Got Three Hours To Kill?

Who ranked Penn State ahead of Ohio State in the AP Poll? Who didn't rank Penn State in the top 25 at all (Hint: One of them is from the Ann Arbor News!)? Which ESPN personality put PSU in the top 10 (Hint: It's not Sean Salisbury's camera phone!)?

Those answers and much more can be found at Pollspeak. Sort, scrutinize, and sift your way through the AP poll until you just can't think anymore. It's like the AP suddenly caught up to the BlogPoll.

10 months ago Run Up The Score Comment 45 comments 0 recs |

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haha, this thing is great

John Heuser currently has 35 “bad” reviews. Also, Vanderbelt is currently sitting at #25.

Kevin @ Black Shoe Diaries

by Kevin HD on Sep 8, 2008 4:11 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Make that 45 ;-)

Will the real Derrick Williams please stand up?

by ReadingRambler on Sep 8, 2008 4:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

just made it 65

by gumbercules on Sep 8, 2008 5:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Good old John

now has 112 bad reviews. Still, he trails Wilner, who sports a gaudy 344, and the coveted #1 ranking.

'People are about as happy as they decide they want to be'

by Pete the Streak on Sep 9, 2008 7:47 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

his ballot is entirely red and yellow

Although, and hear me out, I actually kind of like his poll. I’m a much bigger fan of resume voting, and this is a decent attempt at that. It’s week two, so this type of thing looks kind of foolish right now, but his logic will lead to a more sane looking poll down the road, and he’s being fair to every team by not playing early season favorites.

Kevin @ Black Shoe Diaries

by Kevin HD on Sep 9, 2008 8:55 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, I don't have a big problem with it.

I voted it good. Although I like keeping the defending champs up there until they lose.

by Screen Name 20 on Sep 9, 2008 9:42 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

LOL

We are the most prolific offense after 2 weeks (I think tied with Arizona?) in college football. How can we be unranked?

JoePa in '09

by JGuiher on Sep 8, 2008 4:36 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I dunno

I hope he just left us off by mistake. Having done this ballot thing for a few years now with the blogpoll I am certain there are voters who don’t put more than five minutes of thought into their ballots.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

by BSD on Sep 8, 2008 4:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Maryland is #105

…in scoring offense after playing Delaware and Middle Tennessee. Ouch.

by Run Up The Score on Sep 8, 2008 5:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Addictive

I just wasted about 4 hours on this thing…

by mgr135 on Sep 8, 2008 5:04 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

John Heuser's contact info:

John Heuser
734-994-6816
jheuser@annarbornews.com

Patiently waiting for the return of Penn State Football

by ReadingNitFan on Sep 8, 2008 5:13 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

It is true, he is awful.

and that’s coming from a michigan alum…

by formerlyanonymous on Sep 8, 2008 10:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Forget that

I just want to know who ranked ND in the coaches poll. They got 3 points.

by PizzaDelivery on Sep 8, 2008 5:19 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I didn't know Tom Lemming got a vote!

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

by BSD on Sep 8, 2008 5:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Love for PSU in the South

I have to admit that I am shocked that two of the higher rankings for PSU came out of Savnnah, GA and Bimingham, AL. What is disgusting is that a bunch of the sportswriters that had us very low or unraked were from traditional PSU recruiting areas, NY, NJ, Conn and VA!

Maybe the most shocking thing though was that Chris Fowler ,Craig James and Herbie all had us ranked 15 or higher!

I thought only safeties played 15 yards off the ball?

by pic15 on Sep 8, 2008 5:27 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Did anyone else notice

that Jay Paterno wasn’t upstairs in the booth with Galen Hall? I was watching the replay on ESPN and I saw Jay multiple times on the sideline. Did he just come down to say hi for a few minutes? Or was Galen Hall really calling the plays BY HIMSELF!? Maybe credit for the Spread HD should go to Galen Hall. Any thoughts or comments?

Oh OhOhOh Oh Oh!

by doctadas on Sep 8, 2008 5:36 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Not uncommon

Jay often takes off the headset and joins the sidelines in blowout games. My guess is it’s kind of like putting in the second team and letting Mike McQ call the plays for a while.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

by BSD on Sep 8, 2008 5:41 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Worth noting

Of the four that have us unranked, there’s the aforementioned man from Ann Arbor, someone that still has OSU number 1 (uh, have you been in a biodome for a week?) and someone that votes from LA…so I assume he just doesn’t pay attention.

I feel like Herbie having us so high is a good omen- one of the few announcers/personalities that I genuinely respect his opinion.

