Scout the
Nittany Lions

Penn State is a run-heavy, methodical offense that leans on the ground game in nearly every situation and plays at a controlled pace of 59.2 plays per game. Their defense is stingy but not lockdown, allowing opponents to convert at a 41.1% clip on third down and giving up explosive plays at an 11% rate. They are a disciplined, structure-first program that wins by limiting mistakes more than by overwhelming opponents.

Every scrimmage snap split by down and distance. Run rate and pass rate are heat-shaded on a Maryland-red scale so the strong tendencies jump off the page. The top row is all downs combined.

The same run/pass tendency, re-cut by where the ball sits, the score on the board, and which half it is. Counts are real charted snaps; thin splits are flagged honestly. Run % and pass % are heat-shaded on the same Maryland-red scale.

Drive for drive: what Penn State does with the ball, next to what their defense gives up. Points per drive are estimated from the drive result (touchdown counts as seven, field goal as three). Everything here is computed from real CFBD drive data.

How the man calling it for Penn State thinks on fourth down, drawn from every fourth-down snap his offense has taken this season. "Went" means they ran a play (rush or pass); "kicked" means a field goal or a punt. The split is then cut by field zone so you know where he gets aggressive.

• ★Attack third and long aggressively -- if Maryland's defense can get Penn State's offense into 3rd-and-5-plus situations, we already know they will pass 78% of the time, which simplifies our coverage structure and puts our pass rushers in a favorable spot.
• ★Our run game vs. their run-heavy defensive diet -- Penn State's defense sees a lot of run and is built for it, so Maryland needs to use play-action and RPO concepts to keep them from loading the box and suffocating our running game before it gets started.
• ★Take shots over the top early -- Penn State allows explosive plays at an 11% rate, and if we can establish enough run threat to get them playing downhill, early vertical shots off play-action could be our highest-leverage offensive possessions.
• ★Win first down defensively -- Penn State runs 60.3% of the time on first down; if Maryland's front can limit those gains and create second-and-long situations repeatedly, we force them away from their comfort zone and into a passing game that has to beat us rather than a run game that wears us down.

This is the charting layer. CFBD play-by-play does not carry coverage shells, blitz, or pressure, so the rates below stay blank until a game is broken down on film or pulled from Telemetry. The sample row shows the shape only, not real numbers.

This is the charting layer. Personnel groupings and formation families are not in CFBD play-by-play; they are tagged off the film or pulled from Telemetry, then drop straight into these tables. The sample row is illustrative shape only.

The numbers above come from charted play-by-play. The detail a coordinator wants next, special-teams maps, opponent media quotes, and player grades, comes off the film and the Telemetry feed. Each item below drops straight into this report once charted.

• Coverage and blitz tendencies by down and distance (Telemetry / PFF charting).
• Special-teams punt and kickoff location maps.
• Opponent media quotes from the weekly press conferences.
• Player grades, pressures, and coverage data from Telemetry.