Penn State Football: The Nittany Lions Clearly Miss Silas Redd and Justin Brown

“We’ve got to coach better, and we’ve got to play better,” was the only response that new Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien could come up with during a postgame interview with ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi after watching his team squander an 11-point first-half lead en route to losing its season opener to Ohio, 24-14.

It was a simple explanation, but fixing the problems will be anything but simple. O’Brien and everyone watching his team came to realize today that Penn State just doesn’t have enough athletes on offense this season.

After a few nice scoring drives in the first half, which allowed Penn State to build up a 14-3 lead going into the locker room, the offense came out and looked listless and stale, lacking any sense of consistency in the second half.

The unit could only muster up 130 total yards on four unimpressive drives in the final two quarters, which allowed the Bobcats to slowly work their way back into the game and ultimately pile up enough points for the victory.

The Penn State offense clearly missed its 2011 MVP, RB Silas Redd, who transferred to USC after hearing about the crippling sanctions that the NCAA slapped the program with.

Redd was the workhorse back who carried the Nittany Lions' offense last season, rushing for 1,241 yards on 244 carries. His departure left a gaping hole to fill in the backfield.

His replacements—Bill Belton and Derek Day—combined for just 89 yards on the ground in the defeat. Neither of them displayed the type of explosion or natural power that made Redd so valuable.

O’Brien wants to turn Penn State into a pass-first offense this season, as evidenced by the team’s 48 pass attempts compared to just 22 rushing plays. However, you have to wonder if QB Matt McGloin is really good enough to carry the offense in 2012.

McGloin completed 27 of his passes for 260 yards and threw two touchdowns. But most of his throws were of the safe, dink-and-dunk variety, as he averaged just 5.4 yards per attempt.

The senior signal-caller is obviously going to miss speedy receivers Justin Brown and Devon Smith, who combined for 60 catches last year. Brown transferred to Oklahoma this summer, while Smith, who left the team for personal reasons before the sanctions were announced, is now suiting up for Marshall.

The most impressive offensive performer today was 6’3’’, 201-pound sophomore receiver Allen Robinson, who hauled in nine passes for 97 yards.

Robinson and freshman tight end Kyle Carter, who caught six passes for 74 yards, seem like they have the chance to develop into valuable contributors in the passing game this season, but neither of them will be the true down-the-field deep threat that Brown would have been had he chosen to stay.

Carter may be a more dangerous receiving weapon than the player he’s replacing, Kevin Haplea, a junior tight end who transferred to Florida State. However, he still has a long way to go in order to match what Haplea brought to the table as a run-blocker.

Redd and Brown’s departures may not have been truly crippling, but it’s clear that the Nittany Lions will miss them dearly in 2012. Not only was Brown set to be the team’s go-to receiving target this year, but he could have also been a dynamic punt returner as well.

Penn State fans can only hope that the “let’s have Gerald Hodges return kicks and punts” experiment ends immediately.

There's no doubt Hodges is one of the best linebackers in the country and has a future playing on Sundays. Still, he has absolutely no business returning kicks or punts.

Hopefully, that was just a cute trick that coach O’Brien was trying out for opening day because it certainly didn’t work (maybe a more experienced returner would have realized that you don’t run out a ball that’s kicked four yards deep into the end zone).

Overall, this was obviously not an encouraging start to the O’Brien era.

Sure, the players, coaches and fans were all just happy to put a difficult and trying offseason behind them and get back out on the field. But the offense’s lack of rhythm and consistency in the second half is definitely concerning.

To be fair, Ohio is certainly no cupcake. The Bobcats won 10 games last year and they’re the clear-cut favorite to win the MAC this season. However, Penn State had more talent than them and should have won this game.

As O’Brien said very succinctly in his quick postgame interview with Rinaldi, the Nittany Lions just got outcoached and outplayed in the second half. It’s as simple as that.

Since this was just the first week of the season—a time when offenses usually struggle with rhythm and flow—it’s hard to make any true judgements or assessments about how good this offense will really be in 2012. However, it was obvious that the offense is just not the same without Silas Redd and Justin Brown in the lineup.

Bill Belton and Derek Day have big shoes to fill, trying to replace Redd, as does Allen Robinson, attempting to make up for the loss of Brown.

Ultimately, it remains to be seen just how this offense will truly shape up in the coming weeks. After today's performance, though, there are plenty of concerns to be had about the unit's effectiveness and ability to produce on a consistent basis.