Obli's Observations, a win is a win is a win

[Obliviax]

 

[SLion]

Scored a TD on a back shoulder fade in week 1. Clearly a terrible play. Nearly every team runs that play regularly but by all means pin it on Franklin. That INT was on Drew, he made a bad read and throw.

While it's still early, the offense this season has looked better than probably any year under Franklin save 2016, 2017. If this continues it's on track to be even better than those years. We look confident. Drew looks confident. He's making throws that no other QB under Franklin has made. The McSorley/Barkley era offense consisted of talented individuals overcoming the deficiencies of the OL... RBs constantly getting hit behind the LOS, and McSorley chucking up high underthrown deep balls and letting his WRs make a play. This year we have a better OL, RBs gaining huge chunk plays and running through giant holes, Drew throwing it on a rope into tight windows, WRs and TEs are getting open despite the chatter here that the WRs are not doing so. The offensive potential right now looks very, very good. So far the Kotelnicki hire has been a home run.

First off, conp

Scored a TD on a back shoulder fade in week 1. Clearly a terrible play. Nearly every team runs that play regularly but by all means pin it on Franklin. That INT was on Drew, he made a bad read and throw.

While it's still early, the offense this season has looked better than probably any year under Franklin save 2016, 2017. If this continues it's on track to be even better than those years. We look confident. Drew looks confident. He's making throws that no other QB under Franklin has made. The McSorley/Barkley era offense consisted of talented individuals overcoming the deficiencies of the OL... RBs constantly getting hit behind the LOS, and McSorley chucking up high underthrown deep balls and letting his WRs make a play. This year we have a better OL, RBs gaining huge chunk plays and running through giant holes, Drew throwing it on a rope into tight windows, WRs and TEs are getting open despite the chatter here that the WRs are not doing so. The offensive potential right now looks very, very good. So far the Kotelnicki hire has been a home run.

Scored a TD on a back shoulder fade in week 1. Clearly a terrible play. Nearly every team runs that play regularly but by all means pin it on Franklin. That INT was on Drew, he made a bad read and throw.

While it's still early, the offense this season has looked better than probably any year under Franklin save 2016, 2017. If this continues it's on track to be even better than those years. We look confident. Drew looks confident. He's making throws that no other QB under Franklin has made. The McSorley/Barkley era offense consisted of talented individuals overcoming the deficiencies of the OL... RBs constantly getting hit behind the LOS, and McSorley chucking up high underthrown deep balls and letting his WRs make a play. This year we have a better OL, RBs gaining huge chunk plays and running through giant holes, Drew throwing it on a rope into tight windows, WRs and TEs are getting open despite the chatter here that the WRs are not doing so. The offensive potential right now looks very, very good. So far the Kotelnicki hire has been a home run.

First off, I agree with second paragraph. It looks much more balanced and Allar has made big steps in leadership and accuracy. While not expert that WV was a go route and the INT was a fade. I am tired of fades so I do pin it on Franklin. No need when we can run ball on first down. Bad calls can lead to good outcomes and good calls can lead to bad outcomes. I just did not like that call. Never have and many instances on this blog hating play over years

 

[SLion]

You agreed with my post then dummy.

No need man. Not attacking you. Talking about troll comments from other poster. I agreed with your statement

 

[lazydave841]

While not expert that WV was a go route and the INT was a fade.

One was a perfectly placed pass, the other wasn't. Wallace could have caught the INT if it was put in the back corner (where he was going). I'd be curious to know what the actual call was and why our QB threw short and WR kept going.

 

[Obliviax]

One was a perfectly placed pass, the other wasn't. Wallace could have caught the INT if it was put in the back corner (where he was going). I'd be curious to know what the actual call was and why our QB threw short and WR kept going.

He stated this in the post game presser. he read man-to-man coverage (or visa versa, can't recall which) and got a zone. he failed to recognize it. On top of that he underthrew the ball. he said it was his fault.

