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???

Election Update

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Happy 4-09!

Did Erickson Sell-Out Penn State?

Just when you think the whole catastrophe couldn't get any worse, you read something like this from the Sun Sentinel . . .

Ameen Najjar, the NCAA enforcement director until his May 2012 firing, sent multiple emails to Shapiro's jail account to explain why the case against UM was crumbling, according to documents obtained by the Sun Sentinel. Najjar also criticized the NCAA's handling of Penn State's unprecedented sanctions relating to the Jerry Sandusky child sex scandal, but focused on the governing body's handling of the Miami case.

An Aug. 7 email from Najjar to Shapiro addressed the Penn State sanctions.

"The Penn State deal is a travesty," he wrote. "The NCAA did not impose anything. Penn State agreed to and self-imposed the penalties, waved all due process and waived any right to appeal. The NCAA had/has NO authority to impose any penalties in that situation and PSU's president sold the school down the river!"

Granted, this is an email from a disgruntled former employee, but it does throw Erickson's actions into a new light.  I always wondered why Penn State was so quick to accept a punishment that wasn't warranted.  Maybe we didn't accept it.  Maybe we created it, and I use the term "we" loosely.  It will be very interesting to see how this new revelation plays out.

Ticket Sales Up

The following seat availability chart compares the seats listed on the Virtual Venue Website as being available last May, compared to today. 

There appears to be a net of 688 fewer seats available since last May, with relocation starting just this past week.

The percentages at the bottom are based on a stadium capacity of 107,282 seats--so there is 13% of the stadium seating still available.  There is a new $200 level seating this year, WCU, WGU, EGU, ECU. These numbers are still lumped in the $400 level in the totals.

SECTION	Donation	Seats Available	Seats Available	Delta
		5/1/2012	3/31/2013
WB	$400	246	262	16
WC	$400	22	70	48
WD	600-2000	44	45	1
WE	600-2000	5	3	-2
WF	600-2000	31	80	49
WG	$400	22	48	26
WH	$400	269	236	-33
WJ	$100	16	41	25
NA	$100	29	32	3
NB	$100	53	69	16
NC	$100	93	98	5
ND	$100	135	81	-54
NE	$100	169	90	-79
NF	$100	95	63	-32
NG	$100	199	86	-113
NH	$100	176	68	-108
NJ	$100	209	80	-129
NK	$100	225	76	-149
NL	$100	73	66	-7
EJ	$100	16	35	19
EH	$400	421	421	0
EG	$400	57	78	21
EF	600-2000	77	106	29
EE	600-2000	1	0	-1
ED	600-2000	108	77	-31
EC	$400	87	102	15
EB	$400	76	58	-18
WBU	$100	2	7	5
WCU	$200	573	554	-19
WDU	$600	712	696	-16
WEU	$600	336	345	9
WFU	$600	724	699	-25
WGU	$400	498	464	-34
WHU	$100	2	43	41
WJU	$100	61	57	-4
NAU	100-400	135	153	18
NBU	$100	110	115	5
NCU	100-400	193	204	11
NDU	100-400	148	155	7
NEU	100-400	195	188	-7
NFU	100-400	156	140	-16
NGU	100-400	114	118	4
NHU	100-400	108	114	6
NJU	100-400	188	240	52
NKU	$100	0	0	0
NLU	100-400	2	0	-2
EJU	$100	301	97	-204
EHU	$100	10	73	63
EGU	$200	1291	1274	-17
EFU	$400	1000	955	-45
EEU	$600	870	745	-125
EDU	$400	1406	1361	-45
ECU	$200	1542	1477	-65
EBU	$100	1	27	26
SAU	$100	53	173	120
SBU	$100	185	209	24
SCU	$100	189	204	15
SDU	$100	137	145	8
SEU	$100	54	39	-15
SFU	$100	9	19	10
SGU	$100	31	29	-2
SHU	$100	133	147	14
SJU	$100	141	162	21
SKU	$100	167	138	-29
SLU	$100	128	134	6
TOTAL		14859	14171	-688	13%
				0
100		4441	4015	-426	28.33%
200-400		5104	5044	-60	35.59%
600+		5314	5112	-202	36.07%