Illinois Game: Improvement, or lack of a defense for Illinois?
by dawsonPSU10 on Oct 4, 2009 2:07 AM EDT
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PrintI'm sure this will be covered by the Mods in the next few days as they analyze what they watched on Saturday. I watched the game tonight at a friends apartment, and kept asking myself this question: did the team show improvement today, or is Illinois really that bad defensively?
The first half of the game had me extremely worried only leading 7-3, their defense was actually successful against us, and we were playing the same sort of flat, boring offense that struggled where they shouldn't have. Then we opened up, and it seemed like a new team had taken the field. What started as a flat (almost scary close) game in the first half, ended up being a very entertaining game for me at least, as our rushing game had it's best game of the season. Green led with 13 carries for 120 yds, finally showing his speed an elusiveness as we had hoped he would develop to be. Royster, while struggling to find holes (if the o-line made any he could actually get through) in the first half, also finished the day with 17 carries for 105 yds. Even DC17 had 83 yds on 7 carries which caught me totally off guard (and apparently the Illini defense as well) and also added two QB sneak TDs.
What surprised me most though, was the praise of the O-line by the announcers. Numerous times, they highlighted great blocks for the running backs to get big gains (I think Lou Eliades was mentioned several times if I remember correctly). While it was a pleasant surprise to hear rare praise for our line, I couldn't help but feel the need to ask whether they really busted their asses this week working on being a better unit, or is the Illinois D just really so Zug-awful that we were able to look like superstars out there (but even that raises the other question: how would Illinois' D handle our cupcakes, who we also had trouble establishing a consistent running game on?) Just curious what people thought. I don't have much technical FB knowledge, so someone who knows the game better than I do would be able to analyze and determine if it was improvement or EPIC SUCK from Illinois.
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I mean,
does Illinois really have a worse defensive front than our first 3 games?
No.
But do they have a decidedly worse coach? A coach that is quite possibly THE WORST at making any sort of on-the-fly, in-game adjustments?
I believe so.
There is SO MUCH talent on that Illinois roster, it’s ridiculous. Well, ridiculous compared to the results they get. Zook is a recruiter and a damn fine one at that… but Zug, keep him out of a headset. Could you imagine what a halfway decent coach could do with their roster?
We are gonna shock them with 5,000 mega watts of raw ROO POWER.
Some random thoughts...
Illinois has some talent on offense but their D just didn’t show me anything
Our secondary still concerns me a bit and I didn’t notice a real pass rush on our part.
I liked our offensive gameplan in the second half and I think that maybe we should be using Quarless on a few deeper patterns as that guy seems to eat up LB coverage and a few more deep seam routes may be in order as he has suddenly remembered how to catch the ball
I may be wrong, but our next touchback on a kickoff will be our first one
Thank the maker for taking better care of the football today
As much as I hate ND I am glad Jtot had his moment today… but do I ever hate pickleboy and his bulls*** attitude and everything about NBC coverage
I like Sean Lee in a helmet much more than a headset
Josh Hull’s moustache hits like a truck if not accounted for
Will a tried and true contender in the FBS please stand up
We lost to a team at home that struggled against UNI and something called Arkansas St
I think all most officials are very weak these days
Way to go, Houston… UTEP? Really?
I think Herbstreit started dying his eyebrows and Musberger’s voice makes me want to commit homicide… freaks
DickRod’s fake punt fiasco was pure magic… no matter who’s idea it was
Indiana can make anyone a Heisman contender
Sparty failing on completing the epic FAIL spared me the all week talk of OMG FORCIER and UM IS BACK discussions
Here comes USC again… lose their crap game and start pounding teams like clockwork
There was a picture of a chick with a moustache and the infamous STB pic made another appearance in one of the threads… soooo not right (but always funny as hell)
A lack of RR until late into the gameday threads has me a bit unnerved
That is all for now… I feel much better
I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member
by TheMightyErik on Oct 4, 2009 3:10 AM EDT up reply actions
i agree with most of your but...
I love Sean Lee in the headset. When Joe decides he has had enough, I will take Lee coaching Penn State for the next 647368 years.
"Wherever you go, Penn State will go with you. You are now a part of her. Her image will be cast in your image. Your reputation will become her reputation."
That fake punt
RichRod said in the presser after “It’s a read and he should have punted,” with a condescending tone.
How about this: you are the coach, and you are an idiot for not expressly telling the punter that, when you are standing on your own 5, there is no read, there is only punt.
BSD
At least have the stones to
take the heat instead of dumping it on a player.
