Tennessee Refs?

The Imperfect Storm

As I was driving home from the game yesterday, I was in a reflective mood. Perhaps it was the glinting sunlight in the west, framed by a ceiling of clouds that seemed to reach all the way to California, before ending in a strip of bright blue sky and golden sun. The mountains had a golden haze over them that was simply breathtaking in its beauty. But I doubt this radiance was in any way related to my mood.

Perhaps it was because I was sober. I was driving after all. And reflecting back on the game made me wonder how I might see things if I were a little more lubricated so to speak. I mean, after all, alcohol is the fuel of the entire bar/dating scene, with the underlying premise that people look better to you when they are drunk. Surely this team would look better had I been drunk. But I doubt it. Even an alcoholic stupor could not cast a golden light on this performance.

When you strip away the positives—the fact that we won and the interception return by Bowman—you are left with something that makes stripping sound like a bad thing. Put it back on! I’m blind! Or is that the damned sunshine in my eyes?

I was sober when I wrote this; forgive me if I go astray.

I reflected on the fact that the home season at Beaver Stadium was over. We said good bye to a great group of players including Daryll Clark and Sean Lee. This day is always one of those emotional turmoils like the last day of summer vacation or the feeling on Christmas morning after the last gift has been opened. Happy yet sad. Bittersweet. No more home games until next September—but a part of you remembers all the fumbled punts and you think quietly to yourself, ‘Thank God I don’t have to witness that for awhile!’ And then you feel guilty for feeling that way, because deep down, you really love this game of football, and three months from now you will be tearing your hair out in pain waiting for the season to begin.

Yes—we won. It was an ugly win and an ugly win is better than a pretty loss, if such a beast exists. There are surely fans who will point at me and ask how I can whine and complain when we won. I don’t know how to answer that.

I’m happy that we won—don’t get me wrong on that point. But I am not pleased that punting has become an adventure in heartburn and even a struggling team like Virginia was able to put up 47 points on the Hoosier defense (ours put up 24 if you take away the Bowman score.) You know it’s bad when the crowd cheers—for a fair catch that we didn’t muff!

It’s kind of like getting to the final gift on Christmas. You really want that radio-controlled car that you’ve been begging for since practically this time last Christmas. And even as you open the gift, which your brain tells you is too small and squishy to be that car, you hope against hope that it is something it isn’t. (Deep down you know this team is better than they’ve played.) And when the paper falls away, you’re left with socks. There’s nothing wrong with socks. They’re practical. The ones you are wearing have holes in them. Kent State or Temple (and anyone with cold bare feet) is thrilled with socks. And it is the thought that counts right? Right?

But socks are not a radio-controlled car. It is not what you wanted. It might have been what you needed or even what you deserved. But the kid that wanted the car ain’t going to be happy with socks.

To those who criticize me for wanting more from this team, all I can say to you is, I hope you like your socks. You are those people that love socks. I worry about you—I really do. I guess sock fetishes aren’t always a sign of mental instability, and there are probably a lot of people that like getting socks. Maybe Obama does. Or Joe Paterno. And you.

But this is supposed to be a recap of a game that Penn State won 31-20 over the Indiana Hoosiers. Never mind that Indiana is not bowl eligible. Never mind that the oddsmakers and gamblers had us anywhere from 21-26 point favorites. A lot of them are wishing they hadn’t lost their socks on this game!

In the first quarter alone, we had two fumbles and an interception. We went into halftime with four turnovers. If punting problems weren’t enough special teams angst for one team, then how about a field goal unit that dinked a 34-yarder against the upright? Don’t the Barr’s have any kids that can come to Penn State and kick?

The lack of a special teams coach is an age-old argument, and discussing it won’t change a thing. The only person who can make the change, doesn’t think there is a problem. But I beg to differ. There are many—and there is no one person who has responsibility. Too many problems and too many people involved in the situation. No leader.

Why can’t we settle on ONE person who is responsible for fielding punts? Do they draw straws on the sideline? Oooh. You got the short one! When you look at how the team performs in other aspects of the game, you just wonder why we can’t do basic things like fielding punts, returning punts and kick-offs, and defending them. Penn State should not be nearly last in the country in all these categories.

But blogging about it won’t help. In the end, we came away with a win, kept our BCS hopes alive on life support, and regardless, we will be going to a bowl game. And no matter where it is, I’ll have a good pair of socks!

