The moment of truth for a nervous roller coaster enthusiast occurs at the loud clack of the safety harness locking into place.  Protest all you want at that point, but you're in for the ride, no matter how harrowing it may be.

 

Like it or not, this is the point Penn State is at with respect to the quarterback position.  Protest all you want, Joe Paterno has officially dug in his heels.

Q: Daryll Clark has three turnovers today, are you worried about his confidence?

A: No, that is one of the reasons I kept him in there. I figured he has to work his way through some of that. We are going to talk a lot about the fumbles. He had the two fumbles and that's just carelessness. Sometime you have those days. He has had some problems, but I think he needs to work his way through it.

Clark's play has clearly declined since the Wisconsin game.  However, a case could be made to support Clark in most of those games.  Against Ohio State, the offense went conservative in a tough environment.  The combination of Iowa's excellent defense and the wind made passing difficult last week.  The Indiana game was played in a frigid swamp on Saturday.  These things are all true.  That said, it's going to be cold next Saturday and Michigan State is ranked 12th nationally in pass efficiency defense.  As Daryll (and PSU fans everywhere) learned after the Iowa game, excuses really only fly after victories.

Besides, it's not just Clark's play that has dropped off.  We have learned that the Penn State offense does not respond well to pressure.  Opposing defensive coordinators know it, too.  The offensive line has done a very poor job of picking up blitzes lately, which has led to Clark becoming increasingly jittery when things begin to break down.  Receivers have dropped passes at very bad times.  Wind.  Rain.  Faulty protection.  Bad throws.  Drops.  All of that stuff has contributed to decreased offensive production.  Does that mean Pat Devlin should stay glued to the bench?

 

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(AP Photo by Charlie Neibergall) 

This isn't going to be pretty. Let's just get to it.

Quarterbacks

Daryll Clark had his game of the season. There is no other way to put it.

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From the opening series he seemed tentative and unsure of himself. He seemed like he was struggling with his reads, his timing was off, and he often overthrew his receivers. This is a problem that has plagued him all season. This week it finally bit him with the interception in the redzone. Jason Avant had an eleven-foot-tall imaginary friend named Tacopants. Derrick Williams must have an eleven-foot-tall imaginary friend as well. Any ideas on what we should call him?

You have to feel sorry for the kid. It was hard to watch him being interviewed after the game. He manned up and took all the blame for the loss. You have to admire him for that. Sadly, he's correct in that his play was a large part of the reason we lost.

Final Grade: F

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Here are some of the highlights from Joe Paterno's press conference today. As you know the Penn State Nittany Lions will be playing the Temple Owls this weekend.

• Joe says this Temple team is the best Temple team we've ever faced and the toughest opponent we've played all year. Ok, I'm offcially scared of this game now. No, not really. Didn't he say that last year too?
• Joe is not sure how good Penn State is yet.  According to him, we'll learn a lot more this weekend. So if Penn State wins by five touchdowns I fully expect Joe to say Penn State is a national championship contender.
• Brandon Ware should probably cut down from the triple to the double cheeseburger.
• Joe is bothered about a lack of depth up front on the defensive line.
• When asked twice about when Evans and Koroma would come back Paterno denied the reporter and answer like a brick wall.
• Mike Lucian is going to rest up this week from his ankle injury in the Syracuse game. But Paterno thinks he will be good to go on Saturday.
• Joe is pleased with the workman like attitude of the team. He hasn't really had to kick their butt to keep them focused or motivated. Considering the creampuff schedule I think this is a good indication about the leadership and maturity on this team.
• Paterno made up his mind during practice last week that he was going to play Devlin in the second quarter against Syracuse. He explained it to both quarterbacks before the game that that was what he was going to do and it was not a reflection of Clark playing poorly, but rather Pat playing well enough to earn some playing time.
• He's not yet sure how the quarterback situation will be handled this week.
• Joe expressed concern about the starters having yet to play a full game. He starts to wonder if they are getting enough playing experience, so he tends to want to give them extra practice to make up for it, but then he's concerned he'll wear them out during the week and they will be tired by game time.
• Joe didn't think Mike Robinson was a very good quarterback prior to the 2005 season. Jay convinced him otherwise before the season.
• Joe gave some insight into why Williams returns some punts and Scirrotto returns others. Many people assume Paterno plays Scirrotto on punts deep into our territory because Scirrotto is the "hands" returner meaning he's better at catching the ball. In fact, Paterno plays Scirrotto because he believes the conditions are favorable for the opponent to run a fake punt. He thinks Scirrotto has better defensive instincts and can react better to covering a receiver or making a tackle if called on to do so. This makes a lot of sense to me.
• Joe thinks we have a good stable of young linebackes. Guys like Bowman and Gbadyu are going to be stars once they learn how to anticipate what the offense is doing. Nate Stupar also got a mention, but he referred to Colasanti as "the kid we talked about earlier" instead of referring to him by his name. Interesting from a guy who could tell you the name of the grandmother of the kid who played backup fullback on the 1975 team.

