pwned!.

Wisconsin team stats after the jump. Enjoy the game and GO STATE!

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We're half way through the season so I finally feel like comparing stats between two teams is a worth while venture. It's pretty pointless when teams have only played two or three games against Div I-AA and non-BCS opponents.

One thing that always bugged me about these things is when you see these comparison charts where they compare Team X quarterback against Team Y quarterback and determine Team X has the advantage because they have a better quarterback. Football is a game of matchups, and unless Team Y lines up their quarterback at safety the two players will never be on the field at the same time. So I'm taking a little different approach and trying to compare relative stats like Run Offense to Run Defense. I'm thinking this will give a better indication of how our strengths match up with Wisconsin's weaknesses and visa-versa. The advantage column is determined by the NCAA rankings which appear in parenthesis. When the two teams are within ten spots of each other I say it's within the margin of error and call it a push.

Penn State		Wisconsin		Advantage
Rush Offense (yd/game)	256.7 (8)	123.6 (27)	Rush Defense (yd/game)
Pass Offense (yd/game)	243 (40)	186.2 (40)	Pass Defense (yd/game)	Push
QB Rating	155.7 (14)	102.1 (18)	Opp. QB Rating	Push
Total Offense (yd/game)	499.7 (9)	309.8 (31)	Total Defense (yd/game)
Sacks Allowed	6 (16)	9 (58)	Sacks By
3rd Down Conv. Offense	52.7% (8)	42.3% (86)	3rd Down Conv. Defense
Scoring Offense (PPG)	44.8 (7)	17.6 (29)	Scoring Defense (PPG)
Rush Defense (yd/game)	80.2 (11)	210.6 (20)	Rush Offense (yd/game)	Push
Pass Defense (yd/game)	170.2 (23)	185.4 (90)	Pass Offense (yd/game)
Opp. QB Rating	96.3 (8)	125.9 (59)	QB Rating
Total Defense (yd/game)	250.3 (8)	396.0 (43)	Total Offense (yd/game)
Scoring Defense	11.7 (9)	28.8 (49)	Scoring Offense
Sacks By	17 (25)	6 (30)	Sacks Allowed	Push
3rd Down Conv. Defense	27.0% (7)	42.4% (58)	3rd Down Conv. Offense
Kickoff Defense	23.3 (92)	22.3 (54)	Kickoff Returns
Kickoff Returns	29.4 (3)	20.1 (48)	Kickoff Defense
Net Punting	39.6 (75)	4.83 (103)	Punt Returns
Punt Returns	9.6 (58)	40.7 (23)	Net Punting
Takeaways	11 (41)	10 (46)	Giveaways	Push
Giveaways	6 (98)	13 (20)	Takeaways
Penalty YPG	35.2 (17)	36.2 (18)	Penalty YPG	Push

More analysis after the jump.

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It's hard to find time to put these together during the season, but today there's enough interesting editorials out there I felt one was warranted.

As RUTS so eloquently pointed out, Joe's contract status got put on the back burner as the team jumped out to a 6-0 start. But his recent health problems have rekindled talk about his future and the future of the program. Today David Jones reshuffles the deck and tries to read the cards to determine where this ship is sailing. Of course Tom Bradley is on the list of possible successors with Schiano's stock dropping faster than the Dow Jones. JayPa is out while Al Golden's door may be opening. But there's one name that may get major consideration that may come as a surprise to many people.

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Here are some news and notes from Joe Paterno's weekly press conference leading up to the game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Wisconsin Badgers this weekend.

