Week 9 Wrap Up

The Penn State Nittany Lions walked into Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, IN riding a 4-game losing streak and with the memory of last year’s loss in that exact same stadium still fresh in their minds.  They walked out victorious for the first time in 49 days, with their 5^th win of the year, and are now just 1 game away from bowl eligibility!  Final score, 13-7 Penn State!  The game was dedicated to safety Ryan Keiser who is still recovering in the hospital from a couple of freak injuries and complications.  Players celebrated with Keiser’s jersey in the locker room post game.

Yes, that's Indianapolis Colt, and former Nittany Lion A.Q. Shiply in the front

Head referee Dave Winvoet’s crew (the ones who screwed us over at Michigan) officiated the game.  Maybe it was just because the game wasn't in Michigan, but the zebras did a good job today.  I’m nothing if not fair, so if I’m going to complain when they mess up, I’m going to acknowledge when they do a good job.

Also, one quick observation about the “atmosphere” inside Memorial Stadium, aka “the Quarry” – it’s about as quiet and empty as a real rock quarry.  Seriously, I’m not trying to make fun of them, but this was particularly awful.  We get it, you’re basketball fans, it was a noon kickoff, and the weather sucked; but geez, try to show a little pride!

Memorial Stadium shortly before kickoff... Yeah

The opening of the game, one in which the teams would combine for 20 punts, would prove to be an omen of what was to come all afternoon.  Penn State started with the ball and after 3 passes, was forced to punt.  Indiana got the ball and after 3 runs, was forced to punt as well.  And so it continued.  To our credit, we straight up stopped their runs, whereas they get lucky when we dropped passes.  The theme for Penn State was clear: defense stops them, offensive stops themselves.  For an equally cynical take, here's Black Shoe Diaries with what they call "technically football"

Here are my big takeaways.  Offensively, Penn State finally found a little bit of a run game, including big plays by both Belton and Lynch.  Overall, though, the struggles continue.  Defensively, our boys pitched a shut out, holding Heisman candidate Tevin Coleman to a season low of 74 yds and his first game of the year with less than 100 yds.  After this game and the Ohio State game, anyone questioning the legitimacy of this defense’s #1 national ranking in rush defense is just lying to themselves.  As an observant Twitter user put it best, Penn State’s defense makes every other team’s offense look as bad as theirs.  The most telling sign of what this team has become was after Hackenberg threw yet another interception at the 50 yd line late in the 4^th quarter, and quite frankly, I wasn't even nervous.

So what exactly happened?  Let's start with the most exciting part.  At the end of the 2nd quarter, an impressive 24 yd punt return by Jesse Della Valle set up the offense just inside Indiana territory.  On the first play from scrimmage, Indiana intercepted Hackenberg's pass and ran it back 47 yds for a touchdown.  On the ensuing kickoff, Grant Haley opted out of a touchback but only got out to the 8 yd line.  It wouldn't matter, though, as Bill Belton found a hole between two Indiana linebackers on the very first play of the drive.  He then straight-up outran two defenders 92 yds all the way to the endzone!  It was the longest run of the season (the previous being only 46), and more importantly it tied the record for longest rushing play in PSU history.  Here's the thing, although Blair Thomas also had a 92 yd rush, he was stopped short of the goal line.  So Belton is now the proud title holder of longest rushing play for a SCORE in PSU history.  Enjoy the record-setting play below!

However, the big story of the season has been the offensive line.  Well, despite the continued absence of LT Donovan Smith, LG Miles Dieffenbach suited up and made his triumphant return to the field! - phased in slowly of course, just as James Franklin said he would.  Yet his mere presence seemed to spark the offensive line as the first play with him back was a 1^st down completion to Saeed Blacknall.  In fact, at numerous times throughout the afternoon, I found myself saying things like, “great protection” and “plenty of time” almost as much as I said, “too many offsides again” and “nowhere for RBs to go.”  So the big guys up front are definitely trying, and improving, but they’re also still by far the weakest link on the team.  Furthermore, their play isn't just affecting the running and passing games anymore, it’s even hitting special teams.  For the third time this year, a more than makeable FG was blocked.  On top of that, Hackenberg has now been sacked 35 times with 3 games remaining.  In 12 games last year, he was only sacked 20 times.  That means this offensive line is on pace to more than double last year’s sack total.  Obviously the key moving forward will be this group’s development.

Speaking of #14, let’s talk quarterback.  The good news is Hackenberg’s body language was so much better this week than last week, despite continuing to play rather poorly.  I guess that talk with Franklin did the trick.  The bad news is much more complicated and it starts with Hack's continued refusal to get rid of the ball and take way too many sacks.  On one drive, he was sacked twice in a row and almost took a third before finally throwing it away.  The line wasn't the problem as he got the best protection he’s had all year outside of maybe the UMass game.  Inaccuracy is also becoming a problem, usually when Hack doesn't step into his throws like he used to.  Too many of his balls continue to either hit receivers in the feet or sail over their head.  It just seems like his touch is off and his fundamentals have deteriorated under QB coach Rickey Rahne.  Oh, and then there's the severe case of butterfingers.  Look, even great QBs drop the ball on occasion, but we've seem this crap from Hackenberg going all the way back to his first game against Syracuse last year!  On one miracle play, the ball popped out of Hack’s hand during his wind up and fell right into Akeel Lynch’s hands.  Luckily Lynch managed to get some decent yds.  And if all that wasn't enough, Hack had 2 more interceptions today (including a pick six) without throwing a TD.  To be fair, the second was Bill Belton’s fault for tipping it to the defender, but still, take care of the football!

