Week 9 Wrap Up

Well that sucked.  I don’t think any Penn State fan honestly expected a win.  But I do think that almost all Penn State fans, and Ohio State fans for that matter, expected a good close game with potential to be an instant classic.  In that sense, everyone came out disappointed last night as the Buckeyes quite simply manhandled the seemingly hapless Nittany Lions.  Absolutely nothing went right for Bill O’Brien’s squad as they failed their first real road test in miserable and embarrassing fashion to the tune of a 63-14 beat down.  It was the worst loss in Penn State history in nearly every statistical category: largest margin of defeat, most points given up, most yards given up, etc.

Let me get this out of the way up front - Penn State played like absolute crap last night, especially on defense.  They looked like boys among men as they were outclassed in every phase of the game.  Any and everything that Ohio State felt like doing, worked.  If they wanted to go right, Penn State looked left.  If they wanted to run it, Penn State covered the pass (and visa versa).  When the 3^rd string quarterback is still putting up huge yards and points on you, there’s not much else you can do but take it and pray for it to be over quickly.

With all of that said, though, there was a whole lot of nonsense going on in this game that I guarantee no one else will talk about and could have at least made for a better game-watching experience.  Yes, these are excuses, I openly admit that, but hear me out:

First of all, Ohio State was goaded into running up the score on Penn State.  Make no mistake about that.  The Buckeyes are trying to win a national title and they know full well that it’s a simple popularity contest.  As long as teams like Oregon, Florida St, and to a lesser extent Alabama are crushing teams by large margins, the concept of collegiality where you come off the pedal during blowouts will remain a foreign concept.  Maybe when the 4-team playoff comes next year some of this will disappear, but for now, everyone has to live with this garbage.

Secondly, go back and watch the “highlights” of some of the biggest plays from last night.  On almost every 20+ yd play by Ohio State, one or more of their offensive linemen can be seen blatantly holding Penn State players who were in perfect position to make a tackle.  There were also multiple and overt pass interference penalties that went uncalled.  Overall, it seemed like the referees forgot that they have those little yellow flags tucked into their pants, or at least forgot how to use them.  Now, would PSU defenders have missed those tackles anyway? Maybe.  Would OSU have scored on the next play anyway? Maybe.  However, if many of the biggest plays in that game were called back due to holds, it changes the entire complexion of the game.  With longer yardage situations due to penalties, Ohio State’s entire game plan would have been altered.  Play calls would've changed, linemen would've played more conservatively to avoid more penalties, and points would've been at more of a premium.  All of this could have led to a drastic difference in Penn State’s game plan as well and might have at least made things closer.  Again, let me reiterate, Penn State was going to lose that game (and most likely by a lot) regardless.  My point is simply that it could have been more enjoyable and fair if the refs had done their damn job.

I’m not going to bore any of you with a replay of this game.  I barely wanted to watch this steaming pile of crap live.  Instead, I want to highlight something that has bothered me about the future of Penn State football.  Showings like UCF, Indiana, and now this demonstrate why I’m so torn about the recruiting philosophy of Bill O’Brien’s staff.  Yes, there are tons of exciting skill players signing on to play for Penn State.  Wide receivers, defensive backs, running backs, and elite quarterbacks seem to be flocking to State College despite sanctions.  That gives me hope for some high-flying offenses in the future.  Yet, linemen and linebackers, already in short supply on the current team, appear to be low on O’Brien’s priority list.  That is inevitably going to lead to games like we saw in Columbus.  On one hand, Belton, Robinson, even Felder and Lynch had great nights.  On the other hand, the defensive line and linebackers couldn't stop a thing and the offensive line allowed Hackenberg to be rushed all night and even take a sack that led to an injury.  Games, especially in the Big Ten are won in the trenches and I’m just confused where the “big uglies” are at these days.

As for my prediction, let’s not even talk about it.  Basically everything I said was wrong except for Ohio State winning.  In my defense, I wasn't the only one as pretty much no one anticipated that kind of a historic beat down.  The only two bright spots for Penn State were Allen Robinson continuing to be ridiculous getting 12 catches for 173 yds and a TD (also, this play) and Bill Belton firmly entrenching his status as our top running back with 22 carries for 98 yds.  Oh, and in garbage time, Akeel Lynch showed why the running back position looks extremely bright for the foreseeable future.

Thankfully for Lions fans, the next 3 games are all more than winnable and after getting beat by the shorthanded Gophers, Nebraska looks beatable too.  So an 8-4 record isn't out of the question.  And keep in mind after the last tough loss to Indiana, we got to bask in the gloriousness of the Michigan game.  I said it once, and I’ll gladly say it again, all things equal out at some point.  Maybe this was just what we needed to appreciate the next incredible thing that comes our way.