Blue Band Budgets and Passe Paterno

Did you hear the Blue Band playing at Croke Park?

No you did not.

The Few, the Proud, The Lucky to Be There at all

You heard a pep band.  A mere fraction of a Blue Band.

You didn't get Moe without Larry or Curly.  You didn't get The Beatle (Ringo without the rest.)  You basically got The Steeler (Ben Roethlisberger without the rest of the offense.)  You got 33 members of the Blue Band.

About 10%.

I can only imagine the issue was money.

So I did a little research.  The cost of "student" housing per the PSU website starts at $289 per person for four days and three nights, three breakfasts and a game ticket.  This article on travel costs projects airfare at about $900 round trip.

So for the sake of argument, and since I really have no clue how much it might actually cost, let's assume a cost of $1500 per Blue Band Member.  Now, there are 315 Blue Band Members--but 33 have already been paid for.  So we are looking to finance 282 additional members, and probably some support staff, so lets round it off at 300.

300 x $1500 = $450,000.

WOW.

But wait a minute.  Not so fast.  Not so fast.

According to this NBC Sports Report on the cost of marching bands at bowl games, it cost LSU $450,00 to send 529 to New Orleans.  My God, they could drive themselves there--that's just lodging, food and ticket prices!

The Blue Band normally travels to Bowl Games each year.  They have not traveled to one in two years and likely won't be heading to one this year.  I don't know where the money ordinarily comes to finance the Blue Band Bowl trips, but surely that source could have been tapped for this trip.  (It may have come out of the bowl money the school earns, which of course, would not be available for this non-bowl game.)  But even if that is where the money ordinarily comes from, I find it odd that a University with over ONE BILLION in endowments can't find a half a million dollars somewhere to send the full Blue Band to Ireland, which essentially might be the ONLY bowl game this class of musicians ever has a chance to enjoy (barring a reduction in sanctions and of course, the team actually being bowl eligible next year.)  They are already saving $70,000 by cancelling TailGreat.

Can you tell I used to play in the marching band?

And then there is this article that claims that "James Franklin Shows Joe Paterno-Style Football Never Coming Back to Penn State".

And what exactly does that mean?

Penn State will no longer have high graduation rates?

Penn State will no longer be in the Top 10 or 15 Universities in winning percentage all time?

Here is the author's premise:

That was made clear Saturday as Franklin bet all his chips on the arm of sophomore quarterback Christian Hackenberg and had his faith rewarded with a game-winning drive and the first 400-yard passing game in school history.

The bad news for Penn State fans is that if the Nittany Lions are to have more joyous days like this, it will all be on Hackenberg. Penn State rushed for only 57 yards on 28 totes, a 2.0 average.

Paterno didn’t obsess over the three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust game quite as much as Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler, but he was always content to win without airing out his offensive attack.

Wow.

With just one game of analysis, we can see that Penn state won't be gaining any rushing yards this year against anybody.  We won't improve in that category obviously.

And what I found most interesting was the characterization of Paterno and a rewrite of history.  The writer obviously doesn't know his Penn State history, or he would know that Penn State's FIRST national championship team in 1982 was Paterno's first team to gain more passing yards in a season than it gained rushing.

Hmmm.  Maybe Franklin is more like Paterno than we thought!

I wonder if this writer predicted Dewey to defeat Truman?  Or maybe he would have written that Japan would take over the world after Pearl Harbor.

Nice Try.

Shoop! There It Is!

Having been blogging about Penn State football since the mid 1990's, you'd think I would finally be able to post a game recap without forgetting something.  As if!

But while thinking back over the game notes, I realized I hadn't mentioned how great a job Bob Shoop did as defensive coordinator.  The second half was tarnished a bit by the performance of Holman at QB, but then those things happen.  When you prepare for one type of QB, and then suddenly face another, it's not always easy to adjust for that.  And Holman certainly looked like a better passer.

So here are some more thoughts that I forgot to hit yesterday:

* Zettle is a FORCE.

* Penn State played the 1st quarter with no headset communication.  Maybe that contributed to the disparity between the stats and the points.  Apparently, the NCAA doesn't have rules like the NFL, which would have equalized the situation by not allowing UCF to use their headsets.  Despite the set back, we prevailed.

* Penn State had TWO receivers over 150 yards on the day.  That's the first time in school history!

* Ficken Kickin Good--we all know he hit the game winner, but he was 4-4 on the day!

* Forgot to mention the parachutists--the PSU guy hit the stadium, but the UCF rep landed along some train tracks off the mark!  Talk about your omens from the sky!