At this point, it’s blatantly obvious what this team is, even to the most casual fan: elite defense and incompetent offense.  Barring a miracle, that will most likely ring true for the rest of the regular season.  Hopefully that should be enough to beat Temple and/or Illinois and get to a bowl game.  That’s where you need to start paying attention.  Bowl preparations are like a gigantic bye week and provide more than two weeks of additional practices that non-bowl teams aren't privy to.  Simply missing out on those practices the last two seasons has hurt this team as much as any of the sanctions.  With Deiffenbach and Smith firmly back in the line up, plenty of practice time to gel, and a jazzed-up, bowl-starved fan base ready to get back to the postseason, the bowl game should prove to be a showcase of what this will be in the very near future.

So, how'd I do on my prediction?  Well I was right about it being a low scoring affair.  In fact, if you add in our blocked FG and Indiana's missed FG, I would have nailed the score!  Hackenberg didn't throw for a TD, Bill Belton actually had the bulk of the carries not Lynch, and Ficken only had 2 FGs instead of 3, although again, 1 was blocked.  I was halfway correct on defense.  Mike Hull tied for the lead in tackles, and Marcus Allen tied for second.  Zettel did have a sack, but Barnes didn't.  And I predicted an interception, except it was Nyeem Wartman, not Jordan Lucas.  Pretty good overall.

Alright, grades are coming tomorrow, so check back then.  Please go like my Facebook page if you like what you read on here.  Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus, and as always, go State!

Week 9 Prediction

The Penn State Nittany Lions are currently in the middle of a 4-game losing streak and hope to stop the bleeding this week as they travel to Bloomington, IN to take on the Indiana Hoosiers (a nickname that's literally defined as "a person from Indiana").  The game kicks off at noon on the Big Ten Network.

Before we begin today, I wanted to give a non-football update because it was a really big week in off-the-field Penn State news.  Now I'm not going to go into this very much here because this is exclusively a football blog.  However, for anyone out there who is still upset about the entire Jerry Sandusky mess and its impact on Penn State's previously pristine reputation, or who thinks that Joe Paterno was denied due process and unfairly thrown under the bus by the media for ratings, or most importantly is angry that the NCAA completely overstepped their authority in handing down sanctions on the football program for a decidedly criminal matter involving a former Penn State employee... well, let's just say a few quick Google searches about what's transpired over the past few days will most likely leave you smiling ear to ear.  OnwardState.com broke much of the news this week, so I'm more than happy to plug them as an excellent source for what went down.  Here, here, here, and here are good examples.  Also, check out this piece from Lions247.

With that out of the way, let's get to football with this week's breakdown!

The Good
It's true, Indiana's offense is definitely better than Penn State's; but what team's offense isn't at this point?  However, Indiana has been hit hard by the injury bug of late, especially at QB.  Consequently, 3rd stringer Zander Diamont has been thrust into action, and he's managed a total of 35 yds passing in his last two games.  But it gets better!  He's also averaging... wait for it... 1 yd per pass attempt.  Seriously.  To put that into perspective, Penn State's atrocious running game (which has improved from dead last to fourth from last in the country) is currently averaging 2 yds per rush attempt, and that statistic has most of Nittany Nation panicking.  Just imagine how Hoosier fans feel about their passing game!  So yeah, good luck throwing the ball against shut-down CB Jordan Lucas, and surprise freshman sensation Marcus Allen.  This could get ugly.

Things don't get much better for the Hoosiers on defense where a historically bad group is displaying a particularly spectacular brand of awful this season.  Statistically speaking, this will be the single worst pass defense Christian Hackenberg will face all year, and might provide the first legitimate chance for him to throw more TDs than INTs in a conference game (something he hasn't managed to do yet).  If there's one defense out there that can make Penn State's offense look competent and give them some confidence moving forward, it's these guys.

So far this season, outside of a shocking upset on the road at then #18 Missouri, Indiana has only managed to beat FCS team Indiana State, and Sun Belt Conference punching bag North Texas.  And yes, that means they have yet to win a Big Ten game this season; although we're not much better having only beaten Rutgers.  Couple that with the fact that the Hoosiers have only ever beaten Penn State once, and you have a recipe for the easiest PSU win since mid-September.

The Bad
Just like for the Akron and UMass games, there's thankfully not a whole lot of bad to report, at least from a player perspective.  However, the one weapon Indiana does have could prove to be the best all around player Penn State has face this year - Tevin Coleman.  Indiana's star RB is absolutely ridiculous and basically the only saving grace on an otherwise terrible team.  He's currently 3rd in the nation in total rushing with 1,300 yds (an insane 8 yd per carry average) and first nationally in yds per game with 162.  So far he's managed to somehow stand out in a conference that also features potential All-American RBs Ameer Abdullah at Nebraska, and Melvin Gordon at Wisconsin.  Our buddies over at OnwardState have you covered per usual with this nice piece on Coleman.

