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Penn State wide receiver DaeSean Hamilton hauls in a 54-yard pass as Indiana defensive back Marcelino Ball pursues during the fourth quarter at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, IN on Nov. 12, 2016. Penn State beat Indiana, 45-31.

(PennLive/Joe Hermitt)

Part of the philosophy of the many zone-read offenses is that you aim to drive the opposing safeties batty. You suck them up in run support to defend any escapees through the A gaps. Then you bust them over the top with throws down the sidelines or in the seam.

If defenses sell out to stop the run as Indiana's did on Saturday, opposing wideouts as good as Penn State's will eventually get them deep. That's the bet of coordinators like Joe Moorhead, anyway.

It's not only tough to defend, it's fun for the fans to watch. Trace McSorley has peppered PSU's enemies, consistently taking pops deep. And, though his prolific wideouts Chris Godwin, DaeSean Hamilton and Saeed Blacknall didn't have an outstanding day on 50-50 balls as they often do, they beat the IU DBs deep badly on enough occasions that it didn't matter.

That's a trend that's continued all season for McSorley and has made him a modern college version of "The Mad Bomber" Daryle Lamonica of the 1960s Oakland Raiders.

After Saturday's cluster-bombing of Indiana including six completions of >25 yards, McSorley now has lifted his yards-per-completion figure to 15.93 to tops among the 128-team Football Bowl Subdivision, ahead of even Louisville's prohibitive Heisman favorite Lamar Jackson (15.73), the runner-up in the category.

The NCAA individual stat leaders board is filled with all sorts of categories where gaudy numbers don't necessarily translate to wins. But, by in large, this one does. Trace through the leaders of this stat in any given November and you're likely to find the quarterbacks of some big winners. This year is no exception: McSorley, Jackson, Josh Allen of Wyoming, Jake Browning of Washington, Mike White of Western Kentucky, Brett Rypien of Boise State, Baker Mayfield of Oklahoma, Tommy Armstrong of Nebraska, Mason Rudolph of Oklahoma State and on and on it goes.

Just for comparison's sake, even during a 11-0 regular season deploying Bobby Engram and Freddie Scott, Penn State's Kerry Collins only managed only 15.22 yds/cmp in 1994. McSorley almost certainly will top that with only two games to go.

Taking the big pop deep with impunity, knowing that sooner or later you will exact a price one way or another, is one of the most enjoyable aspects of football there is. And Penn State is taking part this year as it never has.