This Is My Team

We want jimmy!

For the past few years our primary enjoyment came from watching Penn State win. We might not have as many wins this year, so you may have to get your enjoyment elsewhere, like watching a young team develop into something special. Either way, I’m still going to watch

(From an Iowa fan, looking ahead to next year.)

How funny is it that the same people who constantly bark about how we should play the more talented inexperienced players complain when they play like inexperienced players.

I’ve seen nothing but positives fromt his team, and I’m filled with infinite optimism for where we are going. The coaches are doing all the things we always wanted them to do: play the more talented kids, take chances, be aggressive on offense especially on the road. With a little more experience, a little better execution we’ll be a fantastic football team.

I’ll be there rooting my ass off this week.

I feel like I have tried to talk so many casual “Penn State fans” off the ledge, but they aren’t having it. Thank you for your rationality. I am still excited about this team and always will be. I started school in the Fall of 2003 and lived the dark years. I was in the stands for the Ohio State 2005 game. This team is much more likely to be as good or better than that 2005 team than they are heading back towards the dark years and I can’t wait.

Very well written and so valid. I like you am in the same camp, and thought we’d be 8-4 at the end of the season. We have to go through these growing pains and again take note that we are witnessing something special going on!

Well said, Mike. We knew we were gonna lose this game. Heck, I considered it a moral victory that Bolden walked off the field at the end of the game instead of being carried off earlier on a stretcher. From where I sit, the future looks bright.

You hav expressed how I have been feeling the past few days. Losses hurt as they should but the world is not over. The sign of a good team is how they get up after the body blow. There is a lot of ptonetial for good things for the rest of the season and even better things down the road.

there is no room for rationality! great post mike. this year will be frustrating but i CANNOT wait to watch what this team will be like next year and 2012. the potential is there, now just pray for continued development and health

I know this team is young and I am certainly not in the bench Bolden camp, but there are real problems here that are unrelated to youth. If I had to guess on our final record, I would still probably go with the 9-3 (although Michigan St is starting to scare me) that we all saw coming at the beginning of the season. But in my opinion, this team’s play up to this point has been kind of disappointing.

I feel like I spend the better part of my work days trying to convince my coworkers that this team is not only good, but has the potential to be great. Sure things look a little rough right now, but in all fairness, our starting qb has been in University Park for what, 6 months?…. We will definitely get much better as the season progresses.

and AGREED. Excellent post.

“I would hope you would support who we are. Not, who we are not. These six individuals have made a choice to work, a choice to sacrifice, to put themselves on the line 23 nights for the next 4 months, to represent you, this high school. That kind of commitment and effort deserves and demands your respect. This is your team.”

The level of the liquid just happens to reside in the exact center.

With this team, there are positives, negatives, and negatives due to youth/injury (i.e. forgivable problems). To me, the positives would be Bolden, the young WR’s and Brackett, the secondary, Ogbu and Massaro, Redd’s flashes of greatness and the steady improvement of the linebackers.

The negatives would be our experienced DE’s, Colasanti/Still’s schizophrenic play, Gbadyu playing at all, Zug, the OL sans Wiz (and even he’s been culpable at times), general lethargy in the run game, and some of the coaching decisions (both in-game as well as personnel decisions).

The negatives due to youth/injury would be Bolden’s rapport with the WR’s, the OL (with Lou’s injury), the TE situation (also due to injury) and the linebackers to an extent.

What does it all mean? In my opinion, there will be noticeable improvement on both sides of the ball this year, mostly in the passing game and with the linebackers. However, I also think that certain units (OL and DE’s) will continue to struggle, because unfortunately, they might just not be up to snuff. In summation, I definitely think we’ll be better by the end of the year, and a team to be reckoned with next year. And I’ll take a December bowl game this year for a January bowl game next year.

I’m not jumping off any cliffs…

Because if so, count me amongst your backers.

