Some different players and leadership, but also the same in both as well. Yes, the past isn't always an indicator of present day...but it provides the only basis for opinions sometimes...which in this case is that the secondary since 2016 has been a liability, hasn't shown much to any improvement and will likely implode in big moments. Now, does the past guarantee that for the next two weeks...obviously not...but it does provide a more likely scenario.
Right...true...I thought TCF in his freshman year was solid and promising...these last two seasons he has been awful and can't make a big play...Reid is a PI machine and doesn't play the ball well....pretty disconcerting when they have 7+ yrs of experience and neither is reliable. I like Smith very much...super guy...a PSU legend and lifer...but his coaching of that position has to be seriously questioned.
It doesn’t help when we don’t get any pressure on the QB. Most games last year and some of the games this year we were sacking the QB regularly...when we don’t get any pressure, of course our DB’s don’t look good.
And to that end...he needs to be critical in general terms rather than always trying to shield the staff/players from criticism...by no means should he call players out by name...but the constant softball answers also provide no accountability in a public setting, which maybe can light a fire under the players....to me there is nothing wrong with a general statement like "No QB should ever throw for 90% in a game....all areas of the defense need to get better and be accountable." Boom, something like that is straight to the point w/o pointing fingers...or more specific if he says "Whether we get pressure from the front 4 or not, we need to hold up better in the back end and sometimes bail each other out." To me, that works so much better than removing all public criticism in his pressers...it's a soft team I think b/c of it.
Yes very true...pressure helps mitigate mistakes...but there are dozens of teams every Sat that struggle to get pressure, I'd be hard-pressed to find one with our level of talent that gives up 90% comp pct in a big game like that one. I just would like to see one unit of the defense pick up the other...seemingly rarely happens with our defense...if the front four struggles, the whole D struggles...not a recipe for success.
C'mon, he averaged more than 150 yards passing per game in college.You seem to have forgotten that Joe Montana was just average.
Issue is that PSU's defense is supposedly elite. Elite defenses do not allow QB's to be comfortable and pick us apart. They may not have thrown a ton of TD's but easily moved the ball on us making games like Pitt and Buffalo much closer than they should have been. And yes, we allowed Patterson to have his coming out party. Elite defenses would have ruined his confidence and rattled him, we gave him confidence.
So in other words we’re way better than everyone we play, all our opponents have no good players, and we should never give up any yards...got it. QB’s have been better against Bama this year than us, so I guess they’re not elite either.
Not sure what you mean by "lately" but in their last three games, they gave up 28 points to UMD, 31 points to Neb and 3 points to NW. Keep in mind that NW has scored a total of 63 in league play (7 games)
So this begs the question; if we as fans see it then Franklin surely does, so what does he do? Does he keep Smith because of the recruiting and rearrange the staff and bring another DB coach? I'm thinking he wants to keep Smith but got to get the defensive backfield fixed....how?
Great point...so many of our coaches are considered top recruiters or have an area locked up that it's hard to just replace them...in some ways they are probably better recruiters than position coaches...but this secondary has been an issue for a few yrs...not sure what to do.
Then why don't those opponents put up record numbers against other programs that are better than them? When the QB's for Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Minnesota and MSU all have record days, and all are far lesser programs, that goes against your point. Yes, every team has good players to an extent...but this isn't a one or two time situation, it's been multiple games the last three yrs where we have made a QB's highlight tape...oh how about App St as well. These are programs that shouldn't be making our secondary not just look bad, but awful.
South Carolina, A&M and LSU’s QB’s all had record days against Bama...not elite.
Umm...LSU is elite but ok...I mean if u think this 3 yr trend with our secondary is all fine...that's your prerogative.
We should be way better than Buffalo and Pitt. We should not have to sweat it out and that is because the D falls asleep with a let up. It is clear that our D has been a liability at points in the season. Let scUM back in the game and gifted Minny 21 points.
See, this is the kind of crap that bugs me when people post. We gave up 13 points to Buffalo and 10 to Pitt...that’s hardly the D falling asleep. We also beat Buffalo 45-13...how in the hell is that sweating it out? Come on, get real.
They were not elite in those games and then totally blew it against Minny.
45-13....How much worse did you want that game? And I’m not ready to trash the team about a game that hasn’t been played yet.
Get ready. Unfortunately it will happen. Thank God scUM dropped that pass in the end zone or we could be staring at another season of losing to scUM and the Luckeyes. How he was that open, who knows. Probably because we could not get to Patterson if our lives depended on it.
Yes because Penn State never hangs in there with OSU, they just always blow them out.
I was responding to a post talking about those teams... could be why I discussed the stats against those teams.
But you noticeably didn’t discuss PSU’s stats against the other two teams mentioned in the post to which you responded...Michigan and Minnesota.
