Obli's Observations, 2015...

[Obliviax]

Well, it was an interesting 2015. Honestly, I predicted this last year bringing up the offensive line problems as well as mentioning that this was going to be the "bottom" with regard to sanctions. Watching the bowls, the best teams are replete with Seniors and Juniors, with a smattering of emerging stars in Soph and Freshmen. They not only play well, but they add stability and structure. Consider how many of our players didn't even participate in the Pinstripe Bowl (and we know bowl games have a totally different setup, prep and feel as regular season games). On offense, we started one senior. On defense, four. Compare that to the senior laden teams of Sparty, tOSU, UM and Iowa. We played eight bowl teams, five of which were in the top ten at one point (Sparty, tOSU, UM, NW and Georgia)

In retrospect, now seeing the forest, instead of just the trees, here are my observations for the year:

• Temple was a very good, but not great team. Offensively, we were unprepared and suffered several challenging injuries on defense. Temple was well coached and grabbed the opportunity. Credit to them. What was nuts was the number of times they beat us with a delay blitz. I feel this was the end of Donovan. How could we have been so totally unprepared on opening day? Part of that was Paris Palmer, who improved throughout the year, but he's not the first guy to have to transition from Juco to big time. Going into the year, we knew our biggest fears were injuries to the O-line or LB...so we lose NWW right off the bat.
• Buffalo, in retrospect, was perhaps our worst game of the year. This is a well coached team, coach is in his first year, but hasn't had a chance to remake the team with his vision. Given this offensive mess from Temple, the team was in just as much disarray. Team should get its most improvement from game one to two, we actually went backward offensively. Good news was is that they started to develop Palmer. This biggest problem was Nelson's injury, which affected him and the line the rest of the season. But this game was Barkley's first, gaining 115 yards on 12 carries.
• Rutgers was one of our better games scoring 28 and only giving up 3. Barkley gains 195 yards on 21 carries. R looks like they prepared for a passing game, and didn't anticipate Barkley. Only 19 passing attempts for PSU.
• Against SDSU, PSU played a pretty decent game; this is arguably our best game of the year. we were up 27-14 at the half and Hack had just under 300 yards passing. Barkley, playing well, gets hurt after gaining 62 yards on only 8 carries. SDSU didn't lose a game the rest of the season.
• Army...lots of football and stuff.
• Against Indiana, we again played a decent game. Without SB, we started the third and fourth team RBs. Against their weak defense, we had 261 yards passing. While Indy lost their starting QB against us, they still gave Duke a heck of a game in the bowl loosing 44-41.
• Ohio State killed us after they wanted to make up for almost losing to us last year. We started off well, playing with them, but just could not handle the running QB without a solid LB core. Without NWW, out LBers got turned around, out of place and were probably dizzy after this game. Hack ends up going 7 of 13 and Barkley gains 194 yards. Our WR were manhandled and just didn't get open. tOSU was our most challenging opponent and is probably in the top 4 teams this year, if not the best.
• Then we play MD. I think this was our "trap game" and we got hammered against tOSU. A disappointing outcome, even though we won, after MD didn't shake hands in 2014. Good news is that MD's coach got fired...so there's that. Hack had 315 yards passing while SB was stopped with only 65 yards.
• Onto ILL where we just blew them off the field. Hack 21 of 29 and 2 TDs (also a passing TD from Nick Scott). A nice game against a bad team.
• Now the wheels fall off. NW beats us 23-21. Justin Jackson has 186 yards as we cannot contain their offense. 2 turnovers didn't help...but this was the winnable game that we lost and it really hurt us (along with Temple). If we beat NW and Temple, and its a good season given where we are as a team.
• Another winnable game that we lose in Michigan. We stack up well against the Wolves power running game. Our Oline gets smothered and hack ends up going 13 of 31 for only 137 yards, Barkley gets 68. Meanwhile, their QB goes 25 of 38 with 2 TD's.
• MSU simply throttled us. To me, the worst loss of the year as we get physically manhandled and the team quits down the stretch. We play ok into the middle of the second quarter but give up a fumble for a TD then give up a score going into the half, and a score coming out of the half. At that point, our team phones it in. MSU is over rated, squeaks by a VERY over rated Iowa team and gets killed by AL.

In the end, 2015 is disappointing for many reasons. It couldn't have started worse playing a good Temple team when a) we weren't prepared enough to play a good team even in the best of circumstances and b) our offensive staff wasn't prepared and mismanage the offense. Finally, the injuries on Defense hurt us the rest of the year at the one position where we couldn't afford an injury. Then we lose Nelson against Buffalo. This ends up making our very weak offensive line getting reshuffled like a deck of cards on a loosing table in Vegas. Just awful luck. But our offensive coaching was really head scratching. No play action after the emergence of Barkley? No quick passes to WR's to mitigate the 7 man rush we saw all year? The disappearance of the TE for much of the year?

But I see better things in 2016. I see a better oline, where we will have true competition. (not just throwing in live big bodies). I see more depth and NWW back on defense. I see more maturity at the WR and TE spots. I see a deeper defensive backfield. I see depth on special teams, for the first time in three years. Much respect to CJF in seeing a problem, and making the tough move to fire his friend and hire a new OC. On the other hand, we lose a great QB in Hack. While McSorley played well, he wasn't game planed against and he didn't run the ball all that well. Either way, we have to replace a franchise level QB. The DTs are very scary going into 2015. Can we stop a power running game? Don't know. However, Iowa, UM, Spary and tOSU loose a TON of talent. The B1G is wide open. If we can build an OLine and if McSorley can deliver what he gave us the fourth Qtr in the bowl (or someone else can step up) we can be a pretty good team.

 

[UPitt '89]

I wouldn't have mentioned the Army game either.

