Sunday Sermon: Get Behind Me Saban

And it was written,

And the old miss answered, "Get thee behind me, Saban, for it is said, 'only Rebel not ye against the Lord.'"
--Luke 4:8 and Numbers 14:9

Oh, how the mighty hath fallen!

Look at this place!  Not an empty pew to be seen!  I have never seen so many repenters at one time!

So many denominations in one place!  Baptists, Episcopalians, Ducks, Aggies, Huskers, Sooners, and Elephants alike!

Come now and here the word!

And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up horned frogs upon the land of Oklahoma.
--Exodus 8:7

Repent!

And the Spartans laded their asses with the corn, and departed thence.
--Genesis 42:26

Repent!

And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of purple, and cover it with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put to the staves thereof.
--Numbers 4:11

Repent!

As we look down the list of those anointed teams, we see much suffering and gnashing of teeth.

#1 F$U managed to avoid the upset omen, beating the Demon Deacons 43-3.  Ironic isn't it?  Demon Deacons.  In this church???

#2 Oregon got upsot by Arizona 31-24 on Thursday night, a premonition of pain to come.

#3 Alabama got spanked by the Ole Miss, losing 23-17.

Not to be outdone, #4 Oklahoma lost to TCU 37-33.

#5 Auburn prevailed over #15 LSU.

#6 Texas A and M was beaten by #12 Mississippi State.  Lot's of rejoicing in that state today!

#7 Baylor took care of Texas 28-7.

# 8 UCLA lost to Utah 30-28.

#9 Notre Dame used some Irish luck to overcome the #14 Stanford Cardinal 17-14.

#10 MSU outlasted #19 Nebraska 27-22.

Fifty percent of the Top 10 teams lost yesterday.

#16 USC went down to Arizona State 38-34.  Arizona is another state rejoicing today!

#17 Wisconsin fell to the Northwestern Wildcats 20-14.

#18 BYU fell to Utah State on Friday night.  Still no one paid attention to the signs!

All told, ELEVEN top-25 ranked teams choked yesterday, with the five of those ranked in the Top 8.

What can we learn from this?

Pride goeth before destruction?  (Proverbs 16:18)

The people ranking these teams don't really know what they are doing?

It's a really good thing Penn State didn't play this weekend?

It ain't over till you actually play the games?

And we will part with the wisdom and "been a dick shun" of ESPN's premier prognosticator, Mark (Dis)May:

GO STATE!  BEAT THEM!

WildCatastrophe

What in the name of sweet baby JoePa was that????!!!!!

Seriously.  What the [insert word] happened?

Granted, we knew this team had some issues.  The offensive line has been about as good as France when it comes to keeping the enemy out of its territory.  Christian Hackenberg vacillates from Heisman hopeful to blind man chucking acorns at a cat.  Our defense has traditionally (as in so far this season) started slow, allowing most opponents to score early on us or at least move the ball at will early, but has to date closed the door when the freaking door needed closing.  It seemed like they not only left the damned door open Saturday, but put up signs to show the way.

This was a team effort loss, that no missed pass interference penalty could hope to save.  Losing on Homecoming, 29-6?  To Northwestern?  Ugh!

Special teams were anything but special.  A blocked field goal and a long punt return to give the Wildcats a short field were glaringly obvious, but what went through Grant Haley's mind when he tried to run the ball deep out of our endzone on a couple of kick-offs.  This game could have been a lot worse if Northwestern hadn't kept trying to let us back into it, with missed field goals of their own and one decent punt return by Della Valle, and TWO-count em--PATs missed.  And they still won!

This is worse than a 63-14 loss to a top ranked team.  This was an unranked Northwestern team that although they played fired-up and inspired football against us, is a very pedestrian team.  They will be will be lucky to become bowl eligible (and we appear to be in that location as well.) This was a match-up of two mediocre teams and we outmediocred the competition.  There are no bowls for that kind of effort, unless you count your own toilet bowl.

I honestly thought this was going to be a breakout game.  I hedged my prediction, knowing that we had the aforementioned "issues," but I did not see this beat down coming.

I don't know where to begin to pick up the pieces.  Is it simply the sanctions?  Is it coaching?  I really like James Franklin.  I love his style; his energy.  I love his recruiting ability.  But some of his game time decisions leave me scratching my head, although I don't know for sure if he calls the offensive plays or not.  He is not coaching a group of athletes that he recruited, so we must temper that with our criticism.  Sanctions notwithstanding, he started from zero with this team.  But just because the sanctions have vanished in the future, does not change the effect they had on this team to date.

