Feeling BLUE?

Blue dismantled White 37-0 before an announced crowd of 72,000 fans, who joined James Franklin in a WE ARE . . . PENN STATE cheer during the break between the first and second quarters.

In no particular order, are some random thoughts . . .

The weather was beautiful. It just can't get any better than that. It might have been too hot, but after the winter we've had, I am NOT complaining! Pass the lemonade!

Nice 409 memorial to Joe where his statue SHOULD be.

It looked better in person than with my crappy cell phone and pasting!

The numbers were created with blue pinwheels stuck in the ground. A sign offered fans to take one after the game--but not before, since they ARE NOT allowed in Beaver Stadium. Really? Seriously? Afraid of a drive-by pinwheeling? Since when do terrorists use pinwheels? This would appear to be some serious pinwheel profiling here, folks!

You don't realize how much you miss the video screen until it isn't there.

Can't we recruit better scoreboards????

Offense looked a little shaky. 3-0 after the first quarter. Only 17-0 at the half. Second half quarters were only 10 minutes with the clock kept running. Defense added a pick six and set up some short fields--four of the five turnovers were notched by blue jerseys. Is our defense that good or offense that shaky? Too early to tell.

Great trickeration with Geno Lewis throwing off a reverse to a wide open Zanellato for a score. Maybe the D ain't that good after all!

Hackenberg only played a couple of series early on. No other quarterback looked especially good in my humble opinion.

I like me some Cole Chiappialle! He looks like a midget, but even with a shaky line, seemed to pop open some good runs.

Awards--

Jim O'Hora Award: Defensive tackle Anthony Zettel
Red Worrell Award: Guard Brian Gaia
Frank Patrick Total Commitment Award: End Deion Barnes
Coaches Special Teams Award: Kicker Sam Ficken

Congratulations!

Only noticeable injury was Wendy Laurent (center). It just had to be a lineman, didn't it?

This may not be their year, but with Penn State riding the #1 recruiting class right now, the future looks bright.

And with a few schools still left to play spring games (notably Alabama and Michigan State), here are the rankings of attendance:

Team Day Attendance (Cost)

Penn State Saturday, 72,000 (free, plus free autograph session)

Tennessee Saturday 66,548 (free)

Nebraska Saturday 61,772 ($10)

Ohio State Saturday 61,058 ($5, price originally $20 and $12)

Florida State Saturday 36,500 (free)

Florida Saturday 35,834 ($5)

LSU April 5 18,565 (free)

Michigan April 5 15,000 (free)

Indiana Saturday 9,231 (free)

Maryland Friday 8,319 (free)

Wisconsin Saturday 8,204 ($5)

Purdue Saturday 7,175 (free)

Illinois Saturday 5,105 (free)

Minnesota Saturday 5,000 (free)

Northwestern Saturday N/A (free, no game, just open practice)

Nothing to be BLUE about!

Blue-White Weekend

What a wonderful day for Penn State football!

You never know who you might run into . . .

 Look! I'm Jay Walking, ...er, Jay Standing!

I will offer a few more thoughts on the Blue-White game later . . . But this morning I will be running in the Beaver Stadium Run, sponsored by the Paterno family, and benefitting Special Olympics! The finish line is the 50-yard line! That has a vague ring to it! ;)

Something old, new, borrowed and Blue

Something old, new, borrowed and blue--the Spring tradition of the Blue White football game may be old, but Coach O'Brien spiced it up with some personal commentary and play calling in the second half, and Michael Mauti was borrowed, so to speak, to help announce on the air waves, while Blue (the defense) rolled to a 67-47 win over the White (the offense) before an estimated crowd of 28,000 fans who braved the cold and wintry mix of sun and precipitation.  This is the second year under O'Brien that Blue has won.

I won't belabor you with analysis of the "game" since the scrimmage is a far cry from the real thing, but I will pass on some first impressions I had from actually being at the game (i.e. not watching it on TV and having the ability to pause and replay.)

