As I mentioned in another post, sometimes this is the greatest place in the world to discuss Penn State football… and at other times, it’s the absolute worst. Obviously, it’s an emotional game and losing sucks, I get that, but some of the garbage spewed on here is, as someone said about Franklin, ironically, well, it’s embarrassing.
I will say, I listened to the players’ post-game comments and it was refreshing to hear them handle the adversity with a lot of maturity and class. I highly doubt anyone on here has anywhere near as much invested in the team as do the players who actually play on it. You all can blame the coaches but if you’re being honest with yourself, the players did not play well and they made entirely too many mistakes to beat anyone, including a struggling MSU team. Youthful mistakes cost us, older players mistakes cost us, failure to execute cost us, it was a total team break-down and you know what? That happens. Sure, it’s unbelieveably disappointing but it happens (see Ohio State vs. Iowa last year, see Georgia vs. LSU yesterday, see West Virginia vs. Iowa State yesterday). Are we a better team than MSU? I think we are, but we sure weren’t yesterday… and I find it truly sad that some of you can come on here annonimously and rip the hell out of the coaches and players because they didn’t meet your expectations. Let me make this clear, our players do not suck, our coaches do not suck, and from what I’ve read on here, I’d argue its some of the fans that fit that description far more so than our coach, staff and players.
I’ve read a lot of “coaching” on here about who should start, what plays we should have run, what decision should have been made but here’s the thing, there is absolutely no guarantee anything you suggest would have changed the result yesterday. Trace did not have one of his best days. I counted at least 5 open receivers he simply missed- I saw a thread on maybe we should start the younger receivers, huh? If it was Shorter in there or Thomkins, it wouldn’t have mattered if the ball was thrown over their heads. The expectation that our players, especially Trace, be perfect each and every week is unreasonable and unachieveable. Sure, we do expect them to play better than they did yesterday but it happens, to everyone, at every level. CJ Thorpe’s penalty after the goal line stand- youthful inexperience and uncontrolled aggressiveness cost us. He’ll learn from that but the timing was bad, I make no excuses for that… and I bet he doesn’t either. We hold them at their 16 but Robert Windsor gets called for defensive holding, automatic first down (that happened twice yesterday, btw). We let them off the hook. How about Amani O’s INT that wasn’t, that play ends the game but it didn’t work out, you think he’s happy about it? I could go on and on about play after play throughout the game where we just didn’t get the job done, it happens. Steve Jones and Jack Ham commented several times during the radio broadcast about a younger player who was “out of position”. Stuff like that happens with younger players. When it all happens altogether in one game, it’s frustrating and I get that but again, the garbage spewed on here is vile, disgusting and unbecoming a Penn State fan.
Read my previous paragraph again. I didn’t say anyone sucked, I didn’t call anyone (but folks on here and you know who you are) any names or question their character. I pointed out the team’s shortcomings yesterday and I think some of you need to learn how to do that respectfully. I read through the threads this morning and but for just 1, the rest were completely over the top. The good thread, questioning Hamler’s decision to return the ball on the last kickoff. The post respectfully questioned the decision to use up time when we might have been better served to take the ball at the 25 with 19 seconds to go. The post clearly questioned the special teams Coache’s decision and/or Hamler’s but it wasn’t full of name-calling and insults. Some of the responses were, but not the OP. Other than that one post, it was the same whining we see every time we lose… which, btw, hasn’t been much the last couple years.
I read folks questioning the teams discipline, blaming the coaches for the team’s lack of focus yesterday and the mistakes they made… yet in Tim’s live post-game Franklin pc thread, Tim specifically asked folks to wait until the pc was over before commenting in the thread- that lasted until Franklin’s opening comment, Tim’s first post after the pc began, then people ignored the instruction and critiqued the hell out of every word Franklin said. If you’re going to hold others to a standard, maybe you ought to hold yourself to that same standard, too. If not, STFU.
I have no idea how the rest of this season wil turn out. I truly believed this team would run the table. I thought they’d come out much, much sharper than they did yesterday and as such, I have no prognostications about the rest of the season. Here’s what I can predict that I’m 100% certain will be true. I’ll support these players, I’ll support these coaches, I’ll support the strength and conditioning staff, and I’ll appreciate the effort they make each and every week, even in a loss. Will I bitch and moan at my TV (radio in my case) during the games? Hell yeah, but I won’t come on here and blast the players, blast the coaches, blast the program, it’s just not warranted. Will I be critical? Of course, but it can be done without some of the uncontrolled anger that shows up on here, sometimes even in wins LOL. I strongly encourage folks to think about what they’re saying, is it something they’d say to their spouse or children or best friends or other family- not the concept, the tone. The tone on here yesterday and, I suspect, the rest of this week and season wil be, frankly, embarrassing.
