Advertisement
football Edit

Ciarrocca confident Lions' in-practice development will translate

Kirk Ciarrocca, like everyone else in Penn State’s football program, couldn’t be blamed if he’d panicked.

The Nittany Lions’ new offensive coordinator directed a group that, through its first five games of the 2020 season, finished at least one point below the production of its opponents. Beginning with a 36-35 overtime loss at Indiana in which Penn State doubled the Hoosiers’ offensive output, a string of 25-, 19-, 23-, and 21-point games left the program with an unexpected quarterback controversy, without three of its top skill position performers, and in an 0-5 hole.

Finally finishing on the winning side of the ledger last week at Michigan, a 27-17 decision in which the Nittany Lions produced 417 yards of offense, 25 first downs, converted on a season-high 8 of 16 third downs, and most important, ended the game with more points than their opponent, Ciarrocca saw reasons for optimism. The first signs of correlation between the tireless efforts being made at every level of the Lasch Building from the coaching staff down through the players themselves, the Nittany Lions earned a piece of long-sought positive feedback.

“I think that the key thing is right now we're getting better each week,” Ciarrocca told reporters Thursday in his first press appearance since preseason media days. “Sometimes, there's a little bit of a lapse before you can take the practice field to the game field.”

Advertisement

In the wide-ranging media appearance that encompassed everything from quarterbacks Sean Clifford and Will Levis, to the rash of injuries that has left the Nittany Lions without three of their top weapons in Journey Brown, Noah Cain, or Pat Freiermuth, to the development of the offensive line, to freshman contributors in key roles, ready or not, Ciarrocca laid out the details of the offense’s strategies toward success.

Closely echoing the persistent messaging of head coach James Franklin through the program’s unsavory stretch of losses, avoiding self-destructive plays and tendencies was paramount, according to Ciarrocca.

“We need to take care of the ball, which we were able to do last week. We need to build on that. I felt like last week that our details were better. We didn't give away free plays against ourselves,” Ciarrocca said.

Avoiding committing a turnover for the first time all season at Michigan, the Nittany Lions also finished on the winning side of the program’s key metrics for explosive plays (9 to 6) and starting field position (33 to 27).

Still among the nation’s worst programs in turnover margin this season, tied for No. 121 at minus 1.33 turnovers per game, Ciarrocca pointed toward building upon the principles that helped produce last Saturday’s win for when the Nittany Lions travel to Piscataway, N.J., this weekend to face a resurgent Rutgers program coming off a win over Purdue.

“It's definitely still a work in progress. The offense is not where I want it to be. The results have not been what I want them to be yet,” Ciarrocca said. “But we're doing everything we can within our control to continue to get better and that's what I love about this group, love about this culture, is how hard these guys have come out every day to work, the energy that they brought to the practice field, and we'll get there. When? We'll see. The expectation is that we continue to build on what we did last week.”

Taking a broader perspective on the progress of the offense and where he’d eventually like to see it land, Ciarrocca added that he’s understood the disappointment fans have felt about the season’s start and has shared in it.

Admitting that he tunes outside noise down to a minimum for both good stretches and bad, at every stop through his coaching career, Ciarrocca also reiterated his confidence that the strides he’s seen in practice will pay dividends.

“Am I happy with the results? Absolutely not. But I do trust the process, and I've been in a lot worse situations than this from a standpoint of a productivity standpoint, and we've always managed to come out the other side and be really, really good,” Ciarrocca said. “And I'm very confident and I see the pieces here that we can be really good. We just got to continue to trust the process and continue to grind along, and the results will become the results that we all want at some point. And that's the way I feel. I've been this way for a long time. And again, I think the resume and the results, the track record bears out that it'll work out.

“I think the whole program's done an unbelievable job of handling the adversity and again, a tribute to coach and the culture that he has built here. They're not used to being 0-5 and not being ultra-successful. So it was a different experience for the guys in the program, but the way they've worked and continue to stay together and grind and understand that's how you're going to change this, it has been unbelievable to me to watch and see. I'm really proud of the way the guys have continued to battle with it. And, again it's a tribute to coach and his leadership.”

*******

• Talk about this article inside The Lions Den

• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue-White Illustrated

• Follow us on Twitter: @BWIonRivals, @NateBauerBWI, @RivalsSnyder, @DavidEckert98

• Like us on Facebook

Advertisement