Outside of personnel, there are a few other things to be worried about with this matchup.  First of all, it's a road game, which should always give teams pause.  This is actually the second year in a row that Penn State will be traveling to Indiana (thanks Big Ten expansion and reshuffling of schedules!) and last year, the Lions arrogantly waltzed into Memorial Stadium before getting smashed 44-24, mostly on the back of costly turnovers.  If you're a masochist, you can relive that terrible day with my Wrap Up post from last season.  But it's not just the tricky road environment.  The once unflappable Christian Hackenberg has been forced into bed habits and even worse decisions all season long, and although an inexperienced and undermanned offensive line shoulders much of the blame, Hack's emotional outbursts and obvious skepticism of the new coaching staff are looking like serious problems.  Remember, though, that this is a sophomore who probably shouldn't be charged with leading a team in the first place.  Unfortunately, sanctions and natural attrition have forced James Franklin's hand.  Christian needs to step up and realize that it's much nobler to rise to the challenge in these kinds of situations, rather than sulk and blame others.  Franklin said in his Tuesday press conference that he had a long, productive conversation this week with Hackenberg and they're both ready to move forward.  I hope he's right.

The Story
This one is easy.  The big story, as I've already alluded to, is Indiana's RB Tevin Coleman verses Penn State's #1 ranked rush defense.  Coleman hasn't faced a defense even remotely close to what he'll see on Saturday.  Similarly, Penn State has been great against mediocre to good competition, but Coleman is on a completely different level right now.  Personally I give the advantage to the defense because Indiana's passing attack is so poor that PSU will be able to stack the box with 7 or even 8 defenders and stonewall the rushing attack dead in its tracks.  As for the other matchup, everyone knows that Indiana's defense sucks, as does Penn State's offense, so you're only hurting yourself if you pay too much attention to that aspect of the game.

The only other story I can find in this game is simply a revenge factor from last year's humiliating defeat.  Any Nittany Lion players who lived through that game will hopefully come out looking for redemption and a chance to start a new streak against the hapless Hoosiers.

The Prediction
So, what's going to happen?  Well, the Nittany Lions are favored by 7 points, on the road, which means it's really more like 10 on a neutral field.  As confident as I feel about this game, that same confidence has gotten me into trouble over the past 6 weeks.  I think we get more of the same this week: an incredible defensive effort that keeps a pitiful offense in the game.  Either way, it's going to be low scoring.  Hackenberg should have some success against this defense, including a TD pass to Hamilton.  The running game improves slightly as Akeel Lynch continues to take on more of the load.  Sam Ficken hits 3 more FGs and is once again a strong candidate for Special Teams Player of the Week.  On defense, Mike Hull goes back to leading the team in tackles, but Marcus Allen is a close second.  Zettel and Barnes each have sacks and Jordan Lucas gets an interception that puts the game away for good.  Penn State finally snaps their losing streak 16-10.

Plug time!  I don't always mention this, but feel free to email your questions and/or comments to PSUOptimus@gmail.com.  Check me out on Facebook and like my page.  Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus, and as always, go State!

Week 8 Awards

Going into the Northwestern game, I was pretty confident that a favorable schedule and a weak Big Ten would mean only 2 sure fire losses for the rest of the year: Ohio State and Michigan State.  I never expected an epic 4-game collapse, especially with 3 of those 4 games at home.  Yet, here we are, 2/3 of the way through the season, sitting at exactly .500, with a 4-4 record and only 1 Big Ten win.  The Maryland loss was hopefully the last in a series of unfortunate events as the road to a bowl game becomes significantly easier over the next 3 weeks.  But that's all in the future.  For now, let's finish up my coverage of the Maryland game by handing out some awards!

Probably the easiest pick of the week, the Beast Mode Award goes to kicker Sam Ficken who hit all 4 of his FGs on Saturday, 3 from 45+ yds away!  The performance was good enough to earn him Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week honors, his second time this season.  Ficken is now an impressive 17-19 on the year, and with 239 points to his name, he’s now 3^rd all time on the career points list.  First?  Another kicker, Kevin Kelly, whose 4-year run netted an incredible 425 points.  I don't think Ficken will be breaking that record anytime soon.

Even though it didn't feel like it, Saturday was actually a record breaking day on offense.  This week's Transformer Award reflects that as it goes to Jesse James who caught his 11th career TD pass, breaking the record set by Ted Kwalick for career TDs by a TE which stood since the late 1960s!  Daesean Hamilton also got in on the party, breaking the freshman receptions record.  Congrats to both gentlemen on their achievements!

I'm proud to announce another 2-time winner as the Matrix Award goes to freshman safety Marcus Allen.  For the second week in a row he dominated with 11 tackles, becoming the first defensive player all season long to surpass Mike Hull and lead the team in tackles.  He'll be starting yet again this week in place of the injured Ryan Keiser, only this time his backup will be another true freshman, Troy Apke, a former WR who recently had his redshirt removed.

This week's winner of the In Disguise Award is hard to miss at a massive 313 pounds, yet Austin Johnson has been somewhat overshadowed this season by the incredible play of fellow DT Anthony Zettel.  Johnson quietly put together one of his better efforts against the Terps, racking up a total of 6 tackles, including 1 for a loss and 1 sack.  He's a big (literally) part of why Penn State's defense ranks No 1 in the nation in rush defense, and he'll be counted on again this coming week to help stop Indiana's explosive RB Tevin Coleman.

