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Wrestling Update - 'Shadow Team' Division


While Penn State's official wrestling team is competing in the Sprawl & Brawl Duals today in Binghamton, NY. , yesterday saw a number of PSU's 'Shadow Team' take to the mats at the East Stroudsburg Open. I'm not sure what to call our wrestlers that are either redshirting, temporarily ineligible or not yet out of high school, so 'Shadow Team' it will be - at least until someone comes up with a better label. These are the guys we'll see competing next year (or in the case of the Alton twins, possibly 2 years - as they're still in high school, and may be redshirted next year as freshmen).

Let's look at a few weight classes to see what's in our future, shall we? (Links take you to bios or ranking pages).

141:  High school senior and uber-recruit Andrew Alton (ranked #1 in the country at 145) had a decent day. If, of course, by 'decent' you mean going 4-0 and winning the whole thing. This isn't some pansy tourney for team leftovers, either: with over 400 wrestlers entered, there are plenty of top-flight collegians here, with excellent teams sending their starting line-ups.  Andrew Alton worries not about that. Nice future for him, to say the least.

Continue reading this post »

10 comments  |  1 recs |

It's Going To Be A Slow Race: Penn State In The Polls

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Penn State jumps Oklahoma State for the 11th spot in the Coaches' Poll this morning, and well: that's what you get when you sneak by three-win Colorado and you're resume isn't any better than Penn State's anyway.  Despite a lackluster win over Minnesota, Iowa jumped two spots and now sit 13th.

The irrelevant poll has Penn State at #12.

There's also some great stuff in the fanposts this morning.  Jesse nails the 2009 season in one line of text, and PSUdevon has a thorough wrap up the BCS situation as it sits now

There is a suggestion that rooting for Oklahoma State to land in the Fiesta Bowl just might benefit Penn State.  I haven't actually seen any direct evidence to this, but the rumblings are that Iowa has the best chance of being picked as the second Big Ten team by the Fiesta Bowl.  If Oklahoma State is available, they may get a loyalty selection, leaving the Big Ten decision in the hands of the Orange Bowl.

Speaking of the Orange Bowl, there's this, from one of the orange blazers in East Lansing this weekend:

And what are the odds Penn State ends up in the Orange Bowl?

"Terrific chance," Kosnitzky said. "We like Penn State a lot. We like everything about the university."

Put stock in that at your own risk.

The one thing you can do for sure: Hope Iowa's schedule weakens with losses from Arizona (@Arizona State and @USC remaining), and hope our schedule strengthens with an Illinois win over Cincinnati (Iowa didn't play the Zookers this year).

And the Pitt angle is an interesting one.  The argument against goes something like "no one outside of Pennsylvania cares about that game," but even if that's true, I don't think you could argue that it would be less interesting than a Pitt-Iowa game, especially considering it just happened last year.  Pitt winning the Big East just might help Penn State get a bid.  At the very least it can't hurt, although then you have to root for Pitt.

115 comments  |  0 recs |

No reports from the game yet, but according to the box score, Bill Edwards played in his first game of the season.

about 21 hours ago Image_tiny Run Up The Score 10 comments 0 recs

Too Easy, Drill Sergeant! Penn State 42, Michigan State 14

Zug levitates into the endzone for one of his two touchdowns yesterday. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)

More photos » by Al Goldis - AP

Zug levitates into the endzone for one of his two touchdowns yesterday. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)

Michigan State was doing something right early. The Penn State play calls weren't designed to pick up the blitz, and so when it came Clark was usually helpless to ward off an untouched attacker. It didn't help that Clark was often under center or not in a designed roll out. The coaches weren't adding extra blockers or even giving Clark a chance to out-run them.

So the first half was a struggle that included two missed Collin Wagner field goals, although one would have been a career long. Penn State was moving the ball but not finishing drives. Combined, there were ten scoreless drives between the two teams. Penn State put one together late, and thenTom  Bradley - who for the most part called a very good game - went into a miserably pathetic prevent that literally gave away a touchdown before the end of the half.

But then this happened:

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The Drake play pass was a beautiful spiral and excellent catch by Quarless. Daryll found time and rhythm. Zug, Quarless, and Moye all had four catches for over 50 yards. The running game opened up to the tune of 8.8 yards per carry from Royster. It became a blowout.

Newsome came in, wasn't allowed to throw, and the teams traded garbage touchdowns. In the end, though, it was exactly what we needed to start the Great Debate with Iowa, who sputtered to a 12-0 win against a Decker-less Minnesota that has given up at least 20 points to every FBS team on the schedule.

But for now let's enjoy the success brought to you by the end-of-game scoreboard: Penn State 42, Michigan State 14, and three timeouts remaining.

35 comments  |  0 recs |

Late Games Second Half Thread

Michigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins (8) dives over Penn State's Drew Astorino, bottom, for a first down as Penn State's Sean Lee (45) moves in during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)

More photos » by Al Goldis - AP

1 day ago: Michigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins (8) dives over Penn State's Drew Astorino, bottom, for a first down as Penn State's Sean Lee (45) moves in during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)



This is the end of the thread. Please go back.

358 comments  |  0 recs

Late Games Open Thread

Penn State safety Nick Sukay, left, knocks Michigan State tight end  Charlie Gantt off his feet after Gantt caught a pass for a first down during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)

More photos » by Al Goldis - AP

1 day ago: Penn State safety Nick Sukay, left, knocks Michigan State tight end Charlie Gantt off his feet after Gantt caught a pass for a first down during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)



Sorry this is late. Next thread goes up at 9:30 PM.

86 comments  |  0 recs

Fourth Quarter Open Thread

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Next thread goes up at 7 PM.

480 comments  |  0 recs

Third Quarter Open Thread

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Next thread goes up at 6 PM.

445 comments  |  0 recs

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