Thoughts from the Section NE

Stefanie Spielman, wife of Chris, dies of cancer

2009-11-20T09:28:00.000-05:00

For those of you who know who don't know who Chris Spielman is, he was one of the best Linebackers in the NFL for several years, but when his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer 10 years ago, he decided to take a year off but he never returned to the field. Instead he spent more time with his family and became a radio and TV analyst (and a pretty good one).

Yesterday, his wife Stephanie lost her battle with breast cancer and I wanted to share this article.

Stefanie Spielman, wife of Chris, dies of cancer

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Some light reading to get ready for Michigan State

2009-11-19T11:57:00.000-05:00

I've come across a few articles leading up to the last game at Michigan St. game and thought I would share

Here is a nice snapshot of the series history and key points for this week's match-up:
http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnewssports/2009/11/week_12_primer_penn_state_at_m.html

This one from the Allentown Morning Call does a nice quick summary of our history of playing in East Lansing, and what happened two years ago, an awful 4th qtr but a fitting end to the Morelli Era. Hopefully history doesn't repeat itself and we don't blow our chance at a BCS Bowl:
http://www.mcall.com/sports/college/all-psu.7090099nov18,0,2899690.story

Will he leave or won't leave? Either way Evan Royster is closing in on his second 1,000 yard season:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09323/1014660-143.stm

Where have you gone Derek Moye? Through October Moye started to emerge at the #1 receiver, but the last two games he has been very quiet. If our passing game is going to be successful on Saturday we need him to step up:
http://blog.pennlive.com/bobflounders/2009/11/penn_state_wr_derek_moye_needs.html

I love to follow recruiting, but this one just takes it to an absurd level. No way should anyone be tracking the progress of a 7th grader, I don't care how much promise he shows or if he reminds you of Peyton Manning. I just wanted to share just because I find this silly:
http://www.maxpreps.com/news/wDIF09OtEd6tqwAcxJTdpg/delaware-seventh-grader-could-be-next-qb-prodigy.htm

Back with more tomorrow before the big game...

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Recap of JoePa's weekly press conference

2009-11-18T09:10:00.002-05:00

Complete Joe Paterno press conference transcript

Penn State head coach Joe Paterno took to the podium one more time this season for his Tuesday press conference at Beaver Stadium.

Check out everything he had to say in this complete press conference transcript, provided courtesy of ASAP Sports.

Your team has had slow starts in its three road games. Is there any explanation for that and is it at all a concern?

Paterno: Well, yeah, I have a little concern obviously. Do I have an explanation? No. I really don't know. Your guess is as good as mine.

Obviously I'm just glad we were able to learn from the slow starts and go on from there. But other than that, I don't have anything. We had a slow start last weekend at home.

Joe, what is Chaz Powell's status for Saturday? What is your impression of Greg Jones as a Michigan State linebacker?

Paterno: I think Jones is a really good football player. In fact, we talked about him this morning. What has he got, a hundred some tackles, a couple other things? We were talking about him. I think it's 53, isn't it, his number? I don't talk names, I talk numbers when I talk with the staff. Basically that's where I come from with the numbers because I look at people, I don't look at reputations, I look at the way they play.

He's a heck of a football player. Powell I doubt will make it. In fact, we're not really counting on him for this week.

How do you think DeOn'tae Pannell was at guard last week and will he stay there the rest of the season?

Paterno: We only have one game left. He'll stay at guard. I thought the he did a pretty good job really, not a great job, particularly if you figure he's coming off an injury and a new position. I thought overall he did a good job.

What is the status of A.J. Wallace? How does the absence of Beachum affect your team?

Paterno: Well, Beachum is obviously a big one. He was a kid that played on special teams as well as played fullback, tailback, a great kid on the practice field.

A.J. may play, so I'm not going to get into that.

But they're different types. Beachum is all over the place for you. Anything you ask him to do, he does well. A.J. is a little different. A.J., we've asked him to cover kicks, he's done a decent job on that. He's played a decent corner. So, you know, he's a good football player who probably could be better than he performs. But Beachum is one of those guys, he's a coach's player.

Devon Smith, why haven't we seen more of him lately than we have in the beginning of the year?

Paterno: Didn't get in a couple games because he cut classes, all right? He wasn't in a couple games. He decided he was here to get an education, so we played him a little bit last week. He's okay. He's got a long way to go to grow up. But he practices hard. Obviously, he's got great speed. Compare him to a kid like Drake, which I'm assuming you're going to ask me about next.

You got it.

Paterno: Yeah, Drake has been a quarterback on a team that was one play away from winning the state championship. A little bit more versatility and can do more things than the other kid can do. He doesn't have the speed obviously that Smith has. They both have a place in the future.

But, as I said, you know, they got to do it the way we want it done, and that means you go to class. If you don't go to class, you're wasting your time.

Why didn't Drake play more so far?

Paterno: Because Powell got hurt.

Why didn't he play more earlier?

Paterno: Why didn't he play more? Because Powell was better. Don't you go to the games?

What are your thoughts about the season that Andrew Quarless has had both on and off the field? What do you think he needs to improve on to succeed if he goes on to the next level?

Paterno: I think Quarless is doing really well. I think, you know, obviously we've done a lot of things with him that we haven't done with a tight end in the past. We put him in the backfield. He's half a fullback, half a tight end sometimes.

I think he's had a heck of a year. He's been a leader, which has made me feel good about the fact that he took some of the things that we disagreed on, he took them to heart, he's going to be fine, graduate and everything else.

I'm very pleased with Quarless. I think the biggest thing we have to do with him is probably get him the ball more.

You used Kevin Newsome for that one play there. What was the thinking there? Did you plan to use him more before the game got tight?

Paterno: You know, I'm always trying to get Kevin a little bit. You know, Kevin Newsome has a future, but we put him in, let him get knocked around a little bit. He can run with the football, change of pace. You know, you hate to be out of style. The wildcat style... I go down every once in a while and look at new suits, stuff like that, buy a decent tie. My wife says, You're not going to wear that tie to this press conference. I say, Some of these guys don't even know what a tie is.

I just want to be stylish, so we stick the wildcat in there one play a game.

You usually wear a jacket.

Paterno: I know I usually wear a jacket. But after watching you guys for 11 weeks, I felt I was a little overdressed.

Joe, last couple weeks defenses have done a pretty good job against your wideouts, really didn't get much from the wideouts at all last week. Is that because of execution on your part or what defenses are doing to you? What can you do to adjust to that?

Paterno: Well, I think it's a question of what they're doing and giving us more of an opportunity to run the football. Early in the year, they challenged our wideouts, challenged our passing game, were not going to let us run the football. I think as the season went along, they started to realize the wideouts were guys they had to worry about, and Clark was a kid they made sure they didn't let him get a hot a hand. They started to change some coverages, do some things, which gave us an opportunity to run. I think we've done a little better job running the football.

