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Man shot in thigh outside Hanover Township bar early Saturday

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Dallas uses turnovers to defeat Berwick

INDIANAPOLIS &#8212; For nearly six full games, Ricky Rahne&#8217;s new job couldn&#8217;t have gone much better.In his debut as offensive coordinator last December, Penn State broke the school&#8217;s bowl game record for total offense in a win over a stingy Washington defense. In the first four games of 2018, the Nittany Lions led the nation in points and were also the country&#8217;s most productive team in the fourth quarter.That carried over into his sixth game at the helm, a showdown with Ohio State that saw the Lions score two touchdowns in the fourth to take a 12-point lead.What everyone remembers, though, is that when the defense couldn&#8217;t hold that lead, Rahne&#8217;s fourth-down play call at midfield to extend the game was blown up spectacularly by the Buckeyes. And in his seventh game, that high-flying attack was mostly grounded, managing just 17 points in another shocking loss to Michigan State.Heading into his eighth game on Saturday at Indiana suddenly has a much different feel to it.&#8220;I respect the fan frustration,&#8221; Rahne said. &#8220;Obviously, want to play better on offense. We want to score every time we touch the football, so I would say we&#8217;re going to continue to work at it and continue to get better. And the only thing we can do is hard work. And our preparation, effort and execution has got to improve all the way around.&#8221;It will be necessary if the Lions are going to scratch their way to a third straight New Year&#8217;s Six bowl berth. And it will have to start Saturday against the Hoosiers, who rank 70th nationally in total defense &#8212; the next two opponents, Iowa and Michigan, are both in the top five.THREE AND OUTPassing improvementsWhile Penn State&#8217;s run game has remained strong thanks to the effectiveness of Miles Sanders and quarterback Trace McSorley in the read-option, the passing game has sputtered.The Lions aren&#8217;t hitting on as many big plays through the air and, other than newcomer KJ Hamler, the receivers haven&#8217;t been consistent enough, dropping an alarming 17 passes.&#8220;Football in general (is about) getting comfortable with each other,&#8221; Rahne said. &#8220;And our offensive line is very comfortable with each other, and Miles has done some good things. So we got a pretty good rhythm there. In the passing game, we don&#8217;t.&#8220;It&#8217;s a number of different things. It&#8217;s details and fundamentals and releases. It can be footwork by the quarterback and timing there and all the way to the protection up front. So I think when you go back and watch the tape, it&#8217;s usually one guy here and one guy there &#8212; and that one guy in offensive football can make a world of difference. &#8230; That&#8217;s what we&#8217;ve been focusing on and that&#8217;s what I need to continue to focus on.&#8221;Return of the Lion?Do-it-all backup quarterback Tommy Stevens had an especially rocky 2018 debut, returning from a lower-body injury to play against Ohio State three weeks ago. The Buckeyes were more than ready for Penn State&#8217;s &#8220;Lion&#8221; package with Stevens touching the ball three times, twice taking pitches from McSorley to give him the option to throw it downfield himself.But the Bucks didn&#8217;t bite, taking away the deep ball. Stevens lost a yard the first time, gained 2 on the second and then lost 13 on the third when he couldn&#8217;t corral McSorley&#8217;s toss and had to scramble back to recover the loose ball.Those have been Stevens&#8217; only three snaps of the season. He didn&#8217;t see the field at all against Michigan State. Which, he and Franklin both said this week, was by design.&#8220;It was more of a scheme thing,&#8221; Lions coach James Franklin said. &#8220;We didn&#8217;t think it made sense in that game. But we&#8217;ll look at it every single week to see if it gives us the best opportunity to keep the defense on their toes and keep the defense uncomfortable, whether he is a decoy or whether he is a runner or whether he is a thrower and whether he is a receiver. We look for those options each week.&#8220;A lot of it deals with formations. If certain formations we look at against our opponent create opportunities, and they are plug-and-play plays, where we can put Tommy into that role and it makes sense against this defense in that scheme, then that&#8217;s when we do it.&#8221;Odds seem decent that Stevens will return Saturday against the Hoosiers, especially considering he played his high school ball less than an hour north of Indiana&#8217;s campus at Decatur Central in Indianapolis. Stevens was originally committed to Indiana before the Lions heavily pursued him late in the process when their own quarterback recruit, Brandon Wimbush, flipped to Notre Dame.&#8220;It&#8217;s obviously exciting,&#8221; Stevens said. &#8220;I&#8217;ll have a lot of people that I either graduated high school with, grew up around or who supported me my whole life there. It&#8217;s good to go home and see family, but at the end of the day, it&#8217;s just another game. And I have to get ready to play.&#8221;Ready for RamseyIndiana&#8217;s own quarterback, Peyton Ramsey, doesn&#8217;t have the athleticism of McSorley or Stevens, but he can still move well enough to causes defenses some headaches, particularly as the Hoosiers&#8217; spread scheme tends to open things up.Ramsey has a modest 189 yards rushing on the season, though that number would be 276 if sacks are not factored in.&#8220;He&#8217;s a dual-threat,&#8221; Lions linebacker Koa Farmer said. &#8220;He&#8217;s getting better each and every week. Watched a couple games and he&#8217;s actually really getting good. He does a great job leading their offense.&#8220;I think, ultimately, we have to make him uncomfortable. Whether that&#8217;s blitzing, getting the (defensive line) in, just doing everything we can to make him not set his feet and hopefully win the game.&#8221;<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Penn State offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne (center) aims to rebound from recent setbacks with the help of quarterbacks Trace McSorley (9) and Tommy Stevens (2). </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_AP18290850762508_ne20181019102745983.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penn State offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne (center) aims to rebound from recent setbacks with the help of quarterbacks Trace McSorley (9) and Tommy Stevens (2). </caption0><photoCredit0>Joe Hermitt | AP photo, The Patriot-News </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Derek Levarsedlevarse@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>PSU GAMEDAYNo. 18 Penn State (4-2, 1-2)at Indiana (4-3, 1-3)3:30 p.m., SaturdayMemorial StadiumBloomington, Ind.TV: ABCLine: PSU by 14.5</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</shirttailMeta></div>

Penn State football looking to solve skid on offense against Indiana