Gator Bowl Grades

It was not the way any Penn State fan wanted to end the 2015 season, and I can guarantee it's not the way Christian Hackenberg wanted to end his career.  But the sad truth is, the Nittany Lions lost their last 4 games, including the Gator Bowl to the Georgia Bulldogs.  They finish with a record of 7-6 for the second year in a row under James Franklin.  Hackenberg was knocked out of the game in the 2nd quarter with an injury to his throwing shoulder and would eventually declare for the NFL draft during his post game interviews.  Now, we look towards a hopefully bright 2016, with a full compliment of scholarships, a new Offensive Coordinator, and the infamous "quarterback battle/controversy."  But first, we say good bye to 2015, and for the last time this season, let's roll out some grades!

Offense
QB: (Incomplete) Coming into this game, Georgia's pass defense was considered to be the best in the country (at least statistically), and yet Christian Hackenberg torched them early on.  At one point, he had 3 consecutive 1st downs to 3 different WRs!  Then he got hurt and his backup, Trace McSorely (known more for his running abilities than his powerful arm), stepped in and until the 4th quarter he looked like a redshirt freshman playing his first meaningful collegiate snaps against said pass defense.  McSorely found a rhythm in the 4th quarter though, finishing the game 14 of 27 for 142 yds and 2 TDs, managing to put 14 points on the board while putting a scare into the mighty Bulldogs.  It's unfair to judge either QB's performance really, so let's just say I wish Hack luck in the NFL, I'm excited about the future of the position, and I'm glad we didn't get blown out like some other Big Ten teams.  Moving on...

OL: (C) They didn't look great, particularly in the run game (more on that in a second), but they managed to keep two different QBs' jerseys clean and not allow a single sack against an impressive Bulldog defensive front.  That counts for something and is a far cry from the 10 sack performance they let up in the season opener vs Temple.  I absolutely love the talent James Franklin has brought in during the past few recruiting cycles, so I'm hoping this group gets a lot better in years to come.

RB: (C-) Yes, I know Saquon Barkley didn't get much help from the O-line, but he didn't get help all year and managed to put up a lot better numbers than he did against Georgia.  The coaching staff would eventually try other options as the game went on, but it just wasn't working.  Strangely, it was the passing game, against the best secondary in the country, that almost got us a win.  And that's all I think really needs to be said.

WR: (A+) Prior to the game, all the focus was on Georgia's top rated pass defense (which I've already mentioned).  All that did was make this unit's performance all the more impressive.  The top three guys put up the following stats: Chris Godwin 6 catches for 133 yds, DaeSean Hamilton 5 catches for 71 yds and a TD, Geno Lewis 3 catches for 53 yds and a TD.  Oh, and NONE of the top 7 (yes, 7!) WRs are graduating.  Whoever wins the QB race is going to have more options than they know what to do with, and that can only help a young gunslinger's confidence.

TE: (F) James Franklin does not know how to use TEs.  It's just that simple.  Maybe with a healthy Adam Breneman this position will get better next year, but I'm starting to doubt that.  Only Kyle Carter recorded a catch, for 3 yds, and he's graduating.  I miss Bill O'Brien and Jesse James...

Defense
DL: (B+) These guys played well overall, as they have throughout the 2015 campaign.  Austin Johnson had 8 tackles, including 2 for a loss and a sack.  Garrett Sickels had 5 tackles, including 1 for a loss.  Anthony Zettel had 4 tackles, including a sack and a pass breakup.  Carl Nassib... did not record a single stat, and honestly, I don't remember him playing except for when he jumped offsides during a FG attempt.  This group will experience a massive exodus and I'm not totally sure what it will look like next year.  Sickels is the only starter to return, but I have faith in "Coach Chaos" to reload and continue the tradition of great defensive lines at Penn State.