• Playing a team like Wisconsin creates different challenges than playing a team like Purdue. This is like saying tackling a wild boar is slightly more challenging than stepping on a bug.
• Jordan Norwood should be good to go this weekend. Quarless and Shuler are questionable.
• Joe lists himself as day-to-day. Some days he feels good and some days he doesn't. Whether he will coach from the sideline or the press box will be determined on game day. But Joe doesn't think this makes a difference to the team or the coaches.
• Joe had thought about playing A.J. Wallace on offense as a backup to Derrick Williams before the season started. But his hamstring injury nixed that and gave Chaz Powell an opportunity to switch sides of the ball.
• Joe is pleased with our situation in the defensive backfield. Joe says we are "fortunate" to have Wallace, Sargeant, and Davis at the corners and with the emergence of Drew Astorino we have three good guys on the inside too.
• Joe hopes we see more Chaz Powell as the season goes on. He says Powell has struggled with confidence because they switched him to offense just before the season started.
• There was an amusing moment where Joe was asked about coaching in the booth and he took the time to explain how a headset works as if we didn't already know.

Actually, as far as making a significant contribution to the strategy side and on the tactical side, you're better off upstairs. You can see more. You can get, as long as we have the kind of communications we have now, I can talk to everybody on the sideline with the one microphone and the one set of ear phones, and they can all talk to me.

Thanks for explaining that, Joe. This is why I love the man.

• Joe refused to say the turf was to blame for all the running backs slipping. Then he told a story about some guy who used to coach at Penn State 450 years ago that would preach against cutting on the inside foot. It's actually good advice when you think about it.
• Joe repeatedly said things like he's going to have to live with the pain in his leg for a few weeks. Then he said what he has "can be fixed" which leads me to believe we're talking hip replacement surgery or something like that. My guess is Joe wants to tough it out until the season is over. Say what you will about Joe Paterno, but he's a tough dude.
• Joe mentioned that Evan Royster was good enough to play lacrosse on the Div. I level. He said he would consider letting Royster play lacrosse for Penn State if he came to him and asked.
• Not surprisingly, Joe says his most recent injury will have no effect on his coaching future. Some poor reporter actually wasted their one question in asking this. Probably some guy that flew all the way from Wisconsin too.
• Joe refused to compare this team to the '05 team saying this team hasn't been in as many tough spots yet. But he finished it up saying this is a good squad that he likes very much. This is a mantra he has repeated several times this year which is very unlike Joe Paterno.
• To compensate for his absence on the practice field and the sideline on game day Joe is spending more time hanging around the locker room to build camaraderie with the team.
• Joe has been very pleased with the performance of the defense. He pointed out that Purdue didn't commit a single penalty and only turned the ball over once. They played a sound game against us and we held them to six points.
• When asked about Wisconsin's defensive line he said, "they'll knock your jock off." I love that line. But then he followed it up with "They're not flopping aroudn out there. They're not big strong fat guys."
• This quote was kind of disturbing.

Q. Will this be your offensive line's toughest test (so far)?

Yeah, I think so. They're going to play eight guys in a box. They're going to stop your run. They've got good corners. That number 17 (Allen Langford) is a heck of a football player. Number 25 (Shane Carter), their safety is really a big time safety. As I said, they've got three good linebackers. So I think it will be a test for us to be able to move the ball. (ed. - emphasis added)

Sounds like Joe is already convinced we won't be able to run on this team. Could he have tipped his hand that he plans to open the playbook and throw down field in this game?

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+

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This week was pretty tame compared to last week when half the top ten teams all lost. So you don't see much movement at the top this week. Anyway, here is the ballot for this week. (UPDATE: Ballot edited to switch Missouri and Penn State.)

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama	--
2	Oklahoma	--
3	LSU	--
4	Missouri	--
5	Penn State	--
6	Texas	--
7	Texas Tech	--
8	Brigham Young	--
9	Southern Cal	1
10	Florida	1
11	Georgia	1
12	Ohio State	1
13	Utah	2
14	Vanderbilt	7
15	Kansas	4
16	Boise State	1
17	Virginia Tech	1
18	Michigan State	6
19	Northwestern	3
20	Oklahoma State	6
21	Wake Forest	5
22	Wisconsin	6
23	Pittsburgh	3
24	North Carolina	2
25	California	1

Movin' On Up

Nobody, really. Like I said, everyone in the top ten held serve with the exception of South Florida who lost to Pitt. Vanderbilt makes the nicest jump by moving up seven spots after their win over Auburn. Michigan State also moves up six spots. They got a nice little team there that can dominate the running game.