 

[lazydave841]

He stated this in the post game presser. he read man-to-man coverage (or visa versa, can't recall which) and got a zone. he failed to recognize it. On top of that he underthrew the ball. he said it was his fault.

Beautiful. Makes perfect sense.

 

[Fayette_LION]

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Allar better learn how to throw to more than just 2 receivers. Someone must step up.

 

[lazydave841]

Allar better learn how to throw to more than just 2 receivers. Someone must step up.

He's happily targeted:

Wallace
Evans
Warren
Singleton

He's only thrown 37 passes as well. It's more important that what we are doing is working vs getting more players arbitrarily involved.

 

[RickinDayton]

Fortunately, that game is five weeks away, which is a lifetime in the college football season. So many things can change in that time, especially caused by injuries. The USC game always was going to be problematic, and I would feel that way even if we had beaten BG by 50 points. I expect USC to beat Michigan, but that game may give us a preview of whether USC can stand up to a power running game and whether Michigan can conrol the clock and shorten the game. I think that we have to accept the fact that USC is going to score on many of their drives, so you have to shorten the game against them.

Does PSU have a power running game? If so, are they patient enough to utilize it?

 

[RickinDayton]

Scored a TD on a back shoulder fade in week 1. Clearly a terrible play. Nearly every team runs that play regularly but by all means pin it on Franklin. That INT was on Drew, he made a bad read and throw.

While it's still early, the offense this season has looked better than probably any year under Franklin save 2016, 2017. If this continues it's on track to be even better than those years. We look confident. Drew looks confident. He's making throws that no other QB under Franklin has made. The McSorley/Barkley era offense consisted of talented individuals overcoming the deficiencies of the OL... RBs constantly getting hit behind the LOS, and McSorley chucking up high underthrown deep balls and letting his WRs make a play. This year we have a better OL, RBs gaining huge chunk plays and running through giant holes, Drew throwing it on a rope into tight windows, WRs and TEs are getting open despite the chatter here that the WRs are not doing so. The offensive potential right now looks very, very good. So far the Kotelnicki hire has been a home run.

If he WRs are getting open, then why is Allar not finding other WRs like Fleming and passing to him? Allar has to improve on spreading the ball around when PSU enters B1G play. The B1G teams can focus on shutting down Wallace III and Warren (TE). Then what happens?

 

[PSU4U]

