Penn State's Offensive Coordinator Gives Blunt Assessment to Issues

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After the first two weeks of the regular season for Penn State, there seem to be a couple of issues on both sides of the ball. 

Right now, though, the most obvious is its inability to get going on the ground. I was a tad worried about Penn State not being able to run the football at a high level, though I figured that since history suggests Penn State is typically one of the best running teams in the country, it would be more than fine. 

To say that has been the case early on would be completely unfair, as Penn State hasn't run the football effectively against two bottom-feeder teams in Temple and Marshall. 

It was a bit better against Marshall, with 148 rushing yards, but it still wasn't great. 

Only James Peoples averaged more than 4.4 yards per carry among players with five or more rushes. 

Speaking to reporters, offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Taylor Mouser had a lot to say about how he feels about the run game so far. He even went so far as to say he's not going to blame the kids, but he feels he's let the team down by not making some of the right calls. 

"I'm obviously not super-thrilled with the run game, and I'm just a little bit happier with the pass game," Mouser said, per Mark Wogenrich. "To put it [bluntly], I'm still very sick at myself in a lot of ways for some of the things in the first two games."

"Yeah, I knew that would be a question today," Mouser said at Penn State's team meeting room. "Obviously, to say that I'm less than thrilled with with where the run game's at would be an understatement. I feel like there's a lot of growth to be had there."

I don't think it's fair for him to take all the blame, but it is a good thing he's doing it instead of putting it on the kids. 

Right now, Carson Hansen seems to be the RB1, or at least that's the belief. It's interesting that Hansen hasn't played the way anyone hoped, considering he played well at Iowa State. 

He's coming off a season in which he rushed for 952 yards and six touchdowns.

In 2024, he finished with 13 rushing touchdowns, something Penn State would certainly like to have.

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