We've had some bumps and bruises up front, different combinations. Pannell started out as a starting right tackle, now he's a left guard. We didn't count on (indiscernible) doing much, and he's starting at right tackle. We've had to improvise a little bit up front.

But even having said that, you know, they're giving us better opportunities to run the football, and we're trying to take advantage of that. Maybe we should be throwing more. I don't know. I think we've scored enough points. We haven't maybe scored them exactly where everybody wants them. We didn't do a particularly good job against two of the better defensive teams that we played against, both Iowa and Ohio State. So I think we could be criticized in those games. But other than that, I think we've done a pretty good job.

In a nutshell, how do you feel Michigan State's quarterback Kirk Cousins ranks among other quarterbacks in the Big Ten?

Paterno: You know, that's an interesting question because there aren't a lot of solid quarterbacks in this league. You know, the kid at Northwestern got hurt against us early. This kid here Cousins is a good quarterback. You know, they've beaten some pretty good football teams. They've been in games where they scored a lot of points, maybe not enough to win, but they've been very competitive because of their quarterback. Iowa had a fine quarterback. Kid breaks a leg, they lost the game last week that maybe they probably would have won. Not probably, but they would have had a better chance to beat Ohio State with their quarterback.

There are a lot of kids in the league that are all-around good football players, and good wideouts. I've been a little bit perturbed because I think the media has jumped on the Southeastern Conference bandwagon, our schedule, this schedule. When you look at it, there's two pretty good teams in the Southeastern Conference. There's probably one good team in the league that Texas is playing in. There's obviously three or four teams that are comparable in the PAC-10. Who knows who's gonna win each week out there.

You know, I don't think some of the kids in our league have gotten the credit they should get, either the wideouts or the quarterbacks.

Could you talk about Michigan State's kicking and return game. Will that be one of the more challenging outings for your special teams?

Paterno: Every week has been challenging one way or the other. But your point is right. They have an excellent kicking, return game, and an excellent punter. This kid kicks the ball high, right down the middle of the field. They cover well. We just can't make any mistakes. The kicking game will be a big factor in how this game goes. If we don't cover our butts off - pardon the 'butt' reference - if we don't do a good job there, we'll have troubles. Really, that one kid can really go. 90-some yards last week. They're good.

We spent a little time yesterday on it. We're going to spend a lot of time on our kicking game this week.

Joe, can you talk about where this rivalry with Michigan State ranks as far as in the Big Ten and why the past couple games at Michigan State have been so tough.

Paterno: Well, you know, that covers a whole lot. Got an hour and a half in this press conference for me to answer?

Michigan State plays well against us at home. We just talked about this this morning, how tough they've been out there in Lansing for us. That's number one. How is the rivalry? It depends on the year.

We started out when we first got in the Big Ten, George Perles, who was coaching out at the Hula Bowl, who I think at that time was the athletic director and football coach of Michigan State, was an old friend, a guy who had been on the Pittsburgh Steelers staff for a long time, a guy I knew. I tried to recruit one of his kids who was a good football player. He called me up. He says, Why don't we make our game, the game we're going to play, as the last one every year? He said, We've had a great tradition with Michigan State, which we do. Duffy Daugherty, who was the great head coach at Michigan State when they had the great teams in the '60s, was from Barnesville, Pennsylvania. He was a Barnesville, Pennsylvania kid. When they beat us in the '50s with those guys, they were all Johnstown area kids, (indiscernible) township and Adams township. Nowadays, that's all been combined. So we've had a long history. Even when I came here in 1950, I think the only game, I think Michigan State broke Penn State's streak of 18, 19 wins when they had gone to the Cotton Bowl. So there was a good pattern to that. I thought that was a good idea.

I think it's been a good series. Obviously, you know, there's a couple series in the league, in the conference, that go back further and have a little bit more tradition. But I think, as we play our way into where we're not the outcasts there in the hinterlands, I think it will be a very significant - I don't know what you call it - end-of-the-season game for both teams and for the league.

You talked about the importance of your punt return guys fielding the ball cleanly. After you put a couple on the turf last week, do you consider making any changes? What do you think the problem is there?

Paterno: We're not going to let them punt (laughter).

We're going to try to catch the ball. You're right. We didn't catch the football. We spent some time on it. I think Zug had a bad day. He was trying to make something happen. We were behind. He came out, I said, You got to be careful with the football. He said, Coach, I tried to make something happen. You got to appreciate that in a competitor. Astorino, the same thing. He caught the ball, was running. You got to give Indiana credit for that one because the kid saw that he had a shot at Astorino from the back, punched it out.

I think your observation is right, we didn't handle the ball well, and we got to handle it better. Having everything in tow, those things are going to happen to you. We were sloppy everywhere. We put the ball on the ground too many times there. Obviously a couple of them came from the punt game.

Do you anticipate any changes there?

Paterno: Oh, yeah. You're talking to an old punt returner. I still got the Brown record for the yardage in one game in punt returns.

We'll be all right. We'll be all right.

Last week you said you were going to make personnel changes on your special teams. How did those changes help you?

Paterno: I thought we did a good job on coverage, both punts and on kickoffs. We changed some people. But, unfortunately, Beachum and Powell, we put Powell on the coverage team, and Powell probably won't play this week. Beachum the same way. We've got to make a couple more changes this week, and hopefully they'll work out as well as the ones last week.

Do you know who you're considering in replacing Beachum with?

Paterno: I'm not sure yet.

After you lost to Ohio State, everybody figured your BCS hopes were out the window. Now they're saying if you win on Saturday, you still have a shot at getting in the Orange Bowl. Wonder if you talked to your team about that.

Paterno: You know, you guys know more than I do. The only thing I know is we're playing Michigan State this week. Don't make a darn bit of difference. You guys speculate all you want. If we don't beat Michigan State, none of that makes any -- none of it's important. So I don't waste time with it.

I'm going to try to go out there and show those guys how I used to catch punts, ran for touchdowns every time I got my hands on the ball, see if we can beat Michigan State on a punt return so we can keep some of you guys happy.

Navorro Bowman has been a big part of the defense the last couple years. There's reports he's considering going to the NFL.

Paterno: I don't even know what you're talking about.

Navorro Bowman.

Paterno: I never talked to him about it.

Evan Royster has 990 yards. Can you analyze some of his progress this year and throughout his career, how good of a back he's been for you.

Paterno: In fact, I got on Royster a little bit either last week or two weeks ago. I said, Hey, you're not playing with a lot of enthusiasm like you have. I thought he played well last week.

He's a good, solid, all-around back. He's not flashy. He's consistent. He knows what's going on. He can do everything you want him to do. He blocks well enough. He's a really good receiver and he's intelligent. If we put something in on a Monday, we don't have to worry about whether he can handle it or not. You have some other players, you know, when you debate whether you want to try something different for a particular game, you always wonder whether he can handle the mental part of it.

Royster is a heck of an athlete. He was a great lacrosse player. He's got an older brother who is a fine football player that went out to Stanford. At some point people thought that our Royster was the best lacrosse player in the state of Virginia, which is a good lacrosse state.