I agree with you 100%. We all knew, well those of us tuned into reality, knew that PSU was a decent team. Not a great team, maybe not even a good team, but a decent team. A team filled with inexperience. A team that given playing time, and time could hopefully morph into something special. Something great. Certainly that isn’t a guarantee. Nothing in life is. But at least I have something to look forward to. tOSU, Wisc, Neb, and Iowa are all going to be good for the next several years. Apparently so is UM. Don’t count out MSU and jNW as up and coming teams. But why not PSU? For years Joe was lambasted for being loyal to seniors, and now, when he finally lets the kids play everyone expects this team to be great. I would love for someone, anyone to point to a team playing this many freshmen that finished the year in the top 10. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

  I continuously complained about Joe not playing the best players and favoring the upperclassman. This has changed.
  I am content with the direction the team is headed. I am not happy that we lost to these teams just like any fan that is disappointed that their team loses.
  I see we are winning the games we are expected to win. We all knew we weren’t going undefeated. It is always nice to dream though. Everyone needs to get back to reality.
  Newsome or McGloin does not improve our chances for winning. New coaches are not the solution either. Experience and growth is what this team needs. Mentally and physically they will grow. These young men will learn from their mistakes and realize what needs accomplished on and off the field.
  You as a fan must be patient. You must grow up and learn to accept the loss like these young men are doing. You should continue to support the program.
  The philosophies of Penn State Football have not changed. We have not completely sold out to corporate America. They continue to educate these men in life, preparing them for the future.
  So here is the scoop! If you don’t like the direction the program is headed. JUMP SHIP NOW!
  Remember, when you want to jump back on the band wagon, there are many of individuals around here that will be the first to point out how you were the “Debbie Downer” in 2010! (Please someone insert picture.)
  WE ARE (still) PENN STATE!

this team is better than the early 2000’s teams. This PSU team is beating who they are supposed to beat and not losing to Akron. They are getting a winning taste in their mouths along with playing much better teams. This benefits the Nittany Lions in the long run. And I am excited.

Should I infer some developing Isaac Redman karma for this kid?

In all seriousness, there are going to be some tough times yet ahead this season. But, you are correct; the payoff in future seasons will be immensely satisfying.

I can’t believe some of the things I’m reading after Penn State lost to Iowa last Saturday. It’s not that I haven’t read similar stuff before. You know the routine. Fire the coaches. Bench the quarterback. These players suck. Recruiting sucks. Joe is too old. Yada yada yada. It gets so borish.

This is the exact same sort of thing that was and IS going on at Bucky’s 5th right now. Its ridiculous there too. And I wasn’t there for the great meltdown of 2008 (THANK GOODNESS) but I think that dropping to 1-5 in conference play probably killed whatever fanbase there was. Dropping a single game and EVERYONE hates the team…its dumb.

Rec’d.

they don’t need all those visors, gloves, and elbow bands. They look like a Nike commercial out there.

Seriously though, old Joepa saying: “Never as good as you think you are when you win, never as bad as you think you are when you lose.” NOW, I WANT MCGREGOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aside from those that call for Bolden to be benched. They are clinically insane.

Just as a theoretical exercise, what would it take for you to say, “forget it, I can not watch this team any more, fire JoePa, etc., etc?”

I’m not implying that given the current situation you should feel that way, I’m just trying to find the line between irrational pessimism, realism, and delusional optimism. As one of the more rational people out there, I’d like to know where you think those lines are.

Just an awesome write up Mike. I think you put into words what so many of us PSU fans are feeling this week. I can’t believe the level of panic that has been raised this week after losing a game that we expected them to lose. Again, fantastic post and I’ll back you anytime.

As I watched the Iowa game, I was pleasantly surprised at how well we did certain things (esp. the way the offense moved against an incredible D) and even though we lost, I felt good about the team. Then I went online and found out I must have been crazy for seeing anything positive in that game. Makes me wonder why I visit BSD so often. Then I read this post and I realized I’m not crazy. Thanks Mike. Thanks for the sanity!

and really, more fan bases out there need a prominent blog full of rational authors and commenters to help set the tone.

Yes, the two losses hurt, even for those who were expecting them. Even if you predicted losses to Alabama and Iowa before the season started, it feels a little different now that PSU is 3-2 and outside the top 25. And watching a young team struggle is tough, especially when some of the veterans struggle along with them.

After two years of awesome success, it’s jarring for all of us to see these things, expected or not. And let’s face it, losses are always disappointing: no matter what you expect or predict, a real fan always believes his team is capable of winning every Saturday.

So, it’s not hard to understand where the emotions of these irrational fans are coming from. We’re all feeling them, to some degree or another. However, the difference between the average Rivals/Scout/PennLive commenter and the average BSD poster is where we go from there. Here at BSD, we remind ourselves of the prevailing pre-season expectations we held, we accept that the team’s shortcomings this year are significant enough to have resulted in some losses and may result in some more, and we believe the coaches are doing the best job possible under the circumstances.

Irrational fans see things differently. They hate the feelings of a loss so much that they refuse to accept it. They believe that there was some perfect combination of play calls and personnel substitutions that would have resulted in a victory (this part might actually be correct). A lot of them even believe they know exactly what that perfect combination was (this part is obviously stupid), and they believe the coaches must be terrible for not seeing it themselves (again, obviously stupid).

