Well hello everyone! I
hope you all had a great weekend. Yes, I
know I didn't post this yesterday (I’m fine btw, thanks for asking), but I had a busy weekend and
I wasn't able to get around to my posting duties until now. On Saturday I was forced to watch the game piecemeal
on my phone, and then I couldn't watch the replay until late last night. Long story short, all posts will be delayed
by one day this week. I’m sure you’ll get
over it. Now, in case you also missed
the game, here’s what happened… we beat the snot out of UMass 48-7! Not really the biggest surprise in history, but let’s get a little more specific and see if we can take anything away from
the game.
The Unrivaled Band Jam appeared to go off without a
hitch. Featuring performances from the
UMass Minuteman Marching Band, and four regional high school bands, it was a
great way to celebrate the many contributions that live music brings to high
school and college football. It also
marked the return of the Blue Band to the BJC since the canceling of
Tailgreat. By all accounts, the BJC
workers were happy to have a pregame show back in their arena and the fans
agreed as they packed the seats like they hadn't done in years. I guess you really don’t know what you got
till it’s gone. Credit goes to friend of
the blog Brian Bender for the intel, and the Blue Band’s official Facebook page
for this sweet pic!
As for the game itself, I was right about the blowout,
although it was worse than even my optimistic mind imagined. And unfortunately for the starters, this was a classic stat-buster.
Many of them were on pace for a great day until they were pulled about
mid way through the 3rd quarter.
In total 33 reserves saw action, including plenty of freshmen, and some
positions went all the way down to their 4th string by the end of
the game. Still, even against an
opponent as easy as UMass, the Nittany Lion offense started very slow with a 3
and out on their opening drive. The
defense wasn't exactly awake either as they allowed the Minutemen to drive deep
on their opening drive. Thankfully, UMass missed their FG attempt and the defense kept their goose egg
until the waning minutes of garbage time.
Hackenberg continues to show that he’s human after all forcing plenty of questionable throws into nonexistent windows, or completely
overthrowing his receivers altogether. That
will not fly with Big Ten defenses, so let’s hope he was just getting this out of his system now against an overmatched UMass squad. Hack ended up only
throwing for 50% as he went 12-23. This also marks the second game in a row without a passing TD for the wonderkid (although backup D.J. Crook did manage to get his first ever TD pass). Things should improve now that the run game has some confidence and Hack doesn't have to carry the entire offense himself.
Why do the RBs have some confidence you might ask? Well the rushing attack FINALLY got going as 5/6 of Penn State
Speaking of rushing stats, the Lions’ defense held UMass to
an astounding 3 rushing yds… seriously!
To date, the defense is now allowing less than 50 rushing yds per game! As I predicted, Mike Hull once again led the team with 6
tackles and also forced a fumble. Meanwhile DT Austin Johnson had himself an impressive first half with 2
tackles, 1 for a loss, a 7 yd fumble return, and even a pass breakup. The weirdest defensive stat of the day? Star DT Anthony Zettel did not contribute to any of
the 10 tackles for a loss. In
fact, he and Deion Barnes did not record any meaningful defensive stats all
day. Guess they got their rest in extra
early.
WRs Geno Lewis and Daesean Hamilton continue to impress, but
for every spectacular highlight, there is an equally baffling drop. Still, they combined for 9 catches and 147 yds. When they left the game we got to see freshmen like Saeed Blacknall and Chris Godwin get some playing time as each had 2 catches and the pair combined for 49 yds. At TE, Jesse James has been having some of the same problems as Lewis and Hamilton, missing his fair share of catches too. The massive target only managed to pull in 2 of the 5 passes thrown his way. If the WRs and TEs can clean it up a little bit,
they’re all legitimate All-American candidates!
Lone returning starter on the offensive line, Donovan Smith,
gave us all a scare when he left the field with an apparent elbow injury in the
2nd quarter, but he came back into the game a little while later
with an even thicker arm sleeve and seemed to be relatively fine. Hopefully this doesn't affect him down the
line. Things will only get better up front as 5th year senior guard Miles Dieffenbach could return to the lineup as early as the Ohio State game.
As for my prediction, it was very much affected by the early
benching of the starters. Hackenberg
didn't throw for 400 yds, but he was on track to do so. The same goes for the running backs who could
have easily broken 100 yds if left in the game, and the receivers who managed to get
almost as much production in half a game as they normally do in an entire
contest. D.J. Crook played surprisingly
well and even managed to score his first (and probably last) TD in Beaver Stadium with a pass to
little used TE Brent Wilkerson. As I mentioned
before, Zettel and Barnes didn't get a tackle between them, let alone 2 sacks,
and Jordan Lucas did not get the interception I predicted. I was right about beating the spread at least, although I
had no idea we’d crush it by 2 TDs. Overall,
I would say these blowout games can actually be harder to predict than some of the big
time conference match ups. Regardless, it was fun to
watch.
That will wrap things up for today. Check back tomorrow for the weekly grades,
and remember that the awards have been pushed to Wednesday. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter
@PSUOptimus, and as always, go State!
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