BY THE NUMBERS:

From GoPSUsports.com:

Team Totals	IND	PSU
FIRST DOWNS	20	22
Rushing	4	11
Passing	15	9
Penalty	1	2
NET YARDS RUSHING	48	181
Rushing Attempts	24	39
Average Per Rush	2.0	4.6
Rushing Touchdowns	0	2
Yards Gained Rushing	69	187
Yards Lost Rushing	21	6
NET YARDS PASSING	298	194
Completions-Attempts-Int	32-52-1	17-29-2
Average Per Attempt	5.7	6.7
Average Per Completion	9.3	11.4
Passing Touchdowns	2	1
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS	346	375
Total offense plays	76	68
Average Gain Per Play	4.6	5.5
Fumbles: Number-Lost	1-0	3-2
Penalties: Number-Yards	3-39	2-10
PUNTS-YARDS	6-236	2-89
Average Yards Per Punt	39.3	44.5
Net Yards Per Punt	36.7	44.5
Inside 20	1	1
50+ Yards	0	1
Touchbacks	0	0
Fair catch	1	1
KICKOFFS-YARDS	5-273	6-374
Average Yards Per Kickoff	54.6	62.3
Net Yards Per Kickoff	35.4	44.7
Touchbacks	0	2
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD	0-0-0	3-16-0
Average Per Return	0.0	5.3
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD	4-66-0	5-96-0
Average Per Return	16.5	19.2
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD	2-9-0	1-73-1
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD	0-0-0	0-0-0
Miscellaneous Yards	0	0
Possession Time	28:32	31:28
1st Quarter	9:50	5:10
2nd Quarter	7:05	7:55
3rd Quarter	3:50	11:10
4th Quarter	7:47	7:13
Third-Down Conversions	8 of 18	8 of 12
Fourth-Down Conversions	1 of 1	0 of 0
Red-Zone Scores-Chances	2-2	4-5
Sacks By: Number-Yards	0-0	2-11
PAT Kicks	2-2	4-4
Field Goals	2-3	1-2

INTANGIBLES:

The drum major completed both flips for what I believe was a perfect season for the Blue Band. The halftime show featured favorite drills and songs from the season, including the Theme from Rocky formation with the two stick figures fighting it out.

Penn State won the toss and deferred.

It was the final game for Blue Sapphire PJ Maierhofer. Her talent and enthusiasm will be missed.
It is win number 392 for Joe who is STILL five ahead of Bobby after his Seminoles beat Wake Forest.

Attendance for Senior Day was 107,379.

THE BIG (TEN) PICTURE:

The team that shall not be spoken of clinched at least a share of the Big Ten Title and a trip to the Rose Bowl by defeating the Hawkeyes 27-24 in OT. THEM lost to the Badgers 45-24 and must now beat Ohio State to be bowl eligible. It looks like they will add to their streak of not going to bowls this year.

In other action, the Spartans got their coveted 6th win by beating Purdue 40-37. Minnesota struggled but beat South Dakota State 16-13. Are you freaking kidding me? Just when you think wins can’t get any uglier . . .

Northwestern beat the resurgent Illini 21-16.

The final weekend of Big Ten Football features the following matchups:

PSU @ Michigan State
Minnesota @ Iowa
Purdue @ Indiana
Wisconsin @ Northwestern
Ohio State @ THEM

Illinois has two non-conference games remaining, @ Cincinnati on Nov. 27 and hosting Fresno State on Dec. 5.

SHEDDING TEARS:

1. For Irish Fans—the “fumble” will be talked about for ages. Well, at least this week. Anyone think the Big East refs and replay officials had a stake in this game?
2. For USC—my what a difference a year makes!
3. For Houston—thanks for playing
4. For the Canes—from riches to rags
5. For College Football Fans—stuck with a BCS system that will all but guarantee a Big XII versus SEC matchup
6. Mr. & Mrs. Stull who can’t watch a Pitt game from their own seats because of how the crowd boos their son.

LOOKING AHEAD:

Penn State travels to Spartan Stadium for the final game of this season. Sparty is bowl eligible and playing for pride and the ugly Land Grant Trophy. Penn State is still looking--hoping--for an at-large BCS invitation. The game will be ABC regional coverage.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m almost glad this game is away. If you look at our season so far, both losses were at home and we didn’t play loose or comfortable in either of those games. On the other hand, trips to Ann Arbor and Illinois—games we fretted about in the summer—turned out to be no big deal. We actually seem to play looser and more open on the road, at least in the second half of those games. Part of that is a product of the competition—the two home losses were against teams that Joe perceived as being tight games and he played things conservative. Hopefully, the trend on the road continues for one more week.