He's a good player.

Hoping you have your old athletic director hat around somewhere. Are you involved or been kept up to speed with the university's new pricing plan for football season tickets that's out there?

Paterno: Well, the only thing I know is they were debating it. They asked me what I thought. I said, Look, you guys have the responsibility for 29 sports. It's a lot different than when I was the athletic director. Didn't have the impact it was now. We didn't have scholarships for all the women's sports. We didn't have to upgrade facilities. Right now we're going to build another softball field, a better softball field, for the women. And I think we should. We didn't have some of the pressure that we have as far as, you know, expenses and things of that kind. You guys were all uptight about trying to find out how much I was making. Then when you found out how much I was making, that was the end of the story because there were guys out there making three and four times what I'm making. There's an awful lot of pressure.

I think that the university is doing the best it can. Now, what exactly the specifics of the program, I don't know. All I've ever said to Tim Curley is, Tim, you're doing one heck of a job, all right? You just look around at the facilities, you look at what they've done to the soccer field, you look at the baseball field that was put out there, you look at all the things that have been done. How you paying for it? He said, Well, it's tough. I said, Well, you know, remember, whatever we do, do it well.

In fact, I'm going to be after his back to fix up the visiting team locker room. We got the worst visiting team locker room in this conference. We have to spend money to fix that up.

So I think that they're doing a heck of a job. I'm disappointed that either the media or somebody who knew what was going on would let it go because they had told me, you know, Wait till the season's over, we'll make the announcement. Michigan State is on my mind, all right? That to me is the only thing we should all be thinking about, Michigan State. Now all of a sudden I got you asking me a question about something. I said, I ain't part of it, except I know you're going to do a good job. And I think the university has done a super job.

You take a look at what other people are doing. How much are we charging compared to other people? I think we're probably at the bottom of the list. I saw what Michigan charges, and I saw what Ohio State charges. See what these other people are charging, what kind of money we got to raise. I don't know whether it's changed or not. When I was the athletic director, every time they raised tuition, the budget went up. We don't get a nickel from the university for anything. Completely self-supporting. So they got to do something or we got to cut back sports, and we don't want to do that.

But that's not my bout.

Might have been a pre-season magazine where you talked about eight home games, the challenge it is for the fans.

Paterno: I haven't got the slightest idea what you do with it. It's not my decision to make. I got Michigan State to play this week.

Can you talk about why Mark Dantonio looks to be a good fit at Michigan State. Last week you talked about Indiana playing in hard luck. Michigan State has been in every game and also has had hard luck. Might be better than their 6-5 record would indicate.

Paterno: Absolutely. I think Michigan State is a fine football team. I thought Indiana was a good football team. I told you that.

No, I think Michigan State and Mark Dantonio is a fine coach. I said to Bill Lynch before the game, The one thing about this league right now is we got more good, young coaches than I've seen since I've been in the league. I said, I just hope that everybody understands it's going to take a while for some of the programs to get going. You got to have a little luck. Michigan State has had some bad luck. Indiana has had some bad luck. Put the ball on the ground at the wrong time, get a lousy officials call, which you'll get from time to time. I said, You know, just hang in there.

Michigan State is obviously a little further along than Indiana. They're on the verge of being a really good football team. I hope they're at least 10 days away. But they're good. Mark is a good coach. They're doing a heck of a job. It will be a good football game.

Joe, could you talk about what Ed Czekaj meant to Penn State.

Paterno: Ed is one of the great Penn Staters. When I came here, Ed was an associate or assistant. I forget. Ike Gilbert was the business manager. We didn't have an athletic director in those days. We had a dean in phys ed and an athletics guy by the name of Carl Shott. Ed worked for Ike Gilbert as kind of a bookkeeper kind of thing, and then Ed moved up. Ed was so loyal to Penn State. He was as fine a Penn Stater and did a good job.

I got a little annoyed at one time, went in to see Ed. I said, Ed, where is the money? I want to build some facilities. We had been to four straight New Year's Day Bowl games. There wasn't any money to build a couple facilities which I thought we needed. Ed said, We got to do some things, we built the research lab, did this and that, so it's been used. Ed said, It wasn't really my decision, but it was the university's decision to do it.

I said, Well, why don't you and I go down there and make a fuss. He said, I don't want to do anything that's going to embarrass Penn State. He said, I can sit and take a backseat.

That's the way he was. He was just a wonderful, wonderful man. In a way, all those guys are gone. McCoy and Gilbert, Ed, Jim. Don't see much of Jim anymore. Long tradition of great Penn Staters.

Has your team been as consistent as you might have hoped for at this point in the season, late in the season?

Paterno: Well, I think we played well. Obviously we would liked to have won another game or two. But I think for a young team, some key positions, people were young, I thought overall we did all right.

You know, as I said, I would have loved to have won another game or two, and probably could have had a shot at it. But we didn't do it. So, I mean, again, hopefully we've learned from some mistakes we made and we won't make them again this week when we're, again, going out to Michigan and playing a tough Michigan State football team.

You guys are the guys that are disappointed, I think.

A win that feels like a loss

2009-11-17T08:02:00.000-05:00

My observant wife made this comment Saturday while watching the game, "They just don't seem to want to win like last season" and I think it sums up what we've been witnessing from this team all season. They don't play with a ton of energy and just go through the motions. I'm not sure you point to one specific thing to say why, but most likely it's the make-up of this team. Part of it can be laid at the coaches feet, part of it at players. I think ultimately the biggest reason is senior leadership, which is a crucial part to any Penn State Football team, and this seasons group are made of up a solid players but no one who is dynamic. I think Darryl Clark wants to be that person but his play on the field in crucial situations holds him back. He likes to say the rights things, but he can't seem to do the right things when the team needs him the most. As for the other captain, Sean Lee, he's not had the senior season he would have liked and it's tough to be a leader when you're injured for 1/3 of the season.

How does this translate to the Indiana game? Not having this leadership didn't help this team rebound very easily from the Ohio State lost, as they seemed to be in a fog the first half. Committing four turnovers should have been a killer but thankfully we were playing Indiana, any other average team would have made us pay for those and we would have been staring at a double digit lead at halftime, and we all know how well this team plays when they fall behind.

But a win is a win, and sometimes they happen ugly. Now onto Michigan State and a win keeps our BCS hopes alive, but the worst that can for us is either the Capital One Bowl or Outback Bowl, both on New Years Day.

Senior Day

2009-11-13T22:24:00.001-05:00

This is a nice article from the Pittsburgh paper about the seniors,

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09316/1012854-143.stm

In the meantime, post a comment to this and let me know who from this years senior class you'll miss the most and why.

For me it'll be Jared Odrick because I've loved the way he played he's whole career progressing into one of the top Defensive Tackles in the country.

The truth is....

