I was watching the Penn State-UCLA game this weekend, and I had something of an insight.
Do you all remember watching the Penn State offense circa 2020 - the Kirk Ciarrocca era?
That offense was all about ball control, and was exceedingly happy going the three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dirt route all the way down the field, dinking and dunking for a few yards at a time, chewing up clock, and limiting the other team’s chances at possessions.
I remember at the time thinking that the offense was fine but the biggest problem was simply the sheer volume of snaps needed to actually score points.