When Penn State rolls in Scott Stadium on Saturday for its first road game of the year, Virginia fans will see quite a few things that look similar to their own Cavaliers. With multiple formations on offense and a base 4-3 set on defense, the Nittany Lions’ sets and schemes should feel somewhat familiar to the players too. TheSabre.com’s “Watch List” gives you some specific areas to keep tabs on during the contest.

Bunched Receivers

With Penn State coach Bill O’Brien’s previous coaching experience with the New England Patriots, the fact that the Nittany Lions use a pro-style offense shouldn’t be surprising. They vary their personnel and pull out multiple formations on every drive. Against Ohio last week, I noted the following: I formation (fullback and running back), offset I formation (fullback to one side of the backfield), jumbo I formation (three tight ends), Ace formation (solo back), jumbo Ace formation (three tight ends, four-wide Ace formation (four receivers and solo back), and a five-wide formation (empty backfield). In the first half against the Bobcats, for example, I counted 27 snaps that featured three or more players split out as part of the alignment so expect lots of multiple-receiver looks. The receiver splits (sometimes wide, sometimes close to the line, sometimes both) changed consistently.

That’s not too different from Virginia, which also throws multiple looks at defenses. What is different for Penn State is the frequency with which its tight ends line up at spots other than an on-the-line tight end. As UVa coach Mike London pointed out earlier this week and I’m sure you’ve heard at least once this week, PSU really moves its tight ends around. The Lions will put tight ends on the line, off the line like an H-Back, in the backfield like a fullback, in the slot as a receiver, and out wide as a receiver. In fact, when you see the multiple-receiver looks I mentioned above, try to make note of which players are tight ends because often Penn State doesn’t substitute an additional receiver in place of a tight end, but just uses the tight end in a receiver spot instead. The goal there is to create matchup issues; for example, if the defense decides that its cornerback is going to take the outermost receiver on one side of the formation, PSU might have someone like 6’3″, 247-pound tight end Kyle Carter (No. 87) in that spot. UVa’s top three corners all weigh 180 pounds or less. So you can see the difference there.

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