Speed equals simplicity.

That’s the motto that Penn State football has preached since the departure of former offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich. When Penn State football takes the field against Ole Miss on Saturday, the Nittany Lions will be more than a month removed from Yurcich. Since Yurcich was fired after the Nittany Lions’ loss against Michigan, the team’s offense completely turned around.

Now, interim co-offensive coordinators Ty Howle and Ja’Juan Seider have taken over the offense through the end of the season. Howle and Seider, the tight ends and running backs coaches, respectively, have built Penn State’s offense on that one motto: Speed equals simplicity.

“That’s something that we really thought about when this transition happened, what we wanted [the offense] to look like,” Howle said Wednesday. “Starting with players and not plays has been our philosophy, and then allowing those guys to go play fast and execute has been the big keys for us.”

“What that means is we don’t want these guys thinking,” Seider added. “We want them to go play.”

That new offensive game plan showed up against Michigan State, Howle and Seider’s second game at the helm of the offense. The Nittany Lions put together some of their best drives of the season with highlight plays along the way. A play with two quarterbacks on the field gave Tyler Warren a touchdown early in the second half. Omari Evans, who was uninvolved all year long, caught one of Drew Allar’s best passes before falling just short of the end zone.

On paper, Penn State reached the first down marker 23 times, put up 586 offensive yards, and held the ball for nearly 36 minutes. After putting up a combined 37 points against Ohio State and Michigan, the Nittany Lions put up 42 points against the Spartans. Off paper, the team just looked fun. Penn State’s offense was enjoyable to watch for the first time in a long time.

To be fair to Yurcich, his offense might have done the same thing against Michigan State. James Franklin’s main gripe with Yurcich was likely that Yurcich’s offense didn’t show up in Penn State’s two biggest games of the year, but the Nittany Lions were alright for the other eight games Yurcich coached in 2023.

Still, Penn State’s players seem like they’ve bought into Howle and Seider’s system. The players at the positions the two coaches work with normally are pumped to see their coaches taking on a greater role, while Allar and offensive linemen appear to be happy with the offensive scheme.

Howle and Seider also seem to have done a good job instilling the team’s new motto into the players. It’s repeated at press conferences and identified as what the offense runs on under the new regime, always in a positive light.

“Coach Seider and Coach Howle have done a great job of giving us simple rules to follow, not giving us too many looks or too many rules,” Allar said. “That makes my job a lot easier just because I think the timing and communication got on a different level because I was able to anticipate more what everybody was doing out on the perimeter.”

The Peach Bowl will be the last time, at least for the foreseeable future, Howle and Seider take control of Penn State’s offense. As Franklin’s said several times, new offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki will be able to step in and lead the team the day after Penn State’s 2023 season ends. With that, Howle and Seider will just be position coaches again, working with the offense instead of leading it.

Still, the duo has a massive stage to prove itself and the motto they’ve created at the Peach Bowl. Penn State’s players and coaches seem invested in ending the season on a high note: the team has repeatedly preached that it could be the first team to win all New Year’s Six games with a victory on Saturday. With a trophy on the line, Howle and Seider can add another piece of history to the program they’ve coached for a combined 10 years.

“At the end of the day, it’s about finishing the job, and our job is not finished,” Seider said. “We get one more opportunity to go play, to be around this great group of young men, watch them finish their careers, some of the seniors that are not going to be back.”