PSU Football

Does it still exist? This is the question a lot of folks at Beaver Stadium were asking after yesterday's embarrassing showing against a 1-2 Wisconsin team.

For PSU one rushing yard in the first half. 131 yards total offense for the game. Six total pass completions? For Wisconsin the Badger tailback runs for over 200 yards and the QB chips in another 100+. Wisconsin is NOT the best Big Ten team on the schedule.

This is a PSU team that does NOTHING well. In the past a team might have had a suspect O line, a shaky secondary, be weak aganst the run, not very good on special teams but never all of the above. This team is weak in EVERY aspect of the game. Why all of a sudden do we not have any playmakers?

Penn State had three weeks to prepare for this game. Early in the first quarter it was apparent this team was NOT ready to play this football game. The first series was stopped by numerous stupid penalties like you'd see in the first scrimmage. I'm not going to bore you with every detail but needless to say this team looked awful top to bottom.

As usual Joe took over the play calling early. All of a sudden we're throwing low percentage Hail Mary's on first down. After one of these missiles falls incomplete as the invariably do all 100+ thousand people in the stands look at each other and say, "Draw play". Guess what gets called? Draw play! If that 70 year old dowager who sits in front of me can figure this out what chance do you think Barry Alvarez (who gets paid to know this stuff) might sniff it out also.

We're paying for 34 years of success by indulging a coach who doesn't know when to quit. We've seen it before. The Bear, Woody, et al. It's so sad to see a legend ruin what he's built when no one has the guts to tell the king he's naked.

Speaking of the king, I beat Arnold Palmer by 11 strokes the other day. This guy beat me like a drum for 40 years but I'm finally having my way with him. I'm out hitting him off the tee by 30 yards and his putting is awful. I think he's trying to build his hadicap. I have to give him 2 a side next time we play.

Joe always says that a team improves more between the first and second games than they will the rest of the season. I think we actually got worse. I have a question for the PSU athletic department who just spent 93 million dollars on stadium renovations 11,000 new seats.....

You guys want fries with those?

 

Tod,
Given the crushing lack of performance in the stock market lately I, like many Americans can only envision working until they fire me due to incompetence brought on by old age. Retirement seems like a farfetched fantasy at this point.
Maybe JoePa invested all of his earnings in dot coms and can't afford to quit.

 

CURT?..CURT!!..where are you??? Get out of the on deck circle..ur up next!! jif

 

Curt?

 

Jiffy is just trying to stir up trouble (as usual). Curt is also a PSU fan who is convinced I'm a Joe hater who manipulates statistics to make my points. My take is that Curt is a Paterno apologist who buys Joe's PR machine. Somewhere in the middle is the truth.

PSU has won 6 out of the last 17 games (or so). No manipulation is needed.

 

Tod,

I have an olive branch for ya... How about we get Penn State and ND together at season's end to play "The Futility Bowl". The corporate sponsors could be Depends and say Lilly/Prozac...

We could play it in Duluth, MN out on the frozen crust of Lake Superior.. Both teams don't deserve any better spot in the middle of winter.

Surely the whole experience would suck, but at least the fans could get together to consume mass quantities and talk about what "could have been"....

 

Its still unbelievable to me that both powerhouses like PSU and Notre Dame are so far down the scale.

...you have to ask yourself what happened???...I know that the "high academic standards" has been used by ND apologists for the last decade...BUT...gimme a break!!!

Joe Pa got a fluke win vs Miami in a last minute miracle pass that pumped adrenaline into his body and energized loyalists like Curt....BUT....the truth of the matter is that PSU has been woeful....a doormat..in the B10....and teams like Pitt/BC/WVU/Vtech/Maryland/Cuse....have disemboweled PSU's once mighty recruiting edge....not to mention OSU.

Tod is an altruistic fan...its hard to be cheery when the house is crumbling....and now we have ND stumbling once more...and I bet a mere coaching change will not turn that ship around either.......at PSU or ND.



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Gonzo

 

Corey:

Sounds like a winner. How about first team that scores wins.

We could be there all day.....

 

0Jif,
I've been busy so I was not able to respond sooner. I saw the game on radio while driving to Juniata College to watch my niece play Volleyball--she plays for Edinboro.

Tod,
Actually, I am more in the middle than you have portrayed me and I have well documented the selective focus that has been used here. I also have showed willingness to criticize Joe--not just this year.

About the game,
THe only thing that is troublesome to me about the game is the performance of our defensive tackles. THey are getting no penetration and they are bigger and stronger than ever. Either they are not agressive enough or what needs to be addressed is strength training.

The positives is that these guys are keeping the score from getting alot worse. This means that there is some improvement over last year.

