The Penn State Football Show

Another note I meant to bring up but it looks like I forgot to mention... I've heard a million times this week that Penn State has not won in Columbus since 1978, which means they have never won there since joining the Big Ten. Well Whoopdie Freakin Doo.

Two weeks ago we heard how Penn State can't win at Camp Randall. They beat Wisconsin.

Last week we heard how Penn State has lost 9 in a row to Michigan. They beat Michigan.

Clearly this team writes its own history. Tomorrow night is a big chapter.

I am very confident heading into this game, and i believe the Penn State Nittany Lions are too. They have no reason not to be. They have beaten every team they have faced by two touchdowns or more, and that streak will continue this weekend.

Ohio State has been unimpressive all season prior to last weekend. They had a big win over Michigan State and now everyone is saying the Buckeyes are back. They certainly have gotten better, and Pryor improves each week as he gains experience, but the truth remains, that Ohio State is simply not that good this year. For those who think I am crazy, just wait until after this game.

Look at their season so far. The Buckeyes struggled mightily against lowly Ohio and Troy. They got smoked by USC. They failed to score an offensive touchdown against Purdue. They needed a last-second field goal to defeat the same Wisconsin team that Penn State took to the woodshed.

So what have they done to deserve all this hype? They took it to Michigan State pretty good last week, but the 45-7 score is deceiving. Two of their touchdowns came on fumble returns, and Michigan State's five total turnovers pretty much gift-wrapped this game to the Buckeyes. Also, Spartans quarterback Brian Hoyer was injured and sat out the second half.

It's possible that the Ohio State players have gained a lot of confidence after this win; especially after hearing about how good they are all week and about how they are finally back. It's also possible, and I think more likely, that the players are aware that they don't have a very good team this year. Don't ask me how they aren't good this year -- they returned 19 starters from a team that played in the national championship game -- but they are not a top 10 team.

There is no doubt that Terrelle Pryor is going to be great. But he's not great yet. He can run well, but he doesn't look very comfortable passing the ball. Last week, he threw only 11 passes, completing 7 for 116 yards. Ohio State can not be this one-dimensional if they want to defeat Penn State.

If I'm Tom Bradley, I'm telling my defense to make Pryor beat us through the air. Throw nine guys in the box, and do not let Chris Wells run wild. If Ohio State can establish a solid running game, Penn State could be in trouble. In my opinion, Chris Wells is the best player in the entire country. He has an incredible combination of size and speed, and he needs to be 100% of Penn State's focus defensively. Contain Wells, and you win the game. It's as simple as that. If Pryor and Wells are able to have some success running various zone-read plays, Ohio State might be able to put together some nice drives just like Michigan did, and keep Penn State's explosive offense off the field. I think if Penn State can contain the running game, and for Ohio State into passing situations and make Pryor throw the ball, they will force a few turnovers and make Pryor very uncomfortable. OSU has given up a ton of sacks this year. The Penn State d-line needs to be disruptive and abuse Pryor. He is very young and inexperienced, and with Evans and Maybin in his face all night, he will not know what to do. Pressure will lead to big things for this defense. I will throw this out there: It would not surprise me at all to see Todd Boeckman play at some point in this game.

As I said earlier, I hope Mauti, Bowman, and Gbadu are the starting three at linebacker. As Rudy pointed out though, that's not going to happen. It will once again be Sales and Hull, and Paterno will wait until those two get burned before making the necessary change.

I agree with a comment that Drew made that basically said this game is sort of a lose-lose situation. Either Penn State loses this game, or they win, but the win is diminished because people will say Ohio State is down this year. However, there is nothingi they can do about that, so they must just keep doing what they've been doing, and that's dominating every team they face.

One X-factor. I've heard that it's supposed to rain Saturday night. This could be bad for the Lions. A sloppy field definitely works in Ohio State's favor. Penn State has a much more explosive, wide-open offense. If the field isi wet, this coudl limit the number of things Penn State can do offensively. It will make it a low-scoring battle, which only helps Ohio State.

Offensively, I think PSU needs to continue to do what they've been doing: be balanced. They need to come out throwing, which will open up the running game. The play-calling has been great all year, so Jay and Galen need to just stick with whats been working. Perhaps maybe we will even see a new wrinkle or two. A trick play? Maybe a fake punt/field goal?

I think it's pretty clear how I feel about this game. As long as the field conditions aren't bad, I think Penn State just has too many weaponso and is too balanced to lose this game. The key matchup to watch will be Ohio State's running game against Penn State's front seven. Whoever wins this battle will most likely win the game.

I say Penn State wins by multiple touchdowns and heads into their bye-week in great shape. On another note, this is my boldest prediction of the year: after falling to Penn State, OSU will go on to lose two more games. One at Illinois, and they will close out the season with a shocking loss to Michigan, giving Rich Rodriguez something to celebrate after an atrocious opening season in Ann Arbor.

I do not yet have my predictions for the Breeder's Cup this weekend. I'm waiting on Hottel to say his first so I know which horse not to bet on.

