I especially like the ending of “we will rise again.”

 I hate seeing my team embarrassed at home, to a team they could have beaten. And I’m not thrilled about a bowl game against any team with a decent line. But hopefully recruits see the potential of the program and not just the outcome of one game. This loss should quiet the talk of us being one of the elite for a while now.

Maybe a light bulb will come on for everyone involved and we will be ready for next year’s big games.

I think the picture of Joe shows the way we all feel.
2 losses doesn’t bother me too much. What drives me nuts is the lack of improvement as the season progresses: Oline, unspecial teams, Quarless, tackling. Learn from mistakes and get better!

Also, to me, it seems like this team is missing some visible vocal star players. The last few years we had Williams, Butler, Norwood, Clark, Poz, Conner, etc – all of them being the big men on campus and pumping up the fanbase. This year we have Clark and ???

I agree that this is a rebuilding year, but I just worry about when we will be rebuilt. College football is very cyclical, and the top teams every year usually fall into 2 categories. First is the category Penn State usually falls into: the veteran laden team (usually mostly seniors) of quality players. This is why we usually see a very good team about every 3-4 years, with noticeable dips in between (though still usually decent teams). The second category is the teams like USC, Florida (recently) and OSU who typically load up on 5 and 4 star recruits who for some reason have been able to make the transition pretty well to college ball, and so the teams are able to “reload” every year. After this last recruiting class maybe Penn State can move into this category, but even the “best” teams are usually only able to do this for a decade, tops, before the walls come crumbling down and they have to start all over again. Obviously success begets success in college football, so consistently winning (and sending guys to the NFL) will make more top players come to your program.

What I worry about right now is that Penn State seems to have hit a groove where it doesn’t look like we will have a heavily veteran laden team come together any time soon. Our O-line looks like it will be about half veterans and half “new” guys, while our skill positions are going to be pretty green the next couple years. Defense we’ll probably be fine as we have a lot of talent there, and seem to be able to “reload” fairly well year in and year out (heck, even in the dark years we still had one of the top defenses).

We keep talking about this being a rebuilding year, and next year being a rebuilding year, but does it really look like 2011 will be the year things all come together? It looks like we’ll be taking another bunch of hits to the O-line, and I just wonder what will happen.

They had the three big plays of the game. If we recover the ball that was kicked into the endzone, that game is ours. Offensively, Penn State was who we thought they were. I thought Clark played well and did not become frustrated until the game was out of hand. I do not fault the playcalling, other than the minor criticism that the necessity to roll Clark out to avoid pressure should have been planned on Wednesday not at halftime.

I really couldn’t agree more. The main thing that is troubling to me is that I am still a little worried about the game in East Lansing. I feel like we always have a tough time against MSU on the road, and this team is just too talented to finish the season 9-3.

But I’m okay with what happened. I mean did anyone see how well Ohio State was playing? Their defensive numbers are as good or better than Penn State’s, and their biggest strength, defensive line, was matched up against our #1 weakness.

Add in the fact that Pryor didn’t make any unforced errors for the first time against a real opponent in 2 years, and you’ve got a pretty difficult team to beat no matter who you are. Give us his performance against Purdue or USC and we win that game…he happen to get it all together at the wrong time for us.

The one thing I can adamantly agree with is the complete lack of risk on offense. I would have been okay with it if our special teams weren’t so bad, but as soon as you allow that first gimmie touchdown, you have to realize risk is the only way to win.

But there’s no indication more downfield passing would have won us the game. Sure it couldn’t have hurt, but let’s not pretend that if we threw bombs the entire second half it we would have won that game.

We’re 8-2 with an outside chance at a BCS bowl. If we win out there’s a decent chance at getting LSU in the CapOne, witch could be a lot of fun.

Also: enjoy this, because next year could get ugly.

3 out of every 4 years to meet expectations. Recruiting, tradition, fan base, facilities, et. al. are all in PSU’s favor.

2005 – check
2006 – miss
2007 – miss
2008 – check
2009 – a check turned into a big time miss Saturday
2010 – not looking so good

I’m not saying we should’ve wiped the field with this mediocre Buckeye team, but holy flood-pants, we’ve got to be able to go toe-to-toe with them at home and not punt ten times. This effort defined disappointing.

