The Penn State Football Show

Guys,
Those were both totally awesome observations... compared to bullshit! Camp Randall is so overrated its not even funny. "Oooh look at us, we wear red, we jump mildly for a pre-determined period of time during a quarter break." Give it a rest.
The problem lies in what actually happened to Wisconsin following these two losses they just had. Losses like that should crush a team leaving them lifeless. However, the Big Dogs are in town for a night game. If that doesn't get you going nothing will. So again I think you'll see a fired up team and stadium until Penn State goes up a couple scores.
As for the play calling, I think I've been watching Penn State football for too long because I agree with playing this one conservative. I feel we are a superior football team and can still walk away with a good victory on the road not taking too many chances. I don't think its time yet to run the annexation of Puerto Rico. Stick to the run, pass in passing situations, win the battle for field position. Yes we have weapons, yes we have some good plays, but you don't go all in on your first hand. Let's let the rest of the country wonder for a couple more weeks what we can actually do.
As for Wisconsin, they have always been a somewhat balanced team. But we saw what happened last year when Beckum was unavailable, passing game went away, and Peter Chalfin walked away with more Christmas presents last year than P.J. Hill did rushing yards. If the Penn State secondary can cut the pass off early with a little help from the pass rush, the defense stops the Badgers all day.
Which brings me to my next point. I'm really glad you guys didn't mention this player, this way I look really smart when I say it... Aaron Maybin is the MVP so far this year. This kid is KILLING it. He is a phenomenal athlete that no corn-fed Wisconsin farm boy is prepared to handle. Seven sack on the year already and no one talks about him because he hasn't gotten arrested. Absolutely outstanding. He is one of those players I will single out on a play and watch. I haven't done that since Puz.
A small wish: If you recall, Wisconsin coach Brett Bielema (excuse the spelling) picked out a flaw in the kick coverage rule a few years ago and ran out the clock before the half. Smart move on his part but my beef was our return men took really hard shots as a result. So, we bring back Chris Bell for one game, line him up at gunner, he cheap shots their punt returner, and we tell the judge it was community service hours. Win-Win-Win. P.S. Bielema is a douche.
So predictions: Penn State wins a good defensive game on the road all while looking stellar in the all Whites under the lights. Big rushing game PSU 17- Wisconsin 6.
As for upsets: Nothing really stands out at me. Oklahoma State is always good for a big upset every season, but not this week. I will go for the Huskers because deep down I know how much Texas Tech sucks. I'm also keeping an eye on that New Mexico-BYU game for pretty much the same reason. That's the problem with these jabronie teams, they suck, so they can lose to bad teams and you never see it coming.
On crusade boys, on crusade...

Yea, I'm off to Madison. I will be there for my second time. The first being two years ago when JoePa got his knee busted and our offense looked like Groton School Varsity Football 2001 (before I got up there :) ). But this is a new ballgame. Penn State has the tools to tear teams apart and I completely agree with Pete about the aggressiveness of the playcalling. Against Purdue (on the road) they took it pretty easy. Against Wisconsin, you can't do that. This is a solid team that was a projected BCS player a few weeks ago. All that has changed now is their record, not the team. The Wisconsin O-line is MASSIVE, the running backs are physical and the tight ends are the best in the Big Ten. This will be a marquee matchup, and a test for a still unproved Penn State team. Yes they beat Illinois, but when you have a home stadium with the fan support and the size that PSU has, that is expected at home. On the road, in Madison, this will be a test. Although I personally feel that the Wisconsin student section is a bit overrated (only scream for defense on third downs, jump around overrated....wave though...SICK), this is a hostile environment and a stepping stone to the Ohio State game in several weeks.

Daryll Clark will run the show. Terrell Pryor, who runs like a pregnant woman trying to keep from miscarriaging on the football field , could have picked apart this defense, but he's too unskilled and inexperienced for that. Clark? Right now he's the best QB that the Big Ten has. He also has the best receivers in the Big Ten, a great line, and a running back that will be a Heisman candidate next season. They should tear apart the secondary, and the defensive line of Wisconsin, both of which are very mundane. Their linebackers scare me. They have speed, aggression, and want to kill someone. I like that....when they are playing someone else. Good news is that there are only three of them, and one has been playing with a cast the size of Noah's ark the whole season. With good playcalling, I feel PSU should have no trouble scoring.

