Blue-White Roundtable is Not Optimistic

by BSD on Oct 31, 2007 9:05 AM EDT in Roundtables

It's Roundtable Wednesday, the day were I don't have to stress over coming up with content for you. I just answer questions. This week Alex from The Nittany Notebook provides the questions. The rest of us are the E Street Band to his Bruce Springsteen.

Run Up The Score
There Is No Name On My Jersey
The Nittany Line
William Yurasko

After being embarrassed by Ohio State at home, where does Penn State's program as a whole go from here?

What can you do? You go back to hitting the weights. You give it 110% in practice. Then you go out and play on Saturday and try to win. Hopefully we can still finish out strong and go to the Outback Bowl.

I guess the frustrating thing here is that we have the talent to compete. We just can't seem to bring all of the talent together. It starts with the coaches. Paterno has to look in the mirror and ask himself if he is giving Penn State the best chance to win. This philosophy of playing tough defense and playing it safe on offense doesn't work any more. This isn't 1972 where everyone plays the wishbone option. You can't just check out on offense now. You can't just be content to give what the defense gives you. You have to push the issue. You have to dictate to the defense. You have to take chances and attack. Paterno has to figure that out or we will never beat Ohio State again.

Following back to back poor performances, what do you see as Penn State's biggest problem on defense?

Again, their philosophy is flawed. They rarely blitzed and played soft zone coverage against Ohio State. The Buckeyes shredded them and we didn't make any adjustments. We were just flat out coached. We didn't try to take Ohio State out of their game at all. We just let them do whatever they wanted to do.

It didn't help that the defense has been quietly ripped apart by injuries. Jerome Hayes is out with a torn ACL. Jared Odrick broke his ankle. Tony Davis came down with appendicitis. Dontey Brown is banged up and not playing. Throw in the transfer of Spencer Ridenhour and we're forced to play guys like Josh Hull, Mark Rubin, and Chris Colasanti.

What happens against Purdue this Saturday?

The offense will look good at times but shoot itself in the foot. Joe Tiller probably won't call a single running play. The defense will give up 350 yards passing.

Lightning Round

What bowl game does Penn State end up in?

Alamo Bowl.

Who is going to be Penn State's next verbal commitment?

No idea. I owe you guys a recruiting update sometime soon. During the season a blogger gets consumed with game reviews, roundtables, previews, and urgent news. Recruiting is slow right now because all the high school players are in the middle of their seasons too. Maybe I'll put something together next week in replace of the Temple coverage.

Purdue score prediction.

Purdue	30
Penn State	20

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Thoughts

As far as talent goes, I think we flat out didn't match up with Ohio State. Our converted safety that's a converted CB goes down, and we replace him with a converted WR. We don't have the depth Ohio State does, we're just not their yet. Their O-Line negated our D-Line and we didn't stand a chance. I agree that the scheme was questionable and PSU was outcoached, but there is a talent gap there. I don't that was that case with Michigan and Illinois though.

I don't think Purdue can do what Ohio State did. They don't have the O-line or running game of the Buckeyes. As much as Saturday was on the passing defense, Ohio State pretty much ran at will. Purdue also doesn't have Ohio State's D. I think we'll pull this one off.

Get up State.

by speedomike02 on Oct 31, 2007 9:50 AM EDT reply actions

I tend to agree, but

the comment that "we are just not there yet" bugs me.The program is as old as dirt. When the hell is it going to get THERE?

Settle it on the field!

by PSUncle1981 on Nov 1, 2007 10:04 AM EDT up reply actions

I am road tripping it this weekend to the game...

and I believe PSU will win this game. They have alot to play for (Outback or Alamo? Which sounds better?) As speedomike put it the Purdue offensive line is nowhere near as good as Ohio States. I am a former college offensive lineman (albeit D2 but still), and a current offensive linecoach, I have watched ALOT of football, I have played ALOT of football, and I have broken down LOTS of film. I am at a loss to recall another game in which an offensive line looked that dominant against a similarly classified team.

One of my fellow coaches is a OSU grad, and a yearly traveler to the OSU coaches clinics, and summer workouts, He told me all year that the offensive line was the strength of the team. I responded with the casual "our defense is alot better than Akrons". Crap! That oline came to play and dictated the ENTIRE game.

Now as for Purdue I don't believe we will see that sort of dominating performance. If Tiller wants to throw 50 times, then he better be ready to get about 7 sacks. I think the offense will once again be successful, the run game should go, and the Purdue defense is nowhere near as good as OSU's.

My prediction PSU 37 Purdue 20

by carolinaeasy on Oct 31, 2007 11:08 AM EDT reply actions