* Did anyone notice how well we did on first downs?  I meant to look back on this but forgot.  Especially in the first half, we kicked butt on first down, leaving a LOT of 2nd and short situations.  If you look at the second down situations in the first half, Penn State had 5 second and one's, 2 second and two's, and was second and six or less 11 out of 14 second downs.  (One second and six was actually a second and one that became a second and six after a five yard penalty.)  In the second half, there were 11 second down opportunities, and PSU was 2nd and five or less 5 of those times with three second and one's.

* The running game didn't generate much yardage, but as you can see above, it didn't have to in order to keep the sticks moving.

* Hamilton and Ficken pulled in Big Ten Players of the Week Honors--not something I forgot, but worth noting at this juncture.

Some great articles were written across the pond.  Johnny Watterson of The Irish Times writes:

But first the cast and inventory: two parachutists, one on the pitch the other on the railway track; a choir of 17; two three-storey sized flags; two marching bands; three Irish Army soldiers and four marines, all bearing flags; a team of Penn State dancers and two teams of cheerleaders; soft drinks engineers; chair arranging executives; four lieutenants of the tape measure; two team rosters of 100 players each; eight team captains; 24-ish coaches and two F16s drowning out the Star Spangled Banner. Gridiron loves its hardware.   

But Penn State had a quarterback called Christian Hackenberg. “Hack”, a young man in just his second season, threw for 454 yards on Saturday, breaking Zack Mills’s single-game school record of 399 yards. 

The most important of those yards came in the run-up to Ficken’s winning field goal as “Hack”, with composure beyond his years, engineered the territory and kept the ball in Penn [State] hands.  

As it sailed over the posts at the Hill end on a trajectory towards Nally, Croke Park became the Bull Run in Pamp lona. The Penn State bench burst on to the pitch and cheerleaders were thrown in the air.

Aisling Crowe describes it as theater and sport colliding:

It was a jaw dropping, awe inspiring sight when first glimpsing the transformed interior of the stadium before the University of Central Florida clashed with the Penn State University. It was Croke Park but not as we know it. The surreal panorama spread out before your eyes. A shrunken pitch surrounded by athletic cheerleaders, acrobatically somersaulting into dangerous positions, marching bands putting a brass spin on some classics including the theme tune to The Sunday Game and flagbearers, mascots and whatever else was needed in the way of support.
The truly awesome scene was in the middle of the pitch where 200 athletes prepared to begin their college season, hopes and dreams spread out before them and the glory of last season behind champions University of Central Florida. 

The clock counted down the minutes to kick off, and a parachutist clad in the Penn State blue and white landed in the middle of the pitch. The UCF Knights parachutist went missing in action, his radar slightly wonky. He came up a little short of the pitch and landed on the train line behind Hill 16. Saturday afternoon shoppers suffered the convenience that shadows the commuter daily as trains were delayed while the errant knight was rescued.  

The NFL may be America's game but the college version is giving it a run for its money.
This may have been a spectacle but it was also a serious sport. Every tackle, every intercept, every pass that found a runner was greeted with a roar the like of which is usually only heard when the referee blows the final whistle in an All-Ireland final. 

Anyone with dismissive attitudes towards American football would have had their prejudices seriously challenged by the on-pitch action. The first collision from the opening kick off saw the helmet of one of the Nittany Lions fly through the air, knocked from a head with the force of the impact. 

They followed Flynn's advice to the letter in Croke Park with razzle dazzle to beat Banagher but the sequins were not some frippery tacked on as a distraction. Sport and theatre collide with spectacular results in American football. The sparkle and the show are an integral part of the spectacle but there is real steel behind the stardust that was sprinkled on Dublin yesterday. 

The author had Sam Franklin kicking the winning field goal, but otherwise it was a good report.

And if you are really bored, here is an Irish message board with some locals regaling their thoughts such as these:

That's was a great game! My first time ever seeing live football, only got sucked in in the last few years. Now I reeeeeally want to see if I can get tickets to one of the Wembley games! The Penn State support was great, really cool to be in the thick of it. 

Fantastic game. Made a converted out of my brother who begrudgingly came along, moaning right up to the start about how ****e AF is. He was screaming at the pitch at the end and has just called me to find out when the next one is.. 

The Penn State head coach stayed for a little while by the tunnel to start up chants with the fans as he left the field, crazy guy  [He's a WILD and CRAZY guy!]