Most of the internet is filled with these irrational fans. Everywhere you turn, you’ve got a comment board full of people who know exactly how their team could have won, and want to see the coaches fired because they didn’t see this obvious solution. Some authors even play into this mentality—stirring the pot, as so many of you have already pointed out.

I’m glad we have a place where more rational voices prevail. It may not be fun to admit that we’re rebuilding a team with very young talent, and that this is going to result in a whole lot of ugly games, win or lose, but that’s what we’ve got. I am still optimistic about this year: Michigan, Northwestern, and Michigan State will all be dogfights, and we get all three at home. Going 3-0 in those games looks a lot tougher than it did in the pre-season, for reasons that have as much to do with them as with us, but it’s still an attainable goal.

And I am one of those people that thinks Newsome should be brought in here and there (~5 plays per game?) for short yardage diesel operations, but I can’t see anyone calling for Bolden’s benching. The kid is the best true freshman QB in the country at this point and has an extremely high ceiling that will only be reached by playing. Truly astonishing are the “Fire Joe” and “bench everyone and start over!” crowd. Give me a break.

In a stretch of five weeks (from Alabama to upcoming Illinois) PSU faces four teams that are in the top 40 in total defense, two of which are #1 (Alabama) and #2 (Iowa) in scoring defense.

In the last six weeks (after the bye week), PSU faces one team that is in the top 40 in total defense (Ohio State) and four teams that ranked below 75th. Four of these games are at home or in Landover, Maryland.

It’s been a tough stretch, but it will (hopefully) get easier and points will come.

BANG.
Dead on.

WE ARE

I’m not so sure there will be so many lop-sided victories by the likes of Iowa and Ohio State. You have a lot of tradition and recruiting strength (the DC area in particular). I’d be surprised if you aren’t 9-3 this year and much better in the next couple of years.

Good luck with the rest of the season! Go Hawks!

It never ceases to amaze me how Penn State fans go into every season thinking their team is going 12-0 or 10-2, and then after the first setback they’re ready to fire the coaches and bench the best players.

It is pretty amazing how people can have so much faith that JoePa could take a team this young, with this schedule, and think that a 10 win season is possible (and frankly, I still do), and then after losing 2 road games to top-15, veteran teams, suddenly think he should be fired. They obviously have an unnatural amount of faith in the man, otherwise they would never think such a thing to begin with, but lose it when the expected actually happens. It’s strange.

I tried to do something similar with my “Why I Still Love PSU” post after the Alabama game. I have tried avoiding this place because of the negativity some of us have after a loss. I understand the disappointment but what do you expect with this young of a group?

Stay strong, stay proud, and see what happens. And I hate to use a Bo Schembeckler quote but I believe those who stay will be champions. This team WILL be good. If you don’t want to wait, well don’t let the door hit you in the ass.

and watching football and Saturdays with all my friends at the Beav or in my man cave. Losses suck but it happens. We were 2 seconds away from going undefeated in 05 and a floating pass away from going undefeated in 08. Everyone who complains can suck it. Bolden is going to be a star (next time just reach that nose of the football out an extra inch) and the talent is ooooozing on the sidelines. You want to complain? Cheer for Notre Dame (who went half of my life without winning a bowl game), U$C (nice NCAA violations), or any other team that I dont really give two craps about. Thats all I’m done. See you Saturday in 60 degree cloudless skies! Wait! I will complain, Noon games are the worst!

Joe hates to lose, just like it frustrates all of us. But he still holds other ideals above winning. Winning within the rules put forth by the NCAA. Winning with student-athletes that are playing for PSU first and foremost to get an education and to graduate with a degree. Winning with players that are to be upheld to these ideals and are to be a credit to this school during and after their college careers. Winning with players that uphold the dignity and pride of the blue and white.

That’s why this is my team. And that’s why I rec’d the above:

I would start to lose a little pride with a sub 80% graduation rate I would not be as vocal a fan with a sub 70% graduation rate

I would start openly rooting against PSU with a sub 60% graduation rate

And would add “I would start openly rooting against PSU if they started violating NCAA regulations (and suffering from any associated consequences) in the interest of winning”.

this posts made me feel better about my girlfriend just breaking up with me. I guess I see it as something positive to look forward to.

Can’t believe it took me so long to read it.

This is why I wanted to come on BSD and contribute. Every once in a while there’s blatant negativity, but I love this team more than I love to watch them win.