Hard to believe that the Nits are a 10 point dawg to the Hawks. There hasn't been much coming out of the PSU camp this week but I'll bet Jopa has been kicking some royal butt this week. Those who are conversant in "Joe speak" are looking for some surprises in the way of lineup changes. I have no knowledge of anything but I wouldn't be surprised to see that Robinson kid (frosh) get a few snaps at QB. He's the kid they said was the second coming of Michael Vick but who isn't the second coming of somebody. Bottom line is Joe has had success in the past with doing an early season overhaul and he tends to go back to things that have worked in the past. I'd hate to see a promising young QB like Zack Mills get lost in the frenzy. I'd like to see Rush on the DL and let him get nasty. I'd like to see a win. The O line might look different and we may see a few new faces at LB. There are so many problems who knows how far Joe's willing to go with just two games under his belt. I don't know if we really need new bodies as much as we need leadership and someone to step up and make some plays. A good old fashioned dose of attitude would be nice. Weren't a bunch of these guys high school All Americans? Eric McCoo needs to touch the ball more. 11 carries in two games for the guy who's led the Nits in rushing the last few years doesn't make much sense. Or maybe they just need more reps.
I think they definitely need more reps but the article in the Morning Call said that they need better attitudes to begin with. Players quoted were Kennedy and Haynes. I know that this has been a problem for Penn State since the '96 team. I have heard students talk about groups of players who really don't participate in the off-season workouts and who don't improve. The question after this season is who is the next assistent coach to go. The OL coach would be my first choice since Kenny Jackson has already left. Perhaps the solution is instead of replacing Joe, let him handle the whole thing by himself. I am looking forward to the first win of the season. If Penn State does win, then I get a free oil change from a friend who says they will go winless this year.
Curt, Good luck on that oil change... If the Nits lose this one, I have a feeling that you will be getting a "lube job" each week for the rest of the season I still can't believe that Nits are dogs in this one but I do know that Iowa is on 'the comeback'... One question for both you and Tod... What's with the big mouth players chirping in the media???? Another question, what's with the assistant coaches?? Normally "mouths" like that soon become the responsibility of the respective position coach to either run the mouth out of the player, or to run the player out of the program.. Some may not like to hear that, but that's how it's done and it works... How has this been a problem since 96?
Corey, To answer your last question. Joe delegates and he both trusts and is loyal to his people. When they mess up, he looks at himself first. But we haven't had a good OL since '95. Just look at our rushing stats. That has to be looked at. We didn't do as well today as I thought, however we are improving. I just wish we would start with the short passing game rather than wait for the 2nd half. But Joe generally call plays for where he wants his team to eventually be rather than for where they are.
I was disappointed. I really was expecting changes after the way Joe was popping off to the media about his anger and how he was going to take a "good look at everything" but for the most part it looked like business as usual. At first I thought Zack Mills was in the ball game in the second period because Senneca was ineffective but I heard later in the broadcast that he had hurt his shoulder. Overall I thought Mills played pretty well. I didn't wait for the final stats but he threw the ball well and in spite of all the dropped balls, no pass protection and a general look of apathy by the offense moved the team and scored some points. One might think that Mills earned the starting job. He's a freshman, he's got three more years and in spite of Curtis' eternal blind optimism this season is shot anyway. I'm sure Joe won't see it that way and will be back to Senneca ASAP. This game as the first two was full of dumb penalties, missed assignments, blown opportunities (when fielding the free kick after Iowa's safety they fumbled and Iowa drove it in for a score) and lackadasical play for most of the game. I'm especially puzzled by Tony Johnson who missed a number of passes that while not right in his chest were catchable. He was the #1 running back in PA two years ago and I'm just not sure he's likes being a WR. A lot of poor tackling. This game was there to be won but they just don't have the killer instinct. What do you think, Curtis? Tell me all the positive things about this game and why you think we're going to beat Michigan next week.
Tod, After channeling with Yoda and Annichen Skywalker, I can now predict that next Saturday, Michigan will be Bantha Fodder. The force will be with us. Certainly they are missing opportunities. T. Johnson dropped quite a few though on one long pass play, the defender knocked his head down which interfered with catching the pass. Personally, I would start Mills for the rest of the season. Seneca drove the team initially but we don't have the passing game with him. But because Seneca runs better than Mills I think Joe still wants a team that can run the ball better. The trouble with Seneca is that because of the way he plays, and because Joe wants him to succeed, he will start Matt. Eventually, Mills will replace him as the starter. On the plus side, we outscored Iowa 13-3 in the 2nd half. Our offense scored a little more (9 pts) and could have added another field goal to that. The key play of the game was Branch's (a senior) fumble of a kickoff return following a safety. They went down to score a TD after recovering the ball and that was the margin in the game. Despite the missed opportunities, we are more competitive. And since no one in the Big 10 is invulnerable this year, we could beat anyone. But I think that we need to start Mills, start the game with a short passing attack--the kind that we had on our 90 yard drive for a TD-- and find a new OL coach. We still cannot run the ball and without that we will never be a complete team. Of course we should mention that we have already lost 3 starting offensive linemen. The other option is to run a NW type offense which we could do right now. But Joe wants the team to end up playing balanced football. This is simply a tradeoff that sometimes works for you and sometimes does not. The team is more competitive and, despite the mistakes, is improving.
