Hopefully we’ve all had an opportunity to decompress after a pretty odd game yesterday, maybe grab a bite to eat, sleep, and enjoy some of this beautiful fall weather for those of us in the Northeast.
Anyway, I wanted to share some of my thoughts about yesterday, and maybe a little feedback I’ve gotten since, and just some overall impressions and musings.
Take them for what they’re worth.
1) I’m going to be a little more melodramatic here than I’d prefer, but I think it’s important to touch again on Anthony Zettel and what he and his family are experiencing right now. Again, I’ve never had more than a cursory relationship with him, but he’s always been pleasant to me and well-respected and well-liked around the team.
I think that a lot of times with the ubiquity of pro sports and college sports and our access to it at all times, we kind of collectively lose sight of the fact that these are really just kids at this level. Certainly, I think in Anthony’s case for as much publicity as he got this summer being himself - again, a kid - it’s easier to remember, but specifically in the context of losing a parent that was clearly integral in his life, there’s an acknowledgement to be made at just how hard this really must be. I’d heard some rumblings in the middle of the week a couple of weeks ago that things had taken a turn toward the worst, but the idea that Anthony was driving back and forth from State College to West Branch, Mich., really hammers home the taxing nature even beyond the obvious emotional trauma.
I just can’t imagine him being anything other than physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted right now, no matter how well he seems to be handling everything.
Just a really, really tough situation all around. The silver lining, of course, is that he’s surrounded and enveloped by a game and people that mean the world to him. He wants to play every snap, and my understanding is that all things considered, he’s doing well, and the family is doing well, which is good to hear.
2) It’s hard to transition from that back to football, but I just wanted to get that out there up top.
That said, the injuries are a problem.
I was able to get what I consider to be a little better sense of Barkley, and the response today has been more positive than yesterday. I’m guessing here, but I think he sits against Army. Not sure after that, as it’s likely a fluid situation. If he sits against Indiana or longer, then we’re looking at what I would consider to be legitimate problems for this offense.
For example, Penn State has scored 102 points so far this season. Barkley is directly responsible for 28 of them with four touchdowns - three rushing, one reception. Austin Johnson is responsible for another 7. Barkley has been in the possession for 16 of Penn State’s other points. Only half of Penn State’s total points this season have come when Barkley wasn’t in the game.
“Either those two guys will step up (Mark Allen and Nick Scott) or we’ll have to bring someone else up, whether it’s Jonathan Thomas or whoever we’ll have to look at it,” Franklin told reporters after the game last night. “Those guys have shown us good things, but they’re all freshmen.”
Beyond Barkley, I don’t have a lot to share beyond Nelson being expected to come back. Marcus Marcus Allen was in a sling and Franklin talked this past week about Jordan Lucas having a tough time transitioning to the physicality of playing safety. Obviously, you can’t spend much time worrying about what you don’t know, but between Wartman, Breneman, Lucas, Bell, Nelson, Lynch and now maybe Allen and Barkley missing some or any time, you’re starting to see a rash of costly injuries to a program that probably has to rely on its starters more than most considering the inexperience and youth of its depth.
3) Christian Hackenberg played well yesterday. Maybe the most humorous thing about his day was, to me, that two of his touchdown passes were great just plays by his running backs. Meanwhile, there were a couple of missed connections or missed opportunities for his wideouts at touchdowns or big plays.
We’ll leave that debate for another time, though.
That said - and I posted this somewhere else today - when this team can’t get itself into manageable second down and short third down situations offensively, they’re toast. The third down percentage is among the worst in FBS (currently No. 122 of 127 programs) but it’s more or less an impossibility when they’re in third-and-long. Obvious passing downs are a recipe for defensive coordinators to dial up blitzes and overwhelm the offensive line. It’s all interconnected. If the running backs are putting the offense into good spots and the series progression can feature a mix to keep defenses off balance, it all sets up those explosive plays.
“I think those are things that we get some positive plays and we're usually very efficient on first and second down. Getting very manageable third downs. And then being able to go out and execute whatever we need to on third down to be successful,” Hackenberg said yesterday. “Once you get the chains moving a little bit and you get a chunk play here or a chunk play there or a big run that springs for 20, that's when you see things really start to come together for us and I think if you look back at our drives, our drives that we score on are always almost around that - first and second down efficiency and then explosive plays.”
Next week could be interesting for this offense, but Army hasn’t done much defensively this season.
