Donkoh and Ford out for the season
- Thread starter PSUWrestlingFanSince2011
- Start date
That's now five players lost for the season since the second game of the season; usually you build in two to maybe three for a whole season.
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Dang.
And this is part of the psychological impact on the team versus Minny. Momentum is huge in college football and seeing two friends end there season sucks.
Hope the best for those two players....they can still be really good ones. And hope that they don't suffer when they get older.
And this is part of the psychological impact on the team versus Minny. Momentum is huge in college football and seeing two friends end there season sucks.
Hope the best for those two players....they can still be really good ones. And hope that they don't suffer when they get older.
Well, that is the crappiest news of the day. Hope they can make full recoveries on the field and that they don't let this hinder their studies and lives off the field.
Wow.....bad news perhaps the best run blocker on OL and the best run stopper on the DL. Shame that Ford got hurt on a blatant holding call...not that calling the penalty would have reduced the loss, but the lack of holding calls seemed to make it a free for all by the Minnesota OL. Our light fast DEs never draw a hold on their pass rushes.....odd.
The Donkoh loss is huge. Thank goodness we picked up Rucci in the portal though.
What is the saying - "If you ain't cheatin' you ain't tryin'"
And as long as these officials continue to allow them to get away with it and there is no price to be paid .....
On an officiating side note, I wish that we would have had the crew that did the OSU vs IU game when we played Ohio State. It was helpful early in the game for IU and could have been a difference maker in our game vs OSU.
WRT the injuries: Next Man Up!
The misfortune of Donkoh and Ford are an opportunity for our backups to step up and distinguish themselves in a critical juncture of our season.
No one is going to feel sorry for us as everyone has significant injuries as well as bumps and bruises to deal with at this point of the season.
The misfortune of Donkoh and Ford are an opportunity for our backups to step up and distinguish themselves in a critical juncture of our season.
No one is going to feel sorry for us as everyone has significant injuries as well as bumps and bruises to deal with at this point of the season.
Part of why these penalties need to be called is bc of injuries, case and point. The fact that these blatant calls are not being made incentivizes these kids to keep holding. It’s getting out of control if you ask me.
Ohio State did it. We need to do it too. Shuffle and replace. Period. No excuses.
Some degree of holding occurs along the line of scrimmage during every play. With that in mind it is up to the officials to make sure that the holding does not become too egregious. And that is where the majority of B1G officials are deficient.
In order to properly evaluate the officiating, it would be nice if each official had their own Google Glasses type cam that would provide us with the perspective of what the official actually saw.
Having done some IM / summer league basketball officiating your positioning is important. You need to maximize your ability to see while minimizing your court presence from interfering with the game. You can't call what you can't or didn't see .....
Ford was really coming on as the season went along. He clearly went past Beamon in the DT rotation a couple games ago. Team will really need Ford next season to be a run stopping DT anchor so hope "long term" is not an ACL.... Time for one of the young DT's to step up and get a good bit of playing time vs Maryland to be ready for the playoff game, so the team needs to get up big on MD early so that can happen. Gilliam, Artis or Blanding, time to step it up and take this opportunity!!
Really, same with Donkoh. He'll be an anchor of the OL in 2025, but whoever will be backing up Rucci at R-OT need to get some snaps there vs MD as well. The PSU running game has been pretty weak lately and this won't help it as Rucci is not nearly the run blocker Donkoh is.
@Dylan Callaghan-Croley , Would Williams now back up both OT positions, or will a player like Sexton move into an actual backup OT role? Also, is JB Walton, who has played both inside and at OT, still out or could he back up Rucci?
Really, same with Donkoh. He'll be an anchor of the OL in 2025, but whoever will be backing up Rucci at R-OT need to get some snaps there vs MD as well. The PSU running game has been pretty weak lately and this won't help it as Rucci is not nearly the run blocker Donkoh is.
@Dylan Callaghan-Croley , Would Williams now back up both OT positions, or will a player like Sexton move into an actual backup OT role? Also, is JB Walton, who has played both inside and at OT, still out or could he back up Rucci?
Considering that this is Ford's second significant knee injury in as many seasons, I wouldn't count on him. If he can make a contribution, then great. However, I believe that it would be folly for the staff to count on him being a significant contributor in 2025, and they have to plan accordingly. My guess is that his frame/weight probably puts too much stress on his knee ligaments; the play on which we got hurt, while he was being held, looked fairly innocuous.
