Just re-watched 1st Half of OrSU game....

by Artiefufkin10 on Nov 16, 2008 1:51 PM EST

Who's tightened up the offense? The coaches through playcalling or cautiousness by the players?

The team literally seemed to have the pedal to the medal as everyone was getting involved. Williams, Norwood, Shuler, Royster....I think in this game the team looked much more "spread" than in recent weeks.

Main differences:

-Clark ran effectively when he was blitzed. Now he seems intent on finding a receiver every time he drops back, but the offense would be just as effective if he ran the occasional bootleg or shot off to the outside when blitzed.

-Norwood was constantly going over the middle in the early season and since his hamstring injury he has not been involved as much.

-Williams seems to be the recent focal point of the offense, and despite defenses keying in on him he has done well. Still, the offense hasn't taken advantage of distractions williams creates when hes lined up in the backfield. When you have safetys and linebackers cheating up on a suspected designed play for him, I would think you would try to exploit man coverage in the secondary or a TE on a LB

-Shuler...get this guy the ball via some crossing routes. He's tough, got good hands and hard for linebackers to keep up with.

Not trying to complain, but just trying to provided some examples of how good our offense can be against a good team. Sure OrSU has gotten better, but I still think that PSU has the better athletes. I think the team/coaches need to realize what they're capable of doing and do it.

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I've been wondering this as well

The team through the first 8 games is a different team than we’ve seen in the past 3. The first team was 8-0. The second team is 2-1. Admittedly, the teams we faced during those 8 games weren’t as tough defensively as Ohio State or Iowa, so I don’t expect quite as good an offensive performance, (and I haven’t studied the games close enough to back this up with anything more than casual observatoin) but Penn State seems to have abandoned the “HD” part of the offense.

There have been many opportunities to do things that you’ve mentioned (such as use Williams as a decoy). Instead we keep basically running the same play with him in the backfield (effective, yes, but at least give opposing coaches something to think about instead of going out and being like, “here is the play we are going to run. I dare you to stop us”. Eventually, even the crappy teams figure out how to stop it at least a couple times…and against Iowa those were the times we needed them to not stop us.

by The JuggerNitt on Nov 16, 2008 2:11 PM EST 0 recs

My thoughts

or maybe my hope. Depending on how you look at it.

Ohio State and Iowa were two tough defenses on the road. This week I think there was a hangover effect from the Iowa game, and perhaps a little looking past Indiana toward the Spartans next week.

We’re fortunate that we get MSU at home next week. We always play them better at home. In fact I don’t think Sparty has ever beaten us in State College.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

by BSD on Nov 16, 2008 2:49 PM EST 0 recs

Interesting

Penn State vs Michigan State historical scores

Prior to Penn State joining the Big 10 Michigan State actually owned us (last prior game was in 1966, however). Our record prior to 1993 (up to 1966) was 1-8-1, with 3 of those losses coming at home for us (4 if you count the non-1A game they list).

by The JuggerNitt on Nov 16, 2008 4:31 PM EST up 0 recs

Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves?

Why don’t you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don’t you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?

Extra credit: what movie is that from and who said it?

Just picking on ya, JNitt. :)

If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

by TheMightyErik on Nov 16, 2008 5:33 PM EST up 0 recs

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

And it was that guy from 40 year old virgin, clueless, and a bunch of other movies…the surf instructor guy.

Luring recruits with my new "Posting HD" scheme since '08.

by 06Lion on Nov 16, 2008 6:25 PM EST up 0 recs

Nevermind

Just used IMDB.com and realized I was WAAAAYYYY off.

Luring recruits with my new "Posting HD" scheme since '08.

by 06Lion on Nov 16, 2008 6:29 PM EST up 0 recs

FAIL

lol… just giving you a hard time

If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

by TheMightyErik on Nov 16, 2008 8:39 PM EST up 0 recs

agreed...

earlier in the season, especially at Wisconsin, it just seemed like the coaches and players refused to let them beat themselves and were pretty good about exploiting weaknesses on offense and defense.

I guess I want to know where that killer instinct has gone where the team can just bury the opponent in the first half.

by Artiefufkin10 on Nov 16, 2008 2:58 PM EST 0 recs

With you guys

I have quietly held on to the feeling that the killer 8-0 team has kinda been in hibernation. I want that team back and I damn sure want to see more rotation on the defense at LB and DLine.

If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

by TheMightyErik on Nov 16, 2008 4:27 PM EST up 0 recs

Clark

-Clark ran effectively when he was blitzed. Now he seems intent on finding a receiver every time he drops back, but the offense would be just as effective if he ran the occasional bootleg or shot off to the outside when blitzed.

Amen. I’ve read quotes from him saying he doesn’t want to be seen as a run first QB. Thats all well and good, but it seems like he is intentionally attempting to pass just so people won’t say hes just another running QB.

God Created the World Out Of Nothing, Paterno Built A National Superpower On Cow Fields...

by fugimaster24 on Nov 16, 2008 7:44 PM EST 0 recs

JayPa is still the QB coach

listen, I know it’s easy to pick on him, but don’t forget the trend of our QB’s regressing over the span of their careers. They get worse, every QB he’s ever coached has gotten worse rather than better with time.

