Under-fire Ciarrocca sees growth in PSU offense
Kirk Ciarrocca has endured rough times during his 30-plus years as a college football coach. The 2020 season has been no exception.
In Ciarrocca’s first season as Penn State’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, the Nittany Lions have struggled to score. Quarterbacks Sean Clifford and Will Levis have combined for 13 turnovers.
Above all, the Nittany Lions are 1-5 as they prepare to travel to Rutgers (2-4) Saturday at noon (TV-FS1, WEEU-AM/830).
“Am I happy with the results? Absolutely not,” Ciarrocca said Thursday during his first interview since the season began. “I’ve been in a lot worse situations than this from a productivity standpoint. We’ve always managed to come out on the other side and be really, really good.
“I’m very confident and I see the pieces here that we can be really good. We’ve just got to continue to trust the process and continue to grind, and the results will become the results that we all want at some point.”
Penn State ranks third in the Big Ten in total offense (417.8), ninth in scoring (25.0), fifth in passing (259.7) and seventh in rushing (158.2). The Lions have gained at least 400 yards in four of six games, but they’ve failed to reach 30 points since the opener at Indiana.
Michigan State is the only Big Ten team that has committed more turnovers.
“The first thing we gotta do, which we did last week (at Michigan), is take care of the ball,” Ciarrocca said. “We need to build on that. I felt like last week that our details were better. ...It (the offense) is definitely still a work in progress. It’s not where I want it to be.”
Ciarrocca’s offense sputtered in his first seasons as offensive coordinator at Western Michigan and at Minnesota. The Broncos averaged 17.2 points and 327 total yards and finished 1-11 in 2013. The Gophers averaged 22.5 points and 359 total yards and went 5-7 in 2017.
Last year, he received criticism from Minnesota fans despite a 3-0 start and a 33.7 scoring average because the Gophers failed to top 400 total yards in any of those games.
“The fan base and the media was all over me, and they asked me the same question,” Ciarrocca said. “And I kind of answered it the same way. I told them I didn’t know exactly when we were going to hit on all cylinders, but the question wasn’t if; it was just when. And that’s the same way I feel about this group.”
Minnesota went on to post a 10-win regular season for the first time since 1905 and finished with the third-highest scoring offense in school history.
Despite his track record and Penn State losing its top two running backs (Journey Brown and Noah Cain), Lions fans have been critical of Ciarrocca.
Clifford has passed for 1,233 yards and 11 touchdowns, but he’s thrown eight interceptions and lost two fumbles that were returned for touchdowns. He was more efficient at Michigan, completing 17 of 28 passes for 163 yards and running nine times for 73 yards and one touchdown without a turnover.
“I thought last week he really didn’t try to be perfect,” Ciarrocca said. “He trusted what he saw. He’s learning a new offense and a new way to think about things. That’s part of it. It’s not effort, I can tell you that. We just have to get him to be a little more comfortable and know when not to force the ball in there.”
The Penn State offense has several positive signs, ranking second in the Big Ten in first downs, third in third-down conversions and fourth in time of possession.
But the Lions have scored just 11 touchdowns on 25 trips inside their opponents’ 20-yard line, a .440 average that’s nextto-last in the conference.
Ciarrocca understands fans won’t be satisfied until Penn State strings wins together.
“We’re going to be judged on those results each Saturday,” Ciarrocca said. “I get that. I’ve been in the business a long time. I don’t listen to the noise when it’s going bad or when it’s going good. This job is hard enough as it is.
“We’ll be back on top in no time. I feel like the pieces are there.”