Finally, the Megatron Award goes to hot tempers, from both teams.  We all know about the pre-game scuffle, and the rejected hand shakes, but when it came time to actually play football, unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and personal fouls put both teams in unnecessary holes.  Things haven't been that chippy for a Penn State game since Mike Mauti decided to teach Illinois a lesson for poaching players back in 2012.  Maryland actually had 2 fewer penalties than the Lions, but somehow racked up 25 more penalty yds.  It was ugly, and I hope we don't see it again for quite a long time.

Alright, that will do it for Maryland week.  Penn State takes on Indiana this week, so hopefully the losing streak finally comes to an end and we can get one game closer to bowl eligibility!  Be sure to like me on Facebook and share with all your friends.  Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus, and as always, go State!

Week 8 Grades

Double your pleasure, double your fun.  I give you part 2 of today’s blog post double-header!  It was an ugly game against the Terrapins from Maryland, especially on offense, and it was made that much uglier by the shenanigans prior to kick off.  The conference stepped in and punished basically everyone involved, so now we can officially move on.  Lots to talk about here that I couldn't get to in the wrap up, so without further adieu, let’s roll out some grades!

Offense

QB: (F) No more excuses, it’s time to address the elephant in the room head on.  Forget about overthrowing, underthrowing, interceptions, or holding on to the ball way too long.  The real problem right now is simply that Hackenberg does not like James Franklin, or at least he doesn't like Franklin’s offensive philosophy.  That’s understandable because 1. He was recruited by Bill O'Brien into a completely different system and 2. When Franklin came to Penn State, he stressed at his introductory press conference that he does not use systems, but instead tries to tailor his style to his personnel.  Yet he continues to implement a style, complete with the outdated wildcat formation, which his star QB and team captain hates.  The most telling line from Hack?  “This is what we signed up for.”  That sounds like a defeated player who has resigned himself to just getting through the rest of this season.  On the other hand, he showed a lot of fight on Saturday; a little too much fight if you ask me.  Throughout the afternoon he could be seen flailing his arms and screaming at WRs, TEs, OL, and even his coaches.  And it doesn't take a trained lip-reader to know what kind of language he was using either.  His emotional outbursts, especially when contrasted with his cool demeanor last year are becoming embarrassing.  Luckily, the way he hid his face from cameras in the 2^nd half shows he probably understands that everyone is watching, and maybe he’ll wise up soon.  For more takes on Hack’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year, check out some links here, here, and here.

OL: (C-) Everyone has taken their shots at the offensive line this year, myself included, and with good reason.  However, in my humble opinion, they took another step forward this week.  Sure they let up another 5 sacks and still can’t get any push to allow for a decent running game, so they’re not exactly getting an A anytime soon.  But just going by the “eyeball test” I saw an already bad line, missing its only experienced piece and reshuffled yet again, finally give Hackenberg a little bit of time to make decisions.  Hack didn't use that additional time particularly well, but it was definitely there.  If we can just get through this season, next year should be a completely different story with Herb Hand still coaching, the (hopefully) extra bowl game practices, and a slew of big time OL recruits coming in to fill in the gaps behind the starters.  Just be patient.

RB: (C-) As I predicted, Akeel Lynch received the bulk of the carries, 21 to be exact, and he turned those into a respectable 51 yds.  There just isn't enough push by the offensive line for us to realistically expect much more than that right now.  Lynch remains the best option at RB and should finish out the season as the starter if this coaching staff knows what's good for them.  Bill Belton continues to disappoint, though, and neither RB seems capable of blocking in pass protection.  Not much else to say; this unit will continue to struggle until other pieces of the offense get their act together.

WR: (B-) Hamilton did not have his normal videogame-like numbers in this one.  He finished the day with only 5 catches for 42 yds.  Still, those 5 catches came just when Penn State needed them.  On the Lions’ only TD drive of the day, Hamilton was responsible for two 1^st downs and by the end of the game he would break the freshman receiving yds record!  Congrats Daesean!  As for the other WRs, we didn't see Saeed Blacknall for some reason, but Chris Godwin continues his streak of having at least one catch per game.  Geno Lewis had the longest catch of the day, a 35 yarder on a 3^rd and 23 in the 4^th quarter which set up a FG, but he also missed a would be TD in the 2^nd quarter.  Like Hamilton, Lewis finished the day with 5 catches.

TE: (A-) Jesse James finally had himself a showcase game catching 5 passes for 48 yds and more importantly a TD.  The score was the 11^th of his career, and helped him break Ted Kwalick’s record for career TDs by a TE set back in the late 60s!  Kyle Carter was no slouch himself pulling in 2 grabs for 21 yds.  The minus comes from freshman Mike Gesicki who couldn't secure either of the 2 passes thrown his way, drawing the ire of an already upset Christian Hackenberg.  Getting all 3 of these guys clicking at the same time will be imperative moving forward if this offense is going to find any kind of identity.

Defense

DL: (A+) Deion Barnes had 2 sacks against the Terps, and now leads the team with 6 on the season.  He has definitely returned to form.  In the 3^rd quarter, Anthony Zettel forced a fumble that was recovered by CJ Olaniyan and gave the offense exactly the spark it needed to score their only TD of the day.  Not much else to be said about this group other than the fact that they've been flat out dominant all year long.  Even the backups are impressing nearly across the board combining for 8 tackles, 3 for a loss, and 2 sacks.  Oh, and their dirty little secret?  Olaniyan is the only senior.