 

[anon_xdc8rmuek44eq]

Well, it was an interesting 2015. Honestly, I predicted this last year bringing up the offensive line problems as well as mentioning that this was going to be the "bottom" with regard to sanctions. Watching the bowls, the best teams are replete with Seniors and Juniors, with a smattering of emerging stars in Soph and Freshmen. They not only play well, but they add stability and structure. Consider how many of our players didn't even participate in the Pinstripe Bowl (and we know bowl games have a totally different setup, prep and feel as regular season games). On offense, we started one senior. On defense, four. Compare that to the senior laden teams of Sparty, tOSU, UM and Iowa. We played eight bowl teams, five of which were in the top ten at one point (Sparty, tOSU, UM, NW and Georgia)

In retrospect, now seeing the forest, instead of just the trees, here are my observations for the year:

• Temple was a very good, but not great team. Offensively, we were unprepared and suffered several challenging injuries on defense. Temple was well coached and grabbed the opportunity. Credit to them. What was nuts was the number of times they beat us with a delay blitz. I feel this was the end of Donovan. How could we have been so totally unprepared on opening day? Part of that was Paris Palmer, who improved throughout the year, but he's not the first guy to have to transition from Juco to big time. Going into the year, we knew our biggest fears were injuries to the O-line or LB...so we lose NWW right off the bat.
• Buffalo, in retrospect, was perhaps our worst game of the year. This is a well coached team, coach is in his first year, but hasn't had a chance to remake the team with his vision. Given this offensive mess from Temple, the team was in just as much disarray. Team should get its most improvement from game one to two, we actually went backward offensively. Good news was is that they started to develop Palmer. This biggest problem was Nelson's injury, which affected him and the line the rest of the season. But this game was Barkley's first, gaining 115 yards on 12 carries.
• Rutgers was one of our better games scoring 28 and only giving up 3. Barkley gains 195 yards on 21 carries. R looks like they prepared for a passing game, and didn't anticipate Barkley. Only 19 passing attempts for PSU.
• Against SDSU, PSU played a pretty decent game; this is arguably our best game of the year. we were up 27-14 at the half and Hack had just under 300 yards passing. Barkley, playing well, gets hurt after gaining 62 yards on only 8 carries. SDSU didn't lose a game the rest of the season.
• Against Indiana, we again played a decent game. Without SB, we started the third and fourth team RBs. Against their weak defense, we had 261 yards passing. While Indy lost their starting QB against us, they still gave Duke a heck of a game in the bowl loosing 44-41.
• Ohio State killed us after they wanted to make up for almost losing to us last year. We started off well, playing with them, but just could not handle the running QB without a solid LB core. Without NWW, out LBers got turned around, out of place and were probably dizzy after this game. Hack ends up going 7 of 13 and Barkley gains 194 yards. Our WR were manhandled and just didn't get open. tOSU was our most challenging opponent and is probably in the top 4 teams this year, if not the best.
• Then we play MD. I think this was our "trap game" and we got hammered against tOSU. A disappointing outcome, even though we won, after MD didn't shake hands in 2014. Good news is that MD's coach got fired...so there's that. Hack had 315 yards passing while SB was stopped with only 65 yards.
• Onto ILL where we just blew them off the field. Hack 21 of 29 and 2 TDs (also a passing TD from Nick Scott). A nice game against a bad team.
• Now the wheels fall off. NW beats us 23-21. Justin Jackson has 186 yards as we cannot contain their offense. 2 turnovers didn't help...but this was the winnable game that we lost and it really hurt us (along with Temple). If we beat NW and Temple, and its a good season given where we are as a team.
• Another winnable game that we lose in Michigan. We stack up well against the Wolves power running game. Our Oline gets smothered and hack ends up going 13 of 31 for only 137 yards, Barkley gets 68. Meanwhile, their QB goes 25 of 38 with 2 TD's.
• MSU simply throttled us. To me, the worst loss of the year as we get physically manhandled and the team quits down the stretch. We play ok into the middle of the second quarter but give up a fumble for a TD then give up a score going into the half, and a score coming out of the half. At that point, our team phones it in. MSU is over rated, squeaks by a VERY over rated Iowa team and gets killed by AL.

In the end, 2015 is disappointing for many reasons. It couldn't have started worse playing a good Temple team when a) we weren't prepared enough to play a good team even in the best of circumstances and b) our offensive staff wasn't prepared and mismanage the offense. Finally, the injuries on Defense hurt us the rest of the year at the one position where we couldn't afford an injury. Then we lose Nelson against Buffalo. This ends up making our very weak offensive line getting reshuffled like a deck of cards on a loosing table in Vegas. Just awful luck. But our offensive coaching was really head scratching. No play action after the emergence of Barkley? No quick passes to WR's to mitigate the 7 man rush we saw all year? The disappearance of the TE for much of the year?

But I see better things in 2016. I see a better oline, where we will have true competition. (not just throwing in live big bodies). I see more depth and NWW back on defense. I see more maturity at the WR and TE spots. I see a deeper defensive backfield. I see depth on special teams, for the first time in three years. Much respect to CJF in seeing a problem, and making the tough move to fire his friend and hire a new OC. On the other hand, we lose a great QB in Hack. While McSorley played well, he wasn't game planed against and he didn't run the ball all that well. Either way, we have to replace a franchise level QB. The DTs are very scary going into 2015. Can we stop a power running game? Don't know. However, Iowa, UM, Spary and tOSU loose a TON of talent. The B1G is wide open. If we can build an OLine and if McSorley can deliver what he gave us the fourth Qtr in the bowl (or someone else can step up) we can be a pretty good team.

Nice write up! Cautiously optimistic going in to 2016 but we need some serious breaks as far as the injury bug goes. Can't afford to lose a starter like NWW for a whole year at a super thin position. We're getting our depth back and brining in talent, but it's still young and inexperienced. Reeder was a huge loss for the bowl game IMO.

I like McSorley a lot and he's a local kid (I live in the next town over from Ashburn), and he's absolutely a winner. Having said that, he's smaller than what we've been used to and doesn't have a rocket for an arm. The good news is he'll (or whomever the starter ends up being) get first team reps and a fresh start with a new offensive coordinator. I put our win ceiling at 8 given the losses on the DL and new QB and OC. Excited to see some of the new guys though - Johnson at WR, Sanders at RB, etc. Blue White Game will be fun to watch for sure.

 

[Obliviax]

Nice write up! Cautiously optimistic going in to 2016 but we need some serious breaks as far as the injury bug goes. Can't afford to lose a starter like NWW for a whole year at a super thin position. We're getting our depth back and brining in talent, but it's still young and inexperienced. Reeder was a huge loss for the bowl game IMO.

I like McSorley a lot and he's a local kid (I live in the next town over from Ashburn), and he's absolutely a winner. Having said that, he's smaller than what we've been used to and doesn't have a rocket for an arm. The good news is he'll (or whomever the starter ends up being) get first team reps and a fresh start with a new offensive coordinator. I put our win ceiling at 8 given the losses on the DL and new QB and OC. Excited to see some of the new guys though - Johnson at WR, Sanders at RB, etc. Blue White Game will be fun to watch for sure.