LB: (B+) Brandon Bell led the team with 11 tackles.  Jason Cabinda had 8 of his own and finished the year with exactly 100 tackles.  Troy Reeder did not play, but his backup Jake Cooper picked up another 6 tackles.  This unit has been beat up as much as any other on the team.  Like the WR corps, none of them graduate, and Nyeem Wartman-White returns after getting knocked out for the season in the first game of the year.  I expect big things from LinebackerU moving forward, but then again, when don't we?

DB: (A-) Grant Haley had 7 tackles, Malik Golden and Marcus Allen each had 6, while Trevor Williams and John Reid picked up 2 tackles a piece.  Generally, we don't measure the secondary by tackles, though.  Instead, I'll focus on the fact that they held Georgia to only 115 yds passing and in most cases came up with big plays when they needed to.  So overall, a decent effort.  Like Reeder, senior CB Jordan Lucas did not play after getting knocked out for the season earlier in the year.  However, he will represent Penn State at the Senior Bowl in a few months.  Both he and Trevor Williams are graduating, but the influx of talent in recent recruiting classes means this group will most likely get even better and possibly be the strength of the defense moving forward.

Special Teams
K: (A-) Joey Julius focused on kick offs, where he wasn't bad (although he completely botched his onsides kick attempt), while Tyler Davis made his only FG attempt of the day from 34 yds out.  James Franklin recruited the #1 kicker in the country to come to Penn State next year, and he's got plenty of speedy options in the return game.  Special teams shouldn't be a liability for much longer.

P: (A-) Danny Pasquariello had at least one gorgeous punt that landed inside the 5 yd line.  Otherwise, he was fine.  Just like at kicker, we're getting the best recruit in the nation at this position next year, so the future looks incredibly bright.

Finally, my bonus grade today is simply an A+ for Christian Hackenberg.  I've written about him recently, as have countless other talking heads.  Hackenberg saved Penn State, plain and simple.  He singlehandedly made it OK for highly touted players to make their way to Happy Valley, even in spite of the sanctions.  He showed true loyalty, and persevered through seemingly impossible adversity while being viciously and unfairly criticized from all sides and from all corners of the country.  He did not have to do any of that, and yet he did.  Fuck the stats (although he owns like, every school passing record ever), Christian Hackenberg will go down as the unquestioned greatest QB to ever put on the blue and white.  This bonus grade is meaningless, but it's all I can do to say thank you!

Alright, that will do it for today, tomorrow, and well, the entire 2015 season!  As it stands right now, I believe I will officially be ending the blog.  It was a nice 3 year run, but I need to get some other things in order.  However, especially around Signing Day, the NFL Draft, Blue/White, etc I may suddenly have the urge to write again, and who knows, by the start of next season, I might have my personal life figured out enough that I want to start things back up.  So please please please, continue to head on over to my Facebook page (where I will continuing posting content) and give it a like or even a share.  Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus, and for possibly the last time ever... GO STATE!!!

PEACE!

Gator Bowl Wrap Up

It was a disappointing end to the 2016 Gator Bowl as the Nittany Lions fell to the Georgia Bulldogs on an overcast afternoon in Jacksonville.  Penn State rallied in the 4th quarter with a backup QB and showed a ton of guts, but the 21 point deficit was too much in the end.  PSU finishes the season 7-6 for the second consecutive time and is now 1-1 in Franklin era bowls.  However, the future looks bright as the team will be back at full strength with regard to scholarships next year and will look to improve thanks to a new Offensive Coordinator and a ton of emerging talent.

But the big story was when star QB Christian Hackenberg injured his throwing shoulder and left in the 2nd quarter.  He would not return.  It was an extremely rare sight for a guy who, despite racking up well over 100 sacks and countless hits, still managed to start all 38 games of his collegiate career (virtually unheard of these days).  Assuming Christian leaves for the NFL draft in a few months, this was his last game in the blue and white.  I'm sure that is not the way he wanted to go out, with an injury and a loss, but hey, maybe he'll feel like he has unfinished business come back!  Regardless, all Penn State fans should be incredibly grateful that a 5-star recruit who could've gone literally anywhere chose to come to Happy Valley and stayed in spite of scandals, sanctions, coaching changes, and bowl bans.  He will leave nearly every school passing record, and he did so in the face of untold adversity, serving as a role model to all of his fellow student athletes.  He was a class act from day one and perfect embodiment of the grand experiment.  Case in point, unlike most early entrants to the draft, Hack already has his degree and is officially an alum.  I wish him nothing but the best and just want to say, thank you Christian Hackenberg for proving yourself among the truest of Nittany Lions!