And you can't blame the coach for Hackenberg flat out missing a wide open Belton, or any other of the numerous really bad throws he had.  But one wonders why we didn't see Crook late in the game, when the chance of winning was really beyond what we had time left to do.  Speaking of which, why weren't we going no huddle in the fourth quarter?  We needed scores, and instead were throwing pick sixes and taking our good old time failing at this one.  I actually think Hack plays better in the hurry-up, pressure on, package--in general.

I'm not saying that Northwestern didn't play a good game--so if you are a Wildcat fan, don't get your panties all bunched up.  Ya done good.  Your coach was prepared for this game.  Ours was not, for whatever reason.  And maybe if you keep up that intensity week after week, you'll make me eat my words.  But until then . . .

I'm going to blame this on ourselves.  The only reason we're not 5-0 right now is because we did not execute, did not adapt during the game, failed to capitalize on our opponent's mistakes, and played some of the most uninspired football I have personally witnessed since we lost to Iowa 6-4.  And at least the defense played a great game then!

But this is not a sky is falling rant.  We have another very beatable opponent coming up in the form THEM.  They followed up their epic loss to Utah with an even more epic fail against Minnesota.  Unfortunately, I think we could still outmediocre them as well, but at least we have an extra week to teach blocking, tackling, and kicking.

BY THE NUMBERS:

Per GoPSUsports:

Team Statistics

Team Totals	NU	PSU
FIRST DOWNS	17	14
Rushing	3	3
Passing	14	9
Penalty	0	2
NET YARDS RUSHING	103	50
Rushing Attempts	38	25
Average Per Rush	2.7	2.0
Rushing Touchdowns	3	0
Yards Gained Rushing	121	79
Yards Lost Rushing	18	29
NET YARDS PASSING	258	216
Completions-Attempts-Int	21-37-1	22-46-1
Average Per Attempt	7.0	4.7
Average Per Completion	12.3	9.8
Passing Touchdowns	0	0
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS	361	266
Total offense plays	75	71
Average Gain Per Play	4.8	3.7
Fumbles: Number-Lost	0-0	1-1
Penalties: Number-Yards	8-75	4-35
PUNTS-YARDS	6-223	7-250
Average Yards Per Punt	37.2	35.7
Net Yards Per Punt	26.7	29.7
Inside 20	0	0
50+ Yards	0	1
Touchbacks	1	0
Fair catch	0	4
KICKOFFS-YARDS	6-384	3-191
Average Yards Per Kickoff	64.0	63.7
Net Yards Per Kickoff	44.5	36.7
Touchbacks	2	1
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD	1-42-0	2-43-0
Average Per Return	42.0	21.5
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD	2-56-0	4-67-0
Average Per Return	28.0	16.8
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD	1-49-1	1-2-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD	0-0-0	0-0-0
Miscellaneous Yards	-20	0
Possession Time	30:23	29:37
1st Quarter	8:58	6:02
2nd Quarter	5:46	9:14
3rd Quarter	5:52	9:08
4th Quarter	9:47	5:13
Third-Down Conversions	7 of 17	3 of 17
Fourth-Down Conversions	0 of 2	1 of 4
Red-Zone Scores-Chances	4-6	1-2
Touchdowns	3-6	0-2
Field goals	1-6	1-2
Sacks By: Number-Yards	4-20	1-13
PAT Kicks	2-4	0-0
Field Goals	1-2	2-3
Points off turnovers	18	0

Pick a number--any number.  It's bad. I wouldn't even know where to begin.  Oh, we were okay in time of possession!  And we actually held the Wildcats to around a 100 yards rushing.

INTANGIBLES:

The Drum Major stuck both flips, so we got that going for us.

The weather was perfect.

The Alumni Band performed--great to see the combined units playing together!

This is Franklin's first loss.

PSU still owns the all-time record at 13-4.

And just what the hell is with the traffic going through Toftrees???!!!  What a clusterf*ck!  Been going that way for 14 years.  Traffic usually doesn't back up until you go under the 322 underpass going up Fox Hollow Road.  Took me a goddamned hour from getting off the exit on 322 until we got to our parking spot (bumper to bumper from the first golf cart crossing!)  I shouldn't have to leave Altoona earlier than 8 am for a freaking noon game.

The traffic at Toftrees . . .

THE BIG (TEN) PICTURE:

The Buckeyes struggled early but pulled away from Cincinnati, 50-28.

Likewise, Wisconsin started slow, but beat South Florida 27-10.

MSU soundly defeated Wyoming 56-14.

Rutgers defeated Tulane 31-6.

In conference action . . .

THEM lost to Minnesota 30-14.

Nebraska crushed the Illini 45-14.

Maryland defeated Indiana 37-15.

Purdue Outmediocred Iowa, losing 24-10.