By The Numbers: Indiana

From the NCAA statistics:

NCAA Stats Comparison
Category:	Penn St.	Indiana
Rushing	42	96
Passing Offense	44	41
Total Offense	42	76
Scoring Offense	52	86
Rushing Defense	14	81
Turnovers Gained	47	5
Passes Had Intercepted	45	96
Pass Defense	9	103
Net Punting	115	93
Punt Returns	107	55
Kickoff Returns	114	18
Turnover Margin	40	18
Fumbles Recovered	61	14
Passes Intercepted	40	7
Fumbles Lost	12	12
Turnovers Lost	25	64
Passing Efficiency	33	73
Pass Efficiency Defense	11	91
Total Defense	8	98
Scoring Defense	3	85
Fewest Penalties Per Game	5	64
Fewest Yards Penalized Per Game	4	58
Punt Return Yardage Defense	117	41
Kickoff Return Yardage Defense	63	86
Offense Third-down Efficiency	12	80
Offense Fourth-down Efficiency	53	53
Defense Third-down Efficiency	13	112
Defense Fourth-down Efficiency	10	120
Tackles for Loss	2	49
Offense Tackles for Loss	12	17
Pass Sacks	8	52
Pass Sacks Allowed	23	17
Time of Possession	17	68
First Downs	44	99
First Downs Allowed	8	111
Red Zone Efficiency	28	88
Red Zone Efficiency - Defense	1	22
Average NCAA Rank:	34.7	63.49
Weighted Avg. Rank:	34.42	78.42

There is simply no reason the score should be close in this game. It's at home--SENIOR DAY. Coming off a tough, physical loss, the team has a lot to prove (although beating the Hoosiers really won't prove anything--but a loss is another story!)

Yet, the Hoosiers were in some games into the fourth quarter--Iowa, THEM, Wisconsin, and Northwestern. Defense is obviously their weak spot, but the offensive numbers aren't exactly worth bragging about either. They do have some advantage in special teams--what teams haven't been better than PSU!--but I doubt special teams will impact this game like it did the Iowa or OSU games.

That said, I don't think we cover the 21.5 point spread. I think our confidence is a bit shaken and Indiana will be playing like there's no tomorrow. The Hoosiers must win both remaining games (PSU and Purdue) to end up 6-6 and be bowl eligible.

Weekly Rooting Guide

As the hopes of a BCS bid grow dim, here we go . . .

South Florida is a 1 point favorite of the home team, Rutgers. That huge R is simply . . . marvelous. Frankly, I don't care who wins this game.

Penn State is a 21.5 point favorite over the Hoosiers. If I were a gambling man, I'd bet on this game being closer than that. The Hoosiers put up 14 points against the Buckeyes and 24 against the Hawks. We didn't fare so well in either of those contests. I still think we win though. My confidence level is not high right now.

In the Big Ten:

Illinois is a 4 point favorite over the Wildcats. WOW!

Ohio State is favored by 13.5 over the Stanzi-less Hawks. I really hate rooting for Ohio State and I can't stand that the marijauna leafs will add another Big Ten Title to their trophy case, but I don't think Ferentz has much of a chance here.

Purdue is a pick against the Spartans. Go Sparty!

THEM plays Wisconsin, but for some reason, my paper doesn't give a spread and I'm too lazy to look it up on-line. GO BADGERS!

The Gophers play South Dakota State. No line. Go Gophers!

In Top Ranked Action:

Florida is favored by 15 at South Carolina. GO GAMECOCKS!

Alabama is a 12.5 favorite over Mississippi State. Go BULLDOGS!

Texas is a 25 point favorite over Baylor. Yeah, whatever.

Cincy takes on West Virginia tomorrow night. No line in our paper on this one either. And I don't have a horse in this race either. So, go Mountaineers!

Utah is a 17.5 point dog to TCU. Go Utes!

Idaho is a 28 point dog to Boise State. Whatever.

Stanford is a 11.5 dog to USC. Go Tree!

In other games of interest:

Pitt is a 7 point favorite over the Irish. Is this choosing the lesser of two evils or what? I gotta root for the Irish on this one, but it's gonna hurt either way.

Wake Forest is a 4.5 point fave over Bowden. GO DEMON DEACONS!