Just home from a thoroughly enjoyable day. Went with Penn State in all our bets, all came in, Outright win, 1st Touchdown and over 43.5. Some show, great entertainment and at least the rain stayed off. Managed to get a vid of the National anthem and the F-16's too. 

Fecking savage day. 8th game I've been to (3 college, 5 NFL) and first I've seen settled by the final play. Had the over backed too so happy out. Pity it wasn't in the Aviva, looked silly looking down on an empty hill all day, mind you, the ESPN crew did a great job of avoiding that. Jesse James is a legend, plus that WR, thing he was number 7 for Penn. Great day out. Penn state fans were a credit. Really, really great day. 

Apart from the empty stand and rip off programme, great day. Sat with some Penn State fans amongst the UCF hoarde in a great spot. Wife very pregnant and we had planned to ship a few mins before the end. Glad I didn't, what a finish! Super atmosphere, some slick game play from QB#14 and WR#7 for Penn. The Wife got right into it too but was puzzled why the game, apart from stoppages, just seem to pause quite often? When I told her it was for commercial breaks she cracked up 😁 The noise was cool, the F16s very cool, mexican wave fun and I cannot wait for the NFL reg season to K.O!!! 

Really enjoyed that yesterday. Penn State fans were great even if I was cheering for UCF. Great second half of football. Not sure what it looked like on TV but looking around, it felt quite cavernous. My mate was more interested in the gargle but I really got into it.  [Gotta love the gargle!]

Great day out - great game. First time to go to a game "in the flesh" - absolutely loved it. First two qrts I thought Penn State were gonna walk away it (despite only leading by a single score). UCF's rushing game was poor and the passing game was non-existant - only for their defence , they would have been buried. 3rd & 4th Qrt's - UCF's Qrtback remembered he could throw and the drama went up a notch. To have the game decided on the final play with 3 secs left on the clock - just brilliant (even if I was a tiny bit gutted for UCF).   Will definitely go to the next one (if/when it happens). 

Good day. One of the closest games I've seen live, score wise. Atmosphere was okay were I was sitting . Wish I had a chance to do this every week. 

Great game. Really enjoyed it, and was a bargain for e20. My seats were great. Very happy that it was close, as it was a good way to show my friends from here the sport. A blowout would have sucked. . . .A few small things about it did bother me though. The quality of the replays was shocking. I remember a big important offensive PI call happened, and I looked up to see the replay of it, but all they showed was the QB throwing the ball... Hill 16 being closed was also odd and looked awful behind the goal. That last field goal was one of the most exciting finishes to a game this weekend, and will have been all over sports highlight reels in the states last night, and the backdrop is an awful, empty terrace, which is a little embarrassing. The PA system was also terrible, especially for the ref. Could barely make out what was being said half the time. [Sounds like a "true" PSU fan--c/o replays, empty seats and the sound system!]

I have yet to read any reports of "bad" PSU fans.  And the reports from Penn Stater's sound like they were treated exceptionally well by the locals.

Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue

The Old.

The more things change, the more they seem to stay the same.  I saw several pundits predicting a close game between PSU and UCF--even going so far as to say the difference could come down to a field goal.  Freaking psychotics psychics!

My first thought--God I hope it doesn't come down to a Sam Ficken field goal.

I know it was James Franklin on the sideline, but seeing what happened on the field--a clearly better team missing and wasting opportunities, letting an under-matched opponent hang around to take advantage of mistakes and penalties, and then depending on a last second field goal to pull out a win in a game that you led for all but 1:13 on the clock--made me think JOE PATERNO.  Somewhere, he is smiling at the old school outcome of this Croke Park Classic.

I know it gets old--Penn State fans bitching about the refs and bad calls, but for the love of God, can you stop giving us so much fodder to chew on????  And the worst part?  This wasn't even a crew of inept Big Ten refs.  Offensive PI?  Give me a break.  You know it's bad when even the inept and anti-PSU biased announcers don't think there was a penalty.  Granted, the roughing the kicker penalty was probably a gift for PSU, but YOU KNOW that call goes either way, and I personally think it was a make-up call for the unsportsmanlike conduct on the kick-off.  Yeah, mouthing off after your helmet was torn off was definitely in poor taste and a bad decision, but a 15-yarder?  How about a warning, officer?

"That ain't holdin.  I just giving you a big ole hug.  I love you man!"

The New.