SHEDDING TEARS:

1.  For the Penn State Alumni--at least the tailgate weather was nice.
2.  For Pitt--losers to Akron 21-10.  Hey, didn't we beat Akron???
3.  Arkansas--lost to 6th ranked Aggies in OT
4.  UMass--lost 47-42 to Bowling Green to go 0-5.
5.  New Mexico State--lost 63-7 to LSU

LOOKING AHEAD:

Bye week.  We're not looking any further than that.

Foe Pause: Catfight Edition

The Northwestern Wildcan'ts are coming to Beaver Stadium, assuming that their flight wasn't cancelled in Chicago.  If it isn't a volcano, it's a fire at a radar facility.

Northwestern is an unimpressive 2-3, but there are those that would argue Penn State's 4-0 record is equally without awe.  I don't know about you, but wins and undefeatedness trumps any lame attempt to compare Cal to Rutgers or Northern Illinois to UCF.

The betting line is 10.5 in favor of the home team.

Penn State pwns the all-time record between these academic institutions with a 13-3 advantage.  (This is obviously a rivalry game!)  It is HOMECOMING for the PSU faithful.  The Lions are 4-0 and looking to take one more step closer to bowl eligibility.

So it doesn't really matter if the Wildcat's show up?  Well, I wouldn't go that far.  Our offensive line still has some proving to do.  Our running game, which hinges on the aforementioned offensive line and its success therein, has yet to prove consistency (other than being consistently non-existent.)  Hack might have a great day.  He might not.  We won't know until about 12:15 tomorrow, or maybe not even until the fourth quarter, say 2:45 give a timeout or two.

The last game versus the men in purple was in Bill O'Brien's first year.  It was also homecoming.  The Lion's trailed by 11 at one point, but scored 22 unanswered points, including a two-point conversion, to win 39-28 in the fourth quarter.  Interestingly, the Wildcan'ts were 5-0 that season going into this game.  It is also the game where Pat Fitzgerald, in a decidedly un-Fitzgerald like moment, mocked Bill O'Brien who was chewing out the refs over a bad PI call, while assistant coaches and players taunted the Beaver Stadium crowd who were cheering The Chin's assault on the myopic refs.  It was not their finest moment, nor their finest game--the Wildcan'ts that is.

So what do we know of this foe?

That just about says it all.

Northwestern is a private institution of higher learning in Evanston, Ill.  Now we could argue until we're purple in the face as to whether it was smart to build anything in Evanston, but it really won't get us anywhere, especially if the planes are still grounded at O'Hare.

Most learned people would agree, that northwestern is a compass direction, not a school.  Compasses were around before colleges.  Just sayin . . .

Their school motto is: Quaecumque sunt vera   which means something in Latin.  (I think it might mean compass for a school.)  They say it means "whatsoever things are true," but who really knows, since Latin hasn't been used as a legitimate language since the Roman Empire.  Worked out well for them, didn't it?

Among their many famous Alumni, is Charlton Heston.  Can any one forget this scene:

In the Big Ten this week:

Michigan State takes on Wyoming.  GO SPARTANS!

THEM opens as an 8.5 point favorite over the gophers.  GO MINNESOTA!  (even though a win by THEM helps our strength of schedule.  I'd also rather the wolverines not have any confidence coming into our match-up if its all the same to you.)

The Hoosiers, coming off an upset of Missouri, are favored by 3 over the Terps.  GO INDIANA!

The Badgers are 33 point favorites over South Florida.  Guess we'll root for Bucky this time!

Rutgers hosts Tulane and is favored by 11.5 points.  Don't like Rutgers, but strength of schedule, baby!  GO KNIGHTS!

Iowa is favored by 13.5 over Purdue.  We don't play either one.  Flip a coin and root for whomever you wish!

The Buckeyes square off against Cincinnati.  GO BEARCATS!  (We screw the strength of schedule argument if it means seeing Urban Meyer lose.  That's priceless.)

The Huskers over the Illini.  GO BIG RED!

In games featuring past opponents:

UMass looks for their first win against Bowling Green.  GO MINUTEMEN!

Akron is a 17.5 point underdog to the panthers.  GO ZIPS!

Prediction:

Penn State wins, 24-10.

GO STATE!  BEAT CATS!

NCAA Meeting

Please Note:  This video is RATED R (sexual language.)  Don't blame me.  I didn't make the video.  But I really enjoyed it!

Weapons of UMass Destruction

On a bright, sunny fall day, Penn State unleashed its weapons of "U"mass destruction on the Minutemen, ending in a 48-7 decision that could have been worse if the back-ups hadn't taken over in the third quarter.  Granted, this wasn't Wisconsin, Alabama, or Oregon we were playing, but I think we got we expected.  The Lions Shock and Awe featured four runners, seven receivers, two quarterbacks, and James Franklin in a pear tree.  What's to complain about?

