The Big Ten announced their All Conference team this evening, and Penn State cleaned house.

2008 All-Big Ten Conference Football Team
As selected by CONFERENCE COACHES

FIRST TEAM	OFFENSE	SECOND TEAM
Daryll Clark, Penn State	Quarterback	Adam Weber, Minnesota
Shonn Greene, Iowa	Running Back	Chris "Beanie" Wells, Ohio State
Javon Ringer, Michigan State	Running Back	Evan Royster, Penn State
Eric Decker, Minnesota	Receiver	Arrelious Benn, Illinois
Derrick Williams, Penn State	Receiver	David Gilreath, Wisconsin
A.Q. Shipley, Penn State	Center	Rob Bruggeman, Iowa
Seth Olsen, Iowa	Guard	Stefen Wisniewski, Penn State
Rich Ohrnberger, Penn State	Guard	Kraig Urbik, Wisconsin
Alex Boone, Ohio State	Tackle	Xavier Fulton, Illinois
Gerald Cadogan, Penn State	Tackle	Bryan Bulaga, Iowa
Brandon Myers, Iowa	Tight End	Garrett Graham, Wisconsin
Kevin Kelly, Penn State	Kicker	Brett Swenson, Michigan State
FIRST TEAM	DEFENSE	SECOND TEAM
MITCH KING, IOWA	Line	Jammie Kirlew, Indiana
Corey Wootton, Northwestern	Line	Brandon Graham, Michigan
Aaron Maybin, Penn State	Line	Willie VanDeSteeg, Minnesota
Jared Odrick, Penn State	Line	Mike Newkirk, Wisconsin
Greg Jones, Michigan State	Linebacker	Brit Miller, Illinois
James Laurinaitis, Ohio State	Linebacker	Pat Angerer, Iowa
Navorro Bowman, Penn State	Linebacker	Marcus Freeman, Ohio State
Vontae Davis, Illinois	Defensive Back	Amari Spievey, Iowa
Otis Wiley, Michigan State	Defensive Back	Traye Simmons, Minnesota
MALCOLM JENKINS, OHIO STATE	Defensive Back	Allen Langford, Wisconsin
Anthony Scirrotto, Penn State	Defensive Back	Jay Valai, Wisconsin
Zoltan Mesko, Michigan	Punter	Ryan Donahue, Iowa

 

That's ten Nittany Lions on the first team and twelve overall. But this was the coaches poll. You can see how the writers voted after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

The first rule of Project Mayhem is you do not ask questions.

After giving up 24 points and getting beat up on the final drive in Iowa, the defense was looking to regain some of that swagger before going into the Big Ten Championship game next week. Let's see how they graded out.

Continue reading this post »

The word of the day was balance.  And domination.  The word of the day was dominalance.  Penn State's defense baladominated.

Defensive Line

After not getting much pressure last week against Purdue, the D-line showed up gangbusters, completely running over the much heralded Wisconsin offensive line and stopping Hill short of three yards over and over again.  The very first series set the tone as the Badger power run game was stopped on 2nd and 3rd down and forced to punt after a quick three-n-out.  The linebackers consistently showed up in the backfield in large part because this unit was doing their part to occupy (roughly) 1700 pound offensive line.

Special space needs to be devoted to Aaron Maybin's performance.  He showed up in the backfield early in the game and it was clear from the start Bielema and his staff had no answer for him.  Paterno said after the game:

“He’s doing really well. I just wish I could put weight on him. He doesn’t eat. He’s doing very well. He’s so quick and he loves to play. You can see that. I have to sit him down and tell him never mind all of the jumping around. He’s going to get us a 15-yarder,” Paterno said.

How about this: if it's not broken don't fix it.  He recorded 3.5 tackles for a loss and forced two fumbles, including what turned out to be the game sealing recovery by Hull that lead to the third touchdown of the game.  He does seem a little underweight but his speed is what made him so effective on Saturday night. 

