ESPN Skips Like A Broken Record

His focus on the QB’s is understandable because (1) they’re quarterbacks, which automatically draws attention, (2) there can’t be too many other glaring holes on the team, and (3) whatevs, yo, we’re just going to run the ball 35-40 times per game next year anyway.

There’s been an attitude of ‘more is better’ for a long time at ESPiN, and I think it’s reached the tipping point of total overload. Yeah, it’s the off-season, and these guys need to do something to justify their paychecks at this time of year, but seriously – why is Rittenberg even making six posts on PSU in one day? It’s obviously not because he has fresh new content to post. It’s because Diznee corporate management sees a web traffic report that says they get a certain number of hits for every new post on the Big Ten blog and demands that he keep posting more filler, even if it’s just rehashing exactly what he posted the first five times that day. Of course, obviously somebody kept going back every time PSU came up…

This is why GOOD bloggers are gaining more readers. I get better PSU news from here than anywhere. I only use tWWL for Gamecast of Phillies games I can’t get.

I’m sensing a theme here.

I am too: we’ve talked about dragons for two days in a row now.

Do I officially get old when I start comparing teams to ones from two decades ago?

In 1998, junior QB Kevin Thompson had a limited experience with only a 9 pass, 103 yard sophomore season under his belt. The team did have a dominant returning defense and a talented O-line. They also had three tough road games at Ohio State, Michigan, and Wisconsin—comparable to this season’s games at O$U, Alabama, and Iowa.

Unlike ‘98, this team hasn’t lost a proven running back and this WR corps is arguably far more talented than that team. They did have Pat Pidgeon and the immortal Cuncho Brown tho’.

The ’98 offense relied heavily on running backs Cordell Mitchell, freshman Eric McCoo, and goalline stalwart Mike Cerimele with some success. Kevin Thompson put together a middling season of 1700 yards, 6 TDs, and 8 Ints and the team compiled a 9-3 record with the losses coming in the three road games mentioned above. Those games were not pretty.

I would not be happy with a season of 10 good wins and 3 blowout losses, but if you aren’t afraid of the underclassman label attached to our QB’s, if you believe they can outperform Thompson’s numbers, and if you believe this team is more talented than that team, maybe you could see more signs of success than Rittenberg is indicating.

Rittenberg just pages through this site, Bob Flounders’/David Jones’ blogs and probably Audibles’ posts in order to get run of the mill info for his mandatory “I have to say something about PSU today” blogs. Heck, he even links them on the side of his site…giving credit where its due probably.

And by that I mean, he’s reading comments from this site and the others I mentioned, which are essentially a recycling bin of beaten-to-death topics.

But the guy’s just pumping out sub-standard drivel most of the time. I’m not saying he isn’t a nice guy or isn’t hard-working enough, but he’s too quick to form an under-informed opinion and then extremely hesitant to change it. Which wouldn’t be a big deal if he didn’t repeat these opinions ad nauseum.

Remember this is the guy that went with the preseason Jones > Odrick thing, and then when the coaches voted for Odrick he continued this stream of never-ending blurbs that by some stretch of the imagination Jones was in fact the better player; the coaches were wrong and Adam was sticking to his guns. He just couldn’t let himself say “maybe the coaches know more then I do, maybe the gaudy tackle stats were more a product of a terrible MSU defense then a dominant LB. Maybe I didn’t really watch the games that closely.”

I love the effort he puts into every post, but at the same time he really does not know all that much about football. He regurgitates the stuff that he is told, and in my opinion, does very little analysis of the situations at hand. As Millzner just posted a few minutes ago the Odrick-Jones debate was a fine example, my take on all of that is here.

Rittenberg has had a contentious relationship with PSU fans recently and it is because of the work Mike pointed out that this happens.

Come on Adam! We have higher expectations for you, and WANT YOU TO DO GOOD! Your blog is a great daily resource, but you lose credibility when you post stuff like this. I turn to your blog for insight on the happenings of the other 10 Big Ten teams, but now I guess I will have to be careful what I believe in your posts.

Rittenberg thinks we’ll struggle at QB. As it happens, so do I.

If BSD had to write four posts a day specifically on college football, it would sound like a broken record too.

Is everything kosher on that other topic? I haven’t heard anything since I faxed that stuff

Are you guys doing one of those “Keeping the Enemy Close” posts at TRE?

First let me wipe the blue mustache from my upper lip…
It sure seemed like PSU coaches did everything they could to make the offense look bad in the game, maybe it didn’t take much but still, no shotgun formations, very basic routes and the D jumped almost every pass route like they knew the plays. I would never put it past Joe to be using the crappy performance, he helped create, to motivate the guys to bust their butts during the summer. We stink, look at our spring game, QB’s suck. Then PSU opens against Alabama in a 3 wide with a tight end/H-back and the spread/read option comes to life. PSU obviously is not going to be able to chuck the ball like they did with Clark but that doesn’t mean there aren’t options to turn to. Oh well, I’m thirsty again, where’s the blueberry stout.