The Penn State Football Show

Thoughts on 2009:

For me, personally, 2009 was a pretty boring football season all around. We have been spoiled the past few years with some awesome college football filled with shocking upsets (App. State over Michigan!! Stanford over USC) and unbelievably dramatic games (Boise State over Oklahoma, Texas over USC, Texas Tech over Texas). Maybe it’s just me, but this year just seemed to be kind of lacking. Overall I found myself much less interested in college football this year than I typically am. Nevertheless, I still watched my share of college football, so here are my thoughts on the past year:

We all pretty much agreed heading in to this season that Penn State’s schedule was set up beautifully for the Lions in 2009. The two biggest games, Iowa and Ohio State, were both at home. The game against the Hawkeyes was a night game at Beaver Stadium, and it was the Big Ten opener, with last year’s crushing last-second defeat at Iowa fresh on the minds of all players and fans. It was a recipe for great revenge for the Lions. The current state of Michigan football made this year’s trip to the Big House not nearly as intimidating as usual. Penn State dodged the Badgers on the schedule this year, and the non-conference opponents consisted of four cream puffs once again. Heading in to the season, I heard many Penn State fans express the same feelings that I had: An undefeated regular season was well in reach, and anything less would pretty much be a disappointment. Realistically though, most people knew that 11-0 is a lot to ask for, and a 10-1 mark is not too shabby.

We all know what happened. The Lions handled all of the opponents that they should have, and lost in the only two tough games that they played. I guess this is why it was kind of a boring season. But a lot of people take those wins for granted, when taking care of business each week is not as easy as people assume. It’s easy to sleep against an inferior opponent at some point during the season (Ohio State against Purdue, Iowa against Northwestern), but PSU managed to avoid this, and that should be commended.
The efforts against Iowa and Ohio State were very poor and disappointing, especially on the offensive side of the football, where they couldn’t do a thing. The early non-conference wins were pretty sloppy and ugly, but the team hit full stride in an impressive performance in Ann Arbor. Overall, a solid season, but again, with the way the schedule was set up for them, you couldn’t help but be a little disappointed.

So sitting at 10-2 after the regular season, it really came down to the Bowl Game to determine whether or not this year was a success. Win, and they notch a solid W over a tough SEC opponent that has been one of the nation’s premiere programs over that past 10 years. Lose, and it’s a 10-3 season with 10 wins that they were expected to win and 3 losses in the only three difficult games they had all year. I would call that an unsuccessful season.

The conditions at the Capital One Bowl were clearly horrendous, so it’s hard to take a whole lot from the game. It’s pathetic that the field was in such poor condition, but that’s a whole different discussion. I thought Penn State was clearly the better team in the game. They could have put it away by finishing off some drives, but settling for field goals kept the game close when it shouldn’t’ have been. The defense played great, shutting down LSU for almost the entire game. The offense moved the ball all game long, and the performance by the offensive line was very impressive. Perhaps they were aided by the conditions, but they were much more successful than LSU’s o-line, so perhaps not. It was a good game, and a very big win for Penn State and the Big Ten. With the bowl victory, I think you have to say that 2009 was a pretty good year for Penn State. Maybe not what we had hoped for, but it could have been much worse. You can’t complain about an 11 win season.

I would just like to add a few points to wrap up the 2009 season...

As for the Capital One Bowl...I think it is difficult and pointless to take anything away from a bowl game. The bowl game marks the ending of one season and the beginning of the next and the only thing that matters is a win. No style points. No moral victories. That being said, Penn State did what it needed to do to cap off a good season. I think we were the better team and dominated most of the game. If we cash just one of those field goals into a touchdown, it is LSU playing late-game-spoiler rather than PSU. Most of all, I feel good for Daryll Clark. Hopefully now, his legacy will hold a little more credibility. I still think he ranks among the best of PSU QB's.