In addition, I expected the O to struggle simply because they had 3 weeks off with new players at key positions playing in their second game while Wisconsin was playing their 4th. While Tod rants and raves about play calling, the TD came on an excellently setup and called play--a fake reverse where they send the back out for a pass downfield rather than throwing to the wide receiver.

Tod can complain about play calling all he wants but when key passes are dropped--B. Johnson did this in the second game in a row-- and when the OL throws unnecessary illegal blocks to nullify big plays, you can't necessarily blame the play calling only. What is lacking here is a mental intensity and focus. Physical effort alone will not win the game.

I think the notes about Joe will change next week, however, when Penn State wins decisively at Iowa this Saturday.

 

Curt:

I fail to see why you have to make this about me. It's not like I'm the only one who makes these points and in fact I think I've been pretty restrained all things considered. One by one some of Joe's staunchest supporter's are falling by the wayside. Ronnie Christ, sports editor for the Harrisburg Patriot has been a huge Joe apologist for years. His headline Sunday morning in HUGE type read "JUST PATHETIC".
He also criticized play calling but I guess he's all wet too.

I think your statement that the ONLY thing you found troublesome about the game was the play of the defensive tackles says it all. Are you sure you're watching the same game as me? I suppose all the writers and the ESPN guys and the ABC guys are all Joe haters too? They were all bashing play calling and saying Joe doesn't seem to have it anymore. What does that make them?

Did you see Joe lay into the officials about ten times in the game running out on the field and screaming in their faces? The ESPN guys made comments abut it and ran some footage of Joe running down the the 20 yard line to scream at an official. They said the only reason he wasn't getting tossed is because he's Joe Paterno. The officials didn't lose that game. When Mick Blosser screwed up and caught that kickoff on the sideline at around the 10 yard line with a foot out of bounds Joe laid into him worse than the incident that got Woody Hayes fired and then ten minutes later was back on the bench screaming at him again.

You think the only problem PSU has is the play of the defensive tackles? Explain 131 yards in total offense (50 of it on one gimmick play) against a team with a 1-2 record? Explain why Linebacker U has two walk on linebackers starting?

Since DT's are the only problem why don't you enlighten me about the strong points of this team. First you say the extra time to prepare was to their advantage and now you're saying is was to their detriment. Which is it?

Of course you were also predicting an 8 win season. I don't suppose you're ready to match what I'd put on the table for that bet?

I'm not sure why you've decided to make this personal with me Curtis but I'm more than capable of firing back if I'm of a mind to.

 

Tod, I feel your pain! IMHO Vince Dooley should've retiered a few years earlier. If he would've stepped out at the right time, Georgia would never be in the shape we are now! It was a matter of him stepping down and giving Erk Russell a shot. I have a feeling it's kind of like your story there. Maybe Joe should've retired 5 years ago and given the job to his def. co.

As for Curt, I haven't a clue as to what makes him think the way he does? It amazes me he still believes in the old man.

[This message has been edited by Tailback (edited 09-24-2001).]

 

Tod,
Aren't you the person who said that Joe only had 4 real upsets in his career? Aren't you the person who said Penn State built their record against the Armys (Joe is 1-1 against them), Temples, Ohio U and other such teams and undercounted the number of ranked teams? Your premises were false. Or when you implied that Joe's decision to switch Rush to the OL was clearly faulty without mention the injury and depth problems on the OL? These are some of the reasons why I say you are selective.

As for my analysis of the game. Because of the layoff and the missed week against Virginia, I didn't expect much from the offense. It didn't surprise me when they struggled. What did surprise me is that our DL is bigger and experienced and they are still getting blown off the ball and are not providing any consistent penetration. At least that is what I saw on the radio (through Jack Ham's eyes).

As for Joe, he was probably taking the frustration he has with his team out on the refs--and that is a considerable amount of frustration. I know from teaching that kids this age can be downright lazy. My take from the game was that that was a problem.

The game against Wisconsin, not Miami, brought back memories of last year with kids in position to make plays but not doing so. Play calling becomes insignificant at this point.

 

Curtis:

You're a beauty!

9/3/01 You said:

"and yes, the time to prepare for the next two games is crucial considering that 1) Miamia was very physical 2) the other teams we'll be playing will not have the time to prepare for us that we will have to prepare for them and 3) the players need more reps to prepare and those reps will be more significant in practice now that they have an idea what level of play is needed".

Then...on 9/24 you said:

"I expected to O to struggle because they had three weeks off with new players at key positions playing in their second game while Wisconsin was playing in their 4th"

on 9/25 you said:

"Because of the layoff and the missed week against Virgina I didn't expect much from the offense".

So first you say they have an advantage because they have the extra time off and then you say that the time off made you "not expect much from the offense"??????

What about the value of all those "reps"? And what "new players in key positions". They had a few injuries like everyone else does but the key people in skill positions on both sides of the ball were in place and they had all those "reps".