*Update: Hackenberg will officially enter the 2016 NFL draft, along with DT Austin Johnson*

The game was your classic tale of two halves.  In the first half, Saquon Barkley couldn't get anything going, although the passing game found a rhythm right away.  Hackenberg connected on 3 consecutive 1st down passes to Godwin, Lewis, and Hamilton.  He looked comfortable from the start until a pass hit Barkley right in the hands, only to be deflected into the waiting arms of a Georgia defender.  The Bulldogs capitalized, and got a little bit of luck, hitting a 44 yd FG attempt off the post and in to make it 3-0.

In the 2nd quarter, Hackenberg scrambled, landed awkwardly on his shoulder, and to make matters worse, a large defensive lineman fell on him.  He was slow to get up, but stayed in the game, completing 3 passes to Chris Godwin for 75 yds and getting the Lions down to the 17 yd line, all in spite of his injury.  It was too much though, and eventually Hack would leave the game and head to the locker room.  Trace McSorely took over and a Tyler Davis 34 yarder tied things up.

A 26 yd run by Isaiah McKenzie got UGA into PSU territory, and a 45 yd TD pass gave them a 10-3 lead.  Their next drive was more of the same, ending in another TD and making the score 17-3 going into the half.

By the 3rd quarter, Georgia was on their third kicker due to 2 injuries and their backup punter predictably missed a 48 yd FG attempt.  A few drives later, however, the Bulldogs' Sony Michel made it 21 unanswered points and the score stood at 24-3 as Penn State fans started to lose hope.

Finally, in the 4th quarter, passes to Chris Godwin and Saeed Blacknall got the Nittany Lions into FG range, but just when it looked like we would settle for 3, McSorely fired a strike and hit Geno Lewis in the endzone for Penn State's first TD of the day!  Now it was a much more respectable 24-10.  The next drive was more of the same.  Another 4th down, this time to Lewis continued to breathe life into the PSU bench.  Then, only a few plays later, McSorely found Hamilton in the back of the endzone for the score!

He would eventually get the ball back, down by just 7, with 1:52 left, and no TOs.  Give Christian Hackenberg that scenario and he wins the game.  Give it to Trace McSorely?  Well, at least he made things interesting.  8 seconds was just enough time for a hail mary… but it would fall short, and that would be the end.  Final score, 24-17.  It was the closest I've ever come to feeling like a loss was actually a win.

An interesting observation - it was refreshing to see a competent game plan put in place on offense.  Ricky Rahne didn't call any wacky gimmick plays, he adjusted as the game went on (especially when he had to simplify things for McSorely), and the only time we saw the same play twice was if it worked the first time.  The simple absence of John Donovan made for a noticeable improvement.  I can't wait to see what this team looks like under the direction of new OC Joe Moorhead.

As for McSorely, I honestly didn't think he played well, especially early on.  But nearly every other pundit and observer apparently begs to differ.  They see 14 points on the scoreboard and immediately anoint McSorely as the heir-apparent.  On the other hand, what I saw during the actual game was a young man that looked like a deer in headlights and was clearly in way over his head.  His first instinct on every play was to panic and take off with the ball, a move that inevitably resulted in no gain, or even a loss.  This was even more worrisome when you consider how dramatically smaller he is than your standard QB, and how that smaller frame isn't designed to take all those hits.  Putting yourself in that much danger right after your starter just went down with an injury is plain old stupid.  When he did throw, his wobbly passes either fell short or sailed over his intended target's head.  It took a series of highlight worthy circus catches by the WR corps to bail McSorely out... Then I saw this piece from OnwardState.  Now I'm starting to think that maybe I was a little hard on Trace due to his early struggles, which were understandable from a redshirt freshman coming off the bench in the middle of a high-pressure bowl game and down by 21 points.  He wasn't actually that bad, and I am excited to see him compete with incoming stud Jake Zembiec.  Blue/White weekend will be very interesting this year.