LB: (A) For the first time all year, Mike Hull didn't lead the team in tackles, although he was second with 9.  Instead he focused his attention more on turnovers, this time passing up on an interception in favor of a fumble recovery.  Brandon Bell had himself a solid day, racking up 5 tackles, 1 for a loss, and 2 pass breakups, and Nyeem Wartman added another 2 tackles in there as well.  Freshman Jason Cabinda got into the action with 2 tackles of his own in limited action.  His fellow freshman Troy Reeder is apparently redshirting this season.  We haven’t seen much of the backups this year, mostly because there aren't many backups to talk about (especially with Ben Kline out for the season), but walk ons Von Walker and Jordan Dudas each recorded a tackle, so congrats to them on contributing!

DB: (B) Statistically the defensive backs didn't have a bad game.  However, when tempers started to flare up, they were the main offenders.  CB Jordan Lucas was called for a late hit early in the 1^st quarter, and on the same play S Marcus Allen was called for unsportsmanlike conduct after he was seen mouthing off to the Maryland sideline.  That play cost PSU 30 yds!  Allen wasn't done, though, and would later be called for another personal foul at the start of the 2^nd quarter.  I know he’s only a freshman, but he’s clearly talented and crap like this diverts the focus away from an otherwise well-played game.  In fact, Allen became the first defensive player this year to surpass Mike Hull in tackles, recording his second straight 11 tackle game!  He’s an exceptional, hard hitting safety that just needs to learn how to channel that emotion and he’ll be elite in no time.  Meanwhile CBs Grant Haley and Trevor Williams combined for 5 tackles and a forced fumble.

Special Teams

K: (B) I know what you’re thinking, and Ficken was great.  In fact, his incredible 4 FGs, 3 of which were from longer than 45 yds away (46, 47, and 48 to be exact) were good enough to earn him Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week honors.  That’s his second time this year winning that award, and the fourth time in his career.  But this grade isn't just about FGs, it encompasses the entire kicking game.  Unfortunately for Ficken, freshman Grant Haley fumbled a kickoff return immediately following one of Maryland’s FGs.  The fumble was recovered by Maryland and led to their second TD of the day.  Those 10 points in approximately 1:30 minutes cost Penn State the game and the kicking game it's A+ grade.

P: (D) Dan Pasquariello, the freshman punter from Austrailia, got the nod this week over redshirt freshman Chris Gulla.  He repaid the coaches’ confidence in him by sailing his first punt a mere 23 yds.  Penn State’s punting game is atrocious right now, and it was all the more evident when compared to Maryland’s Nathan Renfro who averaged nearly 10 yds more per punt and had a long of 53 yds, 6 yds better than Pasquariello's best punt of the day.  Renfro consistently nailed his punts 40+ yds and pinned the Nittany Lion offense deep in their own territory.  Flipping the field position continues to be a struggle that has put both the offense and defense in bad spots all year.  Something needs to be done here, I'm just not sure what.

Today’s bonus grade goes to sportsmanship, and frankly, both teams get an F.  Yes, Maryland appears to have started everything, and it even seems that they came into the game with a clear goal of riling up the Nittany Lions.  But here’s the problem with trolls like that, if you react (which Penn State definitely did), they win.  The “chippiness” displayed by both teams was embarrassing and has no place in football.

Whew.  It was a bit of a challenge, but I managed to spoil all of you rotten with 2 posts in 1 day!  Be sure to check back tomorrow for the weekly awards.  Go like me on Facebook already, and be sure to share the good word of PSUOptimus to all your friends.  Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus, and as always, go State!

Week 8 Wrap Up

Another game, another loss.  That’s become the story with this year’s Nittany Lion squad, which sucks given how much promise they showed winning their first four games in a row.  Unlike the last two losses, which were referee screw jobs, the team only has themselves to blame for this one.  We’re now officially 2/3 of the way through the season, and as has been the story all year, the defense came to play, but the offense couldn't muster enough of anything to pull out a victory.  In the end, even Sam Ficken's golden leg couldn't save Penn State.  They lose to Maryland 19-20.  PSU now falls to 4-4 with only 1 Big Ten win and the hope of a bowl game fading fast.

Before we get into the game action, let’s start with a few personnel notes.  Although we weren't sure which offensive lineman would return, all signs pointed to either OT Donovan Smith or OG Miles Deiffenbach coming back for this game.  Instead, we saw neither, in fact Miles wasn't even dressed.  Therefore we were left with the same line we saw at the end of the Ohio State game: (from left to right) Nelson, Mahon, Laurent, Gaia/Dowry, Mangiro.  Also of note, all four players arrested for throwing eggs at a dorm on Thursday night suited up for the game, with Wendy Laurent starting at Center and Garrett Sickels getting 2 tackles in a backup capacity on the defensive line.  After the game James Franklin said of the incident, “There’s a lot of problems going on right now in our society and college athletics.  Throwing eggs is a little further down the totem pole in my opinion.”  Even the College Gameday crew laughed it off as a petty act of vandalism with Lee Corso pointing out, “Florida State wishes they had that problem.”

