OH NOES -- Wait, This Actually Isn't So Terrible After All
by Run Up The Score on Oct 6, 2009 7:00 AM EDT
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PrintBefore the season, we looked at five areas of concern for the 2009 Nittany Lions. Now that we have a little down time -- sorry EIU -- let's examine how the OH NOEZ have played out over the first five games of the year.
Collin Wagner has been okay. His kickoffs have been either too short or too low, and the coverage team has suffered. We still haven't seen Anthony Fera yet, not even for kickoff duties. Is redshirting a kicker weird or stupid? I honestly have no answer. Also, I haven't won 387 games as a head coach. Wagner has made all of his extra points, and is 3/6 on field goals. He missed both of his field goal attempts outside of 30 yards, memorably coming up inches short from 48 yards against Iowa and causing an absurd amount of grief throughout the PSU fanbase. (Seriously, it was 48 yards on a wet field. That's not Craig Fayak yanking a 20 yarder against Miami in '92). A lack of meaningful long attempts make it hard to fully assess his performance.
This group is a pleasant surprise, led by Derek Moye (19 catches, 309 yards, 2 TD's). Chaz Powell (15-213-2) and Graham Zug (15-181-2) have also done quite well. We haven't seen much from the freshmen, aside from an occasional Devon Smith (4-30-0) sighting. Curtis Drake and Justin Brown have played sparingly. Brett Brackett has been completely missing from the offensive gameplan.
Hey, so far, so good. He was mostly forbidden from running early in the season, but that changed against Illinois. Kevin Newsome still hasn't seen much live action, throwing a grand total of six passes so far. It would be nice to get him some playing time without Clark having to be injured.
Clearly the team's weak spot, even with their vastly improved performance against Illinois (although Illinois hasn't put up much of a fight against anybody this season). They had difficulties during the non-conference trio of games, and were completely annihilated against Iowa. The EIU game isn't likely to tell us much. We'll see how they play against Minnesota and Northwestern.
Most of us were utterly terrified about this group, but they've actually been rather good. Not particularly tested to date by a great passing attack, but good nonetheless. Nice to see true freshman Stephon Morris making an impact so early in his career.
Overall, the fears haven't quite come to fruition, with the obvious exception of the offensive line against Iowa. Perhaps it's a lack of a reliable sample -- Wagner hasn't been called upon for an important long kick and our defense hasn't exactly faced the Fun n' Gun yet. Still, progress in many areas. Better. Not perfect.
Mr Perfect - Table Tennis vignette (via sxdx20000)
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YES YES YES
YYYYYEEEEESSSSS
How could Nixon know so little about Watergate and so much about football ?
One might accuse me of going to
OMG SEC
How could Nixon know so little about Watergate and so much about football ?
Even I, the king of replying to my own posts, am not that shameless!
DO YOU HAVE PRIDE, DANNY?
by ReadingRambler on Oct 6, 2009 8:10 AM EDT up reply actions
RE: Secondary:
My opinion of this group throughout the offseason was basically “They can’t be any worse, can they?”
Hooray!
DO YOU HAVE PRIDE, DANNY?
Wait, we're not still on the Bowden thing?
Good. You know who lost in that whole argument? Khairi Fortt.
OL – They have some big nasties coming in in the next couple of years, so I guess this is the bottom of the ride. Now we start the clack-clack-clack back up to the top of the coaster.
WR – good, and only going to get better (provided Coxson stays, but even if not)
Secondary
Weren’t Akron and Illinois supposed to test our secondary? Sure, they gave up a few big plays against Illinois, but ultimately they held their own.
Illinois may be the worst team we’ve played so far, but I don’t really care. There was clearly something different about this team in the second half of that game.
Secondary is a tale of two parts: CB's and S's
CB’s have far exceeded all my expectations: Morris is a great surprise, Timmons is decent, and Lynn may end up being a shut down corner; Wallace is a little shaky but if he’s made some good plays too. I’m really excited about Lynn, he seems to have the size and athleticism to shutdown any WR.