Continue reading this post »

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are intercepting in space
(Photo via PennLive.com)

It was a gritty win on the road against an opponent that admittedly has more questions than answers. Let's go through the defense and see how they did.

Defensive Line

Once again it was a solid performance by everyone in the trenches. Kory Sheets was held to half his season average and pretty well contained all day with one or two exceptions. Jared Odrick was a monster in the middle clogging the inside running lanes all day. Abe Koroma was also very impressive.

In the passing game I felt like the line wasn't consistently getting good pressure on Painter. But they had a few moments here and there and Maybin got another sack while Gaines and Odrick split another. But Maybin pretty much disappeared after that early sack and we didn't really hear for him the rest of the day.

Final Grade: B+

Continue reading this post »

Lions always run in packs

Defensive Line

Everyone keeps harping on how thin the defensive line is. You could have fooled me. Penn State used ten different guys on the defensive line on Saturday. But it didn't matter who Larry Johnson sent in because the results were always the same. The Temple offensive line could not open any holes for the running backs to slip through. I suspect Temple knew this was going to be the case coming into the game since the runningbacks Jones and Liverpool only had eight running attempts. And once they fell behind the Owls had to abandon the running game. Quarterback Chester Stewart was the leading rusher for the Owls with 15 yards on 18 attempts. As a team the Owls only recorded 16 rushing yards on 28 attempts. That is domination.

Continue reading this post »

A nice write-up in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review on Penn State's special teams, and what is being done to make them a little more (or less, if you're kind of mean) "special":

[Kevin] Kelly's field-goal conversion percentage of .769 (20 of 26) was sixth in the conference. But he often struggles with kicking from a long distance.  He made just 2-of-7 attempts from 40 yards or longer last season. In his career, the senior is only 9 of 24 from 40 yards or longer.

"I've talked to many people," Kelly said. "They've pointed out the same exact thing on my long field goals, that I was kind of rounding my approach, which is why I tend to pull the ball on the longer field goals. I've really worked on that and just trying to go smooth and slow and straight through the ball."

"I know I have the leg, and I know the hold and snap are going to be there. It's just a matter of me doing the same thing every time."

I think that's actually a commonly held misconception about Kelly -- it's not like he's leaving these 40+ yard field goals short.  He made a 53-yarder against Iowa right before halftime last season.  You would think that he has to be doing something fundamentally different when he walks onto the field for a long attempt, almost like he's stepping up to the tee on a short par-5 and thinking, "totally getting an eagle on this one."  Hopefully, that's being remedied.  Good news, I say.

Of equal importance is the need to solidify Penn State's kickoff coverage, which was at the bottom of the barrel last season (though, in the top 25 in 2006).  The kickoff return stats are partially meaningless -- Minnesota was #22 last season and finished 1-11, for example.  Lot of good it did them, although when a team only kicks off fifteen or sixteen times over the course of a season, it's hard to get a good statistical sample.

The key is not giving up the huge return in crucial situations, and the old man is aware:

"That's a legitimate criticism," he said. "Obviously, the Illinois game (in 2007), we go down the field offensively and have a great drive and look like we're going to take control of the game at their place. (We) kick off, and that kid runs the ball right down our throat for a touchdown."

That kid was Arrelious Benn, whose 90-yard kickoff return erased Penn State's 3-0 lead and helped the Illini to an eventual 27-20 win. It was the first kick return touchdown allowed by Penn State since 1994.

...

Paterno thinks Penn State has made the mistake in recent seasons of not having enough front-line personnel on its coverage teams.

Also, some unsavory injury news at the end of the column.  A.J. Wallace has been sitting out of practice with a hamstring issue, and Nick Sukay continues to be bitten by the injury bug -- which is starting to look less like a mosquito and more like a goliath beetle:

(via www.itsnature.org)

In Scores Of Other Games:  Josh Marks is officially headed to Pitt.  Phil Taylor will be reunited with former PSU secondary coach Brian Norwood at Baylor.  Tony Davis is more than happy to be back at cornerback.  Shotgunning Natural Light at sunrise in the parking lot or hearing stories about playing the cello in Peru?  Now you have a choice.