Of course, the big story of the day started before the game even began.  Apparently, like Rutgers, Maryland has been harboring some serious resentment towards Penn State after decades of being dominated.  And, despite significantly less trash talking in the lead up to the game than Rutgers did, the Terps were still quick to let PSU players know exactly how they felt about their “rivals” to the north.  Things started off “chippy” (a common phrase in college football that just mean “heated” or “emotionally-charged” but usually in an aggressive manner) as a pre-game shouting match quickly escalated into a shoving match.  Star MD receiver Stefon Diggs even ended up smacking an official right in the face, although it was clear that this was unintentional.  Still, by rule, he could have been ejected from the game and he’s lucky to have only received a personal foul.  (*UPDATE: the Big Ten Conference has publicly reprimanded Maryland head coach Randy Edsell for "not controlling his players" at the start of Saturday's game, suspended Stefon Diggs for 1 game for hitting an official, and fined the University $10,000*).  But it wasn't done just yet.  Prior to the opening coin toss, Maryland’s team captains refused to shake hands with Penn State’s captains, an act James Franklin claimed in 20 years, he’s “never seen that before.”  Their completely classless actions got them flagged for another personal foul assessed on the kickoff.

Maryland’s head coach and Athletic Director both apologized almost immediately after the game, took full responsibility for what happened, and moved on.  That’s admirable and the right way to handle the situation.  But I think they missed the lesson here, so let me share it with them just in case.  Oh, and Rutgers, be sure to listen closely to this as well because it applies just as much to you as it does Maryland… *clears throat*…  You don’t build a rivalry by being an asshole to another team!  Seriously, that’s just some straight up ignorance right there.  Sure, being a complete embarrassment to your school by acting like an idiot can build resentment, but it doesn't build rivalries.  You guys are in the Big Ten now, grow up!  Things are done a little bit differently here, and so far you've gone about it the absolute wrong way.  Rivals are built with hard fought, well played, close games that sometimes you win emphatically, and other times you lose in heartbreaking fashion.  They're built by beating the other team at their best, not bragging about a 1 point win against a team with half the number of scholarship players you have.  That’s why Penn State considers Ohio State, Michigan, and Iowa rivals.  All you need to do is look at the history and see all those memorable games (04, 05, 08, etc).  It’s also why we DON’T consider Michigan State, or Minnesota to be our rivals, even though we have trophy games with them.  You see, the more you try to force the rivalry, the less we’re going to care, so just stop.  Build your team, beat us consistently, and if it's meant to be, it will grow naturally.  Got it?  Ok, rant over.

So what exactly happened with the game?  Well, the tensions from the pre-game festivities remained high in the early going.  As the referees rightfully tried to calm down boiling hot emotions, they decided their most effective weapon would be the little yellow flag.  Penalties killed both teams all afternoon long.  On one play, defensive backs Jordan Lucas and Marcus Allen were both flagged for personal fouls, leading to a 30 yd loss for Penn State’s defense.  By the start of the 2^nd quarter, Penn State had already accrued more than 60 total penalty yds!  Most were noticeably more legitimate than in previous weeks, but some were still a little iffy.  The good news (if you can call it that) was that even when questionable, the calls were going both ways so neither team could really claim bias.  All told, the teams combined for 14 penalties and 151 yds on the day.  That’s completely unacceptable and tells me that both teams have a lot of growing up to do.

Now, in case you didn't get a chance to see the game, let me summarize it by saying this: the offense was as bad as they've been all year, and the defense was as good as they've been all year.  It really was just more of the same.  I will say this, in college football it is generally accepted that teams with high-powered offenses are “more fun to watch” than teams with stingy defenses.  Generally, I agree with this sentiment.  Who doesn't like watching a receiver streak down the field, blow past a defender, and grab a 60 yd bomb for a TD?  That’s just great television!  But this Bob Shoop-coached defense is the exception to that rule.  They are so incredibly fun to watch.  You know, the term “flying around,” especially when applied to LB play, has become horribly overused, yet that’s exactly how I would describe nearly every member of this defense.  They’re much faster than Penn State defenses of the past, and just seem to have a nose for the ball that puts them exactly where they need to be on seemingly every play.  If you've already given up on the season by this point, I honestly don’t blame you, but don’t give up on this defense.  We may not see a group this good again for quite a while, so enjoy it while it lasts.

Maryland’s offense was just about as pitiful as Penn State’s, so there's not much to report about there, but also like Penn State, their defense played one heck of a game.  Standouts on that side of the ball include Andre Monroe, who I talked about in my prediction post, and CB Sean Davis who actually made a cameo on the Black Shoe Podcast (affiliated with Black Shoe Diaries).  Davis led the Terps in tackles with 11 including 1 for a loss, then he threw 3 pass break ups in there for good measure.  If you follow Maryland football, keep an eye on that kid.

At this point in the season, it’s more than fair to give an assessment of how this team has panned out.  Personally, my biggest take away is that despite talent at nearly every position, the key thing holding this team back is leadership, particularly from the seniors, who are few and far between on the second youngest team in Division I.  A lot of comparisons have been made to the 2004 Penn State squad, mostly because they also had an outstanding defense and an inept offense.  However, I would more accurately compare these guys to the 2010 version of Penn State.  Even though there are some great senior players like Mike Hull, Adrian Amos, and Bill Belton, none of them have particularly strong (and more importantly vocal) personalities.  That was always the hallmark of the 2010 team - talented, but undisciplined and lacking in leadership.  This leaves guys like Hackenberg, who is still just 19 years old and a true sophomore, to take up the torch and run with it, but as we've seen over the past few week in particular, he can’t handle the pressure and he’s just not up for the task.  The next three weeks will be telling.  Each game is more than winnable, and should spark some confidence before the Lions take on arguably the best team in the league, Michigan State, in their final game of the year.