• I had warned that BG was a good team. They are not as good as we made them look but a good team nonetheless. And with the transfer portal, MAC teams have actually gotten better. Yes, they lose players to bigger programs but they also bring in a LOT of talent from kids who got lost in the shuffle of major programs or kids playing at smaller schools who want to take their shot. MAC puts a lot of kids into the NFL including last years overall #22 pick from Toledo. ND lost, we didn't. Lesson learned. (hopefully)
• Loeffler is a good coach and former journeyman QB who knows the game. We are going to see that offense for the rest of the season as coaches who we play later this year will watch it and mimic it.
• Not to be lost in the shuffle but their QB was a big time player who never got his just due. He was SEC freshman of the year at Mizzou and then started for Indiana playing for our very own Tom Allen. He then transferred to BG before the 2023 season. Also note, he is a SIXTH YEAR PLAYER so he's smart and talented. I am not sure why it didn't work out at Mizzou and Indy but he played well in both cases. All of that comes down to the fact that the kid played so far over his head in the first half that his nose bled. He was making every read and dropping dimes. Good on him.
• And that, above, is OK. Teams get hot. But our defense was confused and the offense didn't play well although Allar carried the team. At one point, Allar had back to back great plays when the first got called back for a bad holding call and the second the open WR dropped the ball. We saw WVU's back get broken, but our offense didn't break BG's back. In fact, let them feel that they could win.
• PSU had 7 penalties for 76 yards while BG had 3 for 18. I thought that at least two were bad calls (both holding) and one was iffy (offensive PI) while I can't argue with it. There was a lot of holding by BG that was never called and contributed to BGs QB not being sacked. Regardless, way too many penalties.
• Allar's bad INT almost cost us the game. After playing a great game, that was a bad throw. He said that the coverage fooled him and he still tried to force it and let the WR make a play but badly under threw it. OK, it happens. We had 438 yards while giving up four minutes to BG in time of possession. We didn't finish drives with two FGs and an INT when inside BG territory which is a potential of 15 points.
• Thankfully, Say-Hay-Dak looked great. His kicks were strong and straight. No doubters.
• I thought BG's drive with only 3 minutes to play and down by 10 was one of the worst hurry up drives I've ever seen. They were still in the game! Yet, they often ran the ball and three to the middle of the field. They took a long time between plays. The clock kept churning. Not sure what was up with that but very thankful they used up their TOs and didn't seem to have an offense that calls the plays at the LOS.
• I thought Rojas had a great game and is going to be a star. We came very close to several sacks but just missed. If not for WRs being wide open in the first half, a big hit or turnover may have changed this whole game.
• Both Singleton (119) and Allen (101) had over a hundred yards rushing. Allar was 13 of 20 for 204 yards, two TDs and an INT. I have to point out that there were two bad drops. One was Allen's drop after the review and the other was the drop over the middle after Allar bought time and fired a bullet that ended a promising drive. The point is that he threw the ball really well. However, he didn't run very much like he did vs. WVU. I am not a fan of Beau coming in when Allar is hot like he was in the first half. It felt like it blew the rhythm a little. There was no need for it. PSU was moving the ball so why? I get it when you need a changeup but it was not needed.
• Warren, obviously, was the star of the game and why not? Kid is really good.
• We ran a bubble screen for Flemming to get him into the game. Why are we NOT running bubble screens to anyone other than Warren? That feels like a big hole in our offense and forces the D to spread out more. It allows us to challenge the edge better. Overall, I thought our offensive plan was pretty vanilla. Perhaps we didn't want to show more of our playbook because we were just playing a MAC team.
• I was much more concerned about of defense but feel better after watching For the Bloggy. Lots of coverage confusion in the defensive backfield which was corrected in the second half. CJF referred to "missed assignments" and gap integrity problems. Since that was fixed in the second half, one has to wonder why it was there in the first place. Again, I wonder if the team phoned this effort in.
• Kent sucks. They may be the worst team in the MAC. I don't see them giving us a battle at all. We then play ILLINOIS who always is well coached and plays us hard. They also beat a ranked Kansas team but that game is still three weeks away. I think the bye is coming at a great time since we have another bye later in the year. The WVU and BG games give the staff plenty to work with and allows the players to take a breath.

I was put out that the bye was the third week but as it turned out may be a better time than anyone thought especially me.

 

[lazydave841]

If he WRs are getting open, then why is Allar not finding other WRs like Fleming and passing to him? Allar has to improve on spreading the ball around when PSU enters B1G play. The B1G teams can focus on shutting down Wallace III and Warren (TE). Then what happens?

Game plan? Taking what the defense gives?

I don't think we have to arbitrarily spread the ball around more. Wallace has been open. Evans. Warren. Singleton. Allen. Based on current playing time, we have the following to get involved:

1. Fleming
2. Clifford
3. Dinkins
4. Reynolds
5. Rapp / Saunders

The key is moving the ball and scoring points. As long as somebody is open and it works, does it matter if our 5th option has similar stats as our top 4? Look at OSU. They have 2 primary pass catchers. With nearly double the attempts, they have 6 more players with 1 or 2 receptions only and that's with a lot of garbage time.

 

[Obliviax]

Allar better learn how to throw to more than just 2 receivers. Someone must step up.

Perhaps they need to get open

 

[Obliviax]

First

If he WRs are getting open, then why is Allar not finding other WRs like Fleming and passing to him? Allar has to improve on spreading the ball around when PSU enters B1G play. The B1G teams can focus on shutting down Wallace III and Warren (TE). Then what happens?

First, a big if. Second, why would he not?