2009-11-12T09:14:00.000-05:00

The truth is.... we got punched in the gut and folded again

The truth is.... our coaches developed a bad gameplan and made no in-game adjustments

The truth is.... we are an average football in a below average conference

The truth is.... we beat up on the weak opponents but fail to show up for the big games

The truth is.... no matter what JoePa says Clark is a game manager, not a prime time QB

The truth is.... it takes us 2-3 seasons to develop an offensive line; while other teams offensive lines get better in season

The truth is.... Paterno will hold us back from being a dominant college football power

The truth is.... we are a cash cow with home games, and that's all the University cares about

The truth is.... we need to stop playing and game planning "not to lose" and play "to win"

The truth is.... if we win out we still have an outside chance to make the Orange Bowl, go figure......

Here we go....Battle of the Border

2009-11-07T13:19:00.000-05:00

First, The Nittany Nation should feel awful about the t-shirts that were made saying Terrelle Cryor. I'm glad the shirts got pulled, there is no reason we should make this about one player or give the other team motivation. Pryor didn't come to Penn State, so what. Who really wants a primma donna head case who can't play QB. We spent two seasons dealing with that in Anthony Morelli, let Ohio State enjoy the garbage we had to deal with, they made their bed with him and sold out (literally) to get him.

As for the game, while I don't like everyone picking us to win and Ohio State having the revenge factor going for them. I have believe we'll come out on top of a tight ball game today. What we're seeing is Penn State becoming again one of the dominant powers in the Big Ten, and with our recruiting we could see much bigger things in our future.

#1

2009-11-07T12:14:00.001-05:00

Pre OSU game thoughts coming soon, but this weekend we have MArcus Lattimore and Mike Cameron on offical visits to Happy Valley.

Lattimore is the #1RB prospect in the nation from Bynes, SC and Cameron is the #1 DT prospect from Stone Mountain, GA. If we could get just one of these two players we would cap a great class. IF we land both of them then this will be JoePa's highest rated class ever.

Let's show these guys a great game and what Happy Valley is all about.

Laying it on the Line

2009-11-06T22:00:00.000-05:00

Nice article about our Offensive Line, they're the biggest key to winning tomorrow.

Laying it on the Line

Clark vs Pryor

2009-11-05T16:55:00.001-05:00

Clark, Pryor share spotlight in Happy Valley

November 5, 2009 10:45 AM

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

Daryll Clark should have been Big Ten preseason Offensive Player of the Year. Instead, the honor went to Terrelle Pryor.


	Maxwell Kruger/US PRESSWIRE
	Penn State has a 19-3 record with Darryl Clark as the starter.

Clark's masterful October should be the talk of the Big Ten right now. Instead, Pryor's struggles at Ohio State have dominated the discussion.

Penn State head coach Joe Paterno recently started to stump for Clark, saying the senior quarterback deserves more national recognition, perhaps even Heisman Trophy consideration. If Pryor boasted the same numbers as Clark, Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel wouldn't need to say a word.

When it comes to hype and popularity, Pryor will always be No. 1 in this league. When it comes to production and leadership, Clark's the guy.

“He was a five-star recruit, a big-time guy coming out of high school, able to make plays with both his arm and his legs," Clark told ESPN.com this week. "So it’s a juicy story. He's going to receive a lot of media attention."

The attention has reached a fever pitch as Pryor returns to Happy Valley with No. 16 Ohio State to face No. 11 Penn State on Saturday (ABC, 3:30 p.m. ET). The Jeannette, Pa., product considered both Ohio State and Penn State during the recruiting process but opted to cross state lines and become a Buckeye.

Pryor's decision didn't sit well with Penn State fans, especially when he said he didn't like the State College area, calling it "too country." Nittany Nation is ready for his return, and Penn State students even made a T-shirt depicting "The Terrelle Cryer Story," which mocks Pryor's anguish following last year's loss to the Lions at Ohio Stadium.

"I'd like to get a few [T-shirts] before the game," Pryor told reporters Wednesday. "I'd like to wear one in warm-ups. I guess they're trying to get in my head. ... I can't let anything get to me."


Jeffrey Hixon-US PRESSWIRE
Pennsylvania native Terrelle Pryor passed up a chance to play in Happy Valley.

There's still some ill will toward Pryor in Happy Valley, but things seem to have worked out for both quarterbacks.

Pryor ascended to the starting job in just his fourth collegiate game and helped Ohio State reach the Fiesta Bowl last season. Clark led Penn State to a Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl appearance last year and boasts a 19-3 record as the starter.

Though Clark was far less decorated than Pryor coming out of Youngstown, Ohio, his performance on the field has won over Penn State fans, who often tell him they're glad he's their guy.

"I do get that a lot, and it definitely means a lot," Clark said. "When Ohio State lost to Purdue and Pryor was under a lot of scrutiny, everyone was talking bad about him not being a quarterback, I would hear from home that Ohio State should have recruited me. That’s just the way it is. The quarterback is a tough position. You go through a lot of ups and downs."

Clark beat out another highly recruited quarterback, Pat Devlin, for the starting job last summer and thinks nothing would have changed had Pryor come to Penn State.

"He would have obviously come in and competed for the job, along with everyone else," Clark said. "The job would have been up in the air, but I definitely feel very confident that I would still become the starter and the season would have happened the way it happened. I don't know how they would use him, if they would use a Wildcat offense or whatnot, or maybe flank him out at receiver like you saw in the Fiesta Bowl last year."

Pryor is still trying to prove he can be a complete quarterback at the college level. He has rushed for 187 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries (7.8 yards per carry) in his last two games but ranks last among Big Ten starters in completion percentage (54.6).

Clark, meanwhile, leads the Big Ten in pass efficiency (149.3) and ranks sixth nationally in touchdown passes (18), having thrown only one interception in his last five games.

"Experience is everything," Tressel said. "This week we're facing Daryll Clark, and I think this is his sixth year out of high school. He's had a bunch of snaps. You can see he's in command of the football game. You can't flip a switch to get to that level.

"In Daryll's Year 2, he probably wasn't there, and I think Terrelle's a little bit ahead of the curve."

Worry? There's no need to worry, it's Northwestern

2009-11-03T08:29:00.001-05:00

I wasn't worried about this game all week, even up to kick-off I thought we'd step on the gas from the start and never look back. But right before kick-off my dog Max looked at me with his ears back and worried look on his face. I reassured Max there wasn't anything to worry about, but in hindsight Max was onto something.

This game was a Tale of Two Halves, with the real Penn State team showing up in the second half to flex their muscle and put Northwestern to bed early in the 4th quarter. There isn't much to take from this game. We got the W while basically looking past Northwestern and focusing on the Buckeyes this weekend. We didn't sustain any injuries and Sean Lee is back to old form. Time to bring on Mr. Pryor and welcome him back to Pennsylvania.

A special thanks goes out to Michigan for devaluing our win there two weeks ago with their 31 to 13 loss to Illinois. I'm sure they'll be placing an ad for a new head coach very soon.

Some good stats on Clark's performance so far....