The score could have been 66-0 without substitutions later in the game.   It would have been more fun to pitch a shut out.  The final score was still respectable and covered the point spread.  In my weekly foe pause, I begged the team not to struggle.  Didn't look good for me in the first quarter, but the slow start was erased as the offense picked up steam.  Field goals became touchdowns.  No turn-overs by the blue and white, and the offensive line gained some confidence.  We won't know until they face better defenses if this has any long term effect.  With the offensive line doing better, the run game did better.  The officiating crew threw no egregious flags or over looked any egregious penalties.  What more could you ask for?

Which begs the question . . .why was there only 99,155 fans?  You can't blame it on the weather.  Unworthy opponent?  Some pundits thought this might be a trap game.  PSU has never played UMass before.  Granted, not as exciting as a game against Ohio State, but a team can't compete at that level every week anyway.  The team needs a game like this now and then.  And Nebraska brought in 91,082 versus McNeese State!  Their capacity is listed at 87,000 on wikipedia with a record crowd of 91,585 against Miami this week.  Look at those numbers again--that's a difference of 503 fans between McNeese State and Miami (FL)!  They apparently aren't "competition snobs" out in Lincoln--they love their team no matter who they play!

Money a problem???  Even if you can't afford season tickets, you could buy single game tickets.  It was a great game to bring the kids--warm weather, fairly family friendly atmosphere (compared to a night game against the Bucks), and a fun game to watch.  In fact I saw more kids and babies (one wearing big pink headphones to block out the crowd noise) at this game than any other I can recall.  Seriously, park your STEP and administrative protests at home and get your butt down to watch these kids play.  They may not be the greatest team in the country, but they are playing their hearts out.  Don't make a statement to the BOT by eschewing this team--make a better statement by showing up and packing the stadium.  Let the BOT know that we fans are a force to be reckoned with!  Make James Franklin smile!

I still can't get over how eerily this team parallels some of the good (and later in the year, I hope to change that to great, but there is still a lot of work to be done yet to earn that adjective) teams of the vintage Paterno era.  A 13-10 victory in primetime against Rutgers.  Winning on a late field goal against UCF as an underdog.  Mounting a comfortable halftime lead against an inferior opponent and then letting the back-ups have some fun and the second string D giving up a meaningless score in garbage time.  It's like Joe has been re-incarnated--his spirit is all over and around this team.

So we came out of this game with no turn-overs, no significant injuries, and a back-up QB that looks like he can fill in if duty calls.  The O-line did better, but needs to keep improving.  This team has a legitimate chance to be undefeated when the Buckeyes come to visit in mid October.  They may even be favored to win the next two games.

BY THE NUMBERS:

Team Statistics

Team Totals	UMASS	PSU
FIRST DOWNS	13	23
Rushing	5	11
Passing	7	11
Penalty	1	1
NET YARDS RUSHING	3	228
Rushing Attempts	28	45
Average Per Rush	0.1	5.1
Rushing Touchdowns	0	5
Yards Gained Rushing	59	247
Yards Lost Rushing	56	19
NET YARDS PASSING	263	236
Completions-Attempts-Int	17-33-0	18-32-0
Average Per Attempt	8.0	7.4
Average Per Completion	15.5	13.1
Passing Touchdowns	1	1
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS	266	464
Total offense plays	61	77
Average Gain Per Play	4.4	6.0
Fumbles: Number-Lost	4-1	0-0
Penalties: Number-Yards	4-30	6-52
PUNTS-YARDS	5-191	3-122
Average Yards Per Punt	38.2	40.7
Net Yards Per Punt	36.8	40.3
Inside 20	0	1
50+ Yards	0	0
Touchbacks	0	0
Fair catch	1	2
KICKOFFS-YARDS	2-130	9-576
Average Yards Per Kickoff	65.0	64.0
Net Yards Per Kickoff	40.0	39.6
Touchbacks	1	8
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD	1-1-0	2-7-0
Average Per Return	1.0	3.5
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD	1-20-0	1-25-0
Average Per Return	20.0	25.0
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD	0-0-0	0-0-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD	0-0-0	1-7-0
Miscellaneous Yards	0	0
Possession Time	22:28	37:32
1st Quarter	6:03	8:57
2nd Quarter	7:14	7:46
3rd Quarter	4:25	10:35
4th Quarter	4:46	10:14
Third-Down Conversions	3 of 13	10 of 17
Fourth-Down Conversions	1 of 4	1 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances	0-1	6-6
Touchdowns	0-1	5-6
Field goals	0-1	1-6
Sacks By: Number-Yards	2-10	3-25
PAT Kicks	1-1	6-6
Field Goals	0-1	2-2
Points off turnovers	0	14

Penn State scored on EIGHT straight possessions after going three and out with a punt on the first possession of the game.

No turn-overs for PSU!