BTW....I have a feeling that going into the season these guys had SOME idea what level of play MIGHT have been expected against the # 2 TEAM IN THE COUNTRY!!!

Curtis you're so full of sh*t your eyes are brown. You're much more interested in just shooting me down than offering anything of worth around here. If I said the earth was round you'd start quoting the "flat earth society" handbook.

Your simplistic analysis of the game was that our only problem is "lack of penetration by the DT's". I guess you didn't notice that NOBODY on the offense blocked #77 all day. I didn't see "crucial dropped passes" another favorite catch phrase of yours. I saw two QB's who were a combined 6-20. Dropped passes were NOT a factor. Wisconsin had the ball for almost 43 minutes out of 60 minute game. Let me help you oput with the math...That means we had the ball for about 17 minutes on Saturday. Still think I'm being selective about stats? Tell me the good ones from this game? I saw a number of first down "Hail Mary's" that almost never work. That's play calling. You pointed out that we held the Badgers to a lower point total and that means progress. Has it occured to you that Wisconsin is not QUITE AS GOOD AS MIAMI??? They gained 440+ yards to our 131 (50 on 1 play).

Did I leave anything out?

Oh yeah...Our DT's weren't penetrating but did you notice that the LB's weren't tackling anyone either?

 

Tod,

You gotta deal man! I do have one added feature to "the gala".. First one to score wins the game, last man standing wins the tailgate! Despite the core of high quality drinkers we'd have on both sides, something tells me that the game would still go on longer...

 

OK BROWN EYES!!>>SWING FOR THE FENCES! LOL!( Did I ever tell you 2 guys about Thanksgiving morning 1949.Brown Stadium...Brown versus Colgate..Joe and George Paterno?)The most amazing football story and this writer was sitting high a top the South stands on the 50 yard line.

 

Tod,
Though I appreciate your flattery, I am not sure that it is sincere. And btw, since my eyes are not brown, may I conclude that FOREIGN LANGUAGE DELETED FROM PUBLIC MESSAGE Sorry Curtis. Tom McCord

First, there is a difference between playing multiple games with a 2 week break and playing just 1 game with a 3 week break. With the original schedule, we would have had one more game, which btw provides reps themselves and 2 more days rest than Wisconsin would have. How it happened though was that Wisconsin had played 2 more games than we did, rather than 1, and had 2 weeks off prior to the game. Now is 3 weeks off better than 2--especially when the 3 weeks off is in conjunction with 2 less games?

From a coach's perspective, is an extra week, above a two week rest, worth more than the experience that comes from a game? Perhaps you are doing nothing more than just proving my point.

[This message has been edited by TennesseeTom (edited 09-25-2001).]

 

Curtis....although Tod is far from my cup of tea....I gotta agree with his logic...just look at PSU's record since it joined the B10...its awful.

Pray for the 2 wins Joe Pa needs to break the record...then volunteer to pack his bags and his telescope eyeglass and send him to Hawaii.....PERMANENTLY


------------------
Gonzo

 

I've made my living for most of my life with the use of the English language. Having said that I need help.

Can anybody tell me what Curtis just said in that last post? Maybe I'm having a bad day but it looks like the soundtrack to a Charlie Brown TV special...

Whap whop wop whap wa wa wap wap wup wup wup wop wa wa wap whaaaaaa....

I've officially lost interest (if I ever had any) in this debate. I ingored my own advice about arguing with a pig.

Go Lions!

Corey:

Love the idea for the tailgate. I'll be the first to admit my drinking skills have diminished but I might dust off the old mug for one more try. If MJ can come out of retirement why not me. The good news is if I embarrass myself I won't remember it.

Jiffy:

Please restrict your football comments to the era AFTER they began to wear helmuts. Where were your seats for the Olympics when Thorpe won the two golds?

Gonzo:

Snort another line Dude!

Have I left anyone out?


[This message has been edited by todj (edited 09-26-2001).]

 

Tom,
Would it have been better if I said it in Greek? Tod doesn't seem to understand English so I thought I would try another language. But I would also note that there is a double standard here. You delete what I said in French but you allow him to say the same thing in English with the exception of 1 letter--still the content is understandable. Be consistent here. If you delete mine, delete his. If you let his go, let mine go. As long as you are consistent, I have no complaint.

Tod,
You are a black/white thinker who can only understand in terms of wins-losses. You have no idea of all the variables in volved in teams winning games but you like to put on a show here to get recognized. Teams can look horrible during one part of the season and look great at others. Right now we look bad. No argument here. Would I project that we will always be as bad as we are now? No.

Gonzo,
What will you say when Joe is coaching next year--showing that you have been wrong?

 

Gentleman PLEASE!!!.. This at times is starting to get a bit dirty. May I remind you..hitting above the belt ONLY allowed. DAMN.. I hate to see evilness on this board! jif