That is what Penn State has and what will ultimately carry them through hard times. They know what they are capable of, and no matter who is on the other side of the ball, the only ones preventing them from executing are themselves. Drew is right about Jim "I dont know where you got that vest but it wasn't the men's department" Tressel...he is sly. He's one of those guys you don't have babysit or even pet your dog. But whatever he has in store for his defensive unit, Penn State and Daryll Clark will dictate this game. This is not to say that they will 100% win, but if they play their game, no matter what OSU does, victory will come to the Lions.

The team is so complete from offense to defense to leadership, character, mindset...everything just seems very constant. OSU on the other hand is riding a big wave coming off a blowout at East Lansing, but they have faced adversity this year and dealt with it by replacing their quarterback. Thus far that move has paid off, and Terrelle Pryor has done an admiral job while showing flashes of his elite athletic ability. Unfortunately for the layman, who sees Pryor juking, running, slinging, and doing all his video game moves, they do not realize that he is 18 years old and is good simply because he is athletic. His throwing motion is terrible, he floats the ball, he stops looking downfield as soon as someone gets close to him, he stops moving his feet as soon as someone makes contact with him, and he talks smack on the field like he has actually earned the right to do that. I despise him. After the Wisconsin game everyone just bowed down to him. Wow he "led" a drive down the field and won a game by scoring a touchdown where the Wisconsin linebackers had no idea what was going on. Does anyone realize that he had 14 carries for 9 yards before his 11 yard scamper at the end of the game? He threw a pick, missed some wide open receivers, and at time made poor decisions. As much as I dislike this guy, these things are expected. He's young, inexperienced, and has been playing weak sauce high school football the past 4 years. Why did he struggle so much against Wisconsin's defense? They have fast linebackers.

The Penn State defense has speed and it will be crucial to get Mauti in the game. As for Bani, he is quick, but he's not a middle linebacker. I like him in there for the 4-4 with Bowman, Mauti and Hull/Sales, and I give credit to Hull who looked horrible in the first quarter against Michigan, but when he got his second chance in the third, he played better than he had all year. I expect him to start as well as Sales; that's just the Penn State way...these guys will have a short leash, but they will be given their chance. Look for a heavy dose of 4-4 defense to stop the run and force Pryor to pass. Anthony Scirrotto will be a big key in this game and should have plenty of time to close in on receivers while Terrelle floats it to them.

There were games in the past when I predicted that Penn State would win just because that's what I wanted to happen, and how could I pick against my team? That's what I did last year when we played OSU. This year I make my pick with confidence, the same thing that Penn State players will have in one another throughout the game Saturday. No doubts, no telling the coach that you should be benched if you don't perform well (give me a break Pryor), no cracking under pressure. This team is for real. Daryll Clark could get 3 limbs cut off and he'd still get under center. He's not going to tell anyone to take him out if he's not doing well because he believes in himself and knows that he's the man. The whole world is about to learn that. This team is downright determined, mean, and destined for great things. Let's hope their ready to bring the party to Columbus.