The Price of Success

USA Today has compiled a database of Head Coach (and some assistant coaches) salaries. I'm not sure how reliable the data is . . . Paterno's salary doubled from $512,664 to $1,097,767 and Charlie Weis's salary is posted at an anemic $640,851. There are several schools with no data listed, including Boston College, BYU, Duke, Miami (FL), Northwestern, Stanford, Syracuse, Tulane and Vanderbilt.

The highest listed salary is Pete Carroll at USC: $4,386,652

The lowest is Charlie Weatherbee at La-Monroe: $160,000. That's probably more than he was making as principal of Archie's Riverdale High School!

But does paying higher salaries translate into more wins? Here's how things look in 2009--year to date--calculating the cost of each win based on these published salaries. As noted above, there is no data for some teams, and four teams have no wins, so the cost per win is essentially infinity or undefined--division by zero.


For BCS ranked teams, Houston is the best deal per win at $93,750 per win to date. Pitt is next and is actually a better deal than Boise State.

TEAM	wins	HC Salary	Cost per Win
La.-Monroe	5	$160,000	$32,000
Idaho	7	$258,187	$36,884
Kent St.	5	$190,000	$38,000
Central Mich.	7	$308,450	$44,064
La.-Lafayette	5	$226,000	$45,200
Troy	7	$320,899	$45,843
Middle Tenn.	6	$281,655	$46,943
Northern Ill.	6	$344,773	$57,462
Navy	7	$468,464	$66,923
Temple	7	$505,000	$72,143
Marshall	5	$367,795	$73,559
Bowling Green	4	$301,000	$75,250
Nevada	5	$377,505	$75,501
Ohio	6	$456,000	$76,000
Toledo	4	$360,000	$90,000
Houston	8	$750,000	$93,750
Western Mich.	4	$379,000	$94,750
Notre Dame	6	$640,851	$106,809
Arkansas St.	2	$220,162	$110,081
UNLV	4	$443,100	$110,775
UAB	4	$471,800	$117,950
Pittsburgh	8	$979,288	$122,411
Akron	2	$246,292	$123,146
Boise St.	9	$1,123,150	$124,794
New Mexico St.	3	$375,000	$125,000
West Virginia	7	$878,000	$125,429
Air Force	6	$776,500	$129,417
Army	3	$400,000	$133,333
Buffalo	3	$401,300	$133,767
Louisiana Tech	3	$405,000	$135,000
Clemson	6	$816,850	$136,142
Penn St.	8	$1,097,767	$137,221
North Texas	2	$279,963	$139,982
Southern Miss.	5	$736,102	$147,220
Wyoming	4	$601,730	$150,433
Utah	8	$1,207,500	$150,938
Cincinnati	9	$1,362,500	$151,389
Oregon St.	6	$950,000	$158,333
Fresno St.	6	$963,506	$160,584
UTEP	3	$488,666	$162,889
Indiana	4	$658,750	$164,688
San Diego St.	4	$676,800	$169,200
Utah St.	2	$352,400	$176,200
Iowa St.	5	$950,000	$190,000
Fla. Atlantic	2	$383,338	$191,669
Tulsa	4	$769,264	$192,316
Minnesota	5	$1,000,000	$200,000
TCU	9	$1,800,000	$200,000
FIU	2	$403,000	$201,500
Purdue	4	$825,000	$206,250
Arizona	6	$1,265,000	$210,833
Wisconsin	7	$1,481,506	$211,644
Oregon	7	$1,500,000	$214,286
Colorado St.	3	$700,000	$233,333
Baylor	4	$943,830	$235,958
SMU	5	$1,206,368	$241,274
Georgia Tech	9	$2,300,000	$255,556
Oklahoma St.	7	$1,800,000	$257,143
UCF	5	$1,312,625	$262,525
South Fla.	6	$1,600,000	$266,667
East Carolina	5	$1,382,863	$276,573
North Carolina	6	$1,702,000	$283,667
Auburn	7	$2,050,000	$292,857
Miami (OH)	1	$300,000	$300,000
Mississippi St.	4	$1,200,000	$300,000
North Carolina St.	4	$1,200,000	$300,000
Kansas St.	6	$1,850,000	$308,333
Nebraska	6	$1,852,000	$308,667
UCLA	4	$1,276,000	$319,000
Kentucky	5	$1,617,517	$323,503
Colorado	3	$1,000,570	$333,523
Iowa	9	$3,024,500	$336,056
South Carolina	6	$2,031,500	$338,583
Texas	9	$3,060,500	$340,056
Rutgers	6	$2,070,932	$345,155
Ball St.	1	$350,000	$350,000
Virginia Tech	6	$2,138,000	$356,333
Texas A&M	5	$1,801,651	$360,330
Michigan St.	5	$1,811,260	$362,252
Connecticut	4	$1,450,000	$362,500
Arizona St.	4	$1,502,643	$375,661
Hawaii	3	$1,138,504	$379,501
Tennessee	5	$2,000,000	$400,000
Louisville	3	$1,216,000	$405,333
Mississippi	6	$2,509,000	$418,167
Alabama	9	$3,900,000	$433,333
Florida	9	$4,000,000	$444,444
Texas Tech	6	$2,700,000	$450,000
San Jose St.	1	$457,820	$457,820
Kansas	5	$2,303,500	$460,700
Memphis	2	$925,000	$462,500
Ohio St.	8	$3,722,000	$465,250
California	6	$2,807,500	$467,917
Illinois	3	$1,505,000	$501,667
Michigan	5	$2,521,000	$504,200
Missouri	5	$2,525,000	$505,000
LSU	7	$3,751,000	$535,857
Wake Forest	4	$2,172,127	$543,032
Arkansas	5	$2,858,000	$571,600
Florida St.	4	$2,319,375	$579,844
Washington St.	1	$600,100	$600,100
Washington	3	$1,833,333	$611,111
Georgia	5	$3,096,576	$619,315
Southern California	7	$4,386,652	$626,665
Virginia	3	$2,072,339	$690,780
Oklahoma	5	$4,303,000	$860,600
Maryland	2	$1,877,095	$938,548
Boston College	6
BYU	7
Duke	5
Miami (FL)	7
Northwestern	6
Stanford	6
Syracuse	3
Tulane	3
Vanderbilt	2
Eastern Mich.	0	$300,000	#DIV/0!
New Mexico	0	$750,650	#DIV/0!
Rice	0	$476,842	#DIV/0!
Western Ky.	0	$259,808	#DIV/0!

