The Penn State Football Show

Jason summed it up pretty well. I was very happy with how things played out in Evanston. Like Jason said, you can't expect the team to perform their best every single week. I was not pleased with the way the team came out in the first half, but in the end, I was glad that they were given a scare and were able to respond in the second half. It benefits the team much more that they were in a close game than if they had just come out and mopped the floor with them from the start. So I'm glad it played out the way it did.

I agree that a weakness was exposed on Penn State's defense. They could not stop those slant routes across the middle and need to address that for next week. They really should have made the adjustment after the first few completions against Northwestern.

Clark played very well once again. Obviously Zug needs to catch those passes. I thin Astorino needs to do a better job of tackling. He really needs to learn how to wrap up and bring the guy down. He needs to become a tackler and not a hitter.

Baechum looked very good, and I'd like to continue to see more of him. I think the staff should use each runner for their strengths: Royster is the main feature back, Beachum should be used as a power back, and Green as a speed back. So, throw the screen passes to Green so he can get the ball in the open field, and utilize Beachum on short yardage situations. Maybe even out of the fullback position.

With Decker out for the season, Moye may be the best wide receiver in the Big Ten.

I think the wide receiver screen pass is effective when they are giving a huge cushion, and we used this very well against Michigan. I think we went a little overboard with it against Northwestern though.

It was good to see Lee on the field for most of the game. Thats a good sign that he's close to full strength. But you could easily see he's not 100% yet.

Nice to see Justin Brown and Curtis Drake in there. Stephon Morris played a lot too. He needs to be smart enough not to make that late hit, but otherwise he played well.

Odrick came out in the second half on a mission and really stepped up his game and lifted the team up. That's what leaders do. He's having a dominant season.

Nobody should be surprised that USC lost to Oregon, or even by the score. USC is a great team, and the number one program over the last 6 or 7 years. They are a team that doesn't rebuild, they reload. But this is clearly a huge reloading year for them, losing all those guys to the NFL last year. Their defense is not playing well at all, and you can only go so far with a true freshman quarterback. That kid is very good, and is going to be great, but you can't expect a kid that inexperienced to go on the road and get a win against a good Oregon team. I don't think people realize how limited teams are with a freshman quarterback. There's not a whole lot you can do, no matter how talented they are. Looks like Oregon will be the Pac 10 Representative in the Rose Bowl this year, and Boise State's win over the Ducks looks even more impressive now. USC will still finish in the top 20 and will be back in the top 5 next year.