 

[bdgan]

and that is the value of the portal. Achieving kids can move up. But kids that had a slow start or are buried on the depth chart, can move down and get a fresh start.

I completely agree with that but I also think some players would finish with their with their teammates except for the fact that they are now enticed to follow the money.

 

[africamurphy]

Not having rapport with his receivers, was a big part of last year‘s problem, in my opinion. All preseason and all season long… Franklin kept saying that somebody had to step up. Nobody did… So the coaches just kept revolving them in hopes that someone would. it’s a mystery why Lambert Smith couldn’t do more…

All that I care about is production… NFL teams rarely target seven or eight different players equally in a tightly contested game… If they did, we wouldn’t have wide receivers in fantasy football

 

[ryoder1]

Game plan? Taking what the defense gives?

I don't think we have to arbitrarily spread the ball around more. Wallace has been open. Evans. Warren. Singleton. Allen. Based on current playing time, we have the following to get involved:

1. Fleming
2. Clifford
3. Dinkins
4. Reynolds
5. Rapp / Saunders

The key is moving the ball and scoring points. As long as somebody is open and it works, does it matter if our 5th option has similar stats as our top 4? Look at OSU. They have 2 primary pass catchers. With nearly double the attempts, they have 6 more players with 1 or 2 receptions only and that's with a lot of garbage time.

Was Wallace double teamed on Saturday? Why was he a non factor?

 

[RickinDayton]

He's happily targeted:

Wallace
Evans
Warren
Singleton

He's only thrown 37 passes as well. It's more important that what we are doing is working vs getting more players arbitrarily involved.

I disagree. There needs to be more variety in the passing game to make defenses play more straight up. B1G teams will be able to take away Wallace III and the TEs. Hopefully Coach K is developing plans to get more WRs involved.

Game plan? Taking what the defense gives?

I don't think we have to arbitrarily spread the ball around more. Wallace has been open. Evans. Warren. Singleton. Allen. Based on current playing time, we have the following to get involved:

1. Fleming
2. Clifford
3. Dinkins
4. Reynolds
5. Rapp / Saunders

The key is moving the ball and scoring points. As long as somebody is open and it works, does it matter if our 5th option has similar stats as our top 4? Look at OSU. They have 2 primary pass catchers. With nearly double the attempts, they have 6 more players with 1 or 2 receptions only and that's with a lot of garbage time.

Not looking for similar stats but Fleming has barely been targetted.

 

[Lion_Backer]

I disagree. There needs to be more variety in the passing game to make defenses play more straight up. B1G teams will be able to take away Wallace III and the TEs. Hopefully Coach K is developing plans to get more WRs involved.

Not looking for similar stats but Fleming has barely been targetted.

By variety in the passing game, do you mean changing up who is the primary target for a given passing play?

Because if your read is that your primary receiver is open, then you make that throw.

The spreading around needs to be from a conceptual standpoint. But sometimes it just works out that way that one receiver is featured and used to exploit an opponent's weakness.

And until they take your weapon away, why not continue to expose and exploit.

JMO.

 

[lazydave841]

Was Wallace double teamed on Saturday? Why was he a non factor?

He was on the INT. I'm not positive about the rest, I don't have access to all 22 footage. Maybe. Maybe not.

He was a non factor for 3 reasons:

1. His 1 reception was wiped out with a penalty and another was deflected (Allar could have led him a bit more, but credit where it's due, DB made a great play).
2. Warren had 8 rec 146 yards (a new PSU TE single game record).
3. Allar only threw 20 passes.

Additionally, our RBs ran for 7 and 9 ypc.

 

[lazydave841]

I disagree. There needs to be more variety in the passing game to make defenses play more straight up. B1G teams will be able to take away Wallace III and the TEs. Hopefully Coach K is developing plans to get more WRs involved.

Not looking for similar stats but Fleming has barely been targetted.

The offense just needs to be productive enough to score more points than every opponent we play. While I too would like to see more variety and sharing of the wealth, I'm not going to be overly concerned as long as somebody is doing it.

