STATE COLLEGE — No. 3 Penn State outscored low-level nonconference opponents, Nevada, FIU and Villanova by a combined 132-17 to start the season 3-0.

Yet, there’s a sentiment that the Nittany Lions offense hasn’t quite been good enough, especially from the perspective that a high-powered No. 6 Oregon comes to Happy Valley on Saturday.

Drew Allar has been inaccurate and, at times, indecisive in his third year as the starting quarterback. Star running back Nick Singleton has been inefficient and lacking big plays. It’s also taken some time for an offensive line with four returning starters to show its might.

Penn State sits just 77th in the country with a 38.9% conversion rate on third downs. This offense has squandered short fields, failed to finish drives and is generating 20-plus-yard plays at a bottom-30 rate nationally.

But Penn State, obviously, didn’t need its best stuff on offense to dominate such an easy early schedule.

That begs the question: Were Penn State and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki holding back? Did he keep his play calling “vanilla” to save things for tougher games, such as Oregon?

“Are you saving things? I don’t know if saving is the idea, but there are certain things that you worked on during training camp that you’re planning on using against certain opponents,” coach James Franklin said at Monday. “There are some things you could have used early in the season, but you didn’t feel like you needed to.

“I think that’s always the case. But it’s not like offensive coordinators, defensive coordinators and head coaches are going into a game saying, ‘We’re going to be conservative in this game.’ It’s not that or ‘vanilla.’ ”

The idea of “saving” plays almost always boils down to matchups. If Penn State feels it can exploit an area of Oregon’s defense this week, the offensive game plan (and defensive, to a less noticeable extent) will reflect it.

And at the end of the day, offensive schemes typically revolve around a small collection of base plays with myriad motions and formations to dress them up. Even if it doesn’t look the same, Penn State will run many of the same plays against Oregon as it did against each of its nonconference foes.

But it’s also not as if Penn State hasn’t shown off extra wrinkles to keep opponents on their toes. Wide receiver Trebor Peña has taken five carries on jet sweeps or out of funky formations. Singleton and Kaytron Allen have shared the backfield and taken snaps out of the Wildcat.

Fans probably remember a wacky 2-point conversion attempt against Nevada, one in which Penn State spread its personnel across the entire goal line and left third-string quarterback Jaxon Smolik alone behind the line of scrimmage. He was supposed to make a quick throw but never got it off. Franklin later called the play “disgusting” for poor execution and coaching.

However, even that display served a purpose, specifically directed at opponents like Oregon.

“Do you call everything in every game? No, you don’t. Obviously. It’s impossible to do,” Franklin said. “There are packages and things that you’re going to see in the Oregon game that you didn’t see in the Villanova game. There were some things you probably saw in the Villanova game that you didn’t see in the FIU game. And Nevada and so on and so forth.

“But it’s not because we’re taking the approach to be vanilla or conservative. It’s just based on what you think you have to do in that game to be successful.”

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