Movin' On Down

Wisconsin drops six spots after blowing another fourth quarter lead. Every year the pollsters rank the Badgers in the top ten to start the season. And every year they disappoint us. As a Penn State fan I'm not thrilled about going into Madison to play a team on a two game losing streak. There are few things nastier than a wounded Badger.

Be Gone With You

So long ,Auburn. Your wins are ugly and your losses are uglier. You are off my poll until you show me something. A win over Alabama would be nice.

Beat it, South Florida. I was never a believer to begin with. There was only one game on your schedule I actually wanted you to win, and you blew it. Thanks.

Get lost, Oregon. Nobody blames you for losing to USC, but I didn't think you would pull an Ohio State on us.

Welcome to the Dance

Oklahoma State debuts at #20 because they are undefeated and I had to add a few teams after dropping five off my poll.

Welcome back, Wake Forest. Perhaps I was too harsh in banishing you after your loss to Navy. You get a five slot gift for sitting home during the bye week. No hard feelings?

Pitt....Pardon me while I throw up in my mouth.

North Carolina is looking like a dark horse to win the ACC all the sudden.

California...eh, we'll see how that goes.

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Off The Tracks
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Well, it wasn't the prettiest win, but I'll take it. Any win on the road in the Big Ten is a good win. Here are some of my immediate thoughts.

• We did what we had to do today. It may actually pay off down the road to be in a game like this. It was tight down to the wire and Purdue battled all the way to the end. There was no coasting through the fourth quarter on this one.
• Evan Royster. He's awesome. 141 yards on 18 carries. He really needs to get more credit and mention along with the other great backs in the league.
• Daryll Clark was meh. His stats looked great (18-of-26, 220 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT), but he made some bad decisions and some questionable throws. He needs to remember Deon Butler is not 7-foot-6 and can only reach so far while keeping his feet in bounds.
• Good God the turf at Ross-Ade Stadium is horrible. Huge chunks were coming up when guys went to cut. Royster, Green, and Williams were slipping all over the place.
• And what's up with the equipment managers? Why didn't we have better shoes on? Doesn't the team do a walkthrough before the game to catch this kind of stuff? Somebody dropped the ball there and needs to get their ass chewed out.
• And while we're on the pregame routine, something has to change when we go on the road. Once again the team came out flat and used the first two possessions as a practice run. Move the wake up call up a half hour. Make everyone take cold showers. Serve pancakes instead of eggs and bacon. Do something because our pregame routine needs to be shaken up to avoid these flat starts.
• The defensive line was amazing. Sheets struggled to find room to run all day. And they got good pressure on the quarterbacks.
• Wasn't Curtis Painter at the top of Mel Kipers list of best quarterbacks before the season? He unceremoniously got yanked in the fourth quarter. His backup, Joey Elliot, drove Purdue down the field for their only score.
• I thought we would be conservative on offense, but not that conservative. Purdue stacked the box and we kept running up the middle on short yardage situations every. single. time. Thankfully, Purdue was weak enough they couldn't stop it every time. Wisconsin, Ohio State, and even Michigan will kill us if we do that against them. I'm hoping we were just doing some film room trickeration to lull the big boys into falling asleep on 3rd and 1 against us.
• The defense was great. They held Purdue, which is a very good offensive team, to 241 yards of total offense, 16 first downs, and only six points. We're half way through the season now. There are no more questions about this defense. What you see is what you get, and I'm pleased with what I see.
• Drew Astorino is getting better every week.

That's all for now. We'll have grades up later. The open thread is bogging down, so please use this thread to discuss the rest of the games today.