Here's how the BCS teams compare:

Cost Rank	Team	Wins	HC Salary	Cost per Win
88	Florida	9	$4,000,000	$444,444
87	Alabama	9	$3,900,000	$433,333
75	Texas	9	$3,060,500	$340,056
49	TCU	9	$1,800,000	$200,000
38	Cincinnati	9	$1,362,500	$151,389
25	Boise St.	9	$1,123,150	$124,794
58	Georgia Tech	9	$2,300,000	$255,556
98	LSU	7	$3,751,000	$535,857
105	Southern California	7	$4,386,652	$626,665
73	Iowa	9	$3,024,500	$336,056
93	Ohio St.	8	$3,722,000	$465,250
23	Pittsburgh	8	$979,288	$122,411
54	Oregon	7	$1,500,000	$214,286
N/A	Miami (FL)	7
17	Houston	8	$750,000	$93,750
37	Utah	8	$1,207,500	$150,938
52	Arizona	6	$1,265,000	$210,833
33	Penn St.	8	$1,097,767	$137,221
59	Oklahoma St.	7	$1,800,000	$257,143
53	Wisconsin	7	$1,481,506	$211,644
78	Virginia Tech	6	$2,138,000	$356,333
N/A	BYU	7
39	Oregon St.	6	$950,000	$158,333
61	South Fla.	6	$1,600,000	$266,667
27	West Virginia	7	$878,000	$125,429
	AVERAGE		$2,090,320	$270,365

The average cost of a BCS win is $270,365! (To date--these numbers will go down as the win total increases.)

Weekly TAS Computer Ranks

	TEAM	W/L Rank	NCAA Rank	Weighted Rank	Schedule Strength	Overall Rank
1	Alabama	1	6	5	38	3.13
2	Texas	1	3	4	61	4.31
3	Florida	1	4	3	75	5.19
4	Cincinnati	1	8	6	71	5.38
5	TCU	1	2	2	94	6.19
6	Boise St.	1	1	1	115	7.38
7	Pittsburgh	9	7	7	22	9.48
8	Iowa	7	34	32	22	11.94
9	Georgia Tech	7	20	27	70	13.75
10	Utah	9	27	17	91	15.67
11	Oregon	14	16	15	11	16.83
12	Ohio St.	12	13	12	52	17.56
13	Houston	9	26	43	114	18.67
14	Penn St.	12	9	8	81	18.88
15	Wisconsin	14	15	19	44	19.08
16	West Virginia	14	29	29	30	19.71
17	Arizona	25	11	9	33	19.88
18	LSU	14	28	31	39	20.33
19	Miami (FL)	14	47	34	19	20.46
20	Oklahoma St.	14	17	16	67	20.46
21	Southern California	14	40	30	41	21.15
22	BYU	14	25	18	84	22.15
23	South Fla.	25	23	20	57	22.81
24	Central Mich.	14	22	23	100	23.27
25	Rutgers	25	18	24	93	25.00
26	Virginia Tech	31	37	25	20	27.06
27	Navy	28	21	25	74	27.25
28	Auburn	28	57	39	25	27.31
29	Clemson	31	30	28	36	27.81
30	Temple	14	44	57	117	27.83