For other notes from Joe's presser check out some of these links.

FOS Recap with Audio Link
Lion Eyes Recap
Read Between The Lions Recap
Penn Live Recap

 
The offense rolls. Against Syracuse. As always, performance is relative to competition and the actors in The Express could have probably beaten the Orange this weekend.

Offensive Line

Well after the "oh, come on!" second play from scrimmage, in which Clark was quickly forced outside and proceeded to cough up the ball, the line looked same old. That one play was the only time Syracuse would get near the quarterback as both Clark and Devlin avoided being sacked for the rest of the afternoon. Each QB was given reps with the first team and the offensive line provided the protection that lead to the two passers throwing for over 130 yard each.

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Last minute predictions from your trusty Black Shoe Diaries staff:

Kevin HD:  Coastal Carolina was the very first game and Oregon State was the first BCS test.  Syracuse is...a team that was handled by Akron and blown out by Northwestern.  Reading up on the rivalry was fun and allowed us to revisit the Eastern Conference debate, but other than that this game has about as much appeal as the molding orange RUTS posted in yesterday's preview.
 
But that doesn't mean there aren't things to see.  I expect the offensive line to continue to dominate and look forward to some nifty runs from Royster.  I would really like to see Devlin and Green run the real-life offense in order to (1) see what they got, and (2) give them some encouragement.  Clark is going to run and as a result, might get banged up; it's imperative that the second string skill players have the confidence to step right in.
 
Penn State 55, Syracuse 10

BSD Mike:  I was holding out hope that this game would be semi-competitive. But the Orange lost to Northwestern 30-10, and then they lost to Akron 48-28 at home. If Akron can score 48 points we should score 60. And if Northwestern can hold them to 10 we should shut them out.
 
The only chance Syracuse has is to control the ball with Brinkley and Carter and keep the high-powered Penn State offense off the field. Even then, they better hope Clark and Devlin both tear their ACL's in the first quarter and Evan Royster has twelve fumbles. I think this game will be over by the end of the first quarter.
 
Penn State 55, Syracuse 3

Run Up The Score:  It's a "name your score" scenario for Penn State.  Knowing Joe Paterno's ancient hatred for Syracuse, I'd expect him to show little mercy.  Then again, mercy may be an impossibility in this game.  Penn State's likely going to get a lead, and then run, run, run at Syracuse, who currently scrapes the bottom of the barrel when it comes to run defense...and that's after playing Northwestern and Akron.  It's going to be ugly from beginning to end.  I wouldn't be remotely shocked if Brent Carter approaches 100 yards on the ground in the second half.  There will be clamors for Pat Devlin and Stephfon Green, but don't expect much in the way of fireworks from those two.  Given the mundane plays that Stephfon Green was forced to run last week against Oregon State, it's hard to imagine the coaching staff coming up with anything innovative to show off Green's speed.  Because Royster has been great, the coaches haven't needed to show their Stephfon Green money plays yet. 

