The Penn State Football Show

I’ve never been so happy to be so wrong about a game. Like I said, I knew Penn State had the superior football team, but that hasn’t stopped them from losing to Michigan in the past. Maybe this win will get me over the whole fear of Michigan. I just need to convince myself that the curse was all about Lloyd Carr and not about Michigan. Unfortunately, there are talks of UM hiring Carr to take over as Athletic Director… This would worry me.

On to the game…Penn State played without a doubt their best and most complete game of the season The offensive line has really come around since the Iowa game. Matt Millen seems to think that Poti is the man at right tackle. I’m interested to see how this plays out because JoePa still makes it sound like Poti is the third string guy and is only playing because Pannel and McCormack are both hurt, but there is no doubt that the line has played the best with Poti in at right tackle. Either way, the line is playing much better as a unit, which is opening up both the running and passing game.

One of the most promising aspects of the game was to watch Royster look like his old self. He is back to playing the way he did last year, slipping his way through defenders, breaking tackles, and gaining extra yards when it seems like there is nowhere for him to go. Maybe he wasn’t 100% early in the year, or maybe it’s just a result of the offensive line coming together. Beachum looked pretty strong in there too. I’d like to see more of him. I also liked the running plays we ran with Suhey. They all went for a good gain, I think they caught the defense off-guard. The only criticism I have in regards to the running game was that there were at least three or four plays that were extremely ugly that just got completely blown up in the backfield. And it wasn’t just one defensive lineman breaking through on a great athletic play, it was like three or four guys all over the running back the second that he got the ball. Did anyone else notice this? It looked like a complete breakdown by the o-line, but it happened a few times. It was as if the defense knew what play was coming or something. I’m not sure why this happened. But I’d gladly give up a few these if they can run the ball the way they did the rest of the time.

It was great to finally get a good return in the kicking game by Powell. Hopefully he can get a few more of those.

Bowman played a tremendous game. But he is clearly still not 100%. Lee is not 100% either. Hopefully these guys can get healthy, because they are two of the best linebackers in the country.

Not only was I wrong about the outcome of the game, but I said the key to the game was to do a good job of wrapping up Forcier and not letting him scramble around. I didn’t think they did a particularly good job of this, but they still managed to prevent him from making big plays. There were a few times he evaded some rushers and got away, but failed to find an open receiver. I give credit to the secondary on that. But overall, they did manage to get a few sacks, which was good.

Clark played a great game and won Big Ten Offensive Player of the week. I was caught off guard when it said he tied the record for touchdowns at Penn State. Then I thought about it more and realized, by the time this season ends, he should probably have most of the PSU passing records. I’m pretty sure Morelli is way up there, mostly just because he started for two years in an offense that threw the ball more frequently than Penn State historically has. Well, Clark is a two-year starter in a much more high-powered offense, so he should certainly pass Morelli in most stats, which I believe should put him at least in the top 3 for all major passing stats at Penn State. He’s really done a phenomenal job the last two years. The only mark against Clark would be the two duds he turned in against Iowa.

It was great to see Quarless finally make the big play we all know he’s capable of making. They need to continue to use him as a big play threat in the passing game.

Michigan was giving Moye a huge cushion, and I loved the way we gladly took advantage by throwing it to him at the line of scrimmage for an easy eight yard gain every time. Great adjustment that worked all game long.

Penn State’s defense has been unbelievable. Michigan came out with the no-huddle and scored with ease right off the bat. And I’m not going to lie, I was scared. But from that point on, the defense was completely dominant. The other three points were a result of two procedure penalties on the offense and a big punt return to give Michigan good field position. Here are some statistics to show how dominant PSU’s defense was against the top ranked offense in the Big Ten:

• After Michigan's initial drive of 70 yards, they were held to 96 yards on their next 11 possessions.

• The Lions held Michigan to a season-low 250 yards, 176 yards below its season total average of 426.6 ypg.

• Michigan entered the game leading the Big Ten in scoring at 37.3 ppg and was held to a season-low 10 points, 27 below its average.

It doesn’t exactly feel like it, but Penn State may have the best defense in the country. They are top five without a doubt. The reason it may not feel that way, is because they haven’t really made a ton of big memorable plays this season. They just go about their business and shut teams down somewhat quietly. But looks at how they compare nationally:

• PSU has held six of their first eight opponents to 10 points or less.
• Penn State leads the nation in scoring defense at 8.88 ppg. Florida is second.
• Penn State leads the Big Ten in ALL the major Big Ten defensive statistical categories: scoring (8.88 ppg), rushing yards per game (79.7 avg.), passing yards per game (160.5 avg) and total defense (240.2 ypg), tackles for losses (70, 8.75 avg.) and sacks (26, 3.25 avg.).
• The defense is ranked in the Top 10 nationally in all the major statistical categories: scoring (1st), rushing (4th), passing (9th) and total defense (3rd), as well as TFL (4th) and sacks (T 8th).

Some of those numbers are just ridiculous. Nine points per game? Eighty rushing yards per game in the Big Ten? That’s impressive. Keep in mind, in the only loss of the season, they only gave up one offensive touchdown, and that was after Iowa got the ball deep in the Lions territory after an interception. So this defense is for real. Not to mention the two best players on the defense have not been 100% all year. So they will only get better.

I think the most unheralded parts of the defense is the secondary. They really have done awesome job. I can’t seem to find the numbers to show the opponents completion percentage against Penn State, but it has to be extremely low. Even the plays where Penn State fails to get pressure on the quarterback, the offenses seem to struggle completing passes. This can be attributed to good coverage. Lynn, Morris, Wallace, Timmons, Astorino and Sukay have all exceeded my expectations for this season. I know Forcier looked pretty bad in this game, but trust me, the kid is a player. He just couldn’t get anything going against the Lions defense.

Again, by far Penn State’s best game. Hopefully they continue to improve.