THREE YARDS total for Umass on the ground!  Shoop there it is!

INTANGIBLES:

UMass won the toss and deferred.

The drum major hit both flips--the first perhaps one of the best flips ever.

James Franklin is 4-0 and the first PSU coach to start his career 4-0 since 1915.

Attendance listed at 99,155.  WE CAN DO BETTER!

THE BIG (10) PICTURE:

Who's Hot:

Indiana upset Missouri 31-27.

Nebraska out-slugs Miami 41-31.  Lots of off-setting penalties in that one.

Wisconsin rolled out the barrel all over Bowling Green, 68-17.

Maryland bested Syracuse 34-20, a bit of an upset with the Orange favored by 3.

Rutgers sank Navy 31-24.

Minnesota defeated San Jose State 24-7.

Illinois survived a scare and prevailed 42-35 over Texas State.

Iowa beat Pitt 24-20.

Purdue boiled Southern Illinois 35-13.

The Spartans crushed and spit out the remains of Eastern Michigan, 73-14.

Northwestern defeated Western Illinois 24-7.

Who's Not:

Utah beat THEM 26-10 in a weather delayed game.  They are the only BIG team to lose this week.

Utah fans outnumber the wolverine fans in the Big House after a rain delay!

SHEDDING TEARS:

1.  Clemson--loses in OT to #1 F$U after missed field goals and fumbles
2.  LSU--lost to Miss St. 34-29.
3.  Hokies--drop two in a row after beating the Buckeyes
4.  Cal--premature celebration but Arizona comes back on a Hail Mary
5.  K-State-- wasted opportunities to beat Auburn


LOOKING AHEAD:

Northwestern invades Beaver Stadium for a 12 noon start next Saturday.  The Wildcats are coming off a 24-7 win over Western Illinois.  This week is HOMECOMING.

Northwestern opened the season with a 31-24 loss to Cal, and then followed that with a lackluster performance and a loss to Northern Illinois 23-15.

Well pause for a foe pause later this week.

Foe Pause: Can you spare a minute, man? Edition

Penn State opened as a 30 point favorite against the Minutemen of UMass.  The line has dropped since then, but still is better than a 4 TD differential.

In researching this week's foe, I learned something new.  UMass is a MAC team!  I did not know that!  I thought they were FCS, but apparently, they are one of the Big Boys now.  I did not get that Memo!  And they are coming to Beaver Stadium not to go all Appalachian State all over us, but to try and Holy Toledo us.

They look so lonely over there.  B.O. perhaps?

Some have called this a trap game.  Those same people have called the last three games "trap" games.  And Penn State is sitting pretty at 3-0, all footloose and sanction free.

Penn State has never played UMass in football before.  A virgin opponent!

The Minutemen hail from Foxborough, Massachusetts (Gillette Stadium) and are coached by Mark Whipple.  Whipple was a quarterback at Brown.  Who else do we know was a QB for Brown????  Thinking . . . thinking. . . . it'll come to me later.  Whipple was also a QB coach for the Steelers in 2004-6.  Prior to that he was head coach at UMass for 6 years, and has an overall record there as head coach of 49-29, including an 0-3 start to this season.

Please, Don't Squeeze my Team!

The Minutemen have actually been to two bowls.

They lost the 1964 Tangerine Bowl 14-13 to East Carolina, and won the 1972 Boardwalk Bowl over UC Davis 35-14.  Their relevance to modern football is quite apparent.

Statistically, according to ESPN, UMass is 80th in passing yards (224.0), 118th in rushing yards (82.3), 91st in points for (25.3) and 104th in points against (35.)

While the Penn State offense is struggling, the Minutemen have given up 35 points on average to teams like Colorado, BC (who just beat USC) and Vanderbilt (who is really struggling this year sans Franklin.)  UMass does not bring the hatred and passion that Rutgers showed last week, and no one will ever confuse this as a rivalry game.  No one should have confused last week's match-up as one either, but Rutgers is arguably a better team than UMass.

Penn State needs this game for the offensive line to gain some confidence.  It is a work in progress, but only UMass and Northwestern stand between THEM and Ohio State back to back, albeit both coming off bye weeks in October.

I look to see Penn State NOT STRUGGLE (did you hear that guys---no last minute antics to pull out a win this week, please, and for the love of God don't lose this game!) and use this game to tune up some weaknesses.  I hope our back-up QB gets some reps, because with Hack running for his life the past few games, he is one hit away from being on the injured reserved list.

However, looking at how the Minutemen have struggled to score, I think our defense has a chance to pitch a shut out.  So I think Penn State will win easily, but may be lucky to cover the spread.  Let's say 27-3.

WEEKLY GAME GUIDE:

In the Big Ten:

Michigan State takes on Eastern Michigan.  GO Spartans!