I will say, I listened to the players’ post-game comments and it was refreshing to hear them handle the adversity with a lot of maturity and class. I highly doubt anyone on here has anywhere near as much invested in the team as do the players who actually play on it. You all can blame the coaches but if you’re being honest with yourself, the players did not play well and they made entirely too many mistakes to beat anyone, including a struggling MSU team. Youthful mistakes cost us, older players mistakes cost us, failure to execute cost us, it was a total team break-down and you know what? That happens. Sure, it’s unbelieveably disappointing but it happens (see Ohio State vs. Iowa last year, see Georgia vs. LSU yesterday, see West Virginia vs. Iowa State yesterday). Are we a better team than MSU? I think we are, but we sure weren’t yesterday… and I find it truly sad that some of you can come on here annonimously and rip the hell out of the coaches and players because they didn’t meet your expectations. Let me make this clear, our players do not suck, our coaches do not suck, and from what I’ve read on here, I’d argue its some of the fans that fit that description far more so than our coach, staff and players.
I’ve read a lot of “coaching” on here about who should start, what plays we should have run, what decision should have been made but here’s the thing, there is absolutely no guarantee anything you suggest would have changed the result yesterday. Trace did not have one of his best days. I counted at least 5 open receivers he simply missed- I saw a thread on maybe we should start the younger receivers, huh? If it was Shorter in there or Thomkins, it wouldn’t have mattered if the ball was thrown over their heads. The expectation that our players, especially Trace, be perfect each and every week is unreasonable and unachieveable. Sure, we do expect them to play better than they did yesterday but it happens, to everyone, at every level. CJ Thorpe’s penalty after the goal line stand- youthful inexperience and uncontrolled aggressiveness cost us. He’ll learn from that but the timing was bad, I make no excuses for that… and I bet he doesn’t either. We hold them at their 16 but Robert Windsor gets called for defensive holding, automatic first down (that happened twice yesterday, btw). We let them off the hook. How about Amani O’s INT that wasn’t, that play ends the game but it didn’t work out, you think he’s happy about it? I could go on and on about play after play throughout the game where we just didn’t get the job done, it happens. Steve Jones and Jack Ham commented several times during the radio broadcast about a younger player who was “out of position”. Stuff like that happens with younger players. When it all happens altogether in one game, it’s frustrating and I get that but again, the garbage spewed on here is vile, disgusting and unbecoming a Penn State fan.
Read my previous paragraph again. I didn’t say anyone sucked, I didn’t call anyone (but folks on here and you know who you are) any names or question their character. I pointed out the team’s shortcomings yesterday and I think some of you need to learn how to do that respectfully. I read through the threads this morning and but for just 1, the rest were completely over the top. The good thread, questioning Hamler’s decision to return the ball on the last kickoff. The post respectfully questioned the decision to use up time when we might have been better served to take the ball at the 25 with 19 seconds to go. The post clearly questioned the special teams Coache’s decision and/or Hamler’s but it wasn’t full of name-calling and insults. Some of the responses were, but not the OP. Other than that one post, it was the same whining we see every time we lose… which, btw, hasn’t been much the last couple years.
I read folks questioning the teams discipline, blaming the coaches for the team’s lack of focus yesterday and the mistakes they made… yet in Tim’s live post-game Franklin pc thread, Tim specifically asked folks to wait until the pc was over before commenting in the thread- that lasted until Franklin’s opening comment, Tim’s first post after the pc began, then people ignored the instruction and critiqued the hell out of every word Franklin said. If you’re going to hold others to a standard, maybe you ought to hold yourself to that same standard, too. If not, STFU.
I have no idea how the rest of this season wil turn out. I truly believed this team would run the table. I thought they’d come out much, much sharper than they did yesterday and as such, I have no prognostications about the rest of the season. Here’s what I can predict that I’m 100% certain will be true. I’ll support these players, I’ll support these coaches, I’ll support the strength and conditioning staff, and I’ll appreciate the effort they make each and every week, even in a loss. Will I bitch and moan at my TV (radio in my case) during the games? Hell yeah, but I won’t come on here and blast the players, blast the coaches, blast the program, it’s just not warranted. Will I be critical? Of course, but it can be done without some of the uncontrolled anger that shows up on here, sometimes even in wins LOL. I strongly encourage folks to think about what they’re saying, is it something they’d say to their spouse or children or best friends or other family- not the concept, the tone. The tone on here yesterday and, I suspect, the rest of this week and season wil be, frankly, embarrassing.