My 12 year old was a complete maniac after the game. He has that great kid mentality where your team will win every game and when they don’t he’s inconsolable. I explained to him that we had played a weak schedule and 10-2 was more realistic for this team. What I really want to tell him is that the playcalling in this game sucked (while throwing something against the wall)! Vanilla is too exciting a word to describe the offense saturday. I have a bad feeling that the little rich brat down the street (Pitt alum parents) is going to flap his pie hole and I’ll be getting a phone call later today after my kid suplexes their snot into the bus aisle. O.K. done venting. Let’s finish this season strong.

Ohio State killed the offensive line, and jammed the recievers so there was nobody to throw to in the two seconds Clark had to find a reciever. End of Story on offense.

Our special teams is awful.

Pryor played well.

That’s just about it. Indiana is still waiting to pull their upset after near misses against Michigan and Iowa, so yeah. Nothing good happens Saturday. Historically trips to East Lansing are dicey. We’ll see.

I will add that I believe tO$U (did I finally get that right?) did expose something else that has me just a bit concerned, especially as it pertains to MSU and whoever we play in the bowl. It pains me to say this, but, Lee looked a step slow on coverage. It seemed tO$U was beating him on most every play, and while he he had his moments, it looked as though he was playing at about 90%, understandable given his inactivity for most of the year.

Looking ahead, I agree with the camp that says 2011 will be a strong year for us.

is fair and I agree with it. it’s just frustrating when a team has no answers, no plan B. I also don’t understand how a team can be this bad on special teams. Win the last two and the bowl game and the season is a success.

Next year’s trip to ’Bama shall be interesting…

i just hope we put together a solid effort against iu this week. i really respect that program, and i think bill lynch is a great coach. as funny as it is to see him blow up and throw his gum and make a side judge look like a third grader with a hand in the cookie jar, we’ve been there watching the stripes take games away from us, too. i love this game, series record aside. i just hope that we beat them soundly, squad against squad—and don’t need a miracle 4th-quarter comeback or a referee that doesn’t understand the rules for dual possession to win. is it saturday yet?

Both BSD Mike and then RUTS nailed simple SIMPLE points that summarize the game for me.
BSD points out that Joe gut suckered into playing Tressel Ball again and to RUTS’ point at the beginning of his piece, that MAY not have been (LOL) the gameplan at least not up until the point of the Nits’ first offensive play. At that point it was CLEARLY a case of Joe flipping the switch to his Mexican Standoff gameplan of NO RISKS, NO CHANCES NO ERRORS NO TURNOVERS on offense and hope the kicking game and defense cause OSU to make the game ending mistake(s). Almost like that play gave Joe the excuse he needed, WANTED to into Mexican Standoff mode.
Problem is it worked out that way for Ohio St. Whereas their O struggled they were able to move the ball enough to punt Penn St into trouble all the time and then the vicious cycle begins: We’re pinned back gotta run middle run middle short pass punt. Sure Ohio St’s D was GOOD but PSU made them LOOK even more ferocious by running into the teeth of it and showing NO inclination to do ANYthing else allowing OSU to stack the box and guess right all the time. They did NOT look this great against Purdue. And Boone’s punt that gave OSU its first TD WAS as RUTS pointed out AWFUL!!!! What’s with this guy this year he basically caused the block in the Iowa and Michigan games by acting like he was practicing instead of punting with a defense coming and then line drived a bunch of balls out of the coverage against OSU.

Pull for a team you don’t expect to win and when they do its a huge bonus.

For example, I love pulling for Army. Their players are not there to play football, they are there to become Officers and if they have some time, play some football.

If you never seen a game at West Point, you are really missing something special…its a blast.

This was just what I needed on Monday morning as I head to class at Columbus State Community College and get swamped by scarlet and gray. It is a miserable place to live as a Nittany Lion fan and makes this loss much worse. So thanks :)

 Wante to simply point out, I was at the game, and Never have I been so unimpressed w/ a shocking lack of emotion for such a big game. We find out Iowa losses, we should be fired up to whack the Bucks and we flat out lay an egg. I did not see any emotion on this team. WTF? Baffling. Where’s the senior leadership?
We can lose and it’ll hurt and I’ll accept it. but to produce such a NO SHOW in such a pivotal game is very disappointing.

straight F’s down the board.

Jam the receivers on the LOS. That takes away the passing game and makes the playcalling very predictable. IOWA showed tOSU how do do it and they did it. I don’t know if our remaining opponents have the personnel to execute this strategy, but they will be fools if they do not try to make it work. Bonus if they have a guy like Heyward on the Dline.

Maybe he referred to the defense?

I know it’s probably not realistic to EXPECT the defense to play takeaway to win games, but the truth is, there were plenty of moments that a big play on D could have changed the game and it never happened.

