There has been a lot of talk as to what made our 2012 football season so successful. Much of the discussion has centered around the offensive juggernaut created by BOB and led by Matt McGloin. But is this fact or fiction? A little analysis reveals that our success was led by what always leads PSU and that is defense.

Penn State finshed the year 8-4 and again, much of the credit went to the offense. However, statistically speaking, our offense is not what we thought it was. Look at the facts:

Scoring Offense - ranked 67th

Total yards - ranked 54th

Running yards - ranked 85th

Passing yards - ranked 36th

Offensively, not something to get all hot and bothered over. In fact, our offense was "meh".

Now lets look at the defense:

Scoring defense - ranked 19th

Yards allowed - ranked 32nd

Rushing yards - ranked 21st

Passing yards - ranked 49th

BOB and his offensive system offer a lot of hope and promise. As he can recruit more and more kids for his system, the offense will improve; but lets not forget what has always driven PSU football success and especially so in 2012 - and that is defense.

Link to stats: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/stats/byteam?cat1=offense&cat2=Rushing&conference=I-A_all&year=2012