James Franklin's debut was not illustrious or overly impressive, but we must temper our criticism against the back-drop.  It was the first game of the season.  Mistakes will be made.  He seemed to mismanage the time clock at the ends of both halves, but the final result was still a win.  And while the gaffe at the end of the first half didn't cost us any points, you would like to believe that had we been playing Ohio State or Michigan State, that he would have chosen to punt.  But given that UCF was offensively inept (at that point), and he had a chance to put some more points on the board, I don't know that his decision was actually a bad one.  Could have been.  Wasn't in the final analysis.

None of Franklin's bad choices were as bad as O'Leary's decision to start de novo with DiNovo at quarterback.  Thank God for that!  It was a tale of two different halves, as Holman came in and almost stole this game away from Christian Hackenberg.

Speaking of Hack, he notched a new PSU record with 454 yards, going 32 for 47 on the day.  Part of this was due to the lack of a running game.  But defense was supposed to be a strength of this UCF team, with most of the D back from last year and almost the entire secondary intact.  Our offensive line looked shaky in the early going, but seemed to get better as the game progressed.  Hack was a little gimpy late in the game, and hopefully those are just minor growing pains.

We seemed to have some trouble maintaining footing.  I blame this on Spider retiring.  Not sure who replaced him, but that dude has some work cut out for him.

The Lions won the Dan Rooney Trophy . . . a new piece of hardware to add to our collection, and much nicer than the hideous Land Grant Monstrosity that will up for grabs at the end of the season.

The Borrowed.

Thank you Dublin for allowing us to desecrate your hallowed "football" sod with our American form of soccer.  I liked the use of pitchforks to replace our divots.

The Blue.

Although they sported the away game white unis, the BLUE and WHITE prevailed in a 26-24 thriller that was much closer than it should have been.  Penn State really dominated the first half, but had only a 7 point lead to show for it.  Poor refereeing, players tripping on divots, and turnovers seemed to keep the knights in the game.  Holman sparked their offense in the second half, and that may also hint to the lack of depth we have due to sanctions.  This game could have been a disaster had we played in the heat and humidity of Orlando.

James Franklin sported a blue ball cap on and off, early in the game.  I've never seen a picture of him wearing a hat on the sidelines, but come November, he may need that.

The PSU website has this quote:

"There was only a minute or so left in the game, and I looked across the sideline and there wasn't doubt in anybody's eye. Everybody believed. They believed in Hack. They believed in Ficken," Franklin said.

I have to admit I teared up when he kicked that final field goal.  Way to go, Sam!

BY THE NUMBERS:

Team Statistics

Team Totals	PSU	UCF
FIRST DOWNS	24	11
Rushing	7	1
Passing	14	8
Penalty	3	2
NET YARDS RUSHING	57	24
Rushing Attempts	28	29
Average Per Rush	2.0	0.8
Rushing Touchdowns	1	2
Yards Gained Rushing	86	51
Yards Lost Rushing	29	27
NET YARDS PASSING	454	222
Completions-Attempts-Int	32-47-2	12-22-0
Average Per Attempt	9.7	10.1
Average Per Completion	14.2	18.5
Passing Touchdowns	1	1
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS	511	246
Total offense plays	75	51
Average Gain Per Play	6.8	4.8
Fumbles: Number-Lost	1-1	1-1
Penalties: Number-Yards	9-90	8-47
PUNTS-YARDS	1-41	4-185
Average Yards Per Punt	41.0	46.2
Net Yards Per Punt	21.0	44.0
Inside 20	0	0
50+ Yards	0	2
Touchbacks	1	0
Fair catch	0	2
KICKOFFS-YARDS	6-366	5-306
Average Yards Per Kickoff	61.0	61.2
Net Yards Per Kickoff	33.2	35.4
Touchbacks	1	0
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD	2-9-0	0-0-0
Average Per Return	4.5	0.0
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD	5-129-0	5-142-0
Average Per Return	25.8	28.4
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD	0-0-0	2-0-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD	0-0-0	0-0-0
Miscellaneous Yards	0	0
Possession Time	34:07	25:53
1st Quarter	9:49	5:11
2nd Quarter	8:02	6:58
3rd Quarter	8:04	6:56
4th Quarter	8:12	6:48
Third-Down Conversions	10 of 18	5 of 13
Fourth-Down Conversions	1 of 2	1 of 2
Red-Zone Scores-Chances	5-5	4-5
Touchdowns	1-5	3-5
Field goals	4-5	1-5
Sacks By: Number-Yards	2-17	2-17
PAT Kicks	2-2	3-3
Field Goals	4-4	1-1
Points off turnovers	0	9

As you can see, PSU clearly dominated the stats, more than doubling the total yardage of the Knights, winning time of possession by 9 minutes, and better third down conversion percentages.  What kept the Knights in the game was the 9 points off turnovers, and the two INTs.  Both teams exchanged fumbles.

