The Penn State Football Show

Jason, I must say that was a tremendous debut, on par with Anthony Morelli coming out throwing a 42 yard touchdown against Akron on his first pass of his first career start back in 2006. Of course, we all know where it went from there. Don't let that happen to you.

First, let me describe the play by play of my reaction to your post. When I first read the opening introduction, I assumed this post was by your brother, the infamous Ryan Albright. I quickly scrolled to the bottom to confirm my hunch, saw the name Albright at the bottom of the post, and didn't even think to check for a first initial.

So I go back to reading the post, and the more I read, the more confused I get. This does not sound like Ryan Albright at all. First of all, it is way too positive - there are not nearly enough complaints. Second of all, Ryan would never have the patience to sit and write a post that long. Sure, if he's sitting in traffic, he's likely to call you and rant about the game for hours on end, but he won't waste his precious free time at the computer writing for a blog. Third, and most importantly, this post was way too insightful to be made by Ryan. By the time I finished it I refused to believe what I had just read was written by your brother, and then I took a closer look, saw the J. Albright, and suddenly everything made sense once again and all was right in the world.

Now, on to your post. I found myself agreeing with most of the things you said. Most notably: Clark throwing flat-footed all the time. This really annoys me and I don't know why they haven't fixed this yet. I also agree that while the outcome would have been the same, Sean Lee was greatly missed. The play-calling was poor as you mentioned. Screens would have worked well, the play action bootleg should be a staple of the offense (USC runs that play all the time) and a reverse could have helped too. And seriously, what happened to Brett Brackett? Even if the other guys are better pass-catchers than him, he was very effective as a blocker last year. Why don't we at least use him in the role this year? Stephfon Green is fast but is not a natural running back. He lacks the necessary vision and lateral mobility. I share your concerns about Wagner, especially in a close Big Ten game against a team like OSU or Michigan.

There were a few things I disagreed with. Yes, the blocked punt and the Royster fumble killed Penn State. But, you can't say that the game came down to those two plays. Penn State's overall inability to put points on the board and protect the football cost them the game. Once again, I believe this goes back to the offensive line. They had plenty of wasted opportunities, and should have been able to overcome those two mistakes, but could not get anything going offensively. When they went into half-time with only 10 points, I knew they were in trouble, and you could sense where this one was going.

I haven't really seen much to like out of Sukay. Maybe I need to go back and watch the game again to see what you saw. I think his tackling needs to improve first and foremost. Forgive me, but hearing that Sukay is the next Anthony Scirrotto didn't exactly leave me filled with excitement. To me, the seondary still has not been tested, so I have no idea how good they are.

Hayes is clearly nowhere near 100% after the two injuries, and you can't really blame him. I don't expect much out of him this year. Which is a shame because hew as great.

Iowa is now in the past and the team has to move on. I am anxious to see how they perform this weekend. I think the Illinois game will go a long way into determining how the rest of the season plays out. I would not be surprised at all to see them lost this game. If they do, they could be in trouble. If they bounce back and play well, they can still go on to have a great season.