Week 11 Wrap Up

Just like after the Michigan game, when I had never felt better about being wrong, after yesterday’s game, I have never felt worse about being right.  I knew we were going to lose this game, and losing is fine; you can’t win them all.  What’s so frustrating, though, is HOW we keep losing.  Nothing about the way this team is playing right now says Penn State football.  Mistakes, poor fundamentals, lack of ball security, and a horrible defense have been consistently absent from Happy Valley for decades.  Now, all of these problems seem to have firmly entrenched themselves in the Penn State football program.  Bill O’Brien has a ton of explaining to do after this one.  His squad put up nearly identical stats to Minnesota, yet somehow lost by 14 points!  This team is a complete mess right now.  Even if they were bowl eligible, they would most likely be going to one of the crappier bowls available with a 6-6 record to take on some MAC team… and that’s only if they can manage to beat Purdue next week (which is no longer a certainty with the way they’re playing).

Penn State’s offense is nowhere near where they should be given all the talent on that side of the ball.  They have now fumbled on the goal line in consecutive games while trying to mount a comeback against an inferior opponent.  It worked out last week, but not this week.  All in all, the turnovers are getting ridiculous.  The 3^rd down conversion rate, dead last in the Big Ten by a wide margin, is also straight up embarrassing.  Nothing is more frustrating than watching an offense march down the field with impressive runs and passing plays, only to shoot itself in the foot when it matters most.  Whether it’s a penalty, a failed 3^rd down conversion, a turnover, or something brand new that they came up with, this offense is simply not performing up to its potential, especially on the road.  It’s been exactly a decade since we've seen Penn State go winless on the road in a season, and there’s a strong possibility that it happens this year.  Let’s hope not. 

The defense was hit significantly harder by the sanctions than the offense, especially at linebacker, and I have done my best all season to give them the benefit of the doubt solely because of that fact.  Not anymore!  Watching all those missed tackles is past the point of embarrassing and is now humiliating.  I’m going to have to start digging deep into my thesaurus program to come up with more words to describe how I feel about them.  Again, this is NOT Penn State football!  I don’t necessarily blame defensive coordinator John Butler because I think he’s a great coach with a lot of energy, and I think that the players truly respect him.  Nevertheless, something needs to change because given the resources at a school like Penn State, this is nowhere near an acceptable on-field product.  The pass defense is especially disappointing as seemingly every team the Lions face can easily move the ball through the air on them.  At some point injuries and sanctions become lame excuses.  Something needs to be done quickly.  I just hope the coaching staff can figure out what that is exactly.

There were few, if any, highlights from this game, so let’s just get to my prediction.  I was right, we lost!  Christian Hackenberg threw for a mere 163 yds and no TDs, a far cry from the 200 yds and 2 TDs I predicted, and I believe it was a season low for the freshman.  The only good news is that he did not throw the interception I thought he would.  Allen Robinson also had what I believe was a season low 7 catches for only 63 yds instead of the 10 catch 100 yd performance I was looking forward to.  He seemed visibly upset at his lack of touches numerous times throughout the game.  Meanwhile, at the running back position, O’Brien continued his practice of not playing the “hot hand” and gave Zach Zwinak the majority of reps just one week after Bill Belton went for 200 yds for the first time since 2002.  Although Zwinak had a very nice game, gaining 150 yds on 26 carries and 1 TD, this tactic of benching the player with momentum is mind boggling.  Belton, by the way, only had 47 yds on 7 carries.  And finally, just as I predicted, it was mistakes throughout the game that killed every attempt at a comeback, including the aforementioned fumble on the goal line that would've put us within one score of the lead.

Another loss means another week of bad grades and undeserved awards, but a robot's got to do what a robot's got to do.  At least there's a lot of buzz about Men's and Women's basketball this year!  Keep following me on Twitter @PSUOptimus and as always, go State!