Neither team did well in the first half, and the Knights had under 100 yards total in the first half, with most of their production and points coming after the switch to Holman.

INTANGIBLES:

The crowd of 53,304 was heavily in favor of the Nittany Lions--I heard by as much as 7-1 or more.

James Franklin is 1-0 as coach at Penn State, 25-15 overall.

Penn State won the toss and deferred.

"I'm not so fast, you know!"

THE BIG (TEN) PICTURE:

Rutgers came from behind to defeat Washington State 41-38.

Indiana defeated Indiana State 28-10.

Purdue overwhelmed Western Michigan 43-34.

THEM managed to win and avoid pulling a second Appalachian State, defeating the Mountaineers 52-14.  So take that!

The Buckeyes were down to the midshipmen 7-6 at the half, but managed to pull away with a 34-17 win.

Illinois beat Youngstown State 28-17.

The Hawkeyes beat Northern Hawkeyes 31-23.

The Maryland Twerps dominated James Madison (and a couple of other old presidents) 52-7.

Meanwhile the Cornhuskers stormed the beaches of Florida Atlantic 55-7.

The Spartans spanked Jacksonville State 45-7.

Minnesota beat Eastern Illinois 42-20.

The Wildcats lost to Cal 31-24.

Wisconsin, not wanting Northwestern to be the only loser, fell apart against LSU, losing 28-24 after a 17 point rally by the Tigers.

SHEDDING TEARS:

1.  South Carolina--#9 taken to the woodshed by the Texas Aggies, even without Johnny Football.
2.  Delaware--lost to Pitt 62-0.  Maybe Pitt can schedule Rhode Island and Alaska too!
3.  Vanderbilt--lost 37-7 to Temple.  I do feel bad.  Just not THAT bad.
4.  Clemson--bitten by the Bulldogs 45-21.
5.  Okie State--Cowpokes come up 6 short against #1 F$U.

LOOKING AHEAD:

The Akron Zips come to Beaver Stadium next week for a NOON kick-off.  The Zips pasted Howard 41-0 this past weekend.

The Lions opened around an 18 point favorite but that line has already dropped a few points depending on which betting service you look at, but I imagine will stay somewhere just north of a two score margin.

The Zips were ranked preseason by USA Today at #94.

Did you know that Terry Bowden is their coach?  I did not know that!  Unfortunately for him, he ain't in Auburn anymore.

This should be another good day for Hack, and perhaps a chance for his back-up to get some reps.

GO STATE!  BEAT ZIPS!

Dublin or Nothing

With the college football season already started, and Penn State's first game of the James Franklin Era literally hours away from kick-off, I realized that I have not officially prognosticated in public.

My emotions swing from 5-7 to 11-1.  There was that one moment when I toyed with the idea of predicting a 12-0 season (which flashed through my mind when I read that Braxton Miller was out for the season), but I am officially going to settle on 10-2.

Don't ask me why.  Don't ask me which two games I think we will lose.

There is no more merit in my forecast than any weatherman out there right now.

But with kick-off nearing in Dublin at Croke Park, I will predict a victory for the blue and white over George O'Leary's Golden Knights.

And here are my reasons, in no particular order.

1.  Lee Corso picked UCF to wax Penn State.
2.  No Bortles.
3.  James Franklin.
4.  Christian Hackenberg.
5.  Come on people, it's UCF.  Sure they went 12-1 last season, but this ain't Florida State.  I think people are underestimating how important Bortles was to the offense, and are over-estimating what kind of defense the Knights will have this year.
6.  James Franklin
7.  Clucko the Chicken picks Penn State.
8.  Five of six Harrisburg writers pick UCF
9.  James Franklin  Seriously.  This man is a dynamo.  And he brings with him a complete staff that he has already worked with and developed chemistry with.  THIS IS CRUCIAL.  This is not Bill O'Brien parachuting into a war zone with a rag tag team of old friends assembled at the last minute.  This is a well oiled machine that managed to post back to back 9 win seasons at Vanderbilt, a school that had not had a 9 win season since 1915.
10. George O'Leary, undefeated ND head coach, who will be toasted to no end at every pub in the country and pickled in free drinks by the time kick-off rolls around.
11.  Because WE ARE . . .

PENN STATE!