Curtis: You're the Energizer Bunny of optimism. I really have to chuckle at your pointing out how we outscore people in the second half. That was your big plus with Miami (we lost 33-7) and now here. Has it occurred to you that teams that have a game under control play a different game in the second half? Iowa could have punched in another TD but chose not to. They had a lot of new faces playing on D in the 2nd half. And let's not forget...This was IOWA. A team we've owned for years even before the Big Ten. I saw little to be enthused about and believe me I'd jump on anything. Why have we abandoned Omar Easy? We heard nothing but praise from Joe going into the season and now he's virtually gone from the offense. My guess is he did something to get into Joe's famous "doghouse" and we've seen the last of him and no one in the press room has the guts to ask and risk getting their head bitten off. He was the only bright spot in the running game against Miami and now he's gone. Throwing the long "Hail Mary" pass on first down does NOT "loosen up" the defense. Another favorite "Joeism". He's been using this "strategy" since the days of Jimmy Scott (early 70's) since he's convinced that if you unload a 50 yard incomplete pass down the sideline (gawd forbid you throw long down the middle of the field) that somehow makes the defense "back off". It doesn't! It sets up second and ten and the inevitable fulback up the middle or the deep draw play (which again fools no one and is just a slow developing run up the middle) and now it's third and long and we're diddled. How many times was that scenario played out yesterday? Is there another coach in the country that when he's a couple of scores down late in the game runs the middle of the pile with the fullback? ESPN is showing more of Joe's almost constant running out on the field and berating officials. It's getting embarrassing. The officials are not losing games for us. We also got treated to another instance of Joe physically grabbing and shaking a player (#41) on the field. I'm not even sure what is was about since the play just run was moderately successful. I read something in the paper this morning that gave me chills but it makes perfect sense. Since Sandusky (def coord)is gone Joe is taking more of a hands on role with the defense in practice. Am I the only one who notes that since Sandusky is gone we're 5-10? Sandusky's last full year (1999) we were 10-3 with wins over def champ Arizona, Ohio State, Miami and Purdue with Drew Breeze. Since Joe has essentially taken over all aspects of coaching the team we're winning about 1 out of 3. These aren't "selective stats" like you accuse me of...These are facts. We're 0-3 and we have Michigan, Northwestern and Ohio State up next. You tell ME that we aren't going to be 0-6. I am totally baffled by your statement that Joe calls plays for "where he wants the team to be rather than where they are now". First of all why is Joe calling the plays since he has an offensive coordinator and a supposedly carefully thought out game plan? Secondly why don't you ask the question "why doesn't Joe call plays that relate to the game situation that is before him and that best utilizes the talents of the particular players he has on the field at the time and and the defenses being presented by the other team and stop insisting that you can pound round pegs into square holes"? Add to that the fact that he's apparently now calling the defenses. Ask yourself what coach in this era of large staffs of assistants insists of controlling every minute aspect of the game from the sidelines during the game? The answer.. none. Much less a 75 year old man who's though physically healthy clearly has "hardening of the attitudes" and way too much respect for what "worked in ther past". [This message has been edited by todj (edited 09-30-2001).]
When young joe "SHOOK number 41"...it was a Shake of encouragement..THATS THE WAY TO RUN THAT PLAY...he said. jif ps this writer also stated on these boards last year ..loss of Sandusky is going to hurt this team big time. [This message has been edited by jif5 (edited 09-30-2001).]
Geez... I guess I must have had the sound down. I didn't hear Joe say that. It just looked to me like he was shaking the snot out of him. A couple of things I didn't menton in my last post. Only 33 yards rushing in 27 carries. We have our 6'1", 245 lbs, 4.4 40 yd man sitting on the bench. Iowa KILLED themselves with penalties.. 10-94 yards. We had our share too but they were stupid things like 12 men on the field and procedure stuff. Coaches fault. We also had to burn two timeouts in the second hafl due to being disorganized and we could have used those at the end of the game with a shot to win. Iowa played a dog-azz game all day. In addition to all those penalties their punt team handed us 9 points and they NEVER had decent field position. BTW..Curtis: The Patriot has picture nearly a half page in size of Tony Johnson dropping that pass. His head didn't get touched, 21's hand is barely touching his shoulder and his eyes are looking straight at his hands as the ball slips through. I'll scan it and send it to you if you want.