My prediction?  Ugh, this one hurt.  I got exactly nothing right.  The winner?  Whoops.  The score?  Nope.  Hackenberg throwing for 300 yds?  He barely got half that.  Hamilton played well but was less productive than normal and no TD.  Akeel Lynch did get the bulk of the carries, but only picked up 51 of the 80 yds I predicted.  Miles Deiffenbach did not return, no one got an interception, and Mike Hull didn't even lead the team in tackles!  It was a complete miss.  Let’s just forget about this game and move on.

Alright, because I’m posting this late you’re all in for a treat.  Both this post and the grades post are going up today!  I’m staying on schedule if it’s the last thing I do this week!  So check back later tonight for the weekly grades.  Go like my page on Facebook and share it with your friends.  Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus, and as always, go State!

Week 8 Prediction

Happy Halloween Nittany Nation!  It's time to break out the candy, carve up the pumpkins, and get ready for a showdown in Spooky Valley.  This week the Maryland Terrapins (a fancy name for turtles) come to town for a noon kick that will be broadcast on ESPN2.  Unfortunately, known Penn State hater Joey Galloway has the call, so expect plenty of eye-rolling commentary from him throughout the game.  For those of you making the trek to Beaver Stadium, the weather forecast looks pretty ugly and calls for cold, windy conditions, so be sure to bundle up.  With their Under Armour money, the Terps have taken a page out of Oregon's playbook and never seem to wear the same uniform twice.  Thus fittingly, they appear to be wearing costumes to every game.  No word yet on what they'll breakout this week, but you can be sure it will feature the state flag much more prominently than their school mascot.  With that, let's get to the breakdown.

Hackenberg (my pet turtle) is a diehard Nittany Lions fan, but feels conflicted when forced to root against the Terrapins.

The Good:

Maryland's rushing attack is one of the worst amongst Power 5 teams.  Although Penn State's ground game is even worse, at least they won't be trying to run against one of the top rushing defenses in the country.  In fact, Maryland's defense gives up an average of 212 yds per game on the ground, so maybe Bill Belton and Akeel Lynch will actually have some success in this one.  I expect the Terps' offense will most likely rely on the arm of QB C.J. Brown, who is coming off bad games against Wisconsin and Iowa.  Brown is also banged up at the moment with back and wrist injuries.  If he can't go tomorrow, backup Caleb Rowe will step in.  Rowe is experienced, having thrown 54 pass attempts already this year, but he lacks the mobility of Brown if he's pressured.

All time, Penn State is 35-1-1 against Maryland, so we've played them a lot, but it's certainly not a rivalry yet.  In fact, the teams last met in 1993 when the Lions decimated the Terps 70-7 in front of their home crowd.  That's embarrassing  Just like with Rutgers, this will be the first time these former northeast boarder schools will meet as co-members of the Big Ten.  Also just like Rutgers, Penn State loves to poach all the best players out of Maryland's backyard.  Former greats like Derek Williams and Stephon Morris are from Maryland, as are 9 current players on the PSU roster.  #DominateTheRegion!

The Bad:

By far, Maryland's most talented and talked about player is WR Stefon Diggs who is also one of the most dangerous return men in the country.  I have confidence in Jordan Lucas and the secondary to handle Diggs as a receiver, but his play making abilities in the return game coupled with Penn State's awful punting of late could spell doom for Penn State's special teams.  The coverage teams will have to play their best game to keep Diggs in check and prevent a return for a TD.  And speaking of special teams, Maryland's kicker Brad Craddock is perfect on the season in extra points and FGs, including a 57-yarder verse Ohio State.  Yikes!  We could be in trouble if it all comes down to trading FGs in overtime, as it has so many times in Beaver Stadium.  Defensively, watch out for D-lineman Andre Monroe.  He has 6.5 sacks so far this year and will try to test our offensive line, as many others have done successfully, and force Hack into bad decisions.

The big thing that could prove harmful to the team, though, is pure emotional exhaustion from last week's insane effort.  They beat themselves down physically and mentally trying to get a win that never came.  Now they take on a team with more than enough talent to steal the victory if they're not careful.  In other words, this could turn into a let down game real quick.  At least it's not on the road or I'd be even more scared of this scenario.

The Story:

When James Franklin graduated from East Sroudsburg in 1994, he decided to spend the next 6 years paying his dues as an assistant coach at 6 different small colleges (including his alma mater, and Kutztown).  He finally got his first big coaching break at Maryland, originally as the WRs coach from 2000-2004.  It was here that he first met another promising young assistant, RBs coach Bill O'Brien, and we all know what happened with that guy.  After a brief stint with the NFL's Green Bay Packers, Franklin came back to Maryland in 2008 to serve as the Offensive Coordinator under Ralph Friedgen.  He would eventually earn the title of "coach in waiting" as the presumed successor to Friedgen.  However, in 2010, despite an 8-4 record and being named ACC Coach of the Year, the Maryland administration made the fateful decision to fire Friedgen and bring in UConn's Randy Edsel instead of promoting Franklin.  Suddenly jobless, Franklin took his talents to Vanderbilt (his first head coaching gig) where he took one of the most historically bad programs in college football and led them to 3 straight bowl games (including 2 victories) and 2 consecutive 9 win seasons.  That got the attention of some big name schools looking for new coaches, and obviously this past January, Franklin came to Penn State.  Earlier in the season, Franklin beat his old boss, Friedgen, who is now the OC at Rutgers.  Now, he squares off against his old team, which still has a small handful of players he recruited.  But my biggest take away is how different things would be right now if Maryland had decided to give Franklin a chance.