John Madden told me 90% of the game was half-mental...

by TheK-GunNeedsReloaded on Sep 8, 2008 6:48 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Word of caution

Herbie had us as a top 5 team last year going into the Michigan game.

But I don’t think that’s a knock on Herbie, as I think most people were fooled into thinking that Morelli would take some major strides last year. This year we look legitamately good, but I want to see what we can do against some real competition.

by Screen Name 20 on Sep 9, 2008 8:00 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I am not defending Morelli......

But as someone who had to sit in Ann Arbor and watch that game last year…..two things were glaringly apparent. JoePa went into uber conservative mode and Bradley called a shitty defense. Hart RAN ALL OVER US AT WILL ALL DAY! Really if you think about 3 of the 4 games we lost last year should have been W’s. We were better than Michingan, but lost for the aforementioned…….. Morelli handed Zooker the game on a silver platter…..and the PSU defense and Tom Bradley decided that they only needed to play one half against Michigan State.

I thought only safeties played 15 yards off the ball?

by pic15 on Sep 9, 2008 10:47 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm not putting all the blame on #14

But it certaintly would’ve made us a better team if we had a consistent QB.

The Michigan game can be blamed on a number of things. The DB’s played their normal 11 yds off the LOS and their receivers just ran right underneath. You’re right, Hart ran over us but it took about 50 carries. I don’t think he averaged much more than 3/carry. And 95% of those carries were behind the road grater that was Jake Long. Not making excuses but he didn’t have a truly spectacular day.

Yes, I agree on the offense. We definitely got ultra-conservative and came out with a 1968 game plan. But when your starting QB is getting into a shouting match with fans on the sideline, you usually aren’t going to win those games regardless.

by Screen Name 20 on Sep 9, 2008 1:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Mike Hart

Is the reason Penn State lost to Michigan last year. Not Anthony Morelli, not Jay Paterno, not even Jake Long. If Mike Hart is not Michigan’s tailback last year, we win the game. End of story.

"I honestly think the "Spread HD" is going to work pretty well, and we’ll be just fine this year". - 8-27-2008

by jesse. on Sep 9, 2008 1:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It was a variety of things.

PSU turned it over deep in our territory and deep in their’s; PSU couldn’t convert 3rd downs while Michigan converted their’s; and the most important part, PSU scored 9 points. You don’t win many games scoring 9 points.

Yes, Hart churned out yardage but most of it was rushing yards running behind Jake Long. Without him, Hart’s day is less effective. Of his 44 runs, exactly half were for 2 or less yards and 2/3 were 4 or less.

by Screen Name 20 on Sep 9, 2008 4:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

More than numbers with that kid.

Hart was the soul of that team; pretty much it’s only soul in fact. Those carries kept them from having to pass the ball with a freshman quarterback. The fact that they could rely on him to not turn the ball over meant that they could give it him 40 times. He set the tone for that entire game. Michigan wanted to tank last season. Hart would not let that happen.

Once the App State went down that Henne kid was every bid as petulant as Morelli, begging out of important games with relatively minor injuries and such. Mike Hart playing as hard as he did against Penn State really brought that team back from the abyss. The folks at Michigan will never admit it, but that win really saved their entire season. The needed it real bad, and they played hard. Credit to Lloyd Carr and Mike Hart for that.

Those are two guys I am glad to see gone.

"I honestly think the "Spread HD" is going to work pretty well, and we’ll be just fine this year". - 8-27-2008

by jesse. on Sep 9, 2008 5:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Michigan........

ran 86 plays, Penn State ran 60. Hart was 44 for 153 on the ground. If your D only gives up 14 points and you lose, I would say that’s on the offense.

Eric Watters Atlanta, Ga.

by ech2os on Sep 9, 2008 1:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

26 plays

is two or three decent drives, and the difference in the number of plays is almost completely attributed to Hart’s carries. 18 carries is still a pretty busy day (44-26=18). One way to look at it, is that Mike Hart’s work load cost Penn State two 13 play drives or two nine play drives and an eight play drive. There aren’t many guys (none that I’m aware of) who can take 44 carries and not turn the ball over either.

If you only score 14 points and you win, and one guy is arguably totally responsible for a huge difference in time of possession, that player deserves a ton of credit. Hart played a tremendous college football game that day, he can play on my team any day.

