BSD Mailbag 10.3.14

What should my mental state be after this weekend's loss? 
Unconcerned – We all knew we were going to lose some games and a bowl game is still within reach Contemplative – There are more problems than originally thought and they go deeper than I suspected Sheer Panic – WE SUCK WE SUCK WE SUCK WE SUCK 87Townie
Contemplative. This team has some serious issues with the offensive line that will hinder the offense for the remainder of the season. But the silver lining is that the line isn't just atrocious- it's because we have a group of young and inexperienced linemen who are being forced into action too soon. Under normal circumstances they would be redshirting/bulking up/studying film/preparing for the collegiate game from afar- not trying to block guys who will be in the NFL next season. Unfortunately because of the sanctions we need to ask too much of them right now.

These guys are very young, which means that THEY WILL GET BETTER. It may not be apparent by next week, but they'll improve and by next season they will all be better players for picking up valuable experience, even if it led to a lot of headaches this fall.

How long should we stew on this loss? Because of the bye I think its a full week of extra bitching, analyzing and wtf’ing. gestaltshift
I'd much rather have a bye after a tough loss. It makes me feel much better that the team has an opportunity to regroup and work on some of the issues that have been hindering the squad all season (although they were mainly ignored during the first four weeks when Penn State was winning games). If Penn State had a B10 game on Saturday, I'd be awfully pessimistic about our chances. Knowing the team is off two of the next three weeks offers some comfort that they can iron out some of the issues with the offense. Even if they're beyond fixable for the remainder of the season, it still gives me a sense of hope.

Will we win another game, ever? Is it best to just disband the team now and avoid the embarrassment?misdreavus79
Nope. Penn State should start tearing down Beaver Stadium while we're at it. It's all over.

Or just realize this is the worst year of the sanctions and we're 4-1 with the second-youngest team in the nation, and be very excited about the future.

Your thoughts on your former representative, the late Jim Traficant? WBF
Traficant went to prison before I was of voting age, so while I remember him as a colorful personality, I wasn't old enough to really get a good feel about him as a politician. I do appreciate his brazen attitude- he was there to lead (and to make a few bucks on the side, of course), not to refuse to take a stand and worry about alienating voters.

My two most fond memories of Traficant while he was in office was seeing a rally at the Eastwood Mall when he was wearing purple bellbottoms, and the time he gave an anti-drug speech at my elementary school and mainly screamed at a gym full of eight to 10 year-olds about how they were a bunch of punks who would turn into drug addicts. It was equally entertaining and horrifying.

We only have one offensive tackle who is a Sr/Jr/So on scholarship (2 if you count Andrew Nelson, a RS Frosh). Do we give BoB a complete pass on what now looks like lackluster O-line recruiting due to sanctions, or does he hold some blame? skarocksoi
I won't blame BO'B for this. It would have been fantastic for him to pick up a few stud linemen, but that was a little out of his control. I'm sure it wasn't because of a lack of effort. With the scholarship restrictions and the recruits that didn't want to consider playing on a heavily-sanctioned team, this was bound to happen somewhere. It just happened to be the offensive line, the most important unit of any football team. Frankly, we're probably fortunate the sanctions didn't completely debilitate another one or two additional position groups.

So with 2 out of the next 3 weeks being a bye, I need a hobby. Got any suggestions that I won’t miss as soon as we get to the Ohio State game? Success With Honor Always
Here's a crazy suggestion...how about watching some college football? The two idle Saturdays for Penn State have an INSANE amount of really fantastic games, so why not tune in and enjoy some relatively stress-free football? Just this Saturday alone you have a top-12 match-up between teams featuring two of the most exciting quarterbacks in the nation (Texas A&M at Mississippi State), a potential mind-blowing upset with Maryland's high-flying offense against Ohio State's struggling secondary, a top-11 game against Ole Miss and Alabama that could easily be the Rebels biggest victory in program history, Oklahoma going on the road to face a very tough TCU defense, Baylor going into a hostile environment to take on Texas, an old-fashioned, hard-hitting, smash-mouth top-15 game against Stanford and Notre Dame, Wisconsin being tested by a suddenly surging Northwestern squad, yet another top-15 match-up of what is likely the most entertaining rivalry of the past two decades (LSU and Auburn), a sure to be drama-filled contest with Michigan and Rutgers, and a potential preview of the B10 Championship game with Nebraska visiting Michigan State. This is going to be a great Saturday, so just kick back and enjoy.

Which, if any, members of the BSD staff do you think eat their steaks well done? And if it turns out that any of our writers/editors commit this sin, can I fire them? Bill
I've never actually witnessed anyone from BSD eat a steak in all the times I've driven to your houses in the middle of the night to stare through your windows.

This isn't a question, but needed to be included -JS:
OK, enough of this BS. When are you people going to understand that these young men, mostly teenagers, will have a hard time going up against 22-23 year old men. Maturity and tight teamwork comes with game experience and we are sadly short on actual game experience. That being said, we will take our lumps this year and maybe next year, but come 2016 these babies are going to be rip-snorting beasts, used to playing with each other, comfortable with playing with each other and looking to crush all opponents. We are in a rebuilding mode and I like how this coaching staff is proceeding. After a few years we will get to be in a reloading mode based on how the new staff has generated excitement in the future of the program and how it has shown up on the recruiting trail. Armchair coaches are just that. How many here have even played on a D1 football squad, let alone coached at that level? A few to none. So our interweb opinions don’t mean a lot other than venting. Enough of my rant, WE ARE! ForTheGlory

I visited this site this evening, and each article I clicked on featured an autoplay video/audio ad. Please remove these. This is not a question. WBF
I really wish this was not the case, but we have no control of the ads that appear on this site. I've expressed my concerns about the more distracting ads that cover up all our content, but let's just say my opinions were not matched.