We played a game hoping OSU would make more mistakes than us, and they didn’t. Give them credit, but some of it has to fall on the defense.

but I was sitting in the north endzone and I identified at least 4 times Moye was split wide left with man coverage and the safety on his side clearly peeking in the backfield. You’re telling me we couldn’t throw one jump ball down the sideline to him?

And don’t get me started with the punt down three scores. That is Joe’s discision and that disgusted me.

along with “it is what it is” and “but at the same time (Charlie Manuel’s newbie)” can we add “But you gotta give the other guys credit?” to that list?
Does anyone REALLY want to give Ohio St credit? “I mean” “It is what it is” and certainly they’re good and all that “but at the same time” if all we did was
give the other side credit" too we wouldn;t have anything to talk about and wouldn’t be here.
I don’t WANT to talk about Ohio St did to win I want to whine about PSU losing and what they could and should have done and could and should do in the future to avoid losing another home game as a favorite!

…and so did 2-Loss USC at Cbus… I give them credit but judging by the behavior of our offensive gameplanners and playcallers and coaches, so did they, TOO much after the first snap when Clark got inhaled alive.
Christ Almighty, you would’ve thought that D was the bastard lovechild of the 85 Bears and 91 Eagles the way Penn State approached it!!!!

…made them look appreciably better than their already formidible pedigree made them.
But you’re sure right, what’s Heyward done outside of the PSU game? It was seriously like Penn State’s “Nation, meet drrruuuummmrrroollllllllll Adrian CLAYBORN!!!!” all over again!!!

I wish fans could articulate what they mean when they complain about “conservative” playcalling. What about not having time to throw or being unable to run the ball indicates that 7 step drops, flea flickers, reverses, and whatever else is considered not-conservative-playcalling would have been successful Saturday?
Reading these comments would lead one to believe PSU had a 4-1 run to pass ratio. Instead, 28 passes to 30 runs.
The unfortunate truth is that the O Line did not improve as much as the past month had lead us to believe, and these skill players are not good enough to do it on their own.
It wasn’t “conservative playcalling” that led the defense to give up 230 yards rushing, either.

ill sum it up for anyone reaching the bottom of the thread…WE SUCKED BALLS, AND WE STILL SUCK BALLS IN BIG GAMES. onto indiana

offensive play calling…as my brother said in the parking lot following the game “They didn’t flip one single page in the playbook” Then we laughed and drank…eff it!

It must be people with good seats. They weren’t booing in row 76. Whoever it was should have their seats transferred next year to the upper deck.

just rewatched the game, and i saw an interesting stat at around 12 minutes left in the 4th quarter… Pryor was 6 for 15 on the night to that point. six completions in 3+ quarters. that includes the long-toss that hung in the air for about 3 minutes (which my Pitt buddy at the bar exclaimed was the best throw evar). limit pryor’s mistakes, rape and pillage our o-line, win the game.

special teams was very hard to watch again. the rest of the game wasn’t as bad as I remember it, as usual.

If your line gets beat you are in trouble if you can not find the holes. If your line gets beat all night with only 4 guys rushing you may as well quit early and save any injuries because you will not find holes very often. OSU had 4 guys putting pressure on our QB all night. OSU did not need to blitz.. Just run the numbers…QB, LT, LG, C, RG,RT vs. their 4 it is 6 to 4 and they won. Keep in a tight end or a back or both and it is 4 vs 7 or 8 and they still won. That gives them 7 vs our 5,4, or 3. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that you are not going to win if their front 4 can put the kind of pressure on our QB that they did. Couple that with OSU playing their corners up tight on our receivers and sitting with two deep. Their line backers could just play the run to the pass all night. Dan Marino would have been a non factor. We needed to force them to do things they did not want to do so we can take advantage of what they were giving up to pressure our QB. As it was the only thing they gave us was an ass whoopin’. I actually looked at how we came out in the third quarter and knew it was over. What ever we needed to do to stop their front defensive 4 ( and short of just playing smarter stronger, and faster, I don’t know what it is) we did not do it.
We need our line to hold their own. If they do and we get someone who can put together something with teams, we can play with just about anyone. If they don’t we can expect more of the same.
If you did not know that DC was going to see pressure you have not been paying attention. If their 4 could not do it you would have seen one or two blitzing all night. At least that would have given us some holes to try to exploit. Hats off to OSU’s front 4 they played well.
I think we can win our last two and then we will see were we stand. I am thinking Outback Bowl.
I hear Joe loves that Bloomin’ Onion!