Football INSTANT REACTIONS: Penn State defeats Purdue, 35-31

[olelion]

It's always difficult for me to judge a defense when going against basketball on grass. Any decent offense of this type that puts it up 60 times is going to have some success. Lineman get tired and linebackers difficult to evaluate. The LB that got tossed showed very nice closing speed btw.

O line early showed me more than I was expecting. Clifford had time and backs were getting forward yardage. I am cautiously optimistic on improvement going forward

Beating a good team on the road speaks volumes.

 

[RickinDayton]

PunterU

Yes, Barney Armor (sp?) was great. Kick offs by both players were also great and Pinegar hit all his PATs. Kicking by committee is OK with me.

 

[marshall23]

It's always difficult for me to judge a defense when going against basketball on grass. Any decent offense of this type that puts it up 60 times is going to have some success. Lineman get tired and linebackers difficult to evaluate. The LB that got tossed showed very nice closing speed btw.

O line early showed me more than I was expecting. Clifford had time and backs were getting forward yardage. I am cautiously optimistic on improvement going forward

Good point about how football has become more basketball/soccer like. I played and coached between 64-86...and it's hard to reconcile how the game has evolved. It just isn't the game we grew up with....so many momentum swings and profound changes to philosophy. Not saying good or bad.....just radically different.

 

[lockhavenlion3]

Wondering if scoring TDs in the final seconds of both halves, with timeouts preserved, qualifies as good clock management?

don't know. can't find coach wally to tell us where & how franklin screwed up. we may never know .

 

[marshall23]

don't know. can't find coach wally to tell us where & how franklin screwed up. we may never know .

He's sequestered with the NNNNNCAC breaking down game film in an effort to determine what went wrong(causing PSU to win).

 

[jbenedict]

Where is the Franklin hater who said we'd vanish 9/2?

Marshall we were very lucky to pull out this game. This game does nothing to dismiss Franklin's continued short comings. What has changed between the last two years and last night? I saw nothing other than the defense playing more man and less zone.

 

[marshall23]

Marshall we were very lucky to pull out this game. This game does nothing to dismiss Franklin's continued short comings. What has changed between the last two years and last night? I saw nothing other than the defense playing more man and less zone.

Games are played with the goal of winning. If you don't like a coach because the team loses.....and you aren't happy when the team wins.....you are just going to be an unhappy fan.
CJF has a 10 year iron clad guaranteed 70+million dollar contract. He's gonna be the coach for a long time.
Franklin gets the number of years X 7+ million if he is dismissed. Penn State doesn't have the deep pockets or the appetite to eat his 70 million and then turn around and hire a new coach and staff for the same amount of $ or more.
I happen to respect the way he carries himself and runs the program. I understand that others do not agree.....that's okay.....but as I said, he's the coach for the foreseeable future. Thems the facts.
Just one other tidbit....even if someone donated 70 million and CJF was axed, Allar, Singleton and company would
beat him out the door. His blue chip recruits aren't coming because they love dear old State.

 

[b&w1987]

A run game would be nice. RB's look fast, O-line looks outmatched.

 

[Parkerdam555]

A run game would be nice. RB's look fast, O-line looks outmatched.

Actually the offensive line is average, but the problem is Wallace, who brings them far below average due to the fact he is simply unable to compete at the Big Ten level. If they can find even just an average replacement like Effner, they can at least no longer be such an eye sore.

 

[TN Lion]

Clifford sucked and then he didn’t

And he still sucks and never will not suck.

 

[marshall23]

And he still sucks and never will not suck.

Funny I saw Cliff the other day and he said the exact same thing about you.

 

[bourbon n blues]

I agree to a point, but remember Wisconsin and Auburn? Great wins as well and then the season imploded. We have plenty of time to screw this up. Without a run game this is 6 or 7 win season.

Yep

 

[Wallace Breen]

I just finished rewatching the game. Other than the outcome, it went exactly as I expected it to go. The running struggled which will be a theme until MY gets enough a sufficient number of linemen with the correct skillset to run his gap blocking scheme. Looking at 2024 given how long it takes to get five quality linemen recruited and ready to contribute. Clifford was fine. He needs to run to be effective, even if it risks injury. The lack of a legit deep receiver reared its ugly head and will be something to watch going forward. Defensively, we look worse at all three levels but Joey Porter Jr. played very well. The new approach could yield an overall improvement in the defensive backfield. Unless they decide to start Beamon outside, there is no hope of improvement up front. Different philosophy, same result. They stuff the run inside but are going to be vulnerable to off tackle to outside runs.

Overall, not a bad opener. They will get better next week before heading to Auburn. Bottom line, Purdue did more to lose the game than we did to win it, much like last year's opener. I see no reason to revise my prediction of 7 and 5 up at this point. We'll revisit after auburn.

 

[Wallace Breen]

Actually the offensive line is average, but the problem is Wallace, who brings them far below average due to the fact he is simply unable to compete at the Big Ten level. If they can find even just an average replacement like Effner, they can at least no longer be such an eye sore.

Wallace is obviously befuddled by the gap blocking scheme. He is slow to identify his targets, lacks the lateral movement to adjust and maintain the wall and the footspeed to catch up. These are common issues for linemen that were recruited and developed to primarily execute a man blocking scheme, much less a complicated one like we currently use. His limitations are fairly obvious so the staff must think he is the best option. Playing him inside probably won't help much in this system either.

 

[wilbury]

what I think is a rational opinion....
defense....I said earlier that if we played our soft zone defense O'connell would kill us...that it's difficult to get sacks because they get the ball out quickly,..and that they'll use those short crosses to set up the long ball....
all of those happened. In about the last 10 minutes it seemed as if we switched to a more aggressive defense both rushing the passer and going more man to man. I thought our dbacks played great in the final purdue drives, and Urban Meyer was right when he said the defense won this game.
Offense..I don't understand the game plan...too many runs up the middle on 1 and 2 downs then on 3rd and 6 or 7 pass. When we were passing, we were moving the ball...last drive one run and moved down the field in about a minute with passes. Our offense doesn't seem to have an identity. On offensive plays, defense has 10 defenders in the box and we try to run. I guess there's a plan, but the objective is to win the game..if the pass is working pass until they can stop you.
On to Ohio.

In other words, the same defense we've always played against Purdue? Underneath stuff all day, nothing vertical? Paterno did the same thing vs Drew Brees and he had like 500 yards and we still won.

 

[PSUCYCLING]

In other words, the same defense we've always played against Purdue? Underneath stuff all day, nothing vertical? Paterno did the same thing vs Drew Brees and he had like 500 yards and we still won.

Keep everything in front of the defense, then, tighten up near the goal line when there is not as much space. Even in the dark years, we’ve always played Purdue well.