I think that’s about it for me at the moment.
Happy to talk here about anything you guys want as I watch Spieth put this one away.
Anyway, I wanted to share some of my thoughts about yesterday, and maybe a little feedback I’ve gotten since, and just some overall impressions and musings.
Take them for what they’re worth.
1) I’m going to be a little more melodramatic here than I’d prefer, but I think it’s important to touch again on Anthony Zettel and what he and his family are experiencing right now. Again, I’ve never had more than a cursory relationship with him, but he’s always been pleasant to me and well-respected and well-liked around the team.
I think that a lot of times with the ubiquity of pro sports and college sports and our access to it at all times, we kind of collectively lose sight of the fact that these are really just kids at this level. Certainly, I think in Anthony’s case for as much publicity as he got this summer being himself - again, a kid - it’s easier to remember, but specifically in the context of losing a parent that was clearly integral in his life, there’s an acknowledgement to be made at just how hard this really must be. I’d heard some rumblings in the middle of the week a couple of weeks ago that things had taken a turn toward the worst, but the idea that Anthony was driving back and forth from State College to West Branch, Mich., really hammers home the taxing nature even beyond the obvious emotional trauma.
I just can’t imagine him being anything other than physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted right now, no matter how well he seems to be handling everything.
Just a really, really tough situation all around. The silver lining, of course, is that he’s surrounded and enveloped by a game and people that mean the world to him. He wants to play every snap, and my understanding is that all things considered, he’s doing well, and the family is doing well, which is good to hear.
2) It’s hard to transition from that back to football, but I just wanted to get that out there up top.
That said, the injuries are a problem.
I was able to get what I consider to be a little better sense of Barkley, and the response today has been more positive than yesterday. I’m guessing here, but I think he sits against Army. Not sure after that, as it’s likely a fluid situation. If he sits against Indiana or longer, then we’re looking at what I would consider to be legitimate problems for this offense.
For example, Penn State has scored 102 points so far this season. Barkley is directly responsible for 28 of them with four touchdowns - three rushing, one reception. Austin Johnson is responsible for another 7. Barkley has been in the possession for 16 of Penn State’s other points. Only half of Penn State’s total points this season have come when Barkley wasn’t in the game.
“Either those two guys will step up (Mark Allen and Nick Scott) or we’ll have to bring someone else up, whether it’s Jonathan Thomas or whoever we’ll have to look at it,” Franklin told reporters after the game last night. “Those guys have shown us good things, but they’re all freshmen.”
Beyond Barkley, I don’t have a lot to share beyond Nelson being expected to come back. Marcus Marcus Allen was in a sling and Franklin talked this past week about Jordan Lucas having a tough time transitioning to the physicality of playing safety. Obviously, you can’t spend much time worrying about what you don’t know, but between Wartman, Breneman, Lucas, Bell, Nelson, Lynch and now maybe Allen and Barkley missing some or any time, you’re starting to see a rash of costly injuries to a program that probably has to rely on its starters more than most considering the inexperience and youth of its depth.
3) Christian Hackenberg played well yesterday. Maybe the most humorous thing about his day was, to me, that two of his touchdown passes were great just plays by his running backs. Meanwhile, there were a couple of missed connections or missed opportunities for his wideouts at touchdowns or big plays.
We’ll leave that debate for another time, though.
That said - and I posted this somewhere else today - when this team can’t get itself into manageable second down and short third down situations offensively, they’re toast. The third down percentage is among the worst in FBS (currently No. 122 of 127 programs) but it’s more or less an impossibility when they’re in third-and-long. Obvious passing downs are a recipe for defensive coordinators to dial up blitzes and overwhelm the offensive line. It’s all interconnected. If the running backs are putting the offense into good spots and the series progression can feature a mix to keep defenses off balance, it all sets up those explosive plays.
“I think those are things that we get some positive plays and we're usually very efficient on first and second down. Getting very manageable third downs. And then being able to go out and execute whatever we need to on third down to be successful,” Hackenberg said yesterday. “Once you get the chains moving a little bit and you get a chunk play here or a chunk play there or a big run that springs for 20, that's when you see things really start to come together for us and I think if you look back at our drives, our drives that we score on are always almost around that - first and second down efficiency and then explosive plays.”
Next week could be interesting for this offense, but Army hasn’t done much defensively this season.
I think that’s about it for me at the moment.
Happy to talk here about anything you guys want as I watch Spieth put this one away.