Ok, so how did I do with my prediction?  Well the Trace McSorely-led 4th quarter comeback made that 7 point spread look inspired, didn't it (unlike my score prediction)?  No one saw Hackenberg's injury coming, so everything about him is basically a moot point.  Chris Godwin was the leading WR, though, and boy did he have one heck of a game!  He caught 6 passes for 133 yds!  But he didn't score a TD.  No, for that, we got the law firm of Hamilton and Lewis back together.  The pair combined for 8 catches, 124 yds, and 2 TDs!  Barkley only had 69 yds on 17 carries and was routinely replaced in the second half due to ineffectiveness.  In fact, McSorely was arguably the best rusher of the day with 31 yds on 7 carries, giving him a 4.4 yd average (Barkley averaged 4.1).  So overall, not my best performance.  That will happen with bowl games.

Alright, that will do it for tonight.  Be sure to check back in probably on Wednesday for my bowl grades.  In the meantime, head on over to my Facebook page and give it a like or even a share.  Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus, and as always, go State!

Gator Bowl Prediction

*Quick note to start this post*
For all intents and purposes I consider myself a college football purist.  I love the tradition of the sport and therefore, most of my opinions trend conservative.  That is why I must respectfully refrain from using the name "Taxslayer.com Bowl" for Penn State's game tomorrow.  Instead, I will refer to it by its traditional name, the Gator Bowl.  That is all, now back to your regularly scheduled post.

James Franklin and company have traveled south for the winter and found themselves taking on the Georgia Bulldogs by the sunny beaches of Jacksonville, FL in the 2016 Gator Bowl.  Things kick off at noon tomorrow on ESPN.  This is the second bowl in a row for Penn State, and coach Franklin's fifth in a row going back to his days at Vanderbilt.  He's currently 3-1 and will look to go 4-1 for a very impressive postseason resume.  It's been a while so I'm shaking off the cobwebs.  Let's see how I do with this week's breakdown!

The Good
Georgia's non-conference matchups featured FCS team Southern, Sunbelt teams Louisiana-Monroe and Georgia Southern, and a 3-win Georgia Tech.  Needless to say, not the most impressive slate, even when matched up against Penn State's somewhat weak showing (which now looks much more impressive with the success of Temple).  Their three losses, on the other hand, came to Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee, all of which are very good teams (the Tide will be playing for the National Championship on January 11th).  Still, it's safe to say they were rarely tested this year, so they could be easy to catch off guard.  Aiding in that quest is the fact that the Dawgs will be playing with an interm coach after firing Mark Richt, who immediately found a new home in Miami.  This will actually be the fourth time that Penn State is playing a team who is missing their head coach this season (the others being Illinois, Maryland, and Rutgers).  Georgia's new coach, Kirby Smart, won't join the staff until after he's finished coaching Alabama in the Playoffs.  Instead, WRs coach Bryan McClendon will lead the team.  That's right, not a coordinator because in addition to missing their head man, UGA also lost their Offensive and Defensive coordinators.  Heck, even McClendon is on his way to South Carolina after the season, so who knows where his head is at.  They're also missing a number of players due to injury (like star RB Nick Chubb) and behavior issues.  Frankly, it's a disorganized mess down there right now, and that can only help the Nittany Lions' chances of coming away with a win.