Illinois takes on Texas State.  GO BOBCATS!

Nebraska plays Miami (FL).  This should be a good game.  GO HUSKERS!

Indiana travels to Missouri.  Good luck with that.  We can root for the Hoosiers all we want, but I think we know who will win this game!

The Hawkeyes travel to Pittsburgh--GO HAWKS!

Northwestern tries to get a win against Western Illinois.  What the heck, let's root for the Wild-can'ts!

The Terps head to Syracuse--GO TERPS!

Rutgers tries to rebound against Navy.  GO MIDSHIPMEN!

Minnesota hosts San Jose State.  GO GOPHERS!

Purdue should be able to make it back to .500 with a win over Southern Illinois.

Utah comes to the Big House.  GO UTES!

And Wisconsin hosts Bowling Green.  GO BADGERS!

The Buckeyes are off this week, preparing for Cincinnati.

In games featuring past opponents:

UCF should win against Bethuse-Cookman.

Akron takes on Marshall.  GO ZIPS!

GO STATE!  BEAT UMASS!

Quotable Quotes

Civil Celebration

Here are some assorted comments in the aftermath of yesterday's announcement that the bowl band and scholarship sanctions would be lifted immediately:

Bill O'Brien:

"I think that’s great news for Penn State," said O'Brien, who spent the last two football seasons as the Nittany Lions' head coach. "Penn State is a fantastic place. It’s a great education, great football program, a lot of good people who have done a lot of great things over there over the last couple of years to make sure that they’ve learned from the past mistakes and understood that that’s a special place.
"And so I feel very happy for Penn State and, mostly, I feel happy for the players and the coaching staff that’s there now."

Some have focused on the latter comment as an intentional snub of administration and perhaps even the fan base, but I'm not going to nitt-pick here.

James Franklin:

"We are very appreciative of the opportunities the NCAA and Big Ten have provided with today's announcement," Franklin said. "This team plays for each other. We play for Penn State, our families, the former players, our students, alumni, fans and the community. We are so proud to represent Penn State and the Big Ten Conference and are working hard to prepare for our Big Ten opener at Rutgers." 

Can this be the spark that takes the level of play of this team to the NEXT level?  This could go either way--having something to play for may put more pressure on the players/coaches to win.  Or it might just fire them up!  We shall see this Saturday in prime time!

PS4RS:

"We are very happy that some of the sanctions have been rescinded. This is great news for the football team, and the entire unfairly punished Penn State community. However, there are still wrongs to be righted. The Freeh conclusions are not supported by evidence, and they never should have been used as a pretext for sanctioning Penn State. We are disheartened by false rationalizations that Penn State has somehow changed or atoned to deserve this “reward.” Penn State athletics programs have ALWAYS demonstrated the highest level of integrity. Three years after their indictment, the three Penn State administrators have yet to have their day in court due to mysterious appeals by Penn State and clandestine document sealing by the PA court system. Prosecutor Frank Fina has publicly stated that there was no evidence to support the Freeh Report’s conclusion that Joe Paterno was aware of or participated in a cover up. Further, the NCAA’s new sexual assault reporting handbook instructs coaches around the country to do exactly what Paterno did in 2001. There is no basis for ANY of the sanctions and they must be entirely rescinded.”

AMEN!

And last but not least, Admiral Yamamoto:

"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."

Happy Days Are Here Again!

Well, not completely free. . . $60 million dollars and 112 wins.

The theme of the Blue Band Half-time show last Saturday  "Happy Days in Happy Valley."  It was a omen of things to come, as it was announced today that BOTH the scholarship reduction AND the bowl ban have been rescinded by the NCAA.

According to this ESPN recap:

Penn State will be eligible for the postseason this year and will have all its scholarships returned next year, after the NCAA agreed Monday afternoon to again reduce sanctions stemming from the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. 

Penn State's athletics integrity monitor, former Sen. George Mitchell, recommended both actions in his second annual report that gauges progress made by the university. Minutes after the report was announced, the NCAA said it would follow both recommendations immediately.

Woo-freaking Hoo!  About time!

The school still must pay a $60 million fine, 111 wins under Joe Paterno -- and one win under interim coach Tom Bradley -- remain forfeited, and the program will remain under monitoring.

However, it appears the 60 million dollar fine will remain in Pennsylvania.

The state of Pennsylvania has won a legal battle with the NCAA, ensuring the $60 million in fine money to be paid by Penn State will remain instead. The NCAA had been fighting to spread the fine money around the nation toward child abuse awareness efforts, but the organization has filed to withdraw its fight and will allow the money to stay within Pennsylvania.

So only the vacated wins remains to be reversed.  With the recent announcement of guidelines for athletic departments to follow--guidelines which Paterno actually followed before they were official guidelines--it remains a mystery how this final sanction can withstand the Paterno lawsuit which appears likely to continue.