Oddly, his bubble screen throws looks really, really weak. Far to weak to be effective (and that was my observation coming into the Bowl Game). On the other hand, his passes into the end zone had zip and a nice spin. He also looked a little light as a runner. So who is this guy and what does he bring to the table? I have no clue.

 

[PSU0622]

I wouldn't have mentioned the Army game either.

I love that Pitt fans still bring up Army. This same Army team almost beat Navy. That same Navy team then went and stomped Pitt. I know you wont have an answer for that so you will bring up that PSU lost to a Georgia team with no coaches. This is a valid point but lets not overlook that Miami also stomped Pitt with no head coach. Continue your hypocritical ways for the next nine months because come September there will not be any excuses.

 

[UPitt '89]

I love that Pitt fans still bring up Army. This same Army team almost beat Navy. That same Navy team then went and stomped Pitt. I know you wont have an answer for that so you will bring up that PSU lost to a Georgia team with no coaches. This is a valid point but lets not overlook that Miami also stomped Pitt with no head coach. Continue your hypocritical ways for the next nine months because come September there will not be any excuses.

The OP had a rundown of every game PSU played this year.... except for Army. That's what I was pointing out.

Maybe Oblivax blocked that game from his memory. I would've too. As a Pitt fan, I certainly like to forget the Houston game last year, the Akron game the year before that, the YSU game the year before that.... and so on. I certainly have no shortage of games in recent years that I would rather forget happened.

 

[BBrown]

Oddly, his bubble screen throws looks really, really weak. Far to weak to be effective (and that was my observation coming into the Bowl Game). On the other hand, his passes into the end zone had zip and a nice spin. He also looked a little light as a runner. So who is this guy and what does he bring to the table? I have no clue.

Yea his throws to the WR's on that sideline screen didn't have the same "Zip" on them that Hacks did but then maybe he wont be throwing it at their feet.
Hopefully we see more 5-7 yard routes by the WR's and TE's than we have for the last 2 years.
We still have Godwin and maybe Polk or one of the freshman WR's that can stretch the field.
JMO but I think we go back to seeing DeaSean Hamilton having a nice year under Moorhead's system. Maybe more like his 2014 year.
I also hope we go back to having some type of RB screen game. We've sucked at it for the last 3 years. Not sure if it was Hack who couldn't throw it, the backs couldn't catch it or the line couldn't block it. (My guess is a combo of #1 and #3.) but I think it will be an important part of the game with both Barkley and Sanders in the lineup.

 

[PSU0622]

The OP had a rundown of every game PSU played this year.... except for Army. That's what I was pointing out.

Maybe Oblivax blocked that game from his memory. I would've too. As a Pitt fan, I certainly like to forget the Houston game last year, the Akron game the year before that, the YSU game the year before that.... and so on. I certainly have no shortage of games in recent years that I would rather forget happened.

It seemed like another Pitt troll comment on this board. It is hard to decipher when the Army game is common conversation among Pitt fans.

 

[anon_xdc8rmuek44eq]

Oddly, his bubble screen throws looks really, really weak. Far to weak to be effective (and that was my observation coming into the Bowl Game). On the other hand, his passes into the end zone had zip and a nice spin. He also looked a little light as a runner. So who is this guy and what does he bring to the table? I have no clue.

His high school accomplishments are, quite simply, astonishing. He was a four year starter at QB and led Briar Woods HS (play in the highest level for VA HS FB) to four consecutive state championship games (won three of them). He was also their starting safety. Amassed over 12,000 total yards on offense and scored 150 TDs. And he did it mostly throwing the ball. I think as he got into a rhythm and got some confidence, you could see the zip on the ball improve and better decision making. I think he brings a lot to the table and while I love Hack and think he's an all time great, it's nice to have a QB out there who doesn't have the weight of the world and the incredible expectations of an entire fanbase beating down on you every single play. Also nice to get a QB with a more compatible skill set to what CJF wants to do on offense.

 

[mikemauti42]

It seemed like another Pitt troll comment on this board. It is hard to decipher when the Army game is common conversation among Pitt fans.

UPitt'98 is so obsessed with Penn State that I think he just sits at his computer and presses the refresh button all day hoping for a Penn State fan to talk to him. He has even gone as far to accuse another lair member of being me. I only wish his reaction to Pitt losing to Penn State next year could be taped and posted online, because you can tell this is all he has. He was at Pitt's bowl game the night before the game begging for us to talk to him. Lonely old Soul.

 

[grinagrin]

CMon guys, sometimes you just have to give credit and not be sooo sensitive. That was a pretty funny post by UPITT re Army

 

[SR108]

Well, it was an interesting 2015. Honestly, I predicted this last year bringing up the offensive line problems as well as mentioning that this was going to be the "bottom" with regard to sanctions. Watching the bowls, the best teams are replete with Seniors and Juniors, with a smattering of emerging stars in Soph and Freshmen. They not only play well, but they add stability and structure. Consider how many of our players didn't even participate in the Pinstripe Bowl (and we know bowl games have a totally different setup, prep and feel as regular season games). On offense, we started one senior. On defense, four. Compare that to the senior laden teams of Sparty, tOSU, UM and Iowa. We played eight bowl teams, five of which were in the top ten at one point (Sparty, tOSU, UM, NW and Georgia)

In retrospect, now seeing the forest, instead of just the trees, here are my observations for the year:

