Same Stuff, Different Saturday
Next Saturday, I will put on my PSU jersey and my hat. I will put the Blue Band CD in the stereo. I will check Fight on State.com for the staff predictions. I'll probably still get nervous enough before the game to not want to eat. I will do everything I normally do before a Penn State game. Probably always will.
But, it's getting tougher and tougher to feel the same pride...to think that we are close to being the elite program we once were. No, I think I am starting to understand that we are now mentioned in the same breath as the Marylands, the Kansas States, the Auburns of the world. Usually a pretty decent team. Every once in a while a really good team. But, no longer a consistently dominant team. Even in our own conference we're not in the top tier. Heck, we are probably not in the second tier.
No once could fault the play calling today. 400 yards of offense should be good enough for most offenses. Three successive possessions beginning on the opponent's side of the 50 should mean a laugher...a rout. Not 3 points. Not 3 turnovers.
As I said last week, Anthony Morelli is not a Division 1 starting QB. Ok, he did look good in the first half. But, when there was pressure to make that one defining play, he came up well short (like his passes). Now, Joe is fiercely loyal to his seniors, but even he has to doubt whether or not his team can win (or will follow) with Morelli.
Kudos to Austin Scott for running hard. He definitely showed something. The running game was solid today...maybe should have been used more.
The defense looked unprepared to face an option offense. Not sure how this can be, since many of the same guys faced the same personnel in the same scheme last year...oh yeah, they struggled then, too. If the spread is so hard for Big Ten teams to face (see Michigan/App St), why don't more teams in the conference use it??
I'm not sure this team finishes .500 this year. They'd have to go 3-4 the rest of the way. With Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Indiana coming up, that might be a tall order.
For the Glory?
But, it's getting tougher and tougher to feel the same pride...to think that we are close to being the elite program we once were. No, I think I am starting to understand that we are now mentioned in the same breath as the Marylands, the Kansas States, the Auburns of the world. Usually a pretty decent team. Every once in a while a really good team. But, no longer a consistently dominant team. Even in our own conference we're not in the top tier. Heck, we are probably not in the second tier.
No once could fault the play calling today. 400 yards of offense should be good enough for most offenses. Three successive possessions beginning on the opponent's side of the 50 should mean a laugher...a rout. Not 3 points. Not 3 turnovers.
As I said last week, Anthony Morelli is not a Division 1 starting QB. Ok, he did look good in the first half. But, when there was pressure to make that one defining play, he came up well short (like his passes). Now, Joe is fiercely loyal to his seniors, but even he has to doubt whether or not his team can win (or will follow) with Morelli.
Kudos to Austin Scott for running hard. He definitely showed something. The running game was solid today...maybe should have been used more.
The defense looked unprepared to face an option offense. Not sure how this can be, since many of the same guys faced the same personnel in the same scheme last year...oh yeah, they struggled then, too. If the spread is so hard for Big Ten teams to face (see Michigan/App St), why don't more teams in the conference use it??
I'm not sure this team finishes .500 this year. They'd have to go 3-4 the rest of the way. With Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Indiana coming up, that might be a tall order.
For the Glory?
posted by HappyValley at 6:31 PM
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