The Bad
I started The Good section talking about Georgia's schedule, so it's only fair to start this section talking about our own.  Penn State's only "good" win this year was over San Diego State, who won 9 games and the Mountain West Conference title.  Otherwise, they beat who they were supposed to beat and lost to who they were supposed to lose to.  Since Georgia is currently favored by the so-called experts, there's plenty of reason to be worried that PSU will play down to the expectations and come out flat, especially considering they're in the middle of a three game losing streak to end the regular season.  How they finish in this bowl game could play a key role in determining how the offseason will go, and consequently next year.

The Bulldogs signal caller is a talented, but unherolded player in Greyson Lambert.  He's completed 64.4% of his passes for 1,844 yds and 11 TDs.  When given time, he can pick people apart and set up the rest of Georgia's traditionally run-heavy offensive attack.  And he usually has time behind his talented offensive line that has only given up 9 total sacks this season.  Still, Lambert is a traditional pocket passer, which bodes well for the pressure style of defense Bob Shoop likes to employ.

On defense, UGA defends against the pass better than just about anyone, allowing just 146.1 yds per game through the air.  I'll be interesting to see how Hackenberg and the "flight squad" handle a stout back seven featuring safety Dominick Sanders, and LBs like Jake Ganus, Tim Kimbrough, and Leonard Floyd.  I'm tempted to say this will be one of the best defenses Penn State will play this season, but they also played Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, and Ohio State... so yeah, they've been here before.  All of those games ended in losses, so you can do the math.

The Story
Well, the big story is that these two "blue blood" programs have only ever met once before, in the 1983 Sugar Bowl, where Joe Paterno and his QB Todd Blackledge led Penn State to their first ever National Championship.  Although it may have taken that long to get a title, bowl games are a different story.  The Nittany Lions are actually tied for 3rd all-time in bowl wins, with an overall record of 28-15-2.  24 of those wins came under Joe Paterno, who not only coached his Lions to more postseason victories than anyone in college football history, but also more bowl wins than all but 8 entire schools!

Joe Paterno after winning his first National Championship

This is the first SEC opponent James Franklin will face since coaching in the SEC with Vanderbilt.  The Commodores are in the same division as Georgia so Franklin had to face them all three years he was in Nashville.  We'll have to wait and see if that familiarity pays off.  Speaking of familiarity, Georgia actually plays Florida every year in "the world's largest outdoor cocktail party," a game played at this very stadium in Jacksonville.  They played here just a few weeks ago, so they definitely know the layout.  However, keep in mind that the Jacksonville Jaguars currently have more former Nittany Lions on their roster than any other NFL team.  And it just so happens that this game will be played in their home stadium.  At least three of them took time out of their schedules to hang out with the current squad at a lunchin as part of the bowl game festivities.  Maybe their mojo will rub off and give the team a kind of karmic home field advantage.

The Prediction
Penn State opens as 7.5 point underdogs.  I don't get it.  We have no idea what Georgia's coaching staff will even look like and they're still favored?  Whatever Vegas.  The Nittany Lions are rested and healed up after a few weeks off.  In all the pictures and videos I've seen of them at the bowl site, they've looked ready and confident.  I honestly think we have a strong chance to win this one.  This will likely be Christian Hackenberg's last game in the blue and white, and he's made it a point over his career to save his best for last (against Wisconsin and Boston College).  I think he'll throw for just under 200 yds, with Chris Godwin as the leading WR.  Saquon Barkley looks to be at 100% and he should have a monster day, going for over 150 yds and at least 1 TD.  A healthy defensive line dominates the Bulldog front and harasses their QB all afternoon.  They're a talented team, so they'll get their shots in, but in the end, I think Penn State takes this one 20-13.  All hail your new Gator Bowl Champions!

*Another quick side note*
Carl Nassib will officially join Jordan Lucas in the Senior Bowl, college football's premier post season all-star game.  Congrats to both men on this prestigious invite!

Ok, I think that will do it for tonight.  Check back on Monday for my Bowl wrap up.  In the meantime, head on over to my Facebook page and give it a like or even a share.  Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus, and as always, go State!