• Temple was a very good, but not great team. Offensively, we were unprepared and suffered several challenging injuries on defense. Temple was well coached and grabbed the opportunity. Credit to them. What was nuts was the number of times they beat us with a delay blitz. I feel this was the end of Donovan. How could we have been so totally unprepared on opening day? Part of that was Paris Palmer, who improved throughout the year, but he's not the first guy to have to transition from Juco to big time. Going into the year, we knew our biggest fears were injuries to the O-line or LB...so we lose NWW right off the bat.
• Buffalo, in retrospect, was perhaps our worst game of the year. This is a well coached team, coach is in his first year, but hasn't had a chance to remake the team with his vision. Given this offensive mess from Temple, the team was in just as much disarray. Team should get its most improvement from game one to two, we actually went backward offensively. Good news was is that they started to develop Palmer. This biggest problem was Nelson's injury, which affected him and the line the rest of the season. But this game was Barkley's first, gaining 115 yards on 12 carries.
• Rutgers was one of our better games scoring 28 and only giving up 3. Barkley gains 195 yards on 21 carries. R looks like they prepared for a passing game, and didn't anticipate Barkley. Only 19 passing attempts for PSU.
• Against SDSU, PSU played a pretty decent game; this is arguably our best game of the year. we were up 27-14 at the half and Hack had just under 300 yards passing. Barkley, playing well, gets hurt after gaining 62 yards on only 8 carries. SDSU didn't lose a game the rest of the season.
• Against Indiana, we again played a decent game. Without SB, we started the third and fourth team RBs. Against their weak defense, we had 261 yards passing. While Indy lost their starting QB against us, they still gave Duke a heck of a game in the bowl loosing 44-41.
• Ohio State killed us after they wanted to make up for almost losing to us last year. We started off well, playing with them, but just could not handle the running QB without a solid LB core. Without NWW, out LBers got turned around, out of place and were probably dizzy after this game. Hack ends up going 7 of 13 and Barkley gains 194 yards. Our WR were manhandled and just didn't get open. tOSU was our most challenging opponent and is probably in the top 4 teams this year, if not the best.
• Then we play MD. I think this was our "trap game" and we got hammered against tOSU. A disappointing outcome, even though we won, after MD didn't shake hands in 2014. Good news is that MD's coach got fired...so there's that. Hack had 315 yards passing while SB was stopped with only 65 yards.
• Onto ILL where we just blew them off the field. Hack 21 of 29 and 2 TDs (also a passing TD from Nick Scott). A nice game against a bad team.
• Now the wheels fall off. NW beats us 23-21. Justin Jackson has 186 yards as we cannot contain their offense. 2 turnovers didn't help...but this was the winnable game that we lost and it really hurt us (along with Temple). If we beat NW and Temple, and its a good season given where we are as a team.
• Another winnable game that we lose in Michigan. We stack up well against the Wolves power running game. Our Oline gets smothered and hack ends up going 13 of 31 for only 137 yards, Barkley gets 68. Meanwhile, their QB goes 25 of 38 with 2 TD's.
• MSU simply throttled us. To me, the worst loss of the year as we get physically manhandled and the team quits down the stretch. We play ok into the middle of the second quarter but give up a fumble for a TD then give up a score going into the half, and a score coming out of the half. At that point, our team phones it in. MSU is over rated, squeaks by a VERY over rated Iowa team and gets killed by AL.

In the end, 2015 is disappointing for many reasons. It couldn't have started worse playing a good Temple team when a) we weren't prepared enough to play a good team even in the best of circumstances and b) our offensive staff wasn't prepared and mismanage the offense. Finally, the injuries on Defense hurt us the rest of the year at the one position where we couldn't afford an injury. Then we lose Nelson against Buffalo. This ends up making our very weak offensive line getting reshuffled like a deck of cards on a loosing table in Vegas. Just awful luck. But our offensive coaching was really head scratching. No play action after the emergence of Barkley? No quick passes to WR's to mitigate the 7 man rush we saw all year? The disappearance of the TE for much of the year?

But I see better things in 2016. I see a better oline, where we will have true competition. (not just throwing in live big bodies). I see more depth and NWW back on defense. I see more maturity at the WR and TE spots. I see a deeper defensive backfield. I see depth on special teams, for the first time in three years. Much respect to CJF in seeing a problem, and making the tough move to fire his friend and hire a new OC. On the other hand, we lose a great QB in Hack. While McSorley played well, he wasn't game planed against and he didn't run the ball all that well. Either way, we have to replace a franchise level QB. The DTs are very scary going into 2015. Can we stop a power running game? Don't know. However, Iowa, UM, Spary and tOSU loose a TON of talent. The B1G is wide open. If we can build an OLine and if McSorley can deliver what he gave us the fourth Qtr in the bowl (or someone else can step up) we can be a pretty good team.

While I don't think the OLine will be a dominating unit next year, it will certainly have more depth and there should be a lot more competition in practice, something we have been missing the last couple of years. If Sanders ends up signing, we will have a ton of quality depth at running back. We are loaded at wide receiver in terms of returning depth and will have two red shirt freshmen that will push the veterans. Tight end will be a question mark. I don't know if the problem has been a lack of talent, or an inability by the coaches to utilize the position. In fairness, they kept the TE in to help block a lot due to the problems at OLine. We need to see improvements on our special teams. Punting is a real issue, and it killed us in the field position game within a game. The Dline is the biggest question mark on defense. We should be loaded with linebacker depth and secondary depth.

A big issue will be learning a new offense and breaking in a new QB. I have my fingers crossed that the new Offensive Coordinator will be efficient doing both.

 

[Obliviax]

While I don't think the OLine will be a dominating unit next year, it will certainly have more depth and there should be a lot more competition in practice, something we have been missing the last couple of years. If Sanders ends up signing, we will have a ton of quality depth at running back. We are loaded at wide receiver in terms of returning depth and will have two red shirt freshmen that will push the veterans. Tight end will be a question mark. I don't know if the problem has been a lack of talent, or an inability by the coaches to utilize the position. In fairness, they kept the TE in to help block a lot due to the problems at OLine. We need to see improvements on our special teams. Punting is a real issue, and it killed us in the field position game within a game. The Dline is the biggest question mark on defense. We should be loaded with linebacker depth and secondary depth.

A big issue will be learning a new offense and breaking in a new QB. I have my fingers crossed that the new Offensive Coordinator will be efficient doing both.

Totally agree...and am pumped to see the underclassmen. But even if they are a physical upgrade, you can expect mental errors and lack of poise. We saw that at WR the last two years when they have to go "off script". (DB's and LB's too) Good point on TE's but saw them miss a lot of assignments too. I think we have a great array of talent for the new OC. We can put 11 on the field and mix and match with large/small TE and Large/small WRs. This will create matchup and D personnel challenges for the opponents. I just hope he's as good as advertised.

 

[michiganman95]

I'm not sure why you think Michigan loses a lot. They don't. If we find one linebacker and just get a little more production out of our run game, we're a playoff team. 2017 will be the year you guys can get us but then again after that, we'll be stacked with talent and one of the top 3 coaching staffs in the country.

