Penn State Receiving Chart vs. Indiana: The Lack of Depth Rears Its Head Once More

Welcome to the Penn State receiving chart. Every week we'll show you what happened when each receiver was targeted in the most recent game. There may be a few differences here and there from the stat lines you see on ESPN, Sports Reference, or elsewhere, but I'll try to make sure to explain each of those differences below.

Hands+ Rating is explained below.

A Continued Lack of Significant Depth

KJ Hamler left the game during the first quarter. He still led the team in receiving yards and tied for the team lead in receptions. Much of that has to do with the fact that the rushing attack took the lead, but it also speaks to the lack of established options outside of Hamler and Freiermuth. Dotson has been solid when targeted, but even he hasn't had nearly as many opportunities as his play would seem to warrant.

Some of that can be chalked up to Clifford's clear comfort level when throwing to Nos. 1 and 87, but it's also fair to question why no one outside of those two and Dotson has done enough to warrant more than 16 targets on the season.

As you may be aware, there is a football game on Saturday with rather high stakes. If Penn State is to have any hope of taking down Ohio State, they desperately need someone to step up and make an impact outside of those top three. And if Hamler isn't able to play, the Lions will need this group to grow up very quickly.

Getting the Backs Involved

Something that Penn State fans clamored for after the lack of it a season ago, was a push to get the running backs involved in the passing game. The numbers for those guys haven't been huge (Journey Brown leads the group in targets and yards with 15 and 130), but it has been apparent that Ricky Rahne has made an effort to use them in 2019.

The third-down pass to Ricky Slade was a very well-executed play and is the kind of thing it would be great to see more of over the final few weeks of the season. Slade got to Penn State with the reputation of being an excellent pass-catcher and hasn't had enough chances to prove it.

The Drops

NO DROPS THIS WEEK!!!

Hands+ Rating Explained

The Hands+ Rating is a Roar Lions Roar-created statistic designed to rate a receiver's hands. It both rewards players for making catches with a higher degree of difficulty and punishes players for missing easier catches on a variable scale. Passes that are deemed uncatchable are also eliminated from the equation.

For reference, a player with a Hands+ Rating of 100 is exactly average–they've made every catch they're supposed to make, nothing more, nothing less. Above 100 is better, below 100 is worse.

Hands+ ratings shouldn't be taken too seriously until said player has seen at least 10 targets.