Tod, With regards to T. Johnson's dropped pass, which drop are we talking about? He had at least 2 and I thought 3. He had one that was on a deep post pattern and as the defender jumped up to deflect the ball, his arm knocked Johnson's head down. Jif is wrong in his analysis of Joe's interaction with #41. It might have been that the player was exhibiting bad sportsmanship, he has done the same with other players, but that is a guess. I think you are wrong about Iowa's controlling the ball at the end. In the second to last series, they did need to move the ball but the defense played tough. After the initial kickoff, the defense stopped them without a score. I do have to say that our secondary really needs to improve though. Like I said, we were one play away from being in that game. One play because at our level, we still have a small margin for error. But we are improving. Statistically, the offense did better and defensively they forced more punts in this game than they did in the other two combined. In addition, the defense scored more this game than in the other two games. We still need to run the ball but we are unable to--which might be the reason why Joe did not play Easy. Joe wants to pass the ball downfield in order to loosen up the defenses. We are not doing well at that either. Our 90 yard drive was based on the short passing game which we seemed to have abandoned after that drive in favor of passing the ball downfield. And because he wants the team to be able to do that, I think he called for more downfield passes after our TD because we need to be able to do that. As for your bunny comment, I'd rather have a bunny than be one.
Tod, I'm shaking my head in disbelief. It doesn't take long for high schools kids forget about tradition. If Joe doesn't retire soon and let the rebuilding get on the way, then no young kid will remember the glory days. When that happens your trouble has just began! Trust me cause I know first hand!
Joe on the sidelines reminded me of Woody Hayes just before he was sent packing!!! He seems to be losing not only games,but the respect and admiration from players,fans and the media.I've always liked the guy and appreciated the way he has handled himself,but from an outsider looking in,JoPa is losing it and should get out before he becomes another Woody!
Curtis: Sometimes I really wonder what game you're watching. How can you say I'm wrong about Iowa controlling the ball at the end when they got the ball with about three minutes or so to go and ran out the clock. We had no time outs since we'd burned a couple through notoriously bad time management. The game ended with Iowa at the PSU goal line and they didn't run it in but just let the clock run out. It was the PSU-Iowa game. It was on Saturday. It was in all the papers!
Here's a quote from Wojo's column on ESPN. Sure to stir some debate. <b> No matter how bad it gets this season, Paterno has earned a bag full of mulligans. He could have ditched Penn State plenty of times for another program, for an NFL franchise, for more money. Instead, he followed his heart, not his wallet. He showed some loyalty. </b> link to article. JoePa Due Some Mulligans Terry
Terry: Another part of the "aw shucks" Paterno image. Joe has millions. If you ever get to the Nike Campus check out the Paterno Pavilion. His shoe deal was one of the earliest and one of the biggest. He also got to sign up the whole school and the other coaches got the drippings. PSU Basketball coach Bruce Parkhill wanted to accept a sweet deal from Reebok but it was nixed. Bruce would never admit it, he has too much class, but a lot of us thnk it's why he quit. He's now an assistant at Ohio State. Joe has endorsement deals, TV and radio and gawd knows what else. He and his wife built a wing on the campus library. Why would Joe go anywhere where failure might be a possibility? He can live in a neat college town and be god and rake in some major bucks. Joe makes a lot out of his so called modest trappings. He lives in a medium sized house a few blocks north of campus. I lived about five steets over. He's lived there forever. You can walk to campus. They make a big deal out of the fact that Joe has a listed phone number (I was gonna post it but why? I wonder if you call if he really answers) but is rarely if ever seen around town. He shows up for all the right events but is a pretty private person. So what...He deserves that! Here's another one for you. A couple of years ago Fran Ganter (off coordinator) was offered the Michigan State job (before Saban took it). I've known Fran 25 years but we don't see each other much lately. I wouldn't be so indelicate to ask but I'm sure they promised him the head job when Joe retired and that's why he passed on the Spartans. I think Fran is about to get the green weenie. He's in his 50's and I think he was led to believe he'd be head coach by now. Just a guess. Here's the rub. Joe ain't never gonna retire. They've left it up to him. He always answers the question the same way. He'll keep coaching as long as he feels good. Nothing about whether he's winning or the state of the program. I'll be the first to admit that he's earned a few mulligans. He used them all last year. If you under stand mulligans you also understand what you think of a guy who takes five a side, especially if you're playing for money. [This message has been edited by todj (edited 10-01-2001).]