 

[PSU&Trout]

Well, it was an interesting 2015. Honestly, I predicted this last year bringing up the offensive line problems as well as mentioning that this was going to be the "bottom" with regard to sanctions. Watching the bowls, the best teams are replete with Seniors and Juniors, with a smattering of emerging stars in Soph and Freshmen. They not only play well, but they add stability and structure. Consider how many of our players didn't even participate in the Pinstripe Bowl (and we know bowl games have a totally different setup, prep and feel as regular season games). On offense, we started one senior. On defense, four. Compare that to the senior laden teams of Sparty, tOSU, UM and Iowa. We played eight bowl teams, five of which were in the top ten at one point (Sparty, tOSU, UM, NW and Georgia)

In retrospect, now seeing the forest, instead of just the trees, here are my observations for the year:

• Temple was a very good, but not great team. Offensively, we were unprepared and suffered several challenging injuries on defense. Temple was well coached and grabbed the opportunity. Credit to them. What was nuts was the number of times they beat us with a delay blitz. I feel this was the end of Donovan. How could we have been so totally unprepared on opening day? Part of that was Paris Palmer, who improved throughout the year, but he's not the first guy to have to transition from Juco to big time. Going into the year, we knew our biggest fears were injuries to the O-line or LB...so we lose NWW right off the bat.
• Buffalo, in retrospect, was perhaps our worst game of the year. This is a well coached team, coach is in his first year, but hasn't had a chance to remake the team with his vision. Given this offensive mess from Temple, the team was in just as much disarray. Team should get its most improvement from game one to two, we actually went backward offensively. Good news was is that they started to develop Palmer. This biggest problem was Nelson's injury, which affected him and the line the rest of the season. But this game was Barkley's first, gaining 115 yards on 12 carries.
• Rutgers was one of our better games scoring 28 and only giving up 3. Barkley gains 195 yards on 21 carries. R looks like they prepared for a passing game, and didn't anticipate Barkley. Only 19 passing attempts for PSU.
• Against SDSU, PSU played a pretty decent game; this is arguably our best game of the year. we were up 27-14 at the half and Hack had just under 300 yards passing. Barkley, playing well, gets hurt after gaining 62 yards on only 8 carries. SDSU didn't lose a game the rest of the season.
• Against Indiana, we again played a decent game. Without SB, we started the third and fourth team RBs. Against their weak defense, we had 261 yards passing. While Indy lost their starting QB against us, they still gave Duke a heck of a game in the bowl loosing 44-41.
• Ohio State killed us after they wanted to make up for almost losing to us last year. We started off well, playing with them, but just could not handle the running QB without a solid LB core. Without NWW, out LBers got turned around, out of place and were probably dizzy after this game. Hack ends up going 7 of 13 and Barkley gains 194 yards. Our WR were manhandled and just didn't get open. tOSU was our most challenging opponent and is probably in the top 4 teams this year, if not the best.
• Then we play MD. I think this was our "trap game" and we got hammered against tOSU. A disappointing outcome, even though we won, after MD didn't shake hands in 2014. Good news is that MD's coach got fired...so there's that. Hack had 315 yards passing while SB was stopped with only 65 yards.
• Onto ILL where we just blew them off the field. Hack 21 of 29 and 2 TDs (also a passing TD from Nick Scott). A nice game against a bad team.
• Now the wheels fall off. NW beats us 23-21. Justin Jackson has 186 yards as we cannot contain their offense. 2 turnovers didn't help...but this was the winnable game that we lost and it really hurt us (along with Temple). If we beat NW and Temple, and its a good season given where we are as a team.
• Another winnable game that we lose in Michigan. We stack up well against the Wolves power running game. Our Oline gets smothered and hack ends up going 13 of 31 for only 137 yards, Barkley gets 68. Meanwhile, their QB goes 25 of 38 with 2 TD's.
• MSU simply throttled us. To me, the worst loss of the year as we get physically manhandled and the team quits down the stretch. We play ok into the middle of the second quarter but give up a fumble for a TD then give up a score going into the half, and a score coming out of the half. At that point, our team phones it in. MSU is over rated, squeaks by a VERY over rated Iowa team and gets killed by AL.

In the end, 2015 is disappointing for many reasons. It couldn't have started worse playing a good Temple team when a) we weren't prepared enough to play a good team even in the best of circumstances and b) our offensive staff wasn't prepared and mismanage the offense. Finally, the injuries on Defense hurt us the rest of the year at the one position where we couldn't afford an injury. Then we lose Nelson against Buffalo. This ends up making our very weak offensive line getting reshuffled like a deck of cards on a loosing table in Vegas. Just awful luck. But our offensive coaching was really head scratching. No play action after the emergence of Barkley? No quick passes to WR's to mitigate the 7 man rush we saw all year? The disappearance of the TE for much of the year?

But I see better things in 2016. I see a better oline, where we will have true competition. (not just throwing in live big bodies). I see more depth and NWW back on defense. I see more maturity at the WR and TE spots. I see a deeper defensive backfield. I see depth on special teams, for the first time in three years. Much respect to CJF in seeing a problem, and making the tough move to fire his friend and hire a new OC. On the other hand, we lose a great QB in Hack. While McSorley played well, he wasn't game planed against and he didn't run the ball all that well. Either way, we have to replace a franchise level QB. The DTs are very scary going into 2015. Can we stop a power running game? Don't know. However, Iowa, UM, Spary and tOSU loose a TON of talent. The B1G is wide open. If we can build an OLine and if McSorley can deliver what he gave us the fourth Qtr in the bowl (or someone else can step up) we can be a pretty good team.

As I have said before, I like your work. this is what a message board should look like. Even the Pitt trolls look good on here. Thanks.

 

[gogolion]

His high school accomplishments are, quite simply, astonishing. He was a four year starter at QB and led Briar Woods HS (play in the highest level for VA HS FB) to four consecutive state championship games (won three of them). He was also their starting safety. Amassed over 12,000 total yards on offense and scored 150 TDs. And he did it mostly throwing the ball. I think as he got into a rhythm and got some confidence, you could see the zip on the ball improve and better decision making. I think he brings a lot to the table and while I love Hack and think he's an all time great, it's nice to have a QB out there who doesn't have the weight of the world and the incredible expectations of an entire fanbase beating down on you every single play. Also nice to get a QB with a more compatible skill set to what CJF wants to do on offense.

I haven't been on here all weekend so forgive me if this has already been pointed out, but the big thing I think McSorely brings to the table, that Hack NEVER had, is pocket presence. He was great at moving up or out of the pocket when it started to collapse and threw the ball away when necessary. He had a great scramble for a first down (I believe it was a 4th down play). Yes, he started slow and had some bad throws on the WR screens, but otherwise I thought he played great once he settled in and avoided the rush like Hack never could. He also blew it on the final drive by dumping off 5 yard passes in the middle of the field with no timeouts, but I'll chalk that up to inexperience and a lack of practice reps.

