Joe Back At Practice

"What do you think I need to reach the green from here?"

"You don't golf Joe."

"Awww C'mon.  I'm a new man.  Just a few years ago, I couldn't download a jar of peanut butter.  Now I can Twiddle, techs, use My Face and Spacebook.  Why can't I golf?"

"How are you going to swing with that bum arm?"

Long silence.

"Damn!  Turn this thing around and head back to practice!"

Tackling Technicalities

Penn State Coach Joe Paterno was injured during practice, apparently sustaining hairline fractures of both his pelvis and right arm.

It does not appear that surgery will be required, according to Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli, Penn State Director of Athletic Medicine.

As a result, a new tackling primer has been developed for the players to study.



On the other hand . . .

Ok, that would be confusing!

Lions Den has ESP

Earlier this week, I posted about the quarterback situation and how the decision process has been made easier, so to speak, by the ineligibility of Paul Jones.

I didn't talk at all about Newsome in that process, because . .

. . . I ALREADY THOUGHT HE HAD LEFT.

Naturally, I was a bit surprised when the articles and rumors came out that Newsome is leaving.

At first, I was a bit embarrassed that I hadn't recalled the situation correctly.  Certainly, there had been rumors, at the end of last season, and Newsome did not even travel to the bowl game.  But he DID return for the spring semester and did participate in the Blue-Wet game.

Maybe I'm psychotic psychic.

But the premise of my article stands.  The starting position is now a two-horse race.  If Jones is academically ineligible, then the third-string position will fall to one of two walk-ons:  Shane McGregor and Garret Venuto.

If you consider that Matt McGloin was a former walk-on, then 75% of our potential quarterbacks were/are walk-ons.

How did that happen?

Who's in charge of quarterbacks?

Notice my accusation question is about who is handling quarterbacks, not who is recruiting them.  Paul Jones was highly sought after.  So was Newsome.  So was Bolden.  OK, maybe they weren't being recruited by Miami or USC, but we weren't fighting Temple or Ball State to get them either. 

The problem does not appear to be recruiting them; it appears to be development and retention, although even I can't blame the academic status of Jones on the staff, unless they were remiss on following up on his grades and allowing the situation to get to the point of ineligibility before something could have been done with tutoring, etc.

I'm sorry, but I fail to see that the successes of Michael Robinson and Daryll Clark were due to the ability of the PSU staff to develop their talents.  When you look more closely, you see that Michael Robinson was misused for 3 years before finally getting the starting job.  Daryll Clark seemed to regress a bit his second year, but an injury (concussion) may have something to do with that.

Instead, I think those two "success" stories succeeded in spite of the system.

Don't forget that the Devlin transfer also occurred during this period.

This is no longer an isolated event.  It is a pattern.  And for Penn State fans, it is becoming a problem.  We are a bad grade and a couple of injuries away from disaster.  Maybe that can be said about most college football teams, but Penn State isn't like most college teams.  The most important position on the field shouldn't be resting on a walk-on when the Big Ten Championship could--NO, SHOULD--be on the line.

Poll Dancing

The USA Today PreSeason Coaches Poll is out and Penn State has made it to the dance, so to speak, coming in at #25.

Rank	Team (first-place votes)	2010 record	Points	Final 2010 ranking	Delta
1	Oklahoma (42)	12-2	1,454	6	5
2	Alabama (13)	10-3	1,414	11	9
3	Oregon (2)	12-1	1,309	3	0
4	LSU (2)	11-2	1,296	8	4
5	Florida State	10-4	1,116	16	11
6	Stanford	12-1	1,101	4	-2
7	Boise State	12-1	1,065	7	0
8	Oklahoma State	11-2	933	10	2
9	Texas A & M	9-4	885	21	12
10	Wisconsin	11-2	829	8	-2
11	Nebraska	10-4	814	19	8
12	South Carolina	9-5	779	22	10
13	Virginia Tech	11-3	767	15	2
14	Arkansas	10-3	750	12	-2
15	TCU	13-0	687	2	-13
16	Ohio State	12-1	631	5	-11
17	Michigan State	11-2	536	14	-3
18	Notre Dame	8-5	440	NR	N/A
19	Auburn	14-0	329	1	-18
20	Mississippi State	9-4	301	17	-3
21	Missouri	10-3	266	18	-3
22	Georgia	6-7	260	NR	N/A
23	Florida	8-5	240	NR	N/A
24	Texas	5-7	162	NR	N/A
25	Penn State	7-6	161	NR	N/A

Five teams are ranked that didn't make the final ranking last season: Notre Dame, Georgia, Florida, Texas and Penn State.  Not bad company, the Irish notwithstanding.

Two teams had losing records last season:  Texas and Georgia.

Number one and two fell significantly, dropping 13-18 spots.  Number three remained the same.

Big movers (+8 or more) include F$U, Texas A&M, South Carolina, Nebraska and Alabama.

Big droppers (-8 or more) include TCU, Ohio State, and Auburn.

As a conference, the Big Ten has 5 teams:  Wisconsin, MSU, Ohio State, Nebraska and Penn State.

The SEC has 8 representatives:  Alabama, LSU, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, Auburn, and Mississippi State.

The PAC-12 has 2:  Oregon and Stanford.

The ACC has 2 teams:  Va Tech and F$U.

The Big-XII has 5 teams:  Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Missouri and Texas.

The Mountain West Conference has 2 teams:  Boise State and TCU.

