The Penn State Football Show

I have no future in journalism simply because I always find a way to make things seem ok. Things obviously did not go according to plan against a weak Syracuse team, but keep in mind that they are drastically better than last year. Here's a quick look at what went wrong and some possible excuses.

Offensive line: They are playing horribly right now, but to be honest with you the defenses thus far KNOW that Penn State isn't going to pull any rabbits out of a hat. These three warmup games are going to be plain vanilla. Run the ball up the middle, establish the basics for the Big Ten season, and don't give away anything. Think about Iowa...what are they going to be able to evaluate from these performances? It's my belief that Penn State is using 25% of its playbook in these games. They haven't run outside, no options, reverses, wildcat...nothing. And since these teams know Penn State isn't going to try to trick them, they can devote their focus to the run. As a result, Clark has been burning them through the air. I can't say I'm not worried, but I think that the OL is in better shape than we think.

Kick Coverage: I am going to go ahead and blame this on some of the freshman that have gotten sucked in on the coverage instead of staying in their lanes. It's good that this happened against Syracuse as I'm sure some of them got a little bit of a wakeup call. Hopefully they can learn from this and be more disciplined.

Pass rush: Paulus and Syracuse got rid of the ball very quickly. There were no deep throws, and it was tough to get pressure. I expected more, definitely at least a sack by a defensive end, but again I am not too concerned. Odrick and Ogbu are man-bear-pigs up the gut and should leave the DE's one-on-one for much of the season.

Tackling: Wallace and Timmons did miss some tackles, and they weren't even that tough. Stupar also looked like a ballerina one time in the open field, but once again these are correctable mistakes. It's better to go through the "preseason" and see how to improve than just cruising through with perfection. I felt the same way about the Patriots in 2007, everything came to easy, but a few years before, they got embarrassed right before the playoffs by Miami and buckled down and went on the win the Super Bowl.

The WORST thing I saw last weekend was the running game. People can blame the O-line all they want, but Royster and Green don't hit the holes. They prance in there and try to avoid people. Green, I understand is not a great inside runner, but Royster looked terrible. He needs to lower that shoulder and stop wading through the defensive line. Brandon Beachum is someone I would love to see more of. Obviously, I'm not a coach and not at practice every day, but whenever he gets the ball he runs like a Penn State running back should. It wouldn't be a bad idea to use him in short yardage situations, and I realize that whoever was running the ball last week on the goalline would have been stuffed.

The BEST thing I saw last weekend was the linebackers. Bowman is a total freak and hopefully he can stay healthy, and I don't think he will be playing against Temple for good reason. With that said, playing without him is a major loss, but PSU has great great depth. Stupar filled in well, but he still has a lot of room for improvement. Gbadyu got in the game and did a decent job. He's extremely fast and they are planning on using him in Hull's place in sure passing situations. Speaking of Hull, as Pete pointed out he played a great game. He mentioned that the strength of the defensive tackles helps him out since they occupy the linemen so he can make tackles. He looked pretty quick and he's certainly a big guy and made some nice tackles. Then there is Sean Lee, who turned it on in the second half. What a guy. He's going to have a great season, and what he does better than his predecessors Poz and Connor is blitz effectively.

This coming week, I'd like to see some more out of the defensive ends. Jerome Hayes, my favorite guy, is coming up a few tough years of injuries and hopefully he can get it going. This wasn't exactly "quick" as I first stated, but I just finished an exam so I was all jacked up.