 

[Obliviax]

I haven't been on here all weekend so forgive me if this has already been pointed out, but the big thing I think McSorely brings to the table, that Hack NEVER had, is pocket presence. He was great at moving up or out of the pocket when it started to collapse and threw the ball away when necessary. He had a great scramble for a first down (I believe it was a 4th down play). Yes, he started slow and had some bad throws on the WR screens, but otherwise I thought he played great once he settled in and avoided the rush like Hack never could. He also blew it on the final drive by dumping off 5 yard passes in the middle of the field with no timeouts, but I'll chalk that up to inexperience and a lack of practice reps.

Totally disagree....GA changed their defense after Hack went out. They moved from bringing 5 to 7 people to bringing 3 or 4 (but often from different places, meaning zone blitzes). They respected McSorley's running game. In the fourth quarter, they went to a full pass defense, not caring how much we ran or threw underneath. In the final two drives, and I was shocked to see this, GA came with three on every down.

Point is, Hack faced a different defense than McSorley. When McS starts, if he does, it will be interesting to see how defenses defend him. Fact is, there was no "book" on him.

 

[BBG65]

I'm not sure why you think Michigan loses a lot. They don't. If we find one linebacker and just get a little more production out of our run game, we're a playoff team. 2017 will be the year you guys can get us but then again after that, we'll be stacked with talent and one of the top 3 coaching staffs in the country.

You're right. The Eastern Division is flat out loaded with top programs. OSU, Michigan and Michigan State are outstanding programs with talent and coaching. Our hope at PSU is that we can rise to that level where we have experienced talent backed up by younger talent. The scandal and sanctions put this program in a deep hole which is exactly what the NCAA intended. Happily a couple lawsuits against them that they knew they couldn't win brought about an early end to those sanctions which were originally 6 years long.

 

[Obliviax]

I'm not sure why you think Michigan loses a lot. They don't. If we find one linebacker and just get a little more production out of our run game, we're a playoff team. 2017 will be the year you guys can get us but then again after that, we'll be stacked with talent and one of the top 3 coaching staffs in the country.

I'll yield to your greater knowledge. I have heard some talking heads say that and never really looked at the depth chart...looking at it, the losses are reasonable. I seem to recall something like 44 men being introduced on senior day (or something like that)? Perhaps most were not contributors.

 

[JayWye]

Well, it was an interesting 2015. Honestly, I predicted this last year bringing up the offensive line problems as well as mentioning that this was going to be the "bottom" with regard to sanctions. Watching the bowls, the best teams are replete with Seniors and Juniors, with a smattering of emerging stars in Soph and Freshmen. They not only play well, but they add stability and structure. Consider how many of our players didn't even participate in the Pinstripe Bowl (and we know bowl games have a totally different setup, prep and feel as regular season games). On offense, we started one senior. On defense, four. Compare that to the senior laden teams of Sparty, tOSU, UM and Iowa. We played eight bowl teams, five of which were in the top ten at one point (Sparty, tOSU, UM, NW and Georgia)

In retrospect, now seeing the forest, instead of just the trees, here are my observations for the year:

• Temple was a very good, but not great team. Offensively, we were unprepared and suffered several challenging injuries on defense. Temple was well coached and grabbed the opportunity. Credit to them. What was nuts was the number of times they beat us with a delay blitz. I feel this was the end of Donovan. How could we have been so totally unprepared on opening day? Part of that was Paris Palmer, who improved throughout the year, but he's not the first guy to have to transition from Juco to big time. Going into the year, we knew our biggest fears were injuries to the O-line or LB...so we lose NWW right off the bat.
• Buffalo, in retrospect, was perhaps our worst game of the year. This is a well coached team, coach is in his first year, but hasn't had a chance to remake the team with his vision. Given this offensive mess from Temple, the team was in just as much disarray. Team should get its most improvement from game one to two, we actually went backward offensively. Good news was is that they started to develop Palmer. This biggest problem was Nelson's injury, which affected him and the line the rest of the season. But this game was Barkley's first, gaining 115 yards on 12 carries.
• Rutgers was one of our better games scoring 28 and only giving up 3. Barkley gains 195 yards on 21 carries. R looks like they prepared for a passing game, and didn't anticipate Barkley. Only 19 passing attempts for PSU.
• Against SDSU, PSU played a pretty decent game; this is arguably our best game of the year. we were up 27-14 at the half and Hack had just under 300 yards passing. Barkley, playing well, gets hurt after gaining 62 yards on only 8 carries. SDSU didn't lose a game the rest of the season.
• Against Indiana, we again played a decent game. Without SB, we started the third and fourth team RBs. Against their weak defense, we had 261 yards passing. While Indy lost their starting QB against us, they still gave Duke a heck of a game in the bowl loosing 44-41.
• Ohio State killed us after they wanted to make up for almost losing to us last year. We started off well, playing with them, but just could not handle the running QB without a solid LB core. Without NWW, out LBers got turned around, out of place and were probably dizzy after this game. Hack ends up going 7 of 13 and Barkley gains 194 yards. Our WR were manhandled and just didn't get open. tOSU was our most challenging opponent and is probably in the top 4 teams this year, if not the best.
• Then we play MD. I think this was our "trap game" and we got hammered against tOSU. A disappointing outcome, even though we won, after MD didn't shake hands in 2014. Good news is that MD's coach got fired...so there's that. Hack had 315 yards passing while SB was stopped with only 65 yards.
• Onto ILL where we just blew them off the field. Hack 21 of 29 and 2 TDs (also a passing TD from Nick Scott). A nice game against a bad team.
• Now the wheels fall off. NW beats us 23-21. Justin Jackson has 186 yards as we cannot contain their offense. 2 turnovers didn't help...but this was the winnable game that we lost and it really hurt us (along with Temple). If we beat NW and Temple, and its a good season given where we are as a team.
• Another winnable game that we lose in Michigan. We stack up well against the Wolves power running game. Our Oline gets smothered and hack ends up going 13 of 31 for only 137 yards, Barkley gets 68. Meanwhile, their QB goes 25 of 38 with 2 TD's.
• MSU simply throttled us. To me, the worst loss of the year as we get physically manhandled and the team quits down the stretch. We play ok into the middle of the second quarter but give up a fumble for a TD then give up a score going into the half, and a score coming out of the half. At that point, our team phones it in. MSU is over rated, squeaks by a VERY over rated Iowa team and gets killed by AL.