As for the National Championship...very disappointed to see Colt McCoy go down early. That really tarnished the whole game. I really felt sorry for the kid. His whole career came down to this game and to see it all wash down the drain like that must have been devastating. Hopefully, he has a successful NFL career to ease some of the pain.

I agree that Alabama should have taken a knee to end the game rather than scoring again. I thought Saban was a classy guy and did things the right way?

As for next season's Penn State-Alabama game...I dont see Penn State beating Alabama next year due to our uncertainty at QB coupled with the fact that it is the second game of the season, but I think you can make their offense one-dimensional. Defense will be a key in that game and I think Penn State will compete but we can get into all that stuff later. I view this series much like the Notre Dame series. I will give them 2010 but I am pumped for their visit to the Valley in 2011!

Note to all the Big Ten bashers out there: The Big Ten has 3 teams ranked in the Top 10 at season’s end…a season which had five undefeated teams heading into the bowl games. Additionally, each of these three teams proved to be the better team in their respective bowl game. It is clear that the Big Ten is a different brand/style of football, but can we really still call it an inferior conference?

Food for thought: Since 2005, only 11 D-IA college football teams have won 50 games. Penn State is one of them with 51 while Boise State and Texas lead with 58!

Oh yeah

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State was one of three Big Ten Conference teams to finish in the Top 10 of the final Associated Press and USA Today coaches' polls released today.

It was the highest total among any conference and marked only the fourth time in the past 48 years that the Big Ten has had three teams finish in the Top 10.

Penn State (11-2) ended up No. 9 in the AP poll and No. 8 in the coaches' poll, while Ohio State and Iowa were No. 5 and No. 7, respectively, in both polls.

1) Alabama not putting the knee down with 50 seconds left and instead scoring again....despite being up 10 and Texas not being able to stop the clock. Classless

2) Holding 4 fingers up going into the 4th quarter. Enough of this shit already. Everyone and their mother does it....so who cares? "It's the 4th quarter! OMG!" Dude, shut up. We know. That's why the ref blew his whistle and you're changing sides of the field. What really pisses me off about this is that every fan and players on BOTH teams do this....even the teams that are getting blown out. Why are you so happy it's the last quarter of the game? You are closer to your demise. Ughhhh

3) The Gatorade bath. Who cares anymore. It was cool a long time ago, but now you're just ruining clothing. I don't care what kind of laundry detergent you've got....you're being a dick.

4) Michelob Ultra commercials. For those that are unaware, these commercials show people doing outdoor activities and exercising the day after drinking their Mick Ultra, clearly marketing toward health conscious individuals. But hey....guess what? Natty Light has the same amount of calories. Get a better product or just shut up.

5) Mark Ingram's Dad. The dude is in prison for a serious criminal offense. Who gives a shit if he can watch his son play in the national championship? Maybe he shouldn't have laundered money and committed bank fraud. How about giving someone else's dad some pub....maybe one that ins't incarcerated. This reminds me of a game when Penn State was playing MSU and Jeff Smoker was the MSU quarterback. The announcers would not get off Smoker's balls about him recovering from a drug addiction. They praised him allll game long and didn't even give mention to his teammates...the ones that never got addicted to drugs in the first place.

What kind of message is this sending people? My future plan is to get arrested after some grand larceny and assault, then I am going to get my kids addicted to crack so that one day they overcome their addiction and play football and the announcers can praise them about what they've overcome and talk about how great it is that I can watch my wonderful children play football while in prison.

6) Dave Matthews Band should never be played during a football game. Period. This isn't soccer

Lastly, I would just like to say that Colt McCoy is a terrific individual, and it is really unfortunate that someone that really cared about his university could not help them win a national championship.