The Scarlet's Better

The 300th game in Beaver Stadium was not one for the record books. A top ten crowd of over 110,000 fans were shocked, stunned, disappointed, and to a large degree embarrassed by the play of their team in this contest. At least the weather was nice.

Maybe that was the problem . . .our team had no experience playing in good weather. Perhaps we should have hosed the field down and kept the game balls wet.

I jest. There are no excuses. There were no bad calls to speak of, and Penn State might have gotten the benefit of the only controversial play—did Clark cross the goal line? I was sitting in the opposite end of the stadium so I don’t know. It survived a review, but I think if the call on the field was no score, that would have been upheld as well. Fortunately, the call was in our favor and it happened at a point in the game where it still meant something, tying the score at seven.

I said before the game that I thought the opening drive would be key, that if Pryor was successful early on it would give him confidence. And while the defense held the Bucks to three and out including two incomplete passes by Pryor, we fared no better on our first possession, having to punt.

And that’s when things went bad. A 41 yard punt return by Small set up Ohio State for first and goal at the nine. They scored two plays later on a scramble by Pryor. Pump up the ego. The monster was alive. IT’S ALIVE! I knew this bode poorly for us. Even a top 10 defense is going to have a long day when the field is shortened by 91 yards.

Thanks to poor special teams play on punts and an offense that could not move the ball, Penn State played most of the first three quarters with poor field position. In fact, our best field position of the day came in the fourth when the Buckeyes had to kick-off from the 20 yard line due to an unsportsmanlike penalty. There’s a surprise. Sportsmanship has never been a high priority at THE Ohio State University from Woody Hayes punching a player to Cooper’s team running up the score after Adam Taliaferro was carted from Ohio Stadium with a serious neck injury. Sour grapes? You bet. But they make a fine whine best served cold.

But this game was not about running up the score. Ohio State played a great game. Their coaches had them prepared, the players executed well, and the team that deserved to win was victorious. Basically, the whole thing sucked.

For Penn State fans, though, the result is a bag of mixed emotions. Most serious fans—those that are not delusional like myself—considered a prediction of 10-2 to be a pretty good year. That is certainly attainable, although neither game left is a gimme. Indiana had THEM and !*w@ on the ropes. You never know what kind of game the Spartans will bring.

And logic would dictate that losing to the two best opponents is nothing to be ashamed of. They are both ranked teams. It’s not like we lost to Akron or Eastern Illinois. We beat the teams we should have beaten and lost to those that played better than we did.

But let’s take a moment and over-analyze this a bit further. We did not lose to the two best teams in the country. Even Purdue managed to beat the Buckeyes. And !*w@ was beaten by a Northwestern team that we already disposed of. Both of those teams were beatable. We just failed to do it. Purdue and Northwestern succeeded where we failed. Now how do you feel about the season?

Worse yet, we failed miserably. On national TV. AT HOME. Twice. The stadium announcer flashed the message before the game started “!*w@ LOST!” All we had to do was win. The stage was set. Guido cued the entertainment. But our team failed to support the cast of 110,000. I am actually getting tired of THE GREAT SHOW. The marketing folks at PSU are obviously milking this thing for everything they can get out of it. But after the emotion of the videos are gone, and the drum major has flipped and all the hype is left behind as the ball is actually kicked off, wouldn’t it be nice to see some great football as part of that great show?

Color coordination by the fans and Zombie nation only go so far. (I really enjoy all the pageantry of Penn State football and the Beaver Stadium experience—when we actually play football and mostly when we win.) But after awhile, it’s like putting lipstick on a pig, when the end product isn’t what you really wanted all along. Do you want a date with a twenty year old, or a date with an eighty year old wearing too much make-up and pretending to be something she isn’t? Do I go to the game to watch videos and yell “PENN STATE” or do I go to see them beat a hated rival? I certainly don’t go expecting them to play like they did last Saturday!