Clark started off the season looking like a 4th year starter with heisman potential. He used to come out loose and confident. At Wisconsin he was a monster, he chucked the ball on the run 30 yards to a receiver like he was Donovan McNab.

Now he plays tight, every week he tightens up, his mechanics are becoming forced, and he’s starting to look a little like his predicessor (#14) when pressured in the pocket.

I’m very worried about the next game.

by millzners on Nov 16, 2008 8:58 PM EST 0 recs

I question a couple things

First, I really think Darryl is forcing the issue, refusing to check down to the guy in the flat, refusing to take the easy yards and instead attempting to always make the tough throw. There’s a time for the tough throw down the field, sure enough, but especially on 1st and 2nd downs I would LOVE to see him get back to making the easy completions for positive yards to make it easier on 3rd down. You can see it in his completion percentage recently:

vs. Illinois: 14-20 70%
@ Purdue: 18-26 69%
@ Wisconsin: 16-25 64%
vs. Michigan: 18-31 58%
@ Ohio State: 12-20 60%
@ Iowa: 9-23 39%
vs. Indiana: 20-36 56%

Secondly, playcalling. Getting the QB into a rhythm early is not as effective as establishing the run early and passing off of play-action later more often than not and ESPECIALLY against Indiana. INDIANA GAVE UP 441 RUSHING YARDS TO WISCONSIN a week earlier, but we had 39 passes and 38 rushes in the game. Who knows….

by jimbo2psu on Nov 16, 2008 9:47 PM EST 0 recs

Change in mindset

Anyone else think there might be a change in how the team as a whole (coaches and players) have been looking at these games since Wisconsin? Early in the season, it was about proving ourselves to everyone how good we are. We were out to win. We destroy Wisconsin and find ourselves at the center of the BCS storm.

Ohio State game comes, and we play to not make the big mistake. The strategy holds up, and we leave Columbus with a win. Bye week, then Iowa. It became the second game where we were no longer playing to win; we were playing to not lose. We were no longer the aggressor, but now trying to play back to keep everything in front of us. It worked for tOSU, it failed against Iowa. And it continued in the first half against Indiana.

So here’s to hoping the second half of Indiana was the return to trying to actively win our way to the Rose Bowl.

by IcersGuy on Nov 16, 2008 11:15 PM EST 0 recs

Absolute Gayness

is everyone aware that if Or. St. wins out we will play those d-bags again in the rose bowl…..F that, i want USC!!!!

05 we get a sub par FSU ACC champ in the BCS

??? 08 we get a sub par Oregon St. PAC 10 champ in the BCS

Get we get a elite team in a BCS game one time!!!

by PSUfanSTUCKinSECland on Nov 17, 2008 12:06 PM EST 0 recs

As a point to everyone...

Can we stop passing off OrSt as some schmuck team? True, it would be a lose-lose situation for us and I would prefer to play someone else (just as another measuring stick for the season). But to think we’d go into the Rose Bowl and roll over the Beavers again is insane. Especially if we continue to play at the same level we have been these past few weeks.

They opened shaky on the road against Stanford, and they lost because of it. Then they had to travel cross-country and play against an energized Penn State, in front of an energized crowd. They have since gone 7-1, with wins over USC and Cal – a Cal team, remember, that beat our Saturday foe. Their other loss was a close one, on the road at Utah. And to get to the Rose Bowl, they’ll still have to go through good teams in Arizona (on the road) and Oregon (at home). Trust me – a resume like that would put them well past the ’05 FSU team.

If there’s any consolation, the OrSt fans seem like awesome people for a party in Pasadena! :)

by IcersGuy on Nov 17, 2008 12:59 PM EST up 0 recs

I agree

if OrSU wins out, they are definitely deserving of the Rose Bowl. I just don’t want to play a team we already beat by 31 points, because anything less than that again and people will say we suck, and I don’t want to see us in a 31 point blowout win over a team I’ve come to like.

by The JuggerNitt on Nov 17, 2008 1:14 PM EST up 0 recs

agree

thats what i was trying to say….i’d rather play the media’s lover boys USC than OSU-leftcoast again

by PSUfanSTUCKinSECland on Nov 17, 2008 2:06 PM EST up 0 recs

Here's an interesting thought:

Two things came to mind when I thought back to our high-scoring road-games:

Joe HATES Syracuse. Joe most likely has no respect for Bret Bielema, in fact he probably hates him.

Those two road games Joe wasn’t playing ‘not to lose’. Joe was playing to embarass the other team. Both games started off slow, just like Iowa. Hell we turned the ball over on the first possession at Syracuse, just like Iowa… But in the end we went for the kill in those two games, and let Purdue and Iowa hang around.

Does Joe coach better when he’s pissed off?

Ohio St., Iowa, Indiana, even Purdue Joe’s got this attitude of “play smart, play tough, win a low scoring game with defense and no mistakes”

With teams he’s got beef with, it’s like “if we’re not winning by 30 at the half I’m going to freak out and kill someone”

It’s silly, I know, but it’s still interesting.

by millzners on Nov 17, 2008 12:19 PM EST 0 recs