 
Only 23 days until Kevin Kelly makes you close your eyes and pray.

I probably spent more time on this than Steele did, but I suppose that's what blogging is all about.  I'll review the first teamers in depth, summarize the rest of the PSU representation, and give some final thoughts below:

Big Ten 1st Team:

DE Maurice Evans - Frank Cooney has Evans as the third best DE in the nation, so, ya, he's kind of a big deal.  He was also named to both the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Rotary Lombardi Award watch list. The nice thing about DE's is they tend to bring a fairly consistent game week in and week out. Production is another issue, but this has a lot to do with the ability of an offense to scheme around select players. Either way, he is going to be making plays or making it easier for others to do the same.  There is also no question he belongs on the 1st team.

SS Anthony Scirrotto -I'll be the first to admit that I have a tough time judging how well a SS is actually playing.  You typically see them on three different plays: (1) lining up and destroying a receiver when the QB throws a 'hospital pass' (have to give credit to my high school hockey coach for that one). For example:

Ahh, good times.  Moving on...(2) when the corner either blitzes or blows a coverage, leaving the safty to cover as a corner, or (3) chasing down a guy who has already caught the ball in stride headed down field. It's difficult to judge which one of these things is the player blowing his assignments and which is his ability to make up for others' shortcomings. I do know this: he hits people hard (see above), he runs a 4.56 forty (solid, not great), he led the Big Ten in interceptions (6), and finished second amongst all players in the conference with 14 passes defended. What I'm getting at is that he's pretty good at what he does, even if he does look short on the field for some reason.

LB Sean Lee - I couldn't resist bringing him up, and I'm still not fully over his injury, which doesn't sound right but you know what I'm saying.  Rehab is coming along, although as suspected it sounds a little discouraging.

The Rest of The Story

CB AJ Wallace (2nd Team), DT Phillip Taylor (4th Team) and LB Tyrell Sales (4th Team) also made the list.  Wallace is what guys like Paterno call a "football player".  He doesn't dominate at any one position but has shown the ability to play WR, CB and return kicks with a high level of success.  King was as quick as any player on the field, but Wallace might have a better football sense and that will help him become the lock down guy we need.  Taylor gets the nod here despite make more bad news than good.  While he is a solid player I think Ollie Ogbu should have been named here instead.  Sales recorded 50 tackles last season and by most accounts has shown improvement during the off-season.  With the injury to Lee, he is going to have to "step it up", as they say.

Special Teams 1st Team

P Jeremy Boone - No question here, and with Paterno's ultra-conservative road game plans, Boone might end up being a lot more important to PSU's success than most people realize.  While he struggled in the loss to MSU, he posted an impressive 51.4 yard per kick average in the bowl game and shows consistency..

KR AJ Wallace - See above...basically Wallace and Williams are one of the better 1-2 punches in the Big Ten.

Special Teams 2nd Team

PR Derrick Williams - More of this, please:

Special Teams 3rd Team

K Kevin Kelly - Here's the deal:

So basically, he's money inside 40 and, well, not money outside 40.  This is great if you are settling and want the three points, but it can be frustrating when you are trying to mount a drive at the end of a half or are facing a 4th and long on the opponent's 30 yard line.  Don't get me wrong, I'll take perfection from inside 40 all day long, I'm just saying there is room for improvement.

Other Defensive Notes...

-Ohio State has 10 of their 11 defensive starters on Steele's first three teams. 
-Illinois will never be able to replace J, he's an American Hero , but they appear to have another decent linebacker in Martez Wilson.
-Minnesota has just one player on the All Conference Team, 3rd Team LB Steve Davis.  Ok, that's the wrong Steve Davis, but there probably isn't that much to share about the football player anyway so enjoy the read on Snooker.