Week 2 Wrap Up

Ok, I did not anticipate the torrential downpour.  It made the crowd even worse than I expected, and it caused issues for both teams all day long.  Wet balls were hard to throw and apparently even harder to catch.  Slipping and sliding around seemed to play at least some role in the abundance of injuries (more on that in a minute).  And I can only assume that the sloppy weather played a part in the sloppy penalties by both teams.  I think Buffalo’s offensive linemen are still false starting (7 penalties) and chop blocking (4 penalties) people as we speak.  So let's get to what happened.

The big story, especially early on, was the pile up of injuries for Penn State.  You can learn a lot about a coaching staff by how they respond to an injury epidemic.  We'll see moving forward if James Franklin's staff can adjust and reload, or if they crumble under the pressure.  Now is when he earns that $4 million salary.

Let's start on the offensive line, which was already the team’s weakest link.  As the game kicked off and the Lions’ offense went to work, we saw a pretty dramatic shuffling of the line.  Juco transfer Paris Palmer was benched in favor of Andrew Nelson who moved from RT to LT.  LG Brendon Mahon moved over to take Nelson’s RT spot, and Derek Dowrey came in at LG to replace Mahon.  Then the unthinkable happened.  Nelson was violently rolled up on by a defensive lineman and went down with what appeared to be a season-ending knee injury.  By rule, it ended a promising drive and the 1^st half.  Penn State’s most consistent lineman was out, and when the team emerged from the locker room after halftime, the line looked like this: Palmer, Dowrey, Mangiro, Gaia, Mahon.  This would remain the first string unit for the rest of the game.

On defense, obviously, Nyeem Wartman-White was still out at LB, as was perennial back up Ben Kline.  Unexpectedly, Brandon Bell was also out.  This forced sophomore Jason Cabinda to take over in the middle, flanked by walk-on Von Walker and freshman Troy Reeder.  Following with the theme of the day, they played well in spite of the shuffling.  In the secondary, CB Grant Haley sat out for the second game in a row.  True freshman John Reid started in his place but was eventually replaced by Jordan Lucas.  Malik Golden took over at safety in Lucas’ stead.  Early in the 3^rd quarter, Golden’s counterpart at strong safety, Marcus Allen, also went down with a shoulder injury and was replaced by Troy Apke.  However, Allen would return later in the game.

So what happened?  Well, the first half in particular wasn’t the prettiest.  Penn State showed that they still have tons of kinks to work out if they hope to have a successful season.  Thankfully, they were given a comfortable warm up against a Bulls squad that looked overmatched from the get go.  The staff will have to build off the momentum of their first win and the many promising take aways that gave me hope.

Let's start with freshman WR/RB Brandon Polk who finally made the jet sweep work in the 2^nd quarter and scored his first collegiate TD!  He made it work again for a big gain at the end of the 3^rd quarter but the drive was stalled by the TEs and resulted in a FG.  Speaking of TEs, Mike Gesicki was terrible.  He had 2 sure fire TDs on the same drive and managed to drop them both.  Immediately after the second, he was late onto the field for the FG try and almost caused a penalty.  After that he sat dejected on the sidelines with his head hung low for the rest of the game.  Kyle Carter also dropped a potential TD in the 3^rd and a clear 1^st down in the 4th.  Needless to say, it was not a good day for the TEs.

It was, however, a fantastic day for break out freshman RB Saquon Barkley!  He woke up the entire offense and gave the fans something to get excited about in the 4^th quarter.  After a huge run complete with spin move for a 1^st down, he hurdled a defender (something he promised to do all throughout camp) during his first of hopefully many video game moments at Penn State.  This set up a nice pitch and catch to Daesean Hamilton who made a cut back for his first TD of the season.  Barkley ended the day with 115 yds and a TD on only 12 carries, good for nearly 10 yds/carry!  He gave me flashbacks of Evan Royster and Silas Redd, coincidentally the last Penn State freshman to rush for 100 yds in a game.  Barkley and Polk were also the first freshmen tandem to score TDs in the same game since the “smurfs” in 2005.  Although, let’s not get too excited seeing as he did all this against Buffalo.  We’ll see how things shake out against Rutgers next week.

Polk and Barkley weren’t the only young weapons making a difference.  In a game where the patchwork line somehow managed NO SACKS (you read that correctly), Hackenberg finally had time to distribute the ball and make use of all the shiny toys around him.  After not attempting a single big play last week, Hack had more than a few opportunities to take some shots down field this week.  The results were mixed, but the point was that they tried to utilize Hack’s cannon for a change.  Geno Lewis and Mike Gesicki did drop their long passes, but I have confidence they’ll clean that up.  Chris Godwin, on the other hand, was interfered with on his, and on the very next play when Hack tried again, Godwin caught it in stride for a big 1^st down inside the 10.  The aforementioned Saquon Barkley TD polished off that drive.

Now for those playing at home, THIS is what our offense CAN BE!  Franklin and his staff truly have brought “SEC speed” to this roster, I swear!  They’ve been hampered by issues with the line and their own playcalling ineptitude, but the talent is real and abundant.  Even if 2015 proves to be a rebuilding year, 2016 and beyond looks incredibly bright.  Now, Buffalo was probably the weakest defense we’ll see all year.  In fact, this was one of those games that makes you question whether the good things we saw were because Franklin and his staff actually figured things out, or the opponent was just that bad.  Either way, it’s nice to see glimpses of the future in live action.

In "no duh" news, the defensive line continues to impress.  DT Austin Johnson was absolutely unblockable all game, leading the team in tackles while wreaking havoc in the backfield and terrorizing QB and RB alike.  But the real superstar was DE Carl Nassib with 5 tackles, 3 for a loss, 3 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles.  He also combined with DT Anthony Zettel on an interception that was possibly the best play of the afternoon.  All told, the line had 6 sacks and 7 tackles for a loss.  If the season continues to disappoint in the W-L column, at least we get to see these guys play big boy football all year long.

Finally, special teams continues to leap forward.  Joey Julius did miss a long FG and there was a botched hold on another, but Big Toe made his other 2 attempts along with all his extra points.  Where things get interesting, though, is in the return game for both punts and kicks.  Guys like DeAndre Thompkins looked electric and are the best we’ve had in a long time.  Thompkins would have taken one to the house had he not gotten tripped up by the punter.  And Nick Scott looked fearless, refusing to fair catch even with defenders right in his face.  These guys might be the difference between a winning and losing record.  Danny Pasquariello continues to disappoint, though, with two more shanked punts.  He’ll need to get better in a hurry or the staff will need to look into other options.

As for my prediction, I didn’t do half bad.  If Buffalo had settled for a FG instead of a TD, I would have nailed the score!  The offensive line did show signs of cohesion, going from 10 sacks to 0 in only a week's time.  Hackenberg throw for almost exactly half of my predicted yardage, and only 1 TD instead of 2, but he did go interception free!  Hamilton and Godwin were the leading receivers, but only Hamilton got a TD.  Everyone was shocked as it was freshman Saquon Barkley, not starter Akeel Lynch, who ran for 100+ yds and a TD.  And Joey Julius made 2 FGs instead of 1.  On defense, Bell was injured and it was Carl Nassib with the big day, not Zettel.  But I was right about shutting down the run and letting up on the pass a little as the Bulls had 205 yds passing to only 69 yds rushing.  All in all, a decent effort.

I’ll have my grades out later this week and that will wrap up our Buffalo coverage as we prepare for the prime time clash with Rutgers.  In the meantime, head on over to my Facebook page for all the latest news and notes on all things Penn State football.  Maybe even give it a like or a share.  Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus (where I was killing it during the game), and as always, go State!