"I honestly think the "Spread HD" is going to work pretty well, and we’ll be just fine this year". - 8-27-2008

by jesse. on Sep 9, 2008 6:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hart

Don’t get me wrong, I would’ve loved to have Hart on PSU, but to attribute the loss solely due to Mike Hart is crazy. PSU scored 9 points on a team that had given up more than 30 to any team with a heartbeat. At times we moved the ball deep in Michigan territory but we got bogged down, every time. We went 3 and out on 4 possessions. Yes, Mike Hart was a part of the loss but our offense didn’t do us any favors.

by Screen Name 20 on Sep 10, 2008 8:06 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It depends how you look at it.

If Mike Hart does not play against Penn State last year, we win. That’s not crazy, that’s a fact. Michigan would not have gotten five first downs against Penn State without him. The tenor of the whole game changes, we’d have the ball more and in better field position, more opportunites = more points, even with Morelli.

Could we have done certain things differently and still won, maybe. That’s sort of a different discussion, and the your right, the offense didn’t do us any favors. Of course the only favor Michigan’s offense did them was Mike Hart’s play.

People have been very critical of the game plan. Without the first quarter fumble, Penn State wins 9-7 at which point do think there was anything wrong with the game plan? I don’t. Such as it was the plan worked, two turnovers (really only one matter, we got the second back) and Mike Hart killed Penn State last year.

"I honestly think the "Spread HD" is going to work pretty well, and we’ll be just fine this year". - 8-27-2008

by jesse. on Sep 10, 2008 11:03 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Take away...

…Jake Long and Hart doesn’t have nearly the day he had. Fact is, when you hold the opponent to 14 pts you expect to win a vast majority of the time, especially when you have a senior QB facing a freshman QB in his first ever start.

We knew what Michigan’s weakness was on defense yet played to their strength. So yeah, I have a problem with that gameplan.

by Screen Name 20 on Sep 10, 2008 11:48 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

What was our strength?

Wasn’t it our Defense? I think we tried to play to our strength.

You can’t have it both ways. Either; [a] Morelli is an idiot who can’t be trusted to win a game or [b] he’s not. If he’s a fool, why not tone down the game plan, avoid mistakes, and play defense, especially if the other team is starting a true freshman at quarterback. Your opinion is not necessarily wrong, but is highly aided by the benefit of hindsight.

"I honestly think the "Spread HD" is going to work pretty well, and we’ll be just fine this year". - 8-27-2008

by jesse. on Sep 10, 2008 11:59 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I actually believed...

we were going to spread them out, and at some point use Clark. It almost became too obvious after watching Michigan’s first two games of the year.

by Screen Name 20 on Sep 10, 2008 12:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Not sure if it would have worked though.

App State had Armanti Edwards, and Oregon had Dennis Dixon, who are fast, like super fast. Daryl Clark has nowhere near that kind of speed.

Fast forward to the Citrus Bowl, Michigan was able to deal with Tim Tebow pretty well. Tebow is a hell of a player, but he does not have the type of speed that Dixon or Edwards brought to the table. Daryl Clark is not Tim Tebow today, you have to assume Clark is a lot better today than he was this time last year. This is something to keep in mind while planning your homecoming victory parties this year.

You might be right, but you might be wrong too. It’s not as simple as put in Clark and we beat Michigan by 20 points.

"I honestly think the "Spread HD" is going to work pretty well, and we’ll be just fine this year". - 8-27-2008

by jesse. on Sep 10, 2008 12:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Not just Clark

I wasn’t even expecting a large dose of Clark, just a few plays (a la what we eventually saw in the Alamo bowl). Clark got knocked out in the last Michigan game so I wasn’t expecting a Tebow-esque performance, just a change of pace. But Clark aside, we ran a very vanilla offense against them that day. I thought we’d see us spread them out and let our playmakers run wild, but we didn’t.

Let’s not forget, our offense line was considerably different, as AQ was the only player playing the same position from the year before. They didn’t really start to gel until later in the year.

by Screen Name 20 on Sep 10, 2008 12:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Who are our playmakers in September 2007?

Butler (FWIW walk on) and Norwood (FWIW grey shirt/coaches kid) are good receivers but they aren’t really what I consider to be playmakers.

Williams? He is theoretically a playmaker, but his route running and pass catching skills are still up for debate now, let alone then. The problem has always been getting him the ball, and that is way more on Williams than on Morelli or the coaches.

Austin Scott? Rodney Kinlaw?

We had high hopes for our offense last year, but I can’t see having a tremendous amount of confidence in it going in to that game.

"I honestly think the "Spread HD" is going to work pretty well, and we’ll be just fine this year". - 8-27-2008

by jesse. on Sep 10, 2008 12:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Also

Illinois 2007 version of the spread is more similar to PSU’s 2008 version than Oregon’s or Appalachian State’s was. Illinois thought that they were going to really spank Michigan for the same reason you think the Penn State could have last year.