The Prediction:

Ok, currently Penn State is favored by 3.5 points, which is essentially the automatic advantage given to home teams, so expect a really close game.  Hackenberg has one of his better days and hits the 300 yd mark.  Daesean Hamilton outplays Stefon Diggs and scores a TD.  Akeel Lynch gets the bulk of the carries and thanks to a porous Terrapin run defense, actually has a decent game rushing for 80 yds.  And we see the return of Miles Deiffenbach!  The Defense avoids the let down after an emotional game against Ohio State and shuts down Maryland.  Zettel misses a hat trick of interceptions but Jordan Lucas manages to steal a pick because they're targeting Diggs too much.  Oh, and Mike Hull leads the team in tackles once again.  Penn State snaps the losing streak to start off November right, Lions win 23-17.  

Enjoy the Trick-or-Treaters and costume parties, but don't stay out too late; we got an early kick tomorrow.  Head on over to Facebook and like my new page, don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus, and as always, go State!

Week 7 Awards

We come to the end of #OhioStateHateWeek, which inadvertently turned into more of #RefereeHateWeek than anything else.  Before I begin, I wanted to provide a quick update on Ryan Keiser via James Franklin's press conference yesterday.  Sounds like Ryan is in stable condition and recovering.  I'll continue to monitor the situation and provide updates here and on Twitter as I see them.  In lighter news, yesterday I linked to the amazing hi-def panorama of the White Out that was taken.  Today, I bring you a time lapse video encompassing approximately 10 hrs before, during, and after the game.  It's really cool, so check it out.  Now let's roll out some awards!

It was a very close two man race, but this week's Beast Mode Award goes to Daesean Hamilton who set a Penn State single-game receptions record with 14 catches for 126 yds.  His performance was good enough to earn him Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors for the second time this season. Hamilton seemed like the entire offense at times on Saturday and unlike fellow receiver Geno Lewis, he's remained consistent all year.  Come on guys, get the law firm back together!

A bit of a stretch, but this week the Transformer Award goes to Anthony Zettel who is transforming into an interception machine.  Zettel had his 2^nd interception in as many games, only this time he took it 40 yds to the house, sparking the second half comeback attempt against the Buckeyes.  He almost had another too but batted it down instead.  You rarely, if ever, see a DT get an interception, let alone 2.  That just speaks to Zettel's freakish athleticism which is earning him votes for Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.

Possibly the easiest decision of the week, the Matrix Award goes to true freshman Marcus Allen who stepped in at safety for the injured Ryan Keiser and dominated!  If you're able to go back and watch the game again, pay close attention to his two pass breakups because seriously, he nearly intercepted both.  Plus he had 11 total tackles and huge, bone-jarring hits all over the field!  Interestingly, another true freshman Troy Apke switched from WR to S over the summer and will apparently be making his debut this week against Maryland.  Considering how well Allen played and that the other safety spot is already taken by senior stud Adrian Amos, I'm not sure what to make of that move.

Although he's not really hiding from anyone, the In Disguise Award goes to Mike Hull who was a close runner up for Beast Mode and deserves some serious love this week.  He gets this award mostly due to the fact that he somehow managed to avoid detection by the Butkus Award people.  Thankfully the Bednarik Award people aren't nearly as blind.  Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald, who was a star LB back in the mid-90s and was a finalist for the Butkus twice, said that he'll gladly write-in Hull come voting time.  That's some pretty high praise!  Hull had an astounding 19 freakin tackles and an INT against Ohio State.  Seriously!  Oh, and he currently sits second behind only OSU's Joey Bosa in the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year voting.

Finally, the Megatron Award goes to... wait for it... the Referees!  And it's a Prime Penn State Football first!  Only Big Ten refs could get what is essentially my "Pain in the ass award" twice in one season, let alone in consecutive weeks.  On Sunday, Penn State (or at least James Franklin and AD Sandy Barbour) wanted some answers and reached out to Big Ten conference headquarters in Indianapolis.  Unfortunately, all they got was lame excuses and a half-hearted, kinda admission of guilt.  Some legit people like ESPN's Josh Moyer are even starting to talk conspiracy (although, somewhat tongue-in-check).  I enjoyed Evil James Franklin on Twitter who ranked the bad calls from Saturday night as follows: #1 "interception" #2 simple delay of game #3 "leaping" #4 no call on 3rd down false start.  Although he forgot about Hackenberg's helmet being ripped off by the facemask, the helmet to helmet targeting on Geno Lewis, and the recently released screenshot of Ohio State with 12 men on the field for Sam Ficken's FG attempt.  Now, Ficken ended up making that FG, so that didn't really matter, but it's just another missed call by the worst officiating crew in history.

Ok, rant about the officials over.  Time to move on to the Terrapins of Maryland.  Check back on Friday for my prediction of that game.  Like and share my new Facebook page.  Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus, and as always, go State!