In the end, 2015 is disappointing for many reasons. It couldn't have started worse playing a good Temple team when a) we weren't prepared enough to play a good team even in the best of circumstances and b) our offensive staff wasn't prepared and mismanage the offense. Finally, the injuries on Defense hurt us the rest of the year at the one position where we couldn't afford an injury. Then we lose Nelson against Buffalo. This ends up making our very weak offensive line getting reshuffled like a deck of cards on a loosing table in Vegas. Just awful luck. But our offensive coaching was really head scratching. No play action after the emergence of Barkley? No quick passes to WR's to mitigate the 7 man rush we saw all year? The disappearance of the TE for much of the year?

But I see better things in 2016. I see a better oline, where we will have true competition. (not just throwing in live big bodies). I see more depth and NWW back on defense. I see more maturity at the WR and TE spots. I see a deeper defensive backfield. I see depth on special teams, for the first time in three years. Much respect to CJF in seeing a problem, and making the tough move to fire his friend and hire a new OC. On the other hand, we lose a great QB in Hack. While McSorley played well, he wasn't game planed against and he didn't run the ball all that well. Either way, we have to replace a franchise level QB. The DTs are very scary going into 2015. Can we stop a power running game? Don't know. However, Iowa, UM, Spary and tOSU loose a TON of talent. The B1G is wide open. If we can build an OLine and if McSorley can deliver what he gave us the fourth Qtr in the bowl (or someone else can step up) we can be a pretty good team.

McSorley was just getting his feet wet...had what, fifteen meaningless snaps all year? Both his passing and running got better as he settled in. That scramble for 7-8 yds on 4th down at the end of the game is an indication of what we'll see going forward. The TD throws were pretty much text book...sure, Lewis and Hamilton made great catches, but Trace put the ball in the only place where they had a shot. As for the screens, it sort of looks like the coaches are in his head re the pick, so he tends to short-arm them. Don't buy the arm strength thing as he had plenty of zip on the two TD throws.

 

[Obliviax]

McSorley was just getting his feet wet...had what, fifteen meaningless snaps all year? Both his passing and running got better as he settled in. That scramble for 7-8 yds on 4th down at the end of the game is an indication of what we'll see going forward. The TD throws were pretty much text book...sure, Lewis and Hamilton made great catches, but Trace put the ball in the only place where they had a shot. As for the screens, it sort of looks like the coaches are in his head re the pick, so he tends to short-arm them. Don't buy the arm strength thing as he had plenty of zip on the two TD throws.

I hope you are right....little book on him to know either way. +, I've seen way too many times a QB come in and light it up but not be able to sustain that once his strengths, weaknesses and tendencies are coached against. Plus, he's 6' and not yet 200lbs. that is small for any top division team (I know, I know...johnny football). But he hasn't played much at all, and is very young. Spring ball will be a lot of fun to watch as a PSU fan.
I will say this: previous to the bowl game, I was very concerned about next year at QB. today, I am comfortable with McSorley, or in anyone can beat him out, who the next QB will be.

 

[SR108]

I hope you are right....little book on him to know either way. +, I've seen way too many times a QB come in and light it up but not be able to sustain that once his strengths, weaknesses and tendencies are coached against. Plus, he's 6' and not yet 200lbs. that is small for any top division team (I know, I know...johnny football). But he hasn't played much at all, and is very young. Spring ball will be a lot of fun to watch as a PSU fan.
I will say this: previous to the bowl game, I was very concerned about next year at QB. today, I am comfortable with McSorley, or in anyone can beat him out, who the next QB will be.

Should be an interesting competition going on this spring between him Stevens and Zembiec. All will be starting fresh with a new offense. Everyone assumes it will be McSorley, but anything can happen with a new Offensive Coordinator.

 

[Obliviax]

Should be an interesting competition going on this spring between him Stevens and Zembiec. All will be starting fresh with a new offense. Everyone assumes it will be McSorley, but anything can happen with a new Offensive Coordinator.

That's right....I am still concerned about McSorley's size...especially if JoeMo wants the QB to carry the ball. Stevens has bulked up and is said to be 6-5 now, can he run at 6-5? JZ looks the part but against HS competition. I believe he is starting college in january so will be in spring drills. At 6'2"and 210, he seems more built for this system but starting a true Frosh? This will be fun to watch as a fan

 

[delcoLion]

Well, it was an interesting 2015. Honestly, I predicted this last year bringing up the offensive line problems as well as mentioning that this was going to be the "bottom" with regard to sanctions. Watching the bowls, the best teams are replete with Seniors and Juniors, with a smattering of emerging stars in Soph and Freshmen. They not only play well, but they add stability and structure. Consider how many of our players didn't even participate in the Pinstripe Bowl (and we know bowl games have a totally different setup, prep and feel as regular season games). On offense, we started one senior. On defense, four. Compare that to the senior laden teams of Sparty, tOSU, UM and Iowa. We played eight bowl teams, five of which were in the top ten at one point (Sparty, tOSU, UM, NW and Georgia)

In retrospect, now seeing the forest, instead of just the trees, here are my observations for the year:

• Temple was a very good, but not great team. Offensively, we were unprepared and suffered several challenging injuries on defense. Temple was well coached and grabbed the opportunity. Credit to them. What was nuts was the number of times they beat us with a delay blitz. I feel this was the end of Donovan. How could we have been so totally unprepared on opening day? Part of that was Paris Palmer, who improved throughout the year, but he's not the first guy to have to transition from Juco to big time. Going into the year, we knew our biggest fears were injuries to the O-line or LB...so we lose NWW right off the bat.
• Buffalo, in retrospect, was perhaps our worst game of the year. This is a well coached team, coach is in his first year, but hasn't had a chance to remake the team with his vision. Given this offensive mess from Temple, the team was in just as much disarray. Team should get its most improvement from game one to two, we actually went backward offensively. Good news was is that they started to develop Palmer. This biggest problem was Nelson's injury, which affected him and the line the rest of the season. But this game was Barkley's first, gaining 115 yards on 12 carries.
• Rutgers was one of our better games scoring 28 and only giving up 3. Barkley gains 195 yards on 21 carries. R looks like they prepared for a passing game, and didn't anticipate Barkley. Only 19 passing attempts for PSU.
• Against SDSU, PSU played a pretty decent game; this is arguably our best game of the year. we were up 27-14 at the half and Hack had just under 300 yards passing. Barkley, playing well, gets hurt after gaining 62 yards on only 8 carries. SDSU didn't lose a game the rest of the season.
• Against Indiana, we again played a decent game. Without SB, we started the third and fourth team RBs. Against their weak defense, we had 261 yards passing. While Indy lost their starting QB against us, they still gave Duke a heck of a game in the bowl loosing 44-41.
• Ohio State killed us after they wanted to make up for almost losing to us last year. We started off well, playing with them, but just could not handle the running QB without a solid LB core. Without NWW, out LBers got turned around, out of place and were probably dizzy after this game. Hack ends up going 7 of 13 and Barkley gains 194 yards. Our WR were manhandled and just didn't get open. tOSU was our most challenging opponent and is probably in the top 4 teams this year, if not the best.
• Then we play MD. I think this was our "trap game" and we got hammered against tOSU. A disappointing outcome, even though we won, after MD didn't shake hands in 2014. Good news is that MD's coach got fired...so there's that. Hack had 315 yards passing while SB was stopped with only 65 yards.
• Onto ILL where we just blew them off the field. Hack 21 of 29 and 2 TDs (also a passing TD from Nick Scott). A nice game against a bad team.
• Now the wheels fall off. NW beats us 23-21. Justin Jackson has 186 yards as we cannot contain their offense. 2 turnovers didn't help...but this was the winnable game that we lost and it really hurt us (along with Temple). If we beat NW and Temple, and its a good season given where we are as a team.
• Another winnable game that we lose in Michigan. We stack up well against the Wolves power running game. Our Oline gets smothered and hack ends up going 13 of 31 for only 137 yards, Barkley gets 68. Meanwhile, their QB goes 25 of 38 with 2 TD's.
• MSU simply throttled us. To me, the worst loss of the year as we get physically manhandled and the team quits down the stretch. We play ok into the middle of the second quarter but give up a fumble for a TD then give up a score going into the half, and a score coming out of the half. At that point, our team phones it in. MSU is over rated, squeaks by a VERY over rated Iowa team and gets killed by AL.

In the end, 2015 is disappointing for many reasons. It couldn't have started worse playing a good Temple team when a) we weren't prepared enough to play a good team even in the best of circumstances and b) our offensive staff wasn't prepared and mismanage the offense. Finally, the injuries on Defense hurt us the rest of the year at the one position where we couldn't afford an injury. Then we lose Nelson against Buffalo. This ends up making our very weak offensive line getting reshuffled like a deck of cards on a loosing table in Vegas. Just awful luck. But our offensive coaching was really head scratching. No play action after the emergence of Barkley? No quick passes to WR's to mitigate the 7 man rush we saw all year? The disappearance of the TE for much of the year?

But I see better things in 2016. I see a better oline, where we will have true competition. (not just throwing in live big bodies). I see more depth and NWW back on defense. I see more maturity at the WR and TE spots. I see a deeper defensive backfield. I see depth on special teams, for the first time in three years. Much respect to CJF in seeing a problem, and making the tough move to fire his friend and hire a new OC. On the other hand, we lose a great QB in Hack. While McSorley played well, he wasn't game planed against and he didn't run the ball all that well. Either way, we have to replace a franchise level QB. The DTs are very scary going into 2015. Can we stop a power running game? Don't know. However, Iowa, UM, Spary and tOSU loose a TON of talent. The B1G is wide open. If we can build an OLine and if McSorley can deliver what he gave us the fourth Qtr in the bowl (or someone else can step up) we can be a pretty good team.

Just wanted to compliment you on the weekly write-ups, looked forward to them and enjoyed them.

I don't know what to expect next year. I don't want to be the only negative reply on the thread ... I think there is a coach somewhere who can get a reliable OL on the field for PSU and I hope it's JM. That's the biggest reason for optimism. There were a lot of video clips linked by our posters over the course of the season that showed how poorly the OL played. I have to grasp at any straw out there that this will be fixed.

Don't underestimate how much we need to improve the kicking game, too. The old guy with the thick glasses always said defense, kicking, offense. I hope Franklin was paying attention.

 

[psufanftbl]

His high school accomplishments are, quite simply, astonishing. He was a four year starter at QB and led Briar Woods HS (play in the highest level for VA HS FB) to four consecutive state championship games (won three of them). He was also their starting safety. Amassed over 12,000 total yards on offense and scored 150 TDs. And he did it mostly throwing the ball. I think as he got into a rhythm and got some confidence, you could see the zip on the ball improve and better decision making. I think he brings a lot to the table and while I love Hack and think he's an all time great, it's nice to have a QB out there who doesn't have the weight of the world and the incredible expectations of an entire fanbase beating down on you every single play. Also nice to get a QB with a more compatible skill set to what CJF wants to do on offense.

His high school accomplishments are, quite simply, astonishing. He was a four year starter at QB and led Briar Woods HS (play in the highest level for VA HS FB) to four consecutive state championship games (won three of them). He was also their starting safety. Amassed over 12,000 total yards on offense and scored 150 TDs. And he did it mostly throwing the ball. I think as he got into a rhythm and got some confidence, you could see the zip on the ball improve and better decision making. I think he brings a lot to the table and while I love Hack and think he's an all time great, it's nice to have a QB out there who doesn't have the weight of the world and the incredible expectations of an entire fanbase beating down on you every single play. Also nice to get a QB with a more compatible skill set to what CJF wants to do on offense.

Briar Woods plays 5A, not 6A, which is the highest level in VA. Still some good teams in 5A but 6A is a whole other beast.

 

[anon_xdc8rmuek44eq]

Briar Woods plays 5A, not 6A, which is the highest level in VA. Still some good teams in 5A but 6A is a whole other beast.

Ah, okay. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[Ceasar]

Here is a good news-bad news comment. Though the interior of the d-line will be inexperienced, I'm not sure they will take a step backwards against the run. The reality is, as Obli pointed out, virtually every team that wanted to run the ball right at us did so successfully. That includes Temple, Northwestern, OSU, Michigan, MSU and GA. Next years line may not have the high end individual talent that this year's line had, but they may actually be better as pure run stuffing linemen.

 

[SR108]

Here is a good news-bad news comment. Though the interior of the d-line will be inexperienced, I'm not sure they will take a step backwards against the run. The reality is, as Obli pointed out, virtually every team that wanted to run the ball right at us did so successfully. That includes Temple, Northwestern, OSU, Michigan, MSU and GA. Next years line may not have the high end individual talent that this year's line had, but they may actually be better as pure run stuffing linemen.

A closer study of game video would reveal who was at fault, but I would guess that our inexperienced linebackers may have had something to do with our difficulties stopping the run. They should be better next year.