2009-10-28T10:18:00.002-04:00

The real question is if this is the first step into a Heisman campaign starting for Clark? Honestly, PSU owes it to him to push him for it. Those jokers the ESPN blowhards keep pushing (Tebow and McCoy) haven't done squat all season to warrant their names being in conversation.

State College, PA - Featured Columnists

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Demons be gone!

2009-10-27T08:17:00.002-04:00

Let's recap the five keys to a victory listed before the game:

1. Play our game/Control the tempo -- Check
2. Win the turnover battle -- Check
3. Big Uglies (Win in the trenches) -- Check
4. Be Special (Special Teams) -- Check (even with another blocked punt)
5. Show your Age (QB Maturity) -- Check

Result a 35-10 road win, and a victory that we'll all be celebrating long after this season is finished. The Demon that was Michigan is now gone, and maybe we've started our own 9 game winning streak (2 down, 7 to go).

But as JoePa so famously says "you're as good as you think when you win and you're never as bad as you think when you lose"

We did dominate this game, there were some areas of concern and it's specifically lies with the offensive line. While they have made improvements each week there are still mental lapses and missed assignments by this unit. And with Ohio State looming two weeks away, they'll need mitigate all of those mistakes if we're going to consistently move the ball on the Buckeyes defense, which may be better than the Iowa defense who gave us fits. Specifically, we have to block better for screen passes. We had two set-up perfectly to counter the blitz, but the lineman blocked them both poorly and allowed one lone defensive player to blow up both plays that would have resulted in huge gains. More importantly by being able to successfully run screens you can control an opposing teams use of the blitz. Ohio State will come from all angles on us, and we'll need this tool to counter them. The good news, we have two weeks to work on this and the way the offensive line has improved all season we should feel good about them addressing this area before the game.

Win the next two games, and we'll be in a prime position for a BCS Bowl, as 11-1 will look very realistic.

Note: The Ohio State game will be a 3:30 EST kick-off on ABC. This weekends game against Northwestern is a 4:30 EST kick-off on ESPN

Another Trip to Ann Arbor -- Michigan Preview and Keys

2009-10-23T11:29:00.000-04:00

Last season we finally ended the 9 game losing streak to Michigan, but in order to exorcise the full demon of losing to the Wolverines is to finally post a W in The Big House. Then, and only then, will the Curse of Michigan be fully abolished, until this happens our psyche will not be right when playing these guys.

In order to exercise these demons, here are the 5 keys to a Penn State victory tomorrow afternoon.

1. Play our game/Control the Tempo -- JoePa always plays more conservative on the road then at home, and at Michigan Stadium that seems to be more the case than anywhere else. But if we're going to win this game we need to play balanced football, but with a little more emphasis on the passing game since Michigan's defensive weakness is pass defense. If we have success early throwing the football it will open up the running game later on. Problem is if history has taught us anything is that Joe will invert this, and play into Michigan's defensive strength.

2. Win the turnover battle -- The weather is going to be lousy, so this facet of a game will be even more important. While our defense has been playing solid football the problem is we have not been very good at forcing turnovers, especially fumbles (forces 3 fumbles so far). With Michigan relying on the run game and the weather, holding on to the football will be key.

3. Big Uglies -- Easy to say, hard to do, but the Offensive and Defensive lines have to play lights out and dominate their respective counterparts. On the Offensive Line, the key will be how our Tackles handle the Michigan Defensive Ends, we have to give Clark time to throw and be able to provide outside running lanes for our running backs. If Michigan starts crashing the ends successfully in one-on-one match-ups, then they'll start blitzing the middle of our offensive line, which will mean less time to throw and no running lanes.

On the flip slide, our front four on defense needs to wreak havoc from the inside out. If Defensive Tackles Jared Odrick and Ollie Ogbu can force the interior of the Michigan Offensive line backwards we will disrupt their running game, allowing the Linebackers to have the freedom to roam and destroy. If we can neutralize/shut down the Michigan running game then we'll force them to be a pass first team, which is out of their comfort zone.

4. Be Special -- To date the Penn State Special Teams have been anything from Special. We seen missed field goals, blocked punts, abysmal returns and pathetic kick coverage. I'm not even going to say we're due for a big play from these units, but we need to make sure Michigan doesn't have any big plays on Special Teams, specifically the kick returns. We also need to mitigate running away/allowing punts to bounce an additional 20 yards further. We've set-up ourselves in bad positions due to poor kick coverage and punt returns. Play solid, not spectacular, in those two areas and control starting field position in our favor.

5. Show your age -- Two years ago we went The Big House with a Senior QB and Michigan was starting a Freshman QB, we lost and our Senior QB played like a freshman. Something smells similar this season, however I think Darryl Clark is big step up from Anthony Morelli. But the key will be making Michigan QB Tate Forcier play like a freshman because up until this point he's played like a seasoned vet. This means not letting him gain confidence early, so early pressure and sacks will be crucial. Another thing to keep an eye on is Tate's shoulder, which has been tender at best. If he can't go, then Michigan will turn to another Freshman QB in Denard Robinson, who is a run first, second and third type of QB. If he's in the game we should deploy a 9-2 defense and just sell out to stop the run. But the key here is simple, Clark plays like the All Big Ten QB he is, and Tate Forcier plays like a freshman starting his 7th game. If Clark plays like he did against Iowa, bad things will happen for us.

All in all I'm optimistic we’ll exercise the demons and get the win tomorrow, but the question will be how we respond to adversity. The only game we faced with any bit of adversity we lost to Iowa at home. This is on the road, so we've got to play to win vs. play not to lose. I say we win a close one taking the lead in the early 4th quarter and then hold on to win, which means controlling our own destiny for a BCS bid if we win out.

SI Article about JoePA

2009-10-22T13:00:00.003-04:00

Great article summarizing Joe's career to date, and neat angle on how it's presented. This is written from his mom relating his career to his father, who passed away very early in Joe's coaching career but was very instrumental in making Joe the man he is.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1161606/1/index.htm

Recap of the last two games: Lions pocket some dough and romp Golden Gophers

2009-10-20T11:19:00.000-04:00

After an almost two week break I'm back, and if you're wondering why there really wasn't much to say after the Eastern Illinois game. We won like we were suppose to, the younger kids got time, and both schools got the $$$ they wanted from the game. Not much else to say, now onto the Minnesota game.

The weather was lousy and so was Minnesota. I personally thought this would be a tougher game than it turned out to be. Our defense dominated the Gophers from the start, and took away their main (and apparently only) offensive weapon in WR Eric Decker. We played bracket coverage on him, which forced their QB Adam Weber to look at other receivers, or to try and run the football. Their run game yielded no success as our front seven shut it down. I'm not complaining and love the fact we posted a Goose Egg, shut outs are huge confidence boosters.

On the offensive side, we were able to move the ball at will but seemed to come up empty early in the game by coming away with field goals when we should have been able to put touchdowns on the board. Frankly, I'm still concerned with the offense as we need to convert good field position into big points and not settle. I do have to admit the offensive line is showing signs of improvement but this weeks game against Michigan will be a better test and really show if they have truly improved. Because, we all know how well we play and coach in The Big House. In my mind for us to win this game we're going to need to put early touchdowns on the board and make Michigan a passing team who has to come from behind.