Penn State 35 Ohio State 21

Boys,
This one will be a bit lengthier because I have to re-cap last week and give a preview for this week so bear with me...
Last week Monday through Saturday at 4:30 was hands down the worst week of my life. I was often the only one at work in what proved to be the busiest week we've had thus far. It was miserable. This guy for the navy is giving me nightmares. That is not a lie. Tuesday was so bad I found myself in a very shady bar drinking jim beam on the rocks. I spent the night in the office on Friday. Saturday, after working 8 hours, I threw down $1,000 to fix my car. Are you getting an idea for the kind of mood I'm in? So imagine how much worse that mood got when Penn State got absolutely abused in the first quarter. I was absolutely infuriated. I knew we would overcome at least on offense. On offense we were just having dumb luck. But the defense definitely gave Tressel some things to look at. Luckily though we turned things around and broke a long and overdue drought against a team that robbed us of something very special in 2005.
One of my concerns at the beginning of the year was special teams; especially the kicking team. They have silenced me greatly and have now become the most underrated strength on this team. Michigan's starting field position was terrible all day because of great open field tackling and discipline by Penn State.
I'm not sure whether the defense figured it out or Michigan ran out of gas. They are a team that has been accused of being out of shape in the past. And p.s. Pete, Gbadu is garbage. Gino Capone made stops closer to the line of scrimmage than him. I do like Mauti a lot though. That kid can play. Brandon Minor also ate Scirotto's lunch all day. I imagine he was circled in film sessions this past week. The tackling in general was not superb which is usally a sign they took it easy that week in practice. Adjustments have to be made because as gay as Tressel is the guy can put together some schemes and it will be up to Bradley and the defense to adjust on the fly.
As for Kevin Kelley I agree. He is a bit of a choke artist. I can only recall one time where he iced or won a game with a field goal and it was against FSU three years ago and it took him 4 tries.
The offense continued to look smooth as silk. Some hiccups early which again was really just dumb luck and then they locked it up and got the job done. I must echo the sentiments of Mr. Ryan Albright, "Why don't we just give the ball to Royster every time?" This kid is playing tremendously.
This game provided us with one of the many moments/situations you need in a successful season. There are certain elements that every great season has. We have had some of them so far, some of them still remain. I don't know all of them so feel free to add to this list. Here's what we've had so far:
1) The "The rest of the country should see this" moment: Illinois night game with the white out. A lot of the guys I work with could give a shit less about college football and could give two shits less about Penn State but so many of them came up to me at work on Monday just saying "Man, that stadium looked cool..."
2) The Road Test game: Wisconsin. Although it is looking like Wisconsin sucks, no one knew that going in. It was a night game in a pretty rowdy stadium and the Lions took care of business.
3) The come from behind game: Michigan. Like Pete said we were down and hadn't really been there before and the boys responded superbly.
Here's what we're missing:
1) The highlight reel signature play. It 2005 you could take your pick from the Williams catch against Northwestern, the sack on Troy Smith, or the stricken from the records murdering of that d-back for Minnesota by M-Rob. There have been some memorable plays, but nothing that the season really hinges around.
2) The knock down drag out game. We had a few in 2005 and this team has not been taken to the wire yet.
I think this weekend we will see both. Penn State is honestly damned if they do damned if they don't this weekend against OSU. If we win by a hair people will say "Oh man they only beat them by 3 points and they could barely beat Ohio." If we blow them out they will say "I knew Ohio State was overrated, Penn State still sucks." Every commentator outside of Beano Cook thinks we're garbage and I just hope to God we get a chance to prove them wrong.
Ohio State will bring it. They have a lot to play for. With only one loss they can still win the Big Ten and go to a good bowl game, but a two-loss team from the Big Ten probably won't get an at-large BCS bid this year, so they will be fired up. I think it is CRUCIAL to stop them on their opening drive, score on our first drive and set the tempo. This is the moment Darryl Clark has been waiting for, and like he said, "When you put on that helmet, it's time to party."
Penn State can win this game. I worry about Tressel though. He is sly and he is smart. You can gurantee he will exploit some of Penn State's weaknesses. We have to adjust. This will not be anything like any Penn State-Ohio State game in the past. This game will be won with offense. I like the Lions 33-27.
As for upsets, short and sweet, the Longhorns go down.

First off, they did it. Penn State finally beat Michigan. It was everything I could have dreamed of and more. The fact that they struggled in the first half only made it better – and I think it also was the best thing that could have happened for this team.

Everything was going wrong for Penn State early, and the players could have easily said “Oh man, here we go again,” and packed it in, but they didn’t. They came out and played a tremendous second half. Now, if Penn State gets down again, or has another slow start, they will not be fazed since they have been through it before. This will go along way.

The best thing Penn State did in this game was make adjustments. Michigan had two great scoring drives early on Penn State, but the Lions adjusted and shut down the Wolverines for the rest of the game. The best part was that the adjustments were not limited to schemes, but they actually made personnel changes – great ones.

I don’t know why it has taken so long, but the coaches were finally able to get the best tandem of linebackers on the field together: Bowman, Gbadu, and Mauti. After Michigan put up 17 points early, Sales and Hull (who was struggling) were taken out and replaced with these two younger, faster linebackers. The results were spectacular, as Michigan struggled to even pick up a single first down.

It was interesting to see that Gbadu was in the middle and Mauti was outside, as I would have expected it to be the other way around. Either way, both looked impressive. Mauti made some great plays while he was in, and he looks very promising. He missed a tackle on the first play of the second half that should have gone for a loss, but for the most part played well. Gbadu got taken out of a play that resulted in a big run for Michigan, and Hull was then brought back in. Other than that though, these changes worked brilliantly and were long overdue. In my opinion, this trio of linebackers needs to start against Ohio State and receive most of the playing time throughout the game. If Penn State tries to revert back to Sales and Hull, it could mean trouble, especially against Chris Wells and a strong offensive line.

I don’t have too much more to say about the Michigan game. The players did most of the speaking on the field. I will point out that Penn State once again ran an inside run on third and one to Stephfon Green and he was stopped short again. I do not understand this play-call at all. If you are going to do that play, run one of the bigger backs, not Green.

Also, Penn State ran a lot of quarterback sneaks, and while most of them got the job done, they have not been very pretty. I don’t know who teaches the quarterbacks how to run a sneak, but Morelli was the worst quarterback sneaker I have ever seen, and Clark doesn’t look too comfortable either.

Finally, does anyone else agree that it seems like Kevin Kelly makes all of his field goals when there is no pressure on the situation, but is very inconsistent when Penn State needs him the most? I know he had a solid game in the end (and is now the Big Ten’s all-time leading scorer), but he missed a very makeable field goal when Penn State was down ten and really needed those three points. All of the field goals he made were when Penn State was either winning or not far behind with plenty of time remaining.

Last two thoughts: Aaron Maybin is unstoppable and Evan Royster has been Penn State’s most valuable player thus far. More to come on the OSU game shortly.