Penn State at a crossroads: Saving a season starts with fixing the offense

When it was over, the defensive line coach took a knee on the field and shed some tears.

The senior cornerback looked nearly inconsolable as he walked away.

The Penn State defense was, once again, on the field when another fourth-quarter lead vanished into the night air, disbelievingly so.

Who would have predicted this kind of aching disappointment with yet so much of the season still to play?

Back-to-back defeats in Beaver Stadium. Playoff and Big Ten title hopes dead and gone. Sudden concerns creaking doubt into all facets of a team that appeared likely to continue living inside the nation's Top 10.

Five losses over three seasons by a combined 12 points — the latest in the final 19 seconds to Michigan State.

The heartbreaking, head-shaking meltdowns are beyond frustrating now.

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More:Penn State stunned as tired defense falters in final seconds, 21-17, to Michigan State

And here's the deal: The biggest concern heading into this season — this disjointed, supposedly too-young defense — is not the culprit.

No matter how it looked at the end of the past two games.

This worrisome defense without a hammer for a leader ... without seasoned, all-star linebackers ... without dominators yet developed ...

No, this defense has done its job, particularly against Ohio State and Michigan State. And it looks like it will only continue to get better. It needs time to grow its best young talent and infuse it with more on the way.

This looks like the building of a suffocating defense on a national level by 2020, maybe even sooner.

For now, it is what it is, and the defense is doing more than holding its own.

Rather, Penn State's strangely dysfunctional offense is asking it to do far too much. You can't demand this defense to beat elite competition for four quarters, sometimes on its own.

That will continue to be a sinking road to walk.

The failure is on the offense featuring the nation's toughest, most resilient quarterback and its best line in at least five years, as well as unending possibilities at receiver.

Senior Trace McSorley calmly put the blame on himself after Saturday's 21-17 defeat.

“When we got down to the point where we needed to make plays, I wasn’t able to do it," he said.

Sure, McSorley could have been more accurate at times (19-of-32, 192 yards) but this was much more than that. He had to run over and over to desperately try to beat Ohio State, almost by himself. He tried a little bit of everything against Michigan State.

There's more to why Penn State couldn't throw the ball down the field against the Spartans, one the most feeble pass defenses in the nation. It looked like the Lions' receivers, aside from speedy KJ Hamler, just couldn't get open.

It got to the point where McSorley kept targeting his rookie tight end, almost as one of his few trusted options. That says a lot.

Consider that the Lions' three most experienced receivers — DeAndre Thompkins, Juwan Johnson and Brandon Polk — combined for just four catches for 42 yards.

Thompkins was shut out yet again.

And that is beyond troublesome. It's the most unexpected failure of the season and is killing this team's once-promising chances.

Coach James Franklin hinted that his receivers weren't running the proper routes at times, despite coming off a bye week that allowed an extra week to prepare.

Because of it, they can't get tailback Miles Sanders untracked beyond a few big runs. They can't piece together scoring drives against their best competition.

And they can't keep their defense off the field.

It's crushing them in the fourth quarter and making everything look so much harder than it should.

This time, Franklin refused to let loose with another emotional preacher's sermon in the postgame interview room like he did after Ohio State.

He was measured and humbled. He simply spoke about correcting small mistakes popping up everywhere — from fumbles and costly penalties to shortcomings at kicker.

There's no easy fix with brutal tests coming against Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin. Any recovery must start on the road next weekend at Indiana.

At this point, Franklin talked as if his team will quietly plug away at fixing one problem at a time.

“I believe in investment in anything you want to do that you want to be special in," he said.

"I think the natural thing to do, especially when you’re young, is when you invest in something and you don’t have the success you think you should have, a lot of people start to pull back because that hurts.

"A lot of organizations will invest less. I'm a big believer that's when you actually invest more. And you drive through those situations and drive through those circumstances."

We know the biggest "situation" is on offense. Who really knows how close that is to being corrected?

Because when the necessary parts already seem to be in place, it comes down to behind-the-scenes work, and quick work at that.

McSorley and his teammates talked about coming closer together now, of pledging their love and belief in each other. They focused on succeeding for themselves and their fans over the last six weeks, regardless of rankings and destinations.

Maybe that, ultimately, will mean going with even younger players, especially at receiver, to provide some spark.

Whatever the mode, so much of what Franklin has built depends on these answers to come.

No more does this program seem at a crossroads than since that 2-2 start in 2016.

Once again, this team is being pushed in the most uncomfortable of spots.

This time, we couldn't have seen it coming.