That leaves the key to the game as making stops and not turning the ball over. The defense is getting better with every game. They are relatively healthy, have players back from suspensions, and are still hungry to prove to everyone that they are the team to beat in this conference. Always second guessed, the unit should play admirably as they have done so in past years. When I was at this very game two years ago in Wisconsin, the defense played extremely well, holding Wisconsin to 13 points. Only trouble was that we couldn't get in the endzone. From what I have heard through the grapevine, the left tackle for Wisconsin is a freshman named Oglesby who is replacing the regular starter who was injured last week, and he reportedly has trouble with the speed rush. Although I don't see UW passing too often while the game is close, this will be a factor if PSU can get a lead.

Look for PSU to pick tails never fails on the toss, take the ball, score, and put the game away. Aggressiveness is how this game will be won. Penn State is the better team, and asserting that is never a bad thing. Jump on them early. Jump on them often. The best defense is a good offense...yada yada yada. It's my sister's birthday on Saturday and anything less than a good shellacking is unacceptable.

I am not afraid of Wisconsin.

I am afraid of Camp Randall Stadium.

Penn State has a much better team than Wisconsin. They should be able to handle them on Saturday. Will they? I'm not so sure. Why? Because it's at Wisconsin and not at home. We all know of Penn State's struggles on the road. Penn State has not won there since 2002. In fact, try and think of the last time Penn State has beaten a solid opponent on the road. Even in 2005 when Penn State won the Big Ten with MRob, Wisconsin was at home, Ohio State was at home, and Michigan, the one loss, on the road. That win over Wisconsin in 02 was actually the last time PSU has beaten any one of those three teams on the road. That's pretty bad.

Why does Penn State struggle on the road? A lot of people blame the coaching by saying that Joe plays it much safer on the road. Almost playing not to lose instead of playing to win. I think this is a valid argument, and it is a great concern of mine heading into the weekend.

I hope that Penn State does not take this approach on Saturday. They need to be aggressive and takes shots down the field and try to put up points. The Nittany Lions have a team capable of blowing out Wisconsin, and that is exactly what they should try to do. If they try and battle it out with them in a typical low scoring match-up that PSU and Wisconsin have had so many times in the past, it may come back to bite them. While, they have played very well so far this season, I still am not sold on the defense. It is not the type of defense they've been spoiled with in recent years that can single-handedly win a game for the team, which is why they need to go into every game trying to score lots of points.

With that being said, as long as Penn State comes out with the right approach and plays aggressively, they will be fine. Everidge looks like a solid quarterback that can do a lot of things, but he is a first-year starter and can get rattled if he is pressured. I expect to see the d-line in his face all night, which will cause Wisconsin a lot of problems. Maurice Evans will come to play. Wisconsin always has a very good and very big O-line. If they can run the ball up the middle against Penn State and sustain some drives, keeping Clark and the offense off the field, they will have a shot to win. P.J. Hill is always tough and physical, but he is not there only great back. John Clay is a 240 pound bruiser that is averaging 6.7 yards per carry. I think the key match up will be Wisconsin's rushing game against Penn State's defense. If Penn State can jump to an early lead, Wisconsin will be forced to throw the ball, which is not their strength and will work in Penn State's favor.

A.J. Wallace has continued to play well and should start at corner. Josh Hull had the best game of his career last week, hopefully he continues to improve, he's got his toughest test this weekend against a good line and a good running team. I've said it many times before and I'll say it again: Drew Astorino is a player. I love the way the kid plays. He flies all over the field and he's playing as well as anyone on this defense right now as a redshirt freshman.

Onto the offensive side of the ball: Havinig Norwood back is a huge plus for Clark. Norwood is his favorite target, so that helps out the passing game. Both Quarless and Shuler are questionable for this game, which leave Szerba at tight end if both can't go. That could be a problem. Tight end has been a strength on this team, but they are pretty thin now with those injuries. I still think Penn State can move the ball well with or without those guys, but obviously it would be easier if they had them. I expect to see Clark run the ball a lot on Saturday, and hopefully take a couple deep shots down the field. I also think this game is a good time to bust out some trickeration, whether its a reverse, a half-back pass, or a fake punt or field goal. Maybe Chaz Powell could be in the mix. Wisconsin has a good defense, but PSU has too many weapons for the Badgers to stop.

In my opinion, it all comes down to how the coaches approach the game. If they let the offense be aggressive and call the right plays, I think Penn State wins in a blowout. If they play conservative, it could end up being a low scoring game like Wisconsin-Ohio State from last week, and that could go either way. Since it's on the road, I would give the edge to Wisconsin in that case.

Penn State has too good of an offense to not score though, I like them winning this thing 35-14

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.