I have Sept. 11, 2010 circled on my calendar (or I would if my parents had got me one like they normally do for Christmas). I would love to stick it to Saban....jabroni

First of all, I can't believe you idiots actually think you can pull off the record the game and try to watch it later without hearing about the score. It's impossible. It's never been done. I've tried it many times, never with any sort of success. If you honestly think you can pull it off you are fooling yourselves. The very thought of it is so arrogant and ignorant of you. But good luck! I might text you guys score updates just to teach you a lesson.

This game really snuck up on me, and I haven't really put nearly as much thought into this bowl game as I normally do. This entire college football season has been pretty underwhelming in my opinion, and I just haven't had as much interest as usual. We have been spoiled the last few years with some incredible college football seasons though, so I can't complain.

Anyway, I don't really have a whole lot to say about the game. I agree with a lot of the things that Rudy and Drew said. I expect a defensive battle like Rudy said. I don't know a whole lot about this LSU team. I do know they aren't as good as some of the great LSU teams in recent years, but they definitely have a ton of talent on their roster. I am going to take LSU in this game for a pretty simple reason. Penn State's only two losses this year came at the hands of Iowa and Ohio State, and the reason they lost both games was because their o-line was completely dominated and overpowered by the defensive line of the opponenent. LSU always has an excellent defensive line, so I expect the same thing to happen. Penn State's offense will struggle to move the ball as the d-line gives them fits. It will be a low scoring game, but I see LSU coming out on top. Les Miles prepares his teams well for bowl games. But then again, so does Joepa...


Also, Drew, I like how you state that you are trying to "bring some legitimacy" to this blog under the post titled "Southern chicks are sluts."

Before I began to actually think about what I was going to say in this post, I had my mind made up that Penn State was going to lose. When you look at our losses compared to theirs, the scales just tip to LSU's favor. I think Ohio State is a good team and if we had shown up to play at all I would be proud to call it a loss. How Iowa beat us still baffles me. What discourages me more is that Iowa should have beaten OSU on their home turf. Astounding. But the closer I got to putting pen to paper all I could think was "Can Penn State really lose two bowl games in a row?"

Unfathomable, right? Penn State has far and above proven themselves to be the over-achiever of the Big Ten in bowl victories. I remember the days of my father preaching to me "Give Jerry Sandusky two weeks and he'll prepare a defense that could stop God." To a lesser extent I still find this true with the current coaching staff. They have done a tremendous job, by and large, preparing for an unfamiliar foe. And I don't know how many times we have to prove that we have speed at Penn State. Every year that's all the announcers talk about leading up to the game and we always hear of opposing coaches being amazed at our speed after the game. You would think they could find a new angle.

What honestly sat in my mind the most was last years bowl prediction. All three of us took Penn State over USC and although hindsight is 20/20 and you guys will think I'm full of it, I didn't really see how Penn State could beat the Trojans and was less than surprised at the outcome. I don't want to make that mistake again. Because to be completely honest, the fact that more and more people are reading what we have to say is maybe one of the coolest feelings in the world. And I'm trying to bring just a small piece of legitimacy to this site.

So after days of waffling one thought came to my head and my decision was made up. This is a big game, and Darryl Clark has proven he can't win them. I don't mean to throw losses on one guy's shoulders but he really has not come through when we needed him the most. I think the Bayou Bengals take this one based on a stagnant Penn State offense and a porous special teams.

Lions and Tigers and....Bears! Oh my! What Bears you ask? The Bruins! Unfortunately I will be unable to view the Capital One Bowl live since I will be attending the Winter Classic hockey game at Fenway Park, but Drew and I (and Fitz) will attempt to do the impossible....record the game and watch it from start to finish as if it were live. To do this, we will be incommunicado from 1pm until we have seen the final play of the Penn State - LSU matchup.

