The Penn State Football Show

Well you can't put 40 on 'em everyday, but as our poll indicated, everyone thought that PSU would score at least 30 points against a not so good Purdue team. For whatever reason, we have had some difficulty scoring against them in the past few years. This lack of scoring was not due to lack of yardage, where PSU put up 422 yards (220 passing, 202 running). There were some excuses about the turf being slippery, which we saw as several Penn Staters slipped on some promising plays, but this is simply an aberration. The offense as a whole played well, but the playcalling was a bit more mild in this first road test. Penn State led the whole game thanks to a stout defense, and the game was never really in doubt.

As predicted by me, Josh Hull had a great game. I feel that he is a decent linebacker, but when he faces a team like Illinois or Ohio State his lack of speed and natural ability is more prevalent. Purdue zone blocks and runs a lot of draws, so as a linebacker if he is able to read the play correctly, making the tackle is much easier without behemoths pushing him 10 yards downfield. Wisconsin will be a true test for the defense and the linebackers in particular. The Badgers have arguably the largest offensive line in the country and two "tailbacks" that outweigh the Penn State linebackers. As far as Purdue goes, however, they never got anything going, and are usually an offense that relies on the big play and being able to sneak a few good runs in between. Their longest play of the day was 25 yards, and the running attack went nowhere except when to everyone's surprise Curtis Painter took off on a designed run where he showed off his Drew Bledsoe-like speed. Coverage was good, and AJ Wallace continues to impress. He is now officially listed as a starting corner over Lydell Sargeant, which is good news since AJ is one of the fastest members of the team and is much more physical than Sargeant. The pass rush was decent, but not as good as I expected, but Penn State rarely blitzed and so most of the game it was the 4 defensive linemen versus the 5 offensive linemen of Purdue.

Evan Royster is having himself a very quiet season. A Tony Hunt season, where the yards keep piling up, but the runs are physical and rarely very long. Royster is averaging almost 8 yards per carry, and his longest run is just 37 yards. That speaks volumes about that average. I hate seeing guys with an 8 ypc average and have that due to several 80 yard jogs against Utah State. Give me a break. On the other hand Evan seems to run for 10 yards every time he gets the ball. He's not that big, he's not that fast, but he is strong, quick, and has great vision and uses his blockers to perfection. Clark again was impressive and remains in the top 15 in the nation in passing efficiency. Again, with PSU leading the whole game, there was no reason to utilize the option or other quarterback runs that are almost guaranteed yardage. If the game is close against Wisconsin, I expect Clark to be running a fair amount. After this game, I was no more impressed or any less impressed with the team. They are good, and we saw that Illinois is also very good as they thrashed the Michigan defense. The next three weeks are monumental, and I have been having a hard time doing my homework as I think about Penn State. They have a hard road ahead, but this team wants to prove themselves, and I hope they can.