Penn State offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne’s team is undefeated entering Big Ten play in no small part thanks to the offense. The offense averaged more than 50 points and nearly 500 yards per game in non-conference victories over Appalachian State, Pitt, and Kent State.

Naturally, as the new offensive coordinator, Rahne draws comparisons to his predecessor, current Mississippi State head coach Joe Moorhead. Moorhead helped transform the Nittany Lion offense from a total weakness (factory of bubble screens and botched end-arounds) to a juggernaut, earning himself a head coaching gig in the SEC as a result.

Before we look at some of the similarities in differences in playcalling, here’s a comparison of the two coordinators’ numbers through three games:

The offense’s stats are far superior under Rahne, but this isn’t a testament that he’s a better coordinator. After all, he inherited Moorhead’s offense, and the 2018 Nittany Lions are simply better than the team Moorhead inherited in 2016.

Passing

Explosive plays were a big part of Moorhead’s early offense, and Rahne’s unit is no stranger to the concept. Four of the Nittany Lions’ first 12 touchdowns of the 2016 season came on gains of more than 30 yards, compared to six of 22 touchdowns during that span in 2018.

Moorhead’s team seemed to run a ton of quick play-action passing plays for short gains. Trace McSorley’s first touchdown pass as the team’s starting quarterback was a four-yard slant to DaeSean Hamilton after faking a handoff to Saquon Barkley.

This may be a byproduct of the shaky offensive line in front of McSorley and Barkley, but the 2018 Nittany Lions don’t seem so pigeon-holed into throwing quick passes.

Penn State may have a stronger offensive line in 2018, but the team’s receiving corps was much more experienced two years ago. DaeSean Hamilton and Chris Godwin anchored the unit with a combined 363 yards and two scores through three games in 2016. Juwan Johnson and DeAndre Thompkins have combined for 191 yards and one touchdown thus far in 2018.

Despite the drops, Rahne can still utilize deep passes due to his new not-so-secret weapon — redshirt freshman KJ Hamler. Hamler’s pure speed and explosiveness off the line of scrimmage have set him up for some massive plays, including a game-tying touchdown against Appalachian State and even a rushing touchdown off of an end-around in Pittsburgh.

Naturally, Moorhead got much more out of the tight end position than Rahne has thus far, but that’s mostly because the 2018 team doesn’t have Mike Gesicki to throw passes to.

Gesicki hauled nine passes for 158 yards through the first three games of the 2016 season, while Jonathan Holland, Danny Dalton, Pat Freiermuth, and Zack Kuntz have combined for 128 yards on 11 receptions. Penn State’s current crop of tight ends has promise, but is also very inexperienced (and perhaps more focused on blocking than Gesicki ever was).

Rushing

Saquon Barkley was the star of Penn State’s offense in 2016, rushing for 258 yards and six touchdowns through three games. He scored four touchdowns on the ground in the Nittany Lions’ week two loss to Pitt, all from within three yards of the goal line. Moorhead utilized his generational talent plenty, giving him 51 touches in three games.

It may seem like Miles Sanders hasn’t been utilized as much, but he actually had a better start to the season than Barkley did under Moorhead in terms of yardage. Sanders has only gotten 49 carries, but has totaled 295 yards.

Moorhead’s offense leaned on Barkley at times during the 2016 season, as his backups combined for just 72 yards in the first three games of that season. Sanders’ backups — including Mark Allen, Ricky Slade, and Johnathan Thomas — have totaled 235 yards so far this season.

This isn’t a knock on Barkley’s backups; none of the Nittany Lions’ opening three games were blowouts in 2016, so Moorhead didn’t have a chance to rotate much at the position. The backups also had a weaker offensive line to work with.

McSorley has used his legs far more under Rahne than he did under Moorhead in non-conference play. No. 9 already has 143 rushing yards and six touchdowns on 26 rushing attempts, compared to one score and 38 yards on 32 touches through three games in 2016. However, Moorhead’s first three games in charge of the offense were also McSorley’s.

That said, Rahne has made plenty of great play calls letting McSorley scamper into the end zone on run-pass option looks. The RPO is a common denominator in both offenses, but the offensive line’s development has unlocked McSorley’s true potential as an elite dual-threat quarterback.

Summary

Penn State’s playcalling looks very familiar under Rahne through three games, favoring the long ball and utilizing plenty of run-pass option looks. Both offenses have been pretty vanilla and haven’t featured many trick plays yet, either.

The first-year offensive coordinator hasn’t opened up the bag of tricks yet, but fans are hoping his gadget plays come close to Moorhead’s finest moments in Happy Valley.