I'll have more on this game later, but I will say I'm fairly nervous about our chances.....

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Eastern Illinois -- Nothing good can come from this game

2009-10-09T15:01:00.000-04:00

This game reminds me of a quote from Caddyshack, "I tell ya, I should have stayed home and played with myself" Al Czervik (played by Rodney Dangergfield).

What does this have to with the game tomorrow? We should have just scheduled another Blue/White game and played against each other. There'd be more competition and the fans would still pay the $55 per ticket to show up. This will be a win, but the real key sfor success tomorrow are:

1. No injuries
2. Kevin Newsome gets significant playing time with the first team offense to build his experience level.

This should be a chance for other younger players and back-ups to play, and for the starters to rest up for the rest of the Big Ten schedule.

Prediction: We better win by 24+

Good ESPN.com Article about WR recruit Adrian Coxson

2009-10-08T13:49:00.002-04:00

Rice: Coxson shows versatility, leadership

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Recruiting Update

2009-10-08T08:48:00.001-04:00

Earlier this week Penn State picked up a verbal commitment from Khairi Forrt from Stamford, Conn. Khairi at 6'2 220 pounds is ranked as one of the top 5 linebacker prospects in the nation. The real story here is the amount of talent the coaching staff has on board with this class. It may be the highest ranked class Joe Paterno has ever had, with a chance to be ranked as the #1 recruiting class in the country. To get the ranking we'll need to land commitments from Sharrif Floyd one of the top Defensive Tackles in the country and from Marcus Lattimore who is ranked the #1 Running Back in the country. Floyd is from the Philadelphia area and has already been to Florida and USC on official visits. He'll be visiting Penn State soon, and hopefully we can land him. As for Lattimore, he'll be at Penn State for the Ohio State game and in order to land this South Carolina player we'll need some luck getting him to come north of the Mason-Dixon line, but he appears to have serious interest in Penn State and has already visited once over the summer.

To give you an idea about where our class currently stands. below is a list of our commitments along with their position and rank in their respective position category:

Name	Position	Position Rank	Hometown
Khairi Fortt	OLB	5	Stamford, CT
Dominique Easley	DE	21	Staten Island, NY
C.J. Olaniyan	DE	18	Warren, MI
Zach Zwinak	FB	1	Frederick, MD
DakotaRoyer	OLB	14	Manheim, PA
Kevin Haplea	TE	5	Annandale, NJ
Alex Kenney	WR	68	State College, PA
Robert Bolden	QB	7	Orchard Lake, MI
Levi Norwood	WR	128	Waco, TX
DaQuan Jones	DT	10	Johnson City, NY
Evan Hailes	DT	8	Chesapeake, VA
Kyle Baublitz	DE	28	York, PA
Tom Ricketts	OT	32	Wexford, PA
Miles Deffenbach	C	6	Pittsburgh, PA
Luke Graham	OG	11	Harrison City, PA
Silas Redd	RB	15	Stamford, CT
Adrian Coxson	WR	8	Baltimore, MD
Paul Jones	QB	2	McKees Rocks, PA
Mike Hull	MLB	2	Canonsburg, PA

I'll be posting a write-up on each position as each week, so stay tuned.

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Pound the Rock

2009-10-06T08:50:00.000-04:00

Anyone who knows me, knows I love it when you "pound the rock" against another team. When you're running the football successful it means controlling the clock, wearing down the defense and demoralizing the opponent. Up until Saturday our running game was putrid, but against Illinois the running game finally showed up and we clearly dominated the game for most of the second half. While I should be excited we were finally able to run the ball consistently there still seems to be something missing from this team. In five games now they have not put a true 60 minute performance together. There are moments of domination, but only for short time periods. Let's face it, going into halftime against Illinois we were clinging to a 7-3 lead and Illinois had driven down the field only to have an intentional grounding kill their drive. I'm not just not sure if this team can put it all together, or has the talent to do so, but if they want to head back to the BCS then the game with Ohio State on 11/7 is looming big and will require everything they have for 60 minutes to beat them.

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Saturday pre-game thoughts

2009-10-03T11:08:00.000-04:00

Since I'm not traveling to Happy Valley on this fine Saturday morning (nice change of pace), I help off on my pre-game thoughts until now. What should we expect today? Frankly I'm not sure but I am in intrigued to find out how this team rebounds from last weeks loss. This is a pivotal point for the season, a win should spring us back into looking at 9/10 win season. A loss could very well result in a 7-4 or 6-5 season. We're going to find out if this group has the drive to move forward or just mail in the season and will be going through the motions.

Player to watch: Arrelious Benn for Illinois, their all-world receiver has killed us the past two seasons and is going to be a future NFL star. He's been slowed by a ankle injury season, but if he's healthy then we could have some issues defending him.

What else to watch on Saturday? Washington at Notre Dame. Both of these teams have future NFL QBs, and while Jimmy Clausen will get the NFL (I still think he's another Brady Quinn) the QB for Washington may be the one who excels at the next level. Take some time and watch Jack Locker, and remember he's finally got a very good QB coach to help him develop. He's going to be a good one, and has that moxie a QB should have.

Prediction for our Lions, a win but an ugly one.

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Clark

2009-10-01T13:35:00.000-04:00

I've been contemplating writing this one all week, but since it's my blog and my thoughts I decided to put this one out there.....

Normally the first person to get thrown under a bus after a loss is the quarterback, and Darryl Clark played a lousy game this past Saturday night. He's not the only reason we lost to Iowa, but he's a part of it. Where I think Darryl truly let his team down was in the intangibles department. Since he's taken over the starting QB job from Anthony Morrelli last season we've heard how great of leader he is. Up this point he hasn't really faced a great deal of adversity, really just three games to this point.

Last season against Ohio State where he left the game in the 3rd qtr with a concussion, but up to that point had not played extremely well

Last season in Iowa City against the Hawkeyes, two weeks after the concussion, he played slightly better than he did this past Saturday in the re-match

The Rose Bowl against USC, where he struggled in the first half but played a excellent 2nd half.

All three of these games came against teams that were just as good if not better than Penn State. What I see from Clark is a average/slightly above average college quarterback who likes to act the part of a big time QB and undisputed leader of the Nittany Lions . But what I saw Saturday night was a QB who when his team needed a calming influence became jittery and didn't deliver. Big time QBs will stand in a collapsing pocket and deliver the ball. Clark was clearly rattled by Iowa from the second quarter on, and I have to believe the rest of team saw this and followed his lead, since he is the captain. I'm not saying there wasn't pressure on him, but what a QB should do is stand tall and deliver the ball when he knows he's going to get hit.

How does the old saying, "when the going get tough, the tough get going". Right now my judgement on Clark is he hasn't shown the ability to handle the tough.

