Saturday, October 16, 2010
Sitting in the stands at Beaver Stadium last Saturday, watching the crowd filter out before the end of the 3rd quarter, I started questioning the last time I saw a Penn State team play this bad. The answer I came up with was a few of the games in 2004. These two teams (2004 & 2010) have very similar features. They are young, inexperienced and lacking a leader/playmaker on both sides of the ball. The only problem is, I think this 2010 team has more talent. So to see a performance like the Illinois game, AT HOME, is extremely frustrating.
The attrition on defense is certainly a problem. Clearly, the defense looked uninspired and extremely lackluster, but I think you have to look at the personnel. For most of the second half, true freshman DT DaQuann Jones was playing DE and two freshman, Malcolm Willis and Stephon Ogben-Agyapong, who really have not seen much time, were shuffling in at Strong Safety and looked lost out there. The LB corp has bent to the point of a complete break so I'm wondering...where is the other stud LB recruit Mike Hull? The problem with all the injuries is the guys who are injured need to play for this team to get better. Sitting on the sidelines for the next 2 months is a wash and we are back at square one in the spring.
I was not aware of the rumors of dissension among the coaching staff, but I think there are some areas of concern. As Pete stated, I also noticed a few players celebrating big hits/tackles after significant Illinois gains. I too cannot stand this. Its like pimping a solo Home Run in the bottom of the 9th when you are losing 7-1. I saw Khairi Fortt make a nice tackle for about a 1-2 yard gain late in the 4th quarter and then come up and make a celebratory gesture. This looks bad and indicates we have a bunch of individual players rather than a cohesive unit. I expect these kind of things from the Florida States and Miamis...not Joe Paterno's Penn State.
Furthermore, what is going on with Derrick Thomas and Sean Stanley? Why are their absences going undisclosed? I mean, Joe is quick to tell us that true freshman Paul Jones is having academic inadequacies; Brandon Ware is in the doghouse for physical, mental and academic instabilities; and we all know about the documented legal issues of the recent past that Joe did not hesitate to comment on. So, why keep it quite with these guys?
Lastly, the problems with the run game are clearly a result of an offensive line who does not like to be physical and play trench-warfare football. And, there have been a few times this year when we fail to pick up 1 yard on 3rd and 4th down. I still think running Stephon Green up the middle on 3rd-and-short is a senseless play. So, my question is, where is Curtis Dukes? I thought this guy was supposed to be a stud? And he is the biggest, strongest back we have. Why not give him some touches?
Feel free to shed some insight and provide some answers to these questions. Hopefully the bye-week patches up some of the holes because this ship is taking on some serious water and heading under fast.
2 Comments:
I actually liked what Fortt did. He wasn't trying to be obnoxious with his celebrations, but rather try to get some intensity into the defense which has been lacking.
As for Thomas, I have heard that he is done for the year, but expect Stanley to start against Minnesota.
I don't see the likeness with this team and 2004. '04 still had a pretty decent defense but had to play conservative to help the offense. Also Zach Mills was a leader that had no support at all. But they will both finish with losing records.
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