I’m not asking for miracles or an upset here. We were favored to win. We were expected to win. Did we come out playing like we should win? Is there any leadership on this team? I watched Clemson later that night when they fell behind to Bowden’s team and one of their players started yelling at the others. The result: Clemson came on like gangbusters and won the game. Does anyone on our sideline care?

Why did we punt with 5:48 left in the game? We even took a time out there—and still punted. Not even a fake. How can we expect our guys to play all out when the coaches give up? Give me a break. You're down THREE scores. Are you hoping they fumble the punt? Are you expecting a turnover deep in their territory? Granted, nothing we had seen offensively all day suggested we could make a first down, but punting sent a clear message. This game was over at the 6 minute mark. Pack up the tailgate. See ya next week. There's always next year.

The bigger question is, though, would leadership even have made any difference? There are some serious issues that always seem to get covered up with make-up and window dressing for most of the season, but always seem to rear their ugly heads at the most inopportune times. Let’s take them one at a time.

1. Special Teams. While they may not have cost us this particular game, it certainly made an uphill climb more steep. I feel we would have beaten !*w@ had they not blocked a punt for a TD. Had we not kicked off to Breaston in 2005, I think we would have won that game, although you can never be sure when there’s a referine around.

We all know this. Joe even said he was “worried” about the kicking game this week. When do we stop worrying and actually DO SOMETHING about it? When do we stop losing games or making things more difficult for our team by these gaffs that could and should be avoided? There’s no closing the barn door because the horse ran away on this one. The horse is long gone and probably dead by now as we continue to beat it each and every week. And when we don’t have a special teams problem—it’s not because we fixed anything. Those are the games where the mascara and rouge are ample enough to cover up the ugliness of it all. That problem is still there, waiting to be exploited by a Carr, Tressel, or Ferentz.

Our punter may actually be too good. He consistently out kicks our coverage, which is basically only two guys going downfield. We don’t block any punts so I’m curious as to what the other 9 players are doing? On one punt, Boone was knocked down and still got up and managed to tackle the return man to save yet another disaster. When Ohio State punted, our guys were fair catching with at least three Buckeye defenders surrounding the receiver. Are they that much faster? They only average 38 yards a punt, but their net is 35. We average 45 yards a punt but only averaged a net of 30!

2. Offensive Line. Why can we only manage a good offensive line every 3-4 years, and a great one maybe once a decade? Is it recruiting (which is ultimately the coaches’ responsibility) or is it coaching and development? Every other team in college football has to contend with turn-over by graduation or attrition and injuries. Yet teams like Florida and Alabama and USC and Ohio State seem to reload more frequently than they rebuild. Yes, schools go through down periods. This isn’t a down period. This is a cycle that has been going on for DECADES. A friend of mine thinks the problem began when Craig Cirbus left PSU for Buffalo, which is around the time when Dick Anderson came back to take over the offensive line. Are he and Kenney getting the job done? Is a good line every 3-4 years the benchmark for success. If not, why aren’t we addressing this? There is simply no reason why we can’t recruit the same caliber of athlete as Ohio State. Period.

3. Play-calling. How many times this season have we seen Clark sneak on the goal line? I can remember at least two (stretching the ball out to the point where it could be fumbled!) and I’m sure he’s done it more than that. Hell, he did it and failed the third down play before he supposedly scored. Don’t you think that Ohio State would have seen that tendency on film? Do we try to out think ourselves? Oh, they will be expecting that. But if they are expecting that, they probably will think we won’t try it. So maybe we can surprise them by doing what they expect us to do? Seriously. He barely made it as it was.

Did we call only one screen pass? I did not see any reverses. Did we even throw to Moye?

Why does our playbook shrink against better teams? We are playing right into their hands. The defense is supposed to limit our options, not our own coaching staff. I’m not saying we should have run some kind of gimmick play on the goal line, but can’t we be a little more creative than a QB sneak?

And my Buckeye Buddy Dick already had emailed me before I got home from the game:

Toddy you're just going to have to schedule more Temple's, E. Illinois, & a few more chumps to pad Joe's win record. Only thing you hillbilly's excell at are spittin on people, throwing urine & other human waste on your visitors. All class baby. Please do the big ten a favor & drop out. bunch of drunken hillbillys do not belong.
your best bud Brutus

Believe it or not, I don’t schedule these games. I’m also not one of the University presidents that voted PSU into the league. Sorry Dick, but I can’t help you there.