The articles that I read about him indicate that the staff had him on a pitch count at the beginning of this season, and his injury in 2023 occurred at the beginning of August, so that doesn't bode well for him for 2025.
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Don't quite understand the hate for Rucci. He actually played pretty well against Minny. Gave up a sack, yes, but not because he was beaten by the DE, but was late to pick up a blitz. Rucci had his best game to date against Minnesota.
It seems like he plays better the more that he plays; he's a fine backup. He also was going up against a pretty good defense, like when he had to play most of the Wisconsin game. He should do well against a poor defense this weekend.
That DE from Minny he went up against is one of the better ones in the conference and he played him pretty decent I thought.
Is that the same player who knocked Donkoh on his rear like a rag doll when he got injured? If so, perhaps Donkoh also would've struggled against him.
Speaking of injury losses, do we even hear the name Kevin Winston these days?
He was the best Safety on the team, and one of the best players overall IMO.
He was the best Safety on the team, and one of the best players overall IMO.
oh, more injuries, suprise, surprise, something is not right here. what could it be?
Nothing. Everyone has injuries by Thanksgiving. Ohio State is missing THREE o linemen, not one. Ford is a backup. So 28 and 91 raise their snap count. You have three weeks to recover after that. Jesus Christ the crying in here is tedious.
Franklin said today that J.B. Nelson has been battling nagging injuries but sounded like Nelson would be available.
Good Post
Football seems to be getting more and more difficult to officiate as the players get bigger/stronger/faster and the rules get more subjective, yet neither the NCAA nor the NFL seems willing to invest in making refereeing a full time profession or in providing the level of training/tech that would help them.
This makes the margin of error to beat an OSU, Georgia, Texas or Oregon zero. Would need to play the game of our lives to beat one of those teams in the playoff. OSU would run it down our throats without the added depth of Ford and they will exploit us with no Donkah. A moot point because I highly doubt we face them a 2nd time.
The amount of injuries is staggering.
The amount of injuries is staggering.
How has Izzard been doing? His role just got larger. Has Blanding seen any kind of meaningful snaps? Artis?
Ohio State had 118 yards rushing against us before they ran out the clock, and Ford had 20 snaps and 1 tackle, and Donkoh had 38 snaps. And Beamon had 7 snaps and no stats, just in case anyone brings him up. I don't think the situation just became THAT dire.
Jesus Christ has nothing to do with the demise on this board.
But, you are correct Delco, the crying is tedious.
Last year Izzard was hurt but seemed to be PSU's best DT the last couple of games once he got healthy. But he hasn't seemed to flash this season. He'll continue to have that opportunity, and I believe he has another year of eligibility so he may be the leader of the DL in 2025. Artis, with his size, has the opportunity to step up now, but so late in the season even the true freshmen (Gilliam, Mupoyi...) would seem to be candidates to compete and grow as they likely have in practice to earn snaps the rest of the season. Blanding hasn't gotten many snaps this season and seems to be still working on adding size and strength. I believe Mupoyi who moved from DE got a couple snaps at DT recently as well.
Hope someone in the media is astute enough to ask Franklin on Wednesday who is competing for the game DT snaps that Ford had been getting.
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There is no law saying you need to play 4 or 5 different interior defensive linemen per game. Many teams keep their starters on the field also. We have one game left. ONE game. Against the 17th best team in an 18 team conference. AT HOME. Then THREE WEEKS OFF TO RECOVER and prepare for the playoffs. It's not the end of the world. Ask Ohio State if they would trade McLaughlin for their backup Nose guard. This is why Franklin is paid that salary.
Might want to tell that to Franklin and Barnes. They always play 4 and sometimes 5, particularly when one gets the wind knocked out or gets nicked or is returning from getting nicked.
It's not about the Maryland game. It IS about having 5 DT's ready to play in a playoff game in case one of the 2 deep gets injured. Beamon is now in the 2 deep, and although he's experienced he has failed to be the player the staff wants getting lots of snaps which is why Ford was playing more and more.
Yep, we all know why Franklin is paid. And part of why he's paid is to use his roster for the depth he needs to compete and win big games which usually requires more depth that playing against a weak team.
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