To be clear, Paul Tortorella has no complaints about how his defense is playing.
Through three games, the Crimson Hawks have allowed 47 points, but not all of that was against the first-team defense, and some of it was caused by turnovers by the offense.
And in total defense, IUP is allowing about 300 yards per game, and much of that was junk yardage by Lock Haven and Millersville, the past two weeks, long after those games were out of reach.
“I mean, there’s a lot of good stuff there,” Tortorella said.
But if the ninth-year head coach has something he wishes the defense would be better at, it’s forcing turnovers.
In three games, IUP has only four–– two interceptions and two fumble recoveries. Mix that with the IUP offense’s seven turnovers, and IUP has an overall turnover margin of minus-3. The only teams in the 15-team PSAC with a worse turnover margin than IUP are Gannon (minus-5) and Shippensburg (minus-9), and they’re both winless.
While Tortorella would like his defense to cause more havoc with turnovers, he’s not upset that it hasn’t happened.
“Historically, when you get a bunch of sacks, you usually get a couple turnovers off that,” he said. “We’ve had our hands on some balls, a lot of breakups (PBUs), but not many interceptions. When things go your way, they really go your way. They happen in bunches. Hopefully, in one game, we’ll get a bunch.”
Creating turnovers is an odd thing about football. They can’t be drawn up as plays, and coaches can’t just send one in from the sideline. And focusing too much on creating them will lead to problems elsewhere.
“We’re aggressive, we’ve got good speed,” Tortorella said. “I’d rather be the way it is now than get takeaways but give up a lot of points. Some teams are high in takeaways but give up a lot because they take chances they shouldn’t.”
And the fact that IUP has been so good defensively with holding opponents down from scoring points means there just haven’t been as many opportunities to snare an interception or force a fumble.
“We want to create takeaways, but we don’t want to get out of position or gamble,” Tortorella said. “If someone says, ‘You only have three or four takeaways in three games,’ the assumption is you’re not playing great defense — but that’s not the case. We’ve had a lot of three-and-outs. Also, we haven’t been on the field that much, especially in the last two games. Obviously, the more you’re on the field, the more chances you have to get a takeaway.”
So, it would be nice if his defense would come up with more turnovers, but it’s not like Tortorella is looking for ways to make it happen.
“We just have to keep playing the way we’re playing, and hopefully something will come,” he said. “If turnovers are the thing we’re circling as a concern, that’s a good sign — it means we’re doing everything else well.”
HE WAS SNUBBED: The PSAC hands out offensive, defensive, and special teams Player of the Week awards during the season, and IUP WR Maurice Massey was named the co-offensive player of the week for his efforts against Millersville, when he hauled in six passes for 173 yards and four touchdowns.
Massey had a big day thanks to the exploits of QB Matthew Rueve, who had a career day, completing 22 of 26 passes for 443 yards and a school-record six touchdowns without an interception.
That’s worthy of an award, right?
Well, no, according to the PSAC. The powers that be in the conference gave the other half of the Offensive Player of the Week honors to Clarion QB Anthony Guercio, who didn’t put up statistics as compelling as Rueve: He completed 26 of 35 passes for 413 yards and two touchdowns.
Guercio did rush for 60 yards, but he’s a dual-threat quarterback playing on an offense that features such skills. But Rueve is a pure drop-back passer who can pick apart defenses, as he has shown in his first season at IUP. In three games, Rueve has completed 56 of 77 attempts (73%) for a league-best 1,029 yards and 12 scores. His passer rating of 226.0 is by far the best in the PSAC, 53.7 points better than second-place Guercio.
GOOD STARTS: One area of concern with the Crimson Hawks has been slow starts. In almost every game they lost the past few seasons, they fell behind early and had to play catch-up.
But through three games this season, IUP has been fast out of the gate and hasn’t looked back: The Crimson Hawks have outscored their opponents 28-0 in the first quarter and 86-17 in the first half.
IUP led Ashland 9-0 at halftime in the season opener, but couldn’t hang on and lost 13-9. Since then, they have jumped on lesser opponents, Lock Haven and Millersville, and cruised to wins by a combined score of 112-34.
SCARY MOMENT: Late in Saturday’s game, freshman defensive lineman Raheem Orr entered the game but left it without even playing a down when teammates noticed him having symptoms of a seizure.
Orr was rushed off the field and evaluated by the medical staff. Tortorella said this was the second time Orr had suffered something like this in practice, and this one was worse than the first.
That’s why, Tortorella said, the decision has been made to keep Orr out of action until this gets resolved by a family doctor, either through medication or some other means.
UP NEXT: IUP plays its first road game of the season Saturday when it visits Seton Hill. Kickoff is at noon.
The Griffins (2-2) have beaten West Liberty (42-21) and Bloomsburg (31-28) and lost to Fairmont State (24-21) and West Chester (34-16).
The trip to Greensburg, at just under an hour, is the shortest one IUP makes in the PSAC. Seton Hill plays its games at Offutt Field in downtown Greensburg, the same site where Greensburg Salem High School plays.
IUP is 10-1 all-time against the Griffins, who joined the PSAC in 2013. The only time IUP lost to Seton Hill was its most recent visit there, in 2023, when the Griffins claimed a 35-28 win.
Comments