BY THE NUMBERS:

The numbers are consistent with what we witnessed on the field. Penn State had only 9 first downs and SIX of them were in the first half. On only two drives did we put together more than one first down in a row—four of our first downs came on the only scoring drive of the day. We lost time of possession by almost nine minutes, and most importantly, we held the ball for only 2:43 of the final quarter.

From GoPSUsports:

Team Totals	OSU	PSU
FIRST DOWNS	15	9
Rushing	10	2
Passing	5	5
Penalty	0	2
NET YARDS RUSHING	228	76
Rushing Attempts	49	30
Average Per Rush	4.7	2.5
Rushing Touchdowns	1	1
Yards Gained Rushing	245	95
Yards Lost Rushing	17	19
NET YARDS PASSING	125	125
Completions-Attempts-Int	8-17-0	12-28-1
Average Per Attempt	7.4	4.5
Average Per Completion	15.6	10.4
Passing Touchdowns	2	0
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS	353	201
Total offense plays	66	58
Average Gain Per Play	5.3	3.5
Fumbles: Number-Lost	0-0	1-0
Penalties: Number-Yards	9-86	4-31
PUNTS-YARDS	8-304	10-458
Average Yards Per Punt	38.0	45.8
Net Yards Per Punt	35.5	30.8
Inside 20	3	1
50+ Yards	1	3
Touchbacks	1	1
Fair catch	4	1
KICKOFFS-YARDS	5-329	2-128
Average Yards Per Kickoff	65.8	64.0
Net Yards Per Kickoff	47.0	48.0
Touchbacks	0	0
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD	7-130-0	1-0-0
Average Per Return	18.6	0.0
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD	2-32-0	5-94-0
Average Per Return	16.0	18.8
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD	1-0-0	0-0-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD	0-0-0	0-0-0
Miscellaneous Yards	0	0
Possession Time	34:02	25:58
1st Quarter	7:48	7:12
2nd Quarter	8:01	6:59
3rd Quarter	5:56	9:04
4th Quarter	12:17	2:43
Third-Down Conversions	6 of 16	4 of 16
Fourth-Down Conversions	0 of 0	1 of 2
Red-Zone Scores-Chances	2-2	1-1
Sacks By: Number-Yards	2-13	0-0
PAT Kicks	3-3	1-1
Field Goals	1-1	0-0

INTANGIBLES:

Penn State won the coin toss and deferred.

The Blue Band Drum Major stuck both flips. Didn’t help.

Attendance was 110,003—the sixth largest crowd ever. Didn’t help.

Ohio State takes a 13-12 series lead all-time.

Thanks to a Clemson win, Joe is still 5 wins ahead of Bobby.

THE BIG (TEN) PICTURE:

Ohio State is right on pace to share or win the Title. Everyone on their knees in homage to their greatness.

Northwestern defeated the Hawks 17-10. Michigan State cruised to a victory over Western Michigan 49-14. Illinois upset the Gophers, 35-32. Wisconsin beat Indiana 31-28. And Purdue beat THEM 38-36. The Spoilermakers haven’t won in Ann Arbor since 1966. RichRod is breaking all kinds of records out there!

Next week:

Penn State hosts Indiana.
Illinois hosts Northwestern
Ohio State hosts !*w@
Minnesota tackles South Dakota State
Purdue hosts the Spartans
Wisconsin hosts THEM

SHEDDING TEARS:

1. For Penn State—haven’t we suffered enough this decade?
2. For Oklahoma—seriously, you gotta feel bad for Sam Bradford and Co.
3. For the Ducks—treed by Stanford
4. For UConn—tough year with a player death and a couple of close losses

LOOKING AHEAD:

Indiana comes to Beaver Stadium next week.

Here’s the Hoosiers season:

Western Kentucky W 19-13
Western Michigan W 23-19
Akron W 38-21
THEM L 33-36
Ohio State L 14-33
Virginia L 7-47
Illinois W 27-14
Northwestern L 28-29
!*w@ L 24-42
Wisconsin L 28-31

The Hoosiers were hosed by the refs in games against THEM and !*w@. They played Northwestern and Wisconsin tough. Who the hell knows what happened against Virginia?! This is a dangerous game. They won’t be awed by our colors or videos. I doubt all the students bother to show up in the student section. (So? Prove me wrong!) They’re coming to play football and we had better do a better job than we did this past weekend, or we could end up in a rinky-dink bowl very quickly.