Penn State 48, Syracuse 7

Don't forget to visit BSD tomorrow during the game for the Pants Off Dance Off Gameday Open Thread.  Punch and cookies will be served.

 

Who Shot Who In The What, Now?  Penn State (2-0) at Syracuse (0-2).  The Orange lost to Akron last week by two touchdowns.  That followed a 20-point loss at Northwestern.  Penn State, as you may have heard, obliterated Oregon State last week, 45-14.  Kickoff at 3:30 p.m.  The teams have not played since 1990.  Penn State leads the all-time series 40-23-5.  They met every year between 1922 and 1990. 

Dubious Statistical Achievements.  The Syracuse Athletics page notes that RB Curtis Brinkley led Syracuse last year in rushing with 371 yards on 111 carries.  He's a good player, however, and clearly Syracuse's best offensive weapon.  He also majors in communications and rhetorical studies.  Does an Orange rot if it's not properly handled for six years?

So, You Enjoy Weird Sports Trivia?  Syracuse will start Cameron Dantley at quarterback against Penn State.  He's the son of former NBA star Adrian Dantley, which leads us to the following trivia.  The rookies of the year in 1977 in the NBA, MLB, and NFL all had initials of A.D.  Adrian Dantley is one of them.  Who are the others?  Answers to be provided whenever you Google them.

Before Donovan, Don.  Some Syracuse relevance from the late 80's:

Encouraging!  Through two games in 2008, Syracuse ranks 112th nationally (out of 118 teams) in rushing defense.  This should work well for them on Saturday, because Penn State never runs the ball.  And yes, Syracuse's first game was against traditionally pass-happy Northwestern.

The Disembowlment Will Be Televised.  ABC for most of you in the northeast.  Coverage map may be found herrrre.

A Fool And His Money.  Penn State is roughly a 27-point favorite.

While You Wait.  Not that this item is automatically going to be a Black Heart Gold Pants link every week, but you could bring the JoePa Chronicles to your own PSU tailgate with this lovely shirt.  Then again, it being 9/11 and all, you could always go with The Leman.

No, But Seriously, This Game Is Going To Suck.  Let's not kid ourselves.  This game is essentially target practice, but could conceivably reap mild benefits for Penn State.  It's a road game.  Penn State doesn't play well in road games, a trend which generally persists regardless of the opponent.  So putting on those obnoxiously plain white uniforms and stomping a team in their own building isn't necessarily a bad thing.  You'll probably see plenty of Pat Devlin handing the ball off to Brent Carter in the second half.  On a more intriguing note, take particular notice of the defensive substitutions once the game is out of hand.  How much action will Nate Stupar, Mike Mauti, and Chris Colasanti get at linebacker?  Will James Terry or Brandon Ware get reps at defensive tackle?  They're both a bit too, uh, puffy for Joe Paterno's liking right now, but given the attrition along the defensive line, Paterno's hand may be forced into giving them a little playing time.  We shall see.

 

In the wake of the 66 point barrage against Coastal Carolina there was talk about this team being the best offensive Penn State team since 1994. More talk on that later. Let's review their performance against Oregon State.

Quarterbacks

Daryll Clark has drawn a lot of comparisons to Michael Robinson ever since he rushed for 60 yards against Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl. I must admit, if he had been wearing a #12 jersey on Saturday you could have convinced me the earth had passed through a rift in the space-time continuum and taken us back to 2005. Of course, if that had happened would we be aware we had gone back in time? Or we just think it was 2005? How sure are we this is 2008? Maybe it's 2010 and Pat Devlin is the starting quarterback and we don't know it.

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The hard part here is to remember the context, it was Coastal Carolina.  Penn State was charged with replacing a two year QB and 1300 yard rusher, it looks like they did a good job.

Offensive Line

The one thing people weren't worried much about was this unit.  They are starting four seniors and played like it.