I think our running game will be pretty good.  Yards right up the middle were tough, and that may be more to the credit of the defensive line than a problem with the running game.  But I watched a couple of guys with some speed to the edge and some nifty moves.  Akeel Lynch ran for 83 yards and a touchdown and appears to be the "real deal."  I was particularly impressed with Deron Thompson (who added another 97 yards rushing.)

As for QBs, Bench came out throwing and looked pretty good in his opening drive.  However, he had less success as the game went on.  Conversely, Fergusen didn't look particularly good in the early going, but had some nice throws and got into more of a rhythm as the scrimmage progressed.  None of the other QBs really left any impression on me.

O'Brien came out in the second half and tried to thaw the crowd out.  He got the WE ARE . . . PENN STATE chant going and suggested they start the wave.  We complied.  He also piped his mic over the PA System for a series so we could hear the play calls.  I REALLY like this guy.

Zwinak left early with a hand injury, and Allan Robinson wasn't a major factor as a receiver, but he had a really nice reverse for twenty some yards where he actually doubled back (essentially a double reverse that wasn't drawn up as such.) 

All of the players who ran, caught or threw for a score today were freshmen or sophomores.  Depth may be an issue in the linebacker area, but I thought the D-line did a pretty decent job, and I thought the secondary held their own.

There were no punts in the game, but an extra point and a mid-range (37-yard?) field goal were missed. Concerned about the kicking game even though Ficken seemed to turn things around the latter part of last season.

Five Nittany Lions were recognized for their efforts during halftime of the game. Rising sophomore cornerback Jordan Lucas and junior defensive end C.J. Olaniyan were presented the Jim O'Hora Award. The defensive award is named in honor of Jim O'Hora, a long-time Penn State assistant coach who was a member of the coaching staff for 31 years.

Senior center Ty Howle earned the Red Worrell Award, presented to the offensive player whose spring contribution is most worthy of special tribute.  The Nittany Lion coaching staff singled out Lucas, Olaniyan and Howle as the defensive and offensive players, respectively, who have best demonstrated exemplary conduct, loyalty, interest, attitude and improvement during spring practice.

Junior guard Miles Dieffenbach and junior linebacker Mike Hull were recognized as co-recipients of the Frank Patrick Total Commitment Memorial Award.  This award goes to junior class squad members who consistently follow through with their responsibilities in all facets of the football program and do so in exemplary manner. This includes academic pursuits, off-season preparation, in-season commitment, demeanor and community service.

Full descriptions of the awards and some past winners can seen at the Penn State web site.

 

 

133 more days to go until the opener.

 

What were your thoughts on the Blue White Game scrimmage???

Bluish White Thoughts on a Gray Day

The weather called for scattered showers and cooler temperatures.  And while the thermometer did drop, the rain did not fall on Bill O'Brien's first Blue-White scrimmage.  Could that be a sign?

I tailgated with a friend at the new Lewis Katz Law Building.  As a physician, I felt like Daniel in the Lion's Den, or a shipwrecked survivor surrounded by sharks.  There were fins to the left.  There were fins to the right.  And I was the only bait in the building.  Actually, the food was great, the building is beautiful and I had a great time.  Nate Stupar's sister guided us on a tour of the building!

It is always a difficult task to break this scrimmage down and make any sense of it.  In almost every case, the results are meaningless; the pursuit fruitless.

But you don't want to stare at a blank screen.  Well, maybe you do.  Maybe that would be better than the actual blog.  But now we're waxing too philosophically for a blog devoted primarily to football.

So I will attempt to summarize my thoughts on the 2012 Blue-White Game.

The atmosphere.

The attendance was estimated at 60,000 and I think that would have been exceeded easily with better weather or less scary meteorological prognostications.  There also appeared to be significant numbers in the parking lots that did not actually go into the game.  All-in-all, it was one of the larger crowds for a day with less than pleasant weather.