The Big East has NONE.

As a Penn State fan, I think just making the rankings is a significant achievement for a 7-6 team that really struggled at times last year.  I think our defense will be able to keep most games close this year, but there are a lot of questions regarding the line and the quarterback position.

To put this in some perspective, the 1986 undefeated Nittany Lions never gave up more than 19 points in any game, averaging 11.1 points given up per game.  They averaged 28.3 points per game scoring.

Last year, our offensive managed 24.5 points per game while the defense gave up 23.6 points per game.

With a margin of 17 points between what your offense can do and what your defense allows, it is easy to see how an undefeated season comes together.  Keep in mind, though, that in 1986, Penn State squeaked by Maryland 17-15.

But with a margin of less than a point per game last year, the result was a believable 7-6.

What I'm trying to say in a roundabout way is that it is just as important to score points as it is to prevent your opponent from scoring.  The defense can't do it alone.

How enthusiatic are you about our 2011 offense?

Decision Revision

Picking a Quarterback or Child's Game?  You decide!
What is that brown splotch?

Going into this season, the staff of Penn State was faced with a very big decision:  who is going to be quarterback?  It looked like a three-headed monster with no clear cut winner.

You had Rob Bolden.  Much heralded.  Won the starting job last year.  Injury.  Shaken confidence.  Let's face it, this is the reason Paterno doesn't like to play freshmen.  He couldn't make it back into the starting line-up and now carries a chip on his shoulder.

Matt McGloin.  The gunslinger.  Afraid of nothing.  Sparked the team.  Looked lousy and confused in the bowl game.  Is he the answer or the question?  Who knows?

Paul Jones.  The only one of the three that looked good in the wet scrimmage this spring.  But that doesn't mean anything.  Talented?  Probably.  But has less experience than the other two.

Well, the game of rock-paper-scissors to decide who gets the starting position has just gotten easier.  According to The Post-Gazette and other sources, Paul Jones will miss 2011 for academic reasons.

"Paul's got a problem academically," Paterno said. "He's not had a good run. He needs to get caught up on some things. ... I think he could be eligible [this fall], but he would just barely be eligible. In all fairness to him, he's young, so we'll probably sit him down."

I was looking forward to seeing this kid play, but this setback may have a silver lining.  The staff now only has two choices, which means there is less of a chance of making the wrong one!  Seriously, I think it takes some pressure off a volatile situation, although it would be nice to have three options if injuries occur.

Lot's of people making bold(en) predictions this year.  I'm going to go with Robo leading the team on the field against Indiana State, and hopefully getting some redemption (and pass protection!) against Bama.

I Miss The Smurfs

And I'm not talking about the new 3-D movie version that will try to resurrect the eighties cartoon on the big screen.  (I hope it does better justice to the little blue guys than Scoobie Doo and Josie and the Pussycats did for their respective cartoons!)
No I'm talking about THE SMURFS.  Before the 1986 Fiesta Bowl, Michael Irvin of the Hurricanes joked about the size of Penn State's defensive backs, jokingly calling them Smurfs.

Miami's Irvin walked over to Penn State's undersized safety, Ray Isom. "You're Isom?" he said. He was laughing; all week, Miami had been ridiculing Penn State's defensive backs, likening them to Smurfs -- they were too small and too slow to cover Irvin and Brett Perriman and Brian Blades.

In another old article, Conlan talks about the DBs:

Conlan felt that Ray Isom, Duffy Cobbs, Marques Henderson and Eddie Johnson intimidated Miami 's receivers.

"They kept talking about how little our defensive backs were," said Conlan. "I told them they better not forget how tough they are. Our little guys knocked them around those Miami kids didn't want to catch the football."

They may have been small, but they were certainly not slow (it had to be the shoes) and they could close quickly and hit hard.  Even without intimidation, they often physically separated the receiver from the ball.

And I miss those Smurfs.

Hole in the Ozone?

Perfect Ten?

Tony Gerdeman writing on the Ozone has come up with 12 steps to becoming sober bold predictions for the upcoming Big Ten football season.

Among these are curiously specific ones like Wisconsin's quarterback will lead the Big Ten in interceptions.  MSU will be better but not win a road game.  Luke Fickell will be named coach of the year in the conference.  Nebraska will have a losing record in conference play. 

But then he comes to this gem:

10 - Penn State will start the season 10-0.

I know, right? I blinked twice as well, and I'm the one who wrote it. This all hinges on a winnable schedule for the Nittany Lions, provided the quarterback(s) and linebackers are better than competent. If they can get by Alabama in week two, then they'll likely be favored until the second-to-last week of the season when they head to Columbus. Road games at Temple, Indiana and Northwestern, are all winnable, and home games against Iowa, Purdue, Illinois and Nebraska are as well. I know it sounds outrageous, but stranger things have happened. Michigan went to a bowl game last year, for instance.

I used to have optimism like that.  I miss it.  I really do.

I can't classify Iowa as winnable until we actually, um, win a game against them.  His claim that Northwestern will have a losing season might be underestimating the Fitzgerald Factor.  The difference between 5-7 and 7-5 is two games.  I hope we can perform well on the road.

He also predicts Indiana going to a bowl game.  I still agree we should win that game, but the Hoosiers are bound to beat us sooner or later.  Let's hope for later.  Maybe in my next lifetime.

But on the other hand, I really, really, really, really hope he's right.  At least about #10.