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Not sure I can handle any more of this.

When Pat Devlin was asked on his conference call this morning about whether he would consider transferring, there was a loooooooonnnnng pause. He then said very carefully, "I don't think so. Right now, I've been consumed with this."

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Devlin expressed all the expected emotions about not being named the starting quarterback -- disappointment, frustration. Devlin also said that quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno told him this morning that Clark won the job partly because he was more accurate passing. He also said that he was told he'll run with the first team during Saturday's game against Coastal Carolina. 

Last Grasp Off-Season Reporting.  Recruiting complaints often fade once we get this close to the season, but the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has decided to run one last headline before we dive into week one.

Penn State's 2008 group of signees was ranked No. 41 among Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) schools by Scout.com and No. 43 by Rivals.com

[...]

The recruiting ranking was hurt because Penn State landed no five-star prospects and only 14 players were signed. By contrast, Alabama, whose 2008 recruiting class is ranked No. 1 by Rivals.com and Scout.com, signed 32 players.

The article hints at this, but it's worth explicitly stating that those rankings are based on a pure point system derived entirely from the number and rank of the players that are recruited.   Their average star rating  was more in the 25-30 range.

Bob Lichtenfels, who covers the East and Midwest as a regional recruiting analyst for Scout.com, agrees with Paterno.

"I always get asked about Penn State's recruiting, and I don't think it's that bad," he said. "I think their recruiting classes have been fine. A lot of rankings are based on numbers of recruits and whether you take a quarterback or not, and they haven't taken one since (Pat) Devlin (in 2006)."

While skill players do have inflated rankings relative to some of the other positions, let's not pretend that those positions aren't important to recruit.  To say "the rankings are artificially low because of the positions being recruited" isn't exactly comforting.  It means we need to get our tails out there and find that frickin' dog land some skill players.

You Beer Cans Are Not Safe Here.  Penn State, along with several other big schools, are apparently enforcing campus policy on those caught violating it off campus.

The University of Colorado-Boulder and Penn State also are taking a broader view of offenses that can activate the campus discipline system. In Colorado, the code regulates any conduct that "affects the health, safety or security of any member of the university community or the mission of the university."

Since most college students live off campus, colleges that want to be on top of discipline need to extend their reach beyond their own real estate.

To some, this may sound like an overreaching of university authority; to others, it's a teachable moment.

I'm still at the confused, not yet teachable understanding of this.  BSD opinion is being reserved until our in-house lawyer gets a chance to review, but in the meantime, please applaud this most excellent use of quotation marks by the author (emphasis mine):

"We have a responsibility to educate our students about being responsible citizens," said Elizabeth A. Higgins, Washington's director of community standards and student conduct, whose office has "educated" 19 students since the extended code of conduct took effect in January.

The school is going to have to find out about your shenanigans through the police, and not all departments check in daily with the university for reports.  PSU spokesman Bill Mahon called it "an imperfect system".  A lawyer interviewed about the story appears to call the legality of such a policy questionable.

Toll Trolls.  The state of Pennsylvania is doing what it can to make your game day commute that much more expensive.  US Rep. John Peterson is on your side:

In the news conference, Peterson took a shot at Gov. Ed Rendell’s positions that keep in play both the I-80 toll plan and an alternate proposal to lease the turnpike to a Spanish-U.S. consortium for 75 years in return for a $12.8 billion payment to the state.

Peterson said Rendell is first and foremost interested in securing funding for big-city mass transit systems

Mary Peterson, head of the U.S. Department of Transportation, will apparently make the decision.  She is also apparently "a nice lady".  So we have that going for us, which is nice.

Extra Points. Still is out 8-10 weeks, he has already used his redshirt, so it is possible he could be back for the last couple of games and make an appearance in a bowl....Wallace is "anxious to do more", including the simple things like snapping up his helmet correctly...Penn State gets it's very own SI commemorative issue.