Penn State Football: Biggest disappointments from 2021 season

3. The offensive line

Penn State fans have lost count of how many times during the James Franklin era they have said before the season “This will be the year the offensive line is a strength.” Another season has come and gone and the offensive line is still arguably the Nittany Lions’ biggest weakness.

A small dig into the statistics shows just how bad the offensive line was this season. Penn State football rushed for a meager 107.6 yards per game this season, averaging 3.2 yards per carry. This was good enough to rank 118th in the country and second to last in the Big Ten. The offensive line also allowed 2.7 sacks per game, ranking 95th in the country.

To take a little heat off the offensive line, the lack of run game was not all their fault. The bevy of Penn State running backs at times was slow and danced around too much, moving east and west instead of north and south. Also, the Nittany Lions run an RPO offense and it is tough to run block when you are not 100 percent sure if it will be a run or pass.

The line at times looked better at protecting Sean Clifford or in the case of the Rutgers game, Christian Veilleux. But too many times Clifford would get happy feet in the pocket and take off, many times running right into an opposing defender.

After eight seasons now in Happy Valley, one would think Franklin would have had at least one season with a decent offensive line. However, a functional offensive line remains elusive and this offseason it will be up to Franklin and offensive line coach Phil Trautwein to fix it.

One thing is certain for the 2022 offseason. The fanbase will not be suckered into the preseason hype of an improved offensive line again.