Now on to the game itself! I am really looking forward to this defensive duel, and the opportunity for Penn State to finally earn the evasive meaningful victory. So far this season Penn State has taken care of business in their wins and in their losses they have made mistakes and not been able to run the ball. LSU presents a stingy defense that held Florida to only 13 points, and we have come to expect a solid defensive unit out of the bayou on a yearly basis. This year however, the defense has been giving up more yards (both passing and rushing) than their own offense can produce. Their defense has 20 sacks (not a bad number) but they have allowed 35! In a game against lowly Louisiana Tech, LSU managed only 246 yards while giving up 322 after squeaking out an ugly 8 point victory. All season LSU has failed to live up to their billing.

All in all I have not been impressed with LSU all season. They, like Penn State, have not beaten a currently ranked team, and I feel that much of their legitimacy is due to the fact that they "hung in there" against Florida and Alabama. In both of those games, however, their yardage was doubled by their opponent. In addition, for the bowl game, LSU's top running back, Charles Scott, will not play due to an injury....too bad. Even without him in the lineup, all month I have heard about "Southern Speed" yada yada yada. Everyone's got their blazers, and Penn State is no different. What's so damn special about LSU? Oh my god they have someone on their team that runs a 10 second 100-meter! Terrifying! Too bad the chump only has 23 carries and 3 catches on the season. Yet all month that is all I heard. "LSU is too fast"...."this Holliday kid is going to outrun the Penn State defense". Horsehockey. I love Devon Smith, but the little guy has been a non-factor over the course of the season. Sure he's as fast as chihuahua falling down a manhole, but he isn't a great football player. Neither is Holliday...he's just fast. Put it back in your pants media types! He concerns me on kickoffs and that's about it. People don't realize the speed of Penn State's defense. AJ Wallace, Bowman, Lee, and Crawford are all guys that have above average speed for their positions. There are also rumors that we may see a fair amount of the fleet of foot Gerald Hodges at linebacker. LSU simply put has not been able to do much offensively all season while Penn State's defense has been smothering. Put that together and LSU is going to have a tough time moving the ball.

Their inability to sustain drives on offense has hurt their defense, and this is not the same kind of LSU defense we have seen in the past. Typically their defensive line is full of monsters, but this year the stars of the defense have probably been the secondary and LB's. Look for Penn State to really try to establish the running game and make a statement on the line. The Lions have a number of guys that can produce offensively, and with a whole month of focused practice, I fully expect guys like Curtis Drake to play a major role in the game. All in all, Penn State seems much more talented and they possess greater depth than the Tigers. Keep LaFell (LSU's star WR) double covered and stuff the run and LSU can't do much else.

With all this being said, you can't count out LSU. They are well coached and play well in bowl games. Only a few years ago they were national champions, and last year they diagnosed Georgia Tech's triple option and absolutely dominated the game, but in my opinion, it will be quite tough to prepare for Penn State. They are well balanced, disciplined, and perform well in bowl games. The coaches have proved in the past several years that they are not afraid to throw in some new wrinkles during bowl preparation, and even if they don't throw any gimmicks at LSU, the threat of one will constantly be on their mind when guys like Drake, Smith, and Newsome are in the game. Over the past four years, Penn State has performed at a high level offensively and they have execute well, even against some very stout defenses.

I am clearly biased, but LSU has underachieved all year and have been sloppy in most of their games. The same could be said of Penn State, but with the way they came out and executed against Michigan State, I tend to forget about their slop. Florida held LSU to 162 yards of offense. Penn State has a better defense, and as long as Clark can minimize errors, I see LSU gaining well under 300 yards and scoring at most one touchdown. The biggest danger for Penn State, and an area LSU will undoubtedly target, is special teams. With a whole month to get healthy and work on their kick coverage though, I expect PSU has addressed this. With how poorly LSU's offense has played, it wouldn't be a bad idea to just kick to an up-man every kickoff to get the ball out of Hollidays little mitts. This is a big test and a very meaningful game for the university and the Big Ten as a whole. I was very pleased with Wisconsin's win over Miami, and hopefully, with the exception of the damn Hawkeyes, the trend can continue.

Mufasa takes down Shere Khan.

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