Unfortunately, the Big Ten conference is not so forgiving.

The Big Ten also said that Penn State will continue to donate its share of conference bowl revenue (estimated at $13 million) to child-protections charities in Big Ten communities. Penn State will be eligible to receive its share of conference bowl revenue in 2016.

Wow!  Just . . .wow.  Unbelievable.  How can the conference stand behind the its punishment of Penn State when the NCAA has backed off?  Just freaking unbelievable.  The greed and hatred for Penn State is just so completely obvious.  If our BOT had half a spine, they would fight the conference on this one, and go after restoring Joe Paterno's victories.

WE ARE . . . SET FREE!

Zip-Pity Doo Dah Day

Penn State civilly outscored Akron 21-3 to move to 2-0 on the 2014 season.  It was not a pretty sight, but it was not exactly an ugly win.  And it sure as heck beat a pretty loss!

The invading Zips seemed hell-bent on raining on James Franklin's home opener, as the visitors marched down the field like a hot knife through butter.  They zipped this way and that way and ended up first and goal at the PSU 7 yard line before half the student population even made it to their seats.  But the Lion defense tightened up, and after consecutive sacks, Akron had to settle for a 3 point attempt.  Kicker Tom O'Leary (kind of ironic right there, doncha think?) missed the 31-yarder and the game was still even.

After an exchange of possessions, the Lions took over with good field position at their own 42 yard line.  Hackenberg went to work and did that thing he does with his arm.  Passes of 20 yards to Lewis and 15 yards to Hamilton were sandwiched around a one yard rush by Zwinak.  Hack than scored his first of three TD passes with a strike to a wide open Belton that fooled the Akron defense and reportedly Louis Freeh as well.

The half would end with the score still being 7-0, and the crowd a bit uneasy.  You hate close games like this when one play could turn things ugly in a hurry, and our secondary has been prone to giving up a few big plays now and then.

But there was no breathing room as the second half opened as Penn State fumbled on it's first possession, setting the Roos up with a short field at the PSU 41 yard line.  The defense bent a little but didn't break, and Robert Stein (I guess O'Leary lost his job, at least for the moment) booted the 28 yarder through to make it a four point game.

After a change of possessions, Hack hit Jesse James for a 14-3 point lead.  James would catch another pass in the fourth quarter to seal the victory at 21-3, covering the final game-time spread of 14.

So what can I say?

The running game just can't seem to get off the ground.  It's a reflex to blame it on the offensive line, but the O-line does seem to be able to pass block pretty darn well.  We did manage to break the century mark--which surprised me.  Watching the game, I'd have thought we had under 60.  We actually seemed to run better out of the wildcat, but that was in the second half and we may have worn the Akron line down by then.  Reading the message boards, the wildcat formation splits Nittany Nation between those that love it and those that hate it.  I don't love it, but if it works, I'm all for it.  I wonder if the playbook doesn't have more options from that formation, particularly with Hack split wide and still on the field.  We did see a throw back pass to Hack, but he couldn't make the catch.  Maybe more exciting possibilities await when Big Ten teams come to play.

Hack had two more INTs--not necessarily bad throws as much as BAD decisions.  He also took a sack after having almost 9 seconds to find a receiver.  I think those things will come in time--better decision making.

And the bottom line here Lion fans . . . we have played two games against quality opponents.  Akron came to play and played us hard.  Maybe they are not McNeese State, but they will win some ball games this year.  Central Florida was coming off a great season with a veteran head coach and was a few votes away from cracking the Top 25 preseason.  And despite a minus 5 turn-over margin, WE ARE UNDEFEATED.  Not a lot of our conference brethren can say the same.

BY THE NUMBERS:

Team Statistics

Team Totals	AKRON	PSU
FIRST DOWNS	17	27
Rushing	4	7
Passing	12	16
Penalty	1	4
NET YARDS RUSHING	69	106
Rushing Attempts	25	31
Average Per Rush	2.8	3.4
Rushing Touchdowns	0	0
Yards Gained Rushing	89	130
Yards Lost Rushing	20	24
NET YARDS PASSING	208	319
Completions-Attempts-Int	24-46-0	22-37-2
Average Per Attempt	4.5	8.6
Average Per Completion	8.7	14.5
Passing Touchdowns	0	3
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS	277	425
Total offense plays	71	68
Average Gain Per Play	3.9	6.2
Fumbles: Number-Lost	0-0	1-1
Penalties: Number-Yards	7-64	3-25
PUNTS-YARDS	7-331	5-244
Average Yards Per Punt	47.3	48.8
Net Yards Per Punt	40.9	45.4
Inside 20	2	3
50+ Yards	2	3
Touchbacks	2	0
Fair catch	3	0
KICKOFFS-YARDS	2-130	4-247
Average Yards Per Kickoff	65.0	61.8
Net Yards Per Kickoff	38.5	46.5
Touchbacks	0	1
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD	3-17-0	1-5-0
Average Per Return	5.7	5.0
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD	2-36-0	2-53-0
Average Per Return	18.0	26.5
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD	2-52-0	0-0-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD	0-0-0	0-0-0
Miscellaneous Yards	0	0
Possession Time	29:21	30:39
1st Quarter	9:15	5:45
2nd Quarter	9:32	5:28
3rd Quarter	4:10	10:50
4th Quarter	6:24	8:36
Third-Down Conversions	5 of 17	4 of 10
Fourth-Down Conversions	0 of 2	0 of 0
Red-Zone Scores-Chances	1-3	1-3
Touchdowns	0-3	1-3
Field goals	1-3	0-3
Sacks By: Number-Yards	1-8	4-14
PAT Kicks	0-0	3-3
Field Goals	1-2	0-0
Points off turnovers	6	0

Penn State continues to look better on the stat sheet than the scoreboard.  I really think that will get better as the season goes on, but perhaps it's something to worry about.

Time of possession was nearly equal with a slight edge to PSU.  Akron held the ball longer in the first half, but PSU dominated the second.  Can't complain about that.

We only converted 4-10 third downs, but we had 27 first downs--meaning that we moved the ball well on first and second downs that we only needed third down about a third of the time.

We were vastly improved in the penalty category this week.

INTANGIBLES:

The crowd was listed at 97,354, but it didn't look that full.

The temperature was warm--not unusual for this time of year, but it could have been a factor if Akron could run the ball and control the clock.  Depth is not our strong suit right now.

The Blue Band Drum Major stuck both flips.  In fact, the opening flip may be the best I've seen in a while.  New feature twirler.  Meh.

James Franklin is 2-0, baby.  Penn State is 5-0 over Akron all-time.

The 1994 UNDEFEATED PSU Football was honored at halftime!

Penn State won the toss and deferred.

THE BIG (TEN) PICTURE:

Well, well, well.  Pretty rough weekend for the BIG party of 14.

Let's start with the winners . . .

Iowa survived Ball State 17-13.

Nebraska squeaked by FCS McNeese State 31-24, scoring on a 58 yard catch and run to score with 20 seconds left in the game.  Makes a 21-3 outing against Zippy look pretty darn good right about now.

Illinois beat Western Kentucky 42-34 but trailed 27-21 going into the fourth quarter.

Minnesota held off Middle Tennessee State, prevailing 35-24--but they were up 28-0 at the half!

Maryland outscored South Florida 24-17, but trailed going into the fourth quarter as well.

Rutgers defeated Howard (who Akron pasted 41-0) by a score of 38-25.

And Wisconsin bounced back by pummeling Western Illinois 37-3.

And then there were the losers . . .

Purdue tanked against Central Michigan, losing 38-17.

MSU had arguably the toughest opponent in Oregon with the Ducks ranked 3rd at the time.  Michigan State trailed early, stormed back and seemed to be in control.  And then they collapsed.  Epic-ally.  Final Score:  46-27.  I wonder if D'Antonio has ever had that many points put up against one of his teams?

Notre Dame took THEM out to the woodshed, blanking the wolverines 31-0 in South Bend.  Not even a field goal.  I guess they were still upset about Notre Dame ending the series.  The Irish might want to rethink that.

And the Big's Marquee Stud, Ohio $tate, ranked number 8, fell to an unranked Hokie team 35-21.  Meyer started his post game presser with this:

And also our opponent, really did a good job preparing for us and exposed us a little bit, where some of the weaknesses right now on our team. And it was rather obvious what it is.

Really?  What was IT?  The coaching, perhaps?  Or are you throwing someone else under a Colum-BUS.

I wouldn't have said this in 2011, but I am SOOOO glad that man isn't coaching at Penn State.

Indiana was off, and no one noticed.

SHEDDING TEARS:

1.  Stanford lost to USC--the famous Pat Haden game where the USC AD came down from the booth to "talk" to the referees.  And he's on the selection committee!

2.  McNeese State--a few bad tackles away from OT.  Tsk.  tsk.

3.  The Big Ten--see above

4.  Texas--Longhorns beaten 41-7 by BYU

5.  UMass--41-38 loss to Colorado

LOOKING AHEAD:

Penn State travels to Rutgers to open the Big Ten season next week.

Game Time is 8 PM and the coverage is the Big Ten Network.

Rutgers is 2-0 with a 41-38 win on the road over Washington State and a 38-25 victory over Howard.

We'll preview this game in a Foe Pause later this week.


GO STATE!  BEAT KNIGHTS!