Out -

2009-09-28T19:46:00.000-04:00

Out-hustled

Out-disciplined

Out-coached

Out-desired

Face it Penn State was just out-played on Saturday night. I really thought this team would play off the emotion and win this one. But yet again Iowa proves to have our number, and it seemed the Hawkeyes were the more prepared team. When they were down 10-0 early there was never a sign of panic. Contrast to our Lions, when they were faced a bit of changing momentum they pretty much curled into a ball. One way or another we were going to find out a lot about this team Saturday night, and what we've learned is they are at best an average football team who lacks any sign of true leadership. This was theirs for the taking and they missed opportunity after opportunity. Give credit to Iowa they are a very good football team, possibly the best in the Big Ten. This loss stings and now Saturday will be another test, in fact a big one. We'll see how they respond to the loss with their first road test. Frankly, this game should answer all the questions popping up since Saturday night....

More to come this week about the offensive line, defense, coaching and quarterback play.

Talk is Cheap

2009-09-25T14:54:00.000-04:00

The forecast is calling for rain, the talking heads are playing how Iowa has owned Penn State over the last seven match-ups (did you hear Musberger on ESPN, TOOL), we hear how we haven't played anybody, that we're going through the motions....IT ALL ENDS TOMORROW NIGHT!

Iowa will face the toughest, loudest, most hostile stadium in the country. And you can bet our boys will be playing their best. Because revenge + Whitehouse = Victory.

I don't care about the technical points this weekend, I'm forgetting that our offensive line hasn't played consistent, that our kicking coverage could kill us, or that Sean Lee is iffy. Tomorrow night is about the environment, about being a fan and these are the games we live for. Tomorrow night we get to here 110,000 sing Livin on a Prayer together, we hear WE ARE....PENN STATE (and the folks 4 miles away will hear it!), we'll cheer the drum major and we'll ring the victory bell. Because tomorrow night you can throw all the stuff the pundits are saying out the window. This one's coming down to emotion and who wants it more, and I know our boys will feed off the crowd and have been waiting 12 months for this game. Penn State will come to play, and we'll show Iowa and the country what home field advantage really means.

This says it all http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He1iNeFDgwk

The snap

2009-09-23T10:31:00.000-04:00

A few years ago on our local alumni flag football team we implemented the use of a long snapper, which meant our QB got the ball faster and could be deeper behind the center. What this gave him was a distinct advantage in timing on passing routes and delayed the pass rush an extra second because they had additional ground to cover.

How does this translate to PSU football? Well, over the first three games I've noticed that our shotgun snaps are slow and inaccurate, and it was very evident against Temple. This clearly resulted in Darryl Clark's timing being off because he had to take his eye off down field and account for the snap, plus it was getting there a split second too slow, which can disrupt the the passing rhythm. The passing game is very much a timing game, and each piece is crucial. But if the snap, the trigger to it all, is off by just a bit the rest will suffer. Which may be a big reason we saw the passing game sputter against Temple, and Clark appearing to hold onto the ball too long.

Another little piece I noticed was Clark having to be up a step closer in the shotgun. I'm not sure if this is normal or because of the snap. Either way being closer is causing two things to occur:

1. The pass rush is getting there faster
2. He's taking away the natural pocket to step up into to, since he's already close the line

Now, go back to to our flag football team. A deep snap that arrived quickly resulted in the QB getting rid of the ball faster, and not allowing the defense to identify routes because he was waiting on the ball. Second, if the he needed to scramble he would just step up because the pass rush was running full speed at him, and he had enough room to find space to avoid the rush.

With Iowa, we are facing our toughest test and it's little things like these that make the difference between winning and losing. If we see slow snaps and a collapsing pocket around Clark this Saturday it'll be a long night as these guys aren't Temple.

Time to get focused

2009-09-21T19:09:00.000-04:00

3 games down, we've outscored our opponents (if you call them that) 90-19, and we're now ranked #4 in the country. ESPN Gameday is coming this weekend for the night game with Iowa. If you remember from last season, the Hawkeyes are the team that provided us our regular season loss on a last second field goal. Basically, we played like crap and got beat by a team who was inferior to us.

So what do we know about our Lions going into our first true test? Honestly, we don't know anything about this team. They've gone through the motions in the first three games (so have the fans, did you see the weak showing vs. Temple?), but have yet to play a complete and focused game. There have been ups and downs each Saturday. Some improvements have been made, some weaknesses still exist and experience has been gained by the younger players who are seeing their first significant action.

What I'm anxious to see is if these guys show emotion this weekend for the Whitehouse with a juiced crowd (in more ways than one), and playing the team that ruined their bid at a National Championship last season. This Saturday night we'll learn a whole lot about this group of Nittany Lions and just how good they can be, because with a National TV audience we have to play like the #4 team in the country.

Temple....Why?

2009-09-18T12:08:00.000-04:00

For the life of me I have no idea why we play these guys yearly. Well yeah I do, we make more money playing them and their head coach used to play and coach under Joe. Frankly, we should be playing Pitt every year instead of these guys. But that won't happen until Joe's gone or the PA State Legislature passes a law saying we have to play. And the likleyhood of either one happening in the next 3 years is pretty slim.

About the game, this better be a slaughter and I'm looking for us to actually play a focused game with the Big Ten slate starting next weekend. This is our last tune-up before we have to get serious. The running game needs to come alive this weekend, which means our OL and Backs need to get on the same page. Right now, it's a playing experience and chemistry thing with the whole ground game. I think time and a committment to the right OL combination from the coaching staff is the only solution. I love pounding the rock, and I'm going to take a wait and see approach on our team to see when/if it comes around, but it better happen soon.

Predicition:
Penn State: Alot
Temple: Little

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

2009-09-14T20:51:00.000-04:00

Here are my thoughts on the Syracuse game (still need to watch the game off the DVR)

The Good, the passing game is clearly the strength of the offense and Darryll Clark is the best QB in the Big Ten. The new wide receivers are quickly finding their way, but still have some development to do. All in all the air attack is going to have to carry the offense until we can run the ball consistently.

The Bad, our kick-off coverage needs to get a whole lot better, and there are two schools of thought about how to improve. Some say we need to put more speed and contain better, and while I think our containment needs some work. I'm going with the other side of the coin and feel we need to give freshmen kicker Anthony Fera a chance to do kick-offs. Colin Wagner can't get the necessary distance on his kicks, so he has to kick it lower than normal. This has resulted in 3 maybe 4 seconds of hangtime on his kick-offs. I know these kids are fast but I don't can if you put 11 guys who run 4.2 40's, they aren't going to cover that distance in time. Mark my words, we will have at least two kick-offs returned for TD's against us this year.

The Ugly, well I said last week if the offensive line didn't do a better job they would end up here and well here they are. I'll have more to say about our run game in a post later this week. But these guys need to develop some chemistry in a hurry and our coaches need to decide on a starting line and let them play an entire game together. The shuffling in and out of the Guards isn't helping. But in typical Joe fashion, he'll start the upperclassmen, and then replace them with the underclassmen after a quarter or so. This won't solve the problem. Then need to play nasty and so far I don't see it....