I took comfort in seeing Larry Johnson, Sr. on the sideline.  Vanderlinden was probably there, but I did not personally see him.  I miss Joe.  For as much as I complained about his conservative play calling, lack of recruiting in these last few years, and various other sundry coaching decisions, I really felt his absence today.  Penn State football is just not the same.  Maybe never will be.  Maybe it will be better.  Who the hell knows at this point?

On the other hand, I saw a coach walk out onto the field after one of his QBs threw an INT (Bolden) and talk to the QB.  I saw him do some coaching.  In the past 10 years, I'm not sure I saw Joe do anything on the sideline but yell at the refs or McQueary or get hit.  I saw another QB (Jones) celebrate a big play with his head coach.  Like . . . Did you see that!  That's what I'm talking about!  I really liked to see that kind of communication and rapport between coach and players.   Whether that will ever translate into points on the scoreboard or wins in the record books, time will only tell.

Granted, Joe wouldn't have been on the sideline for this game anyway (he always was up in the pressbox), but you know what I'm talking about.  There is a hole left that will take time to heal, and I have not yet healed.

The Scoring System.

First impression?  WTF.  (That was my first impression when I heard the announcement that O'Brien was to become Penn State's 15th Head Football Coach.)  But just as I am growing to like O'Brien as our coach, I found the point system more interesting as the game went on.

For my readers who did not attend or see the game, Blue was the defense and White was the offense.  Unlike other years (since 1950?) the blue team did not take a snap on offense.  Rather, the defense scored points by making plays.  Hence . . . .



2 points for Gryffindor for an explosive play!

 7 points for defensive TD
6 points for a turn over
4 points for a sack
2 points for a tackle for loss
1 point for forcing a 3 and out

The score almost started at 1-0, but white converted a fourth down to take the 3 and out point off the scoreboard.

For the offense, the scoring was different as well . . .

6 points for a TD and 1 for the PAT
3 points for a field goal
2 points for a play over 15+ yards (an explosive play!)
1 point for the PAT

The final score was Blue (defense) winning 77-65 over the White (offense.)

The Quarterbacks.

All six QBs played in the game. I know!  Where did these other two come from????  Tyler Lucas (SO) and Garrett Venuto (SR)?  It makes my head hurt!

I don't think any single QB stood out over the others.  MacGregor actually had a really nice drive to put the first TD on the board.  Bolden threw some nice passes, but then he threw some bad ones as well, including at least two interceptions.

None of the QBs ran the ball.

There were 5 INTs and 8 "sacks" overall.  I put the sack number in quotes because all the defender had to do was touch the QB to down him and I think it was pretty clear that in an actual game situation, several of those would not have been sacks as the QB could have spun away.  But we have what we have to look at.

My gut feeling?  Paul Jones will be the starter, and McGloin will be the annointed back-up.

Here's what Coach O'Brien said about the QBs in his press conference:

I feel pretty good where we're at quarterback-wise. I really have to watch the film, I really do. I've got to see the film. It's hard to see from the sideline. But, all three of those guys (Matt McGloin, Rob Bolden, Paul Jones) made some plays today. And again, I have to reiterate, all three of these guys, we've asked a lot of them. We've asked them to learn a system that's totally different than anything they've ever learned, and that takes time. And different guys learn at different rates, and some guys get it right away, other guys get it the next day, other guys get it two days from now.

So we have to let it soak a little bit, let it soak for ourselves as a staff, and then we'll make a decision headed into training camp on who we're going with or who the top two are.

Paul Jones has gotten better every single day. Paul Jones and I have a unique relationship because we both have unique senses of humor. He's been a fun guy to coach, and I'll keep between he and I what he needs to do to win the starting job, but he made a lot of strides this spring, and he's doing better in school, and I've really enjoyed being around Paul Jones.

The offensive line.