It didn’t work and Michigan beat Illinois, rather convincingly.

It took more than the mere presence of a spread offense to beat Michigan last year, the key component was speed.

"I honestly think the "Spread HD" is going to work pretty well, and we’ll be just fine this year". - 8-27-2008

by jesse. on Sep 10, 2008 12:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

And....

We would have been changing our whole offense, on the road, with a guy playing his first game since he got knocked out cold by Michigan at Beaver Stadium in 2006.

Hardly a lead pipe lock.

"I honestly think the "Spread HD" is going to work pretty well, and we’ll be just fine this year". - 8-27-2008

by jesse. on Sep 10, 2008 12:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Spread

I never said we would spank them, I just expected to put up more than 9 points. But you’re right, it wasn’t guaranteed that spreading Michigan out was going to beat them, but neither was running right at them with an inexperienced line. Fact of the matter is, we came into Ann Arbor with a “play not to lose attitude” and we lost. Our offense couldn’t come through with a TD, not just when it mattered, but at any point in the game.

by Screen Name 20 on Sep 10, 2008 12:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

And the Defense couldn't get a stop or a big turnover when it mattered either.

"I honestly think the "Spread HD" is going to work pretty well, and we’ll be just fine this year". - 8-27-2008

by jesse. on Sep 10, 2008 1:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Defense

Kept us in the game after Morelli handed them 7. Yes, they could’ve made a stop there but that’s asking an awful lot. You’re putting any defense in the nation in a tough spot when you give them the ball at the 11. You expect to win games when you only give up 14 pts.

Once again, I already mentioned the game was lost due to a variety of reasons….one of which, is the offense, and not solely Mike Hart.

by Screen Name 20 on Sep 10, 2008 1:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hey it was a five point game

and Michigan had the ball pretty much the whole fourth quarter and didn’t have to throw a pass.

Penn State unquestionably had a very conservative offensive gameplan, they also had two turnovers, one of which was a killer. It stands to reason that a less conservative gameplan is as likely to lead to more turnovers as it is to more points.

The gameplan was to force Ryan Mallet to beat us. The defense didn’t get it done, in large part to Mike Hart’s play. I don’t blame the defense, I think they did the best they could under the circumstances, but don’t kid yourself, I’ve seen Penn State defenses win games like that before.

"I honestly think the "Spread HD" is going to work pretty well, and we’ll be just fine this year". - 8-27-2008

by jesse. on Sep 10, 2008 1:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Just sayin.......

I would take Hart too, but my impression from that game was that our offense blew it. I don’t think Hart right, Hart left, for 3.5 yards a carry for 44 plays left me with the same impression it did you. Then throw in the fact that he had nothing to do with the 10 yard run by Mallet after the Morelli fumble and he has less of an impact on the score of the game.

I just expect an offense to score more than 9 points against that team in that situation. 11 posessions producing 5 three and outs and 2 turnovers leaves more of a bad taste in my mouth that 44 rushes for 153 yards…….kind of paltry numbers for a total stud like Hart.

Sidebar…….did Hart make a 53 man roster anywhere ?

Eric Watters Atlanta, Ga.

by ech2os on Sep 10, 2008 11:59 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

3.5 x 3 = 10.5

Or three carries and a first down. I will take that every single time when I can depend on it. The trick is that is very, very rare when you can. Michigan could because they knew Hart generally didn’t lose yards, and he never fumbles.

As to the roster, I don’t know. I saw him somewhere in pre-season, but I forget where.

"I honestly think the "Spread HD" is going to work pretty well, and we’ll be just fine this year". - 8-27-2008

by jesse. on Sep 10, 2008 12:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

5 three and outs in 11 posessions.

Eric Watters Atlanta, Ga.

by ech2os on Sep 10, 2008 11:46 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

RUTS

great post, i bet a ton of us did not know about this pollspeak site and it will be fun to see how many of these voters who dont even rank PSU start getting a ton of bad votes.

by PSUgavemeAnAlcoholproblem on Sep 9, 2008 11:27 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Extreme Unranked.

Teams that were left off ballots who’s rankings were so high that their absence is considered a glaring deviation from voting patterns.

Penn State – 4 voters
Wake Forest – 2 voters
USF – 2 voters
BYU – 1 vote

Wake Forest, USF, and BYU all struggled last week in their wins, so I can find justification in their omission. But why would twice as many find PSU to be off-limits? It’s not like the LA guy wouldn’t have been keeping tabs on a Pac-10 game!

by Cairo on Sep 10, 2008 12:37 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs