes multi-threat playmakers like KJ Hamler much less useful for the offense. Hamler finished with 102 return yards, but his five catches gained only 22 yards, and the coaches also worked out three handoffs to the receiver that netted just six yards. The end result, in the end, was a much less threatening version Hamler that never got the opportunity to test the Rutgers secondary. That was the direct result of the quarterback switch.