I was not impressed with the o-line.  We could not run up the middle, although maybe that is because the defensive line is pretty good.  Who knows at this point?  Eight sacks is not a good stat for the o-line either, although as I said before, some of that was the fact that a mere touch brought the QB down and the QBs didn't run when they could have, but I think this will be a weakness heading into the season.  I could be wrong . . . new strength and conditioning program will play a role, and I think McWhorter (o-line coach from Texas) will do a better job than our old staff at getting these guys ready to play.

Other notes:

Enjoyed seeing Ki Jana Carter.
Limited playing time for Silas Redd.
Belton and Zwinak looked good at RB.
Robinson (So) led the team with receptions and looked good.
O'Brien stated in the post-game conference that fans only saw about 10% of the playbook today.  Whew!
Defense appears to be ahead of offense at this point but that is to be expected.
Defenders played up at the line of scrimmage on receivers.  Is that even allowed????

Awards:

Jim O'Hora - Stephon Morris
Red Worrell - Matt Stankiewitch
Frank Patrick Total Commitment Award - Steve Urkel  John Urschel

Getting Their Feet Wet

The 2011 Blue-White Scrimmage has come and gone, like a rain shower in April. Blue won 10-0, although it was more a matter of being the least bad team. The weather turned out to be just as good as the quality of football played, or vice versa depending on how you look at it. I look at it with my head tilted to one side and one eyebrow raised.

Did that just happen or was it a bad dream?

I was not among the roughly 7,500 fans that physically attended the game. My days of braving cold wet weather to watch a scrimmage are long gone. My devotion to this annual spring ritual has disappeared.

I couldn’t even watch it live on TV. Of course, they had the spring game in Ann Arbor on if I were so inclined to torture myself. I was not. I did try to tune in to the radio, but that proved to be another study in frustration. I listened for about 20 minutes and managed to hear about two plays worth of actual game time. The rest was idle chatter and commercials. It was dreadful and the radio industry ought to be ashamed of itself for the product they broadcast.

I found out later that they called the rest of the game on account of rain. Truth be told, I think it was sheer boredom. Come on—everyone there was already wet. The fans that did show up deserved better than that. The players wouldn’t melt. The only silver lining I could see is that at least it minimized the chance of injury on the slick field. And we certainly don’t need any more of that.

A fellow blogger, Carolyn Todd, apologized to her readers for her lack of blogging recently. At least she has a decent excuse. She’s busy working. I, on the other hand, save for a post or two about the STEP program, have pretty much dogged the psu blog world of late. I ignored the kids getting in trouble with the law. I eschewed the rumors surrounding Jerry Sandusky. I even have been remiss updating the recruiting picture which includes some great commits if they stand come next February. I did allow myself to poke fun at Tressel, but let’s face it, that was fun.

It’s not that I haven’t wanted to blog. I started a new blog about non-football things on WordPress, called Living the Eye Life. But my passion for Penn State football has reached an all time low. Friends have asked me what I think about the upcoming season. To be honest, I think it is going to be a disaster. That means probably four or five losses. Maybe more.

What is there to look forward to? The defense? Probably, but it remains to be seen how the front line will perform. The linebacking crew should be good, which will help that issue. But on the offensive side of the ball, I see nothing but gloom and doom, and I drink the Kool Aid pretty heavily. I may even be in a diabetic coma because of drinking too much. Maybe that’s why I’m so lethargic about blogging.

We will be patching a new O-line together. Who the hell knows who our starting QB will be? Who even knows how many of them will still be with the team come August? I simply don’t see any player emerging as a clear choice, and whoever is chosen will create friction among those left behind. Will we have a running game? We have talent, but can they block as well? If we can’t pass, teams will simply stack the box against us.

This recent scrimmage did nothing to improve my angst. Bolden opens with an interception on the very first play. Newsome fumbled on the next series. McGloin fumbled it right back two plays later.

Granted, the weather was less than ideal, but no one stepped up to give us hope. In roughly three quarters of play (12 minute quarters) both sides had 135 yards of passing. Ten points on the board. Pitt played their spring game on the same day—roughly the same weather—and put up 61 points. They have no defense, we have no offense, and never the two shall meet.