Things that make you go huh?

2009-09-13T08:24:00.000-04:00

Got back last night in time to see the second half of the USC/OSU. All I have to say is Terrell Pryor needs to develop some heart, the guy does not like to get hit and plays tentative because of it.

As for our game I'll have a more detailed summary soon, but something I can't quite figure out. Why do our coaches insist on using Stephon Green in short yardage run situations. The guy has great speed, but is too small and goes down on first contact. Those two factors don't make for a good combination for someone you want pounding the middle.

Akron game thoughts....

2009-09-08T14:42:00.000-04:00

I haven't had a chance to re-watch the game yet but my quick thoughts on this past weekend:

1. It's the first game and we got up big early, and then went into cruise control
2. We were clearly working on the pass game, and weren't concerned about the run game
3. Akron provided no challenge and we don't really know anything about this team yet.

The Good:

Our wide receivers showed that we'll be fine in replacing the three starters from last season. In fact, I saw more yards after the catch (YAC) from Derek Moye and Chaz Powell than I did from last seasons groups.

The Bad:

The run blocking/ground game needs some serious attention, and I fully expect it to get it this week. And we'll see a better performance from them against Syracuse, but if we don't then we've got a serious problem with our OLine, and next week you'll see them listed in the next section.

Even worse:

Place kicking....awful. I'm willing to chalk up Colin Wagner's nerves to his first game, but those misses weren't even close. And what was Joe thinking by trying to build his confidence with 45+ yard attempts. Either way, if he struggles this week fully expect true freshman Anthony Fera to get his shot. At some point we're going to need FG and right now Wagner isn't showing signs he can deliver.

All in all, a mediocre performance for opening day. No serious injuries and we got our feet wet, but we won't know much about this team until the Iowa game.

Friday night thoughts.....

2009-09-04T19:29:00.000-04:00

Akron, the mighty Zips.....

My prediction is we'll win by at least 20, but I think we'll struggle against them in the first half. My reason for concern is Akron runs a no huddle 4 WR spread offense. We're going with 4 new starters in the secondary. Those two factors may lead to some struggles by our defense early, since the no huddle will cause adjusting to be difficult. The good news is the Akron QB is more of a short to intermediate passing QB, and rarely goes deep. I think our adjustment will be the use of four LBs to drop into coverage and blitz, which will start causing turnovers. My call is we'll be +3 in the turnover battle, if not this could be a closer game than expected.

Anyway, tomorrow starts the season and we're leaving at 6AM from Arlington, and should be tailgating by 10:30....post game review coming Sunday.

A little somethng to get you pumped....

2009-09-04T11:16:00.000-04:00

College football is here and watching NC State and South Carolina in a snorefest last night made me even more pumped for tomorrow's game. So, on this pre-holiday Friday here are some fun videos to get you pumped.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVHcUNky_RM - 2009 Pump Up Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT4ElbqU-qc - PSU Football History

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzOKnTO_yPg&feature=fvw - All In

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6m07ywC2t8&feature=related - Crowd singing along to Don't Stop Believing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXWbHwg7V54&feature=related - Students singing Livin on a Prayer....

Season preview thoughts

2009-09-03T12:00:00.000-04:00

In past years I've done season preview write-ups, which created my idea for doing this blog. This year I didn't do one for a couple of reasons.

#1 -- I was busy getting married and writing a preview in Aruba was sure as hell not happening
#2 -- There are enough online previews that I didn't want to re-create the wheel. So I'm including a few links to some previews I thought provide a good summary.

http://www.bigtennetwork.com/sports/football/Penn-State-Football-Preview-09.asp

http://cfn.scout.com/2/867877.html

While most of these highlight Darryll Clark, Evan Royster, Sean Lee and Navarro Bowman. I thought I'd give a few other players I'm intrigued about this season.

1. Joey Suhey (Fullback #37): We've seen him in spots over the past couple seasons and I've been impressed with his pass catching ability, and now we'll see how they work into the rotation. I can see him serving a fullback/tightend role much like the Steelers do with former Lion fullback Sean McHugh.

2. Curtis Drake (#7), Justin Brown (#19) and Shawney Kersey (#4) The freshmen wide receivers all have a chance to become significant contributors this season as we look to replace Deon Butler, Jordan Norwood and Derrick Williams. The one I'm very intrigued about is Curtis Drake, who was a HS QB and could be used in a bunch of different ways. My feel at least two of these guys will emerge this season, if not all three

3. Devon Smith (WR #20): Another freshmen WR, but where I want to see his impact is in the kick-off return game. Smith is only 5'7 153 pounds, but is blazing fast. With the small height and 4.2 forty speed, he's a guy who can change field position in a hurry.

Overall, I think we'll start off playing with combinations in the first three games and by Iowa I think we'll see our offensive line come together and the passing game flowing. If that happens we could very well see an offense similar to last season. And look for Evan Royster (#22) to have a very good year.

Back with more later today....

Monday Morning -- Injury News....

2009-08-17T07:36:00.000-04:00

Monday morning brings some bad news on the PSU Football front. Rumors are afloat that Mike Mauti has an ACL injury, which occurred during practice yesterday. For those who don't know Mike is a sophomore LB, and was going to be looked on to be an impact player this season. If he's out all season, then I expect the starting LB unit to be:

Sean Lee

Navorro Bowman

Josh Hull

Which means another season of my dad and I yelling at #43 Josh Hull, while technically a good LB he lacks the overall athletic skills and speed Mauti would bring to the table. The larger concern here is going into 2010 we'll have three brand new starters at LB, as I expect all of the three to be gone after the season. The good news is we are deep at LB, but we've lost some great potential for 2009.

Hope Mike has a speedy recovery and comes back at it in 2010.....

Pay attention to the Steelers Offense.....

2009-08-13T22:18:00.000-04:00

Been watching the Steelers pre-season game against the Cardinals, what does this have to do with Penn State football? Well, the Steelers have migrated to a 2 TE offense, and at times use 3 of them with one serving in the H-Back role.

Something tells me we may see a good bit of this type of offense from the Lions this season. With the lose of Jordan Norwood, Deon Butler and Derrick Williams we have to replace the productivity lost by their graduation. I've got a feeling the Spead HD will have a new flavor this season with the use of the TE. I think we see a lot of Mickey Shuler, Andrew Quarless and Joey Shuey (playing the H-Back role) in the passing game.

Feel free to comment.....

The opening blog.....

2009-08-08T09:55:00.000-04:00

In the past I've done write-ups, summaries, and other random musings regarding my beloved Nittany Lions however this was pretty much a sporadic effort. So for the 2009 season I'm going to write a blog and use this as my forum to detail my thoughts on the Lions, recruiting and other general college football thoughts that pass through my head.

Over the next two weeks I'll be posting a position by position breakdown as fall camp unfolds, leading up to the season opener with the Akron Zips. Stay tuned for more and feel free to comment on my opinions.....