One man doing the work of 100's for the good of 1000's
Looked like Juice was getting the good ol mush rush to me
DO YOU HAVE PRIDE, DANNY?
by ReadingRambler on Oct 4, 2009 1:14 PM EDT up reply actions
Both
Their D sucks (although it does have some good athletes), but we certainly played better, particularly in the play calling & OL.
Ditto this.
Not to make excuses for the O-line, but when you’re running a vanilla offense, its tough to really unleash. As soon as we started getting pretty with the ball and using our speed better, we started moving all over them. Hopefully those draws and such are the kind of thing we do from here on out.
On a side note, last week there was a play on 3rd down where we tried to draw, Wiz missed his block and we lost yards (leading to the blocked punt). Had Wiz hit that one man, Clark had about 20 yds open. People here pointed out that play, and with good reason – it was the exact same one that got DC 51 yds yesterday.
Michigan
Beat Iowa.
That’s all I will ever ask of you.
Then be prepared to submit to the Nittany Lions.
I thought the first half was solid. We didn’t score a lot of points but we took the best of an Illini team on its last leg and a coach who needed a win more than anyone.
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will-Sam Cooke
exactly
perfect point, they beat Illinois who prepared so hard for this matchup, whos coach was looking for a solid win, against a team who had i giant meltdown the week before in front of the nation.
PSU was ripe for the pickin’, and it looked like it was gonna go that way for the 1st half. That is the best adjustments ive seen PSU make @ halftime since halftime of OSU 08. Very impressed with the way they rebounded @ halftime. It wasnt even close, they destroyed them in the 2nd, really showed power, against a big ten team, and ill take that any day.
It was obvious from the first play of the game that Illinois wanted this game bad. Even the team driving for that last TD at the end of the game showed me how bad Illinois wanted it. And if they had a coach not named Ron Zook who could make adjustments, they could have won. However, PSU, instead of having another road game where we played down to the opponent, actually turned it on and blew Illinois out.
"Want a donut go to dunkin donuts, want a linebacker go to Penn State."
- Cris Carter, NFL Draft, 4/25/09
Here's how I see it
As bad as Illinois defense is, it’s not worse than Akron, Temple, or Syracuse — they have a lot more talent, comparable coaching (at least) and they were at home. Therefore we played better than we had in the last 3 games.
"We hugged as grown men do. It was a great moment. Then, it was business as usual." -- LJ Sr.
What millzners said
Against Akron and Cuse the line was bad, and they didn’t look sharp against Temple. This was the first game this year where there was actually running room. Illinois’s D is bad, bad, bad, but they can’t be much worse than Akron or Temple, can they?
DO YOU HAVE PRIDE, DANNY?
Illinois' D
That was my major question. Could we have been facing a defense worse than our first three opponents? Just by conference affiliation alone, you don’t not have a halfway decent defense in the Big Ten, even if you are the worst in the conference. But I find it hard to believer their D was worse than Akron, Cuse, and Temple, which is why I wrote this post in the first place, just to see what people thought.
Rushing defense ranks:
- - Syracuse
- - Temple
- - Akron
- Illinois
I don’t know when these stats were last collected, so our game might have lowered their rank, but Illinois is so very bad.
Regardless, there was improvement. The distance between Akron and Illinois isn’t that great.
DO YOU HAVE PRIDE, DANNY?
by ReadingRambler on Oct 4, 2009 2:38 PM EDT up reply actions
Damnit!
Syracuse was ranked 15th, Temple 24th, Akron 93rd, and Illinois 101st.
DO YOU HAVE PRIDE, DANNY?
by ReadingRambler on Oct 4, 2009 2:39 PM EDT up reply actions
how many times did we see OLmen running downfield looking for people to block?
does this mean that they hit all their blocks at the LOS and moved to the second level well?
We decide when you hear the snap count...
They actually finished blocks yesterday
And I have waited a couple of weeks for that beautiful sight of the pulling guard smashing the Mike backer, giving the RB a hole.
DO YOU HAVE PRIDE, DANNY?
by ReadingRambler on Oct 4, 2009 2:32 PM EDT up reply actions
Exactly
I saw the linemen holding their blocks at the point of attack, then pulling guards, the fullback or TE sealing a hole. Clearly that’s an improvement on the part of the o-line. At the second level Illinois was not pursuing the ball, and that’s really a reflection of their poor defense and coaching. So I give credit to the o-line for the consistent 4, 5 and 6 yard gains. The huge plays have more to do with Illinois. A 300+ yard rushing day requires both good offense and bad defense to happen. (This is similar to my theory in B-12 football where good offense and bad defense synergize to produce video game scores).
tO$U vitually abandoned any hint
of a passing game and still steamrolled the Illini 30-0. I will say I like the fact that they gave Clark the green light to run. The SpreadHD needs the threat of Clark running the ball.
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