Thirty-six of those yards came on one throw by McGloin. Paul Jones threw only ONE pass. Bolden threw five and the only completion was his game opening INT. Overall, the QBs went 10 – 26 – 1.

Thank goodness we had a running game . . . that gained a whopping 77 yards on 31 carries. The field goal, I believe, was kicked when the drive stalled at about the three yard line. Will we ever bring Zordich into the game on the goal line—and not give the ball to him? Even defensive coordinators from other teams know that play. It simply affirmed that the scoring impotency in the red zone has not gone away.

So does that mean there is no hope? There’s always hope. Hope floats. And that’s a damned good thing in a deluge. We have talent. I really do think our defense will be better than last year, and likely keep us in most games. But barring a 2005-ish surprise turn around, I do not see having the kind of offense that will make a run at the Big Ten Title likely, let alone a shot in the national picture. This summer I will make an official prediction (after I’ve forgotten about this game) but the schedule simply looks too daunting. Alabama, Iowa and Nebraska at home. Finishing with Ohio State and Wisconsin on the road. The team last year couldn’t beat these guys. I’m not overly optimistic that this year’s version will be any more successful, though Iowa and Wisconsin will likely have some rebuilding to do. But we have more than rebuilding to do. We have to find a freaking way to score some points.

But maybe the rain will wash away all the problems and give us a fresh, clean start. Maybe a return to simple uniforms will bring a return to tradition; a time when Penn State football was about basic fundamentals, about hard-nosed, smart football, about letting the opponent make the mistakes, and about winning.

Maybe.

Feeling Blue?

Blue won the annual scrimmage, beating White 17-3.  But the game did little to alleviate my anxiety regarding the upcoming season.  Granted, the usual cautions are valid here--this was not a real game by any stroke of the imagination and was little more than a glorified practice.  Yet, as a fan, you hope to see glimmers of hope, and at least basic competency.

Two glimmers of hope brightened the gray day as true freshman and early enrollee Paul Jones hooked up with Shawney Kersey twice for the game's only touchdowns.  Of all the quarterbacks, Jones seemed to be the most accurate and poised, but then he may have been the one with the least pressure on him to perform.  It is also probably unfair to gauge performance on a sampling of 8-18 passes (McGloin had the most attempts) but we fans have nothing else to base our evaluations on.  And while the coaches have the advantage of seeing these kids day to day, I don't think you can underestimate the value of a player who performs well in a game setting.  What good is a kid who shines in practice but flounders during games?  But I digress.

The performance of Jones even got Brent Musberger into the debate as the veteran announcer was duly impressed and looked to see this kid perform this fall.  Do not hold your breath, Brent.  (OK, he's not my favorite announcer so maybe you can if you want to.)  Seriously, he is still about two injuries and possible a mini-stroke away from seeing serious playing time this season.  Joe is not going to play a freshman when there are upperclassman who have been in the system, albeit with minimal to no playing time, available and with pulses.

The offensive line wasn't awful, but it was far from good.  Running holes were rare and they gave up five sacks, although in this scrimmage, just touching the QB counted as a tackle.  Part of their performance can be written off as a work in progress.  Wisniewski, who played center last year, moved to guard and Doug Klopacz was the first string center.  Offensive lines take time to gel so we'll give them a pass at this point.

Chaz Powell moved to CB and missed a great opportunity at a pick that could have gone for six the other way.

The defense appears to be fundamentally sound and I think they will be capable of keeping us in most games this season, even if our offense is overmatched.

The kicking game is a bit of a concern.  The punts were lousy to say the least, the final stats propped up by virtue of no rush or returns and a lot of rolling after they hit on the ground.  Wagner hit a 46 yarder, and Soldner hit a 36 yarder, but missed another attempt from 32 yards.  Anthony Fera did not play along with Zordich for disciplinary reasons.