The safeties on the other hand… ugh… I mean they’re there, they make plays, but they’ve made me cringe a few times this season already and that’s not a good sign. With solid CB’s what we need are safeties that stay in position, and guys who can tackle — but they’ve come up as somewhat of a disappointment for me.
"We hugged as grown men do. It was a great moment. Then, it was business as usual." -- LJ Sr.
excellent point
I couldn’t agree more. I was hoping to see Hodges get more meaningful reps back there. It’d be nice to see more of a physical presence in the secondary, someone like Darren Perry or James Boyd. Sukay and Astorino are what they are. Mostly solid if unspectacular at best. A potentially devastating liability, at worst.
That's what she said
DO YOU HAVE PRIDE, DANNY?
by ReadingRambler on Oct 6, 2009 9:22 AM EDT up reply actions
I'm kinda like Tate Forcier
I live for moments like these.
DO YOU HAVE PRIDE, DANNY?
by ReadingRambler on Oct 6, 2009 9:45 AM EDT up reply actions
No
I have “it”. I don’t know what it is, but I have “it”.
DO YOU HAVE PRIDE, DANNY?
by ReadingRambler on Oct 6, 2009 10:20 AM EDT up reply actions
Is this the WVU site on SBN?
Man, I’m in the wrong room.
Bacon is almost as great as being a Penn Stater
by NittanyTide on Oct 6, 2009 9:35 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
DO NOT WANT.
--
"Not everybody is the perfect person in the world. Everyone does - kills people, murders people, steals from you, steals from me." -- Terrelle Pryor
by Run Up The Score on Oct 6, 2009 10:16 AM EDT up reply actions
Wagner
I think the issue (at least the one I had) with the 48 yarder wasn’t that he missed it, it was that the kick was even attempted. Seemed like a good time for a pooch kick and pin them behind the 10. Instead we took a kicker who hasn’t shown much range facing the south end zone in his kickoffs and asked him to kick it 48 yards. The special teams coverage hasn’t been great but Wagner’s range is the other reason opponents get such good field position.
"We are not normal, We are Legends. People will tell their kids about us." - Deon Butler before Ohio State Game 2008.
Testing the secondary
If Illinois, featuring the best wide receiver in the Big Ten, didn’t provide enough of a test for the secondary then what team on the schedule will?
As I said when this list came out, there isn’t a team on the regular season schedule that can take advantage of PSU’s perceived secondary weakness. Clark’s health is what it is and I always felt the receivers would be fine with a veteran QB throwing to them.
The main concerns are and continue to be offensive line and kicker. I had hoped the first 3 games would provide enough experience for the o-line going into the 1st game but that didn’t happen.
Yep, except the same thing was true last year...
…until we got to the Rose Bowl. Secondary is almost superfluous in the B10, especially with out defensive scheme, but I really hope we don’t find ourselves embarrassed on the national stage again this December or January.
IMO
Benn is the second best receiver in the Big Ten. He’s the best speed burner we’ll face, but I’d take Decker every time.
It would be great if Newsome got some "meaningful" time this week
Also, I’m very impressed with the WRs so far. No worries there for this season or the future.
The kick/return games need a kick in the pants – have we had a kickoff reach the endzone yet? has every punt been a fair catch? have we made it past the 20 on a kickoff return? Bueller? Bueller? Fera?
"The sea was angry that day, my friends." G. Costanza
i think it's more about a lack of skillz (at the moment)...
not talent or athletic ability, because he clearly has both, or we wouldn’t be wasting time on him. joe says he is getting a lot of reps in practice, anything else he can get this year gravy…delicious, delicious gravy
We decide when you hear the snap count...
what i was commenting on was the "confidence" part
if he doesn’t have the necessary skill set yet, what good would confidence be?
We decide when you hear the snap count...
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