It's impossible to take away more than 1 player typically. You can't double 2 guys every down. Right now, we have 5 viable players who have to be game planned for. How many did we have last year?

I think Fleming will be targeted more as the season progresses. I'm honestly ecstatic that Evans is showing deep play capability. If not for 1 drops and an OPI, I wonder if we'd be having the same conversation? Wallace's drop and hold (that wasn't) negated catch as well.

 

[RickinDayton]

By variety in the passing game, do you mean changing up who is the primary target for a given passing play?

Because if your read is that your primary receiver is open, then you make that throw.

The spreading around needs to be from a conceptual standpoint. But sometimes it just works out that way that one receiver is featured and used to exploit an opponent's weakness.

And until they take your weapon away, why not continue to expose and exploit.

JMO.

Perhaps as you said, changing up the primary target. Tendencies are noticed and the opposition will scheme to force the offense to go against their tendencies. I do believe Coach K will continue to broaden the offense as the season progresses. It seems I've forgotten this is another new offense for the players to grasp.

 

[Rip_E_2_Joe_PA]

If he WRs are getting open, then why is Allar not finding other WRs like Fleming and passing to him? Allar has to improve on spreading the ball around when PSU enters B1G play. The B1G teams can focus on shutting down Wallace III and Warren (TE). Then what happens?

So, if his primary targets are open he should look them off and force the ball to secondary guys that are not open? I thought coach K was calling the plays. You guys are confusing me. 😂

 

[PSUSignore]

If he WRs are getting open, then why is Allar not finding other WRs like Fleming and passing to him? Allar has to improve on spreading the ball around when PSU enters B1G play. The B1G teams can focus on shutting down Wallace III and Warren (TE). Then what happens?

If his first read is open, he's not going to look for another player beyond that. We don't know the read progressions for every play. The players he's been throwing to have been getting open. Warren was wide open all day against Bowling Green.

 

[Obliviax]

If his first read is open, he's not going to look for another player beyond that. We don't know the read progressions for every play. The players he's been throwing to have been getting open. Warren was wide open all day against Bowling Green.

Great point. So far this year, Allar's completion rate is 24 of 37 (65%) for 420 yards in two games. That is over 11 YPC with 5 TDs and 1 INT. His QB rating is 199. And I can recall three critical drops (Evans and Allen against BG that both caused us to punt the ball away) and a phantom holding call that negated a fantastic 20-yard gain.

It is hard to argue with those numbers.

BTW, we've had 69 runs vs 38 pass attempts. (26 to 24 Singleton to Allen respectively).

 

[PSUSignore]

BTW, we've had 69 runs vs 38 pass attempts. (26 to 24 Singleton to Allen respectively).

This is another thing people are overlooking. We simply haven't run a ton of plays on offense, and only 38 passes in 2 games is a very small sample size compared to many teams. 24 completions isn't many when you are looking for how to spread the ball around. Franklin said yesterday we haven't been sustaining drives long enough on offense, it's either been 3 & out or a quick score in a small number of plays, while the defense hasn't been getting off the field quickly enough. That combination is leading to not running many plays. Despite that, through 2 games I've been very pleased with what I'm seeing on offense, including in the passing game, and how quickly Kotelnicki appears to have made strides with his players.

 

[olelion]

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I'm sorry but there are gasbags on air and then you have the clandestine gasbags. PFF are the clandestine gasbags

 

[RickinDayton]

So, if his primary targets are open he should look them off and force the ball to secondary guys that are not open? I thought coach K was calling the plays. You guys are confusing me. 😂

Not saying that. Is Wallace the primary receiver of every passing play? Probably not. So he should be able to pass to other receivers. It would be interesting to know if there is charting showing if Allar is focusing his passing primarily to the location where Wallace is running his routes. I believe Allar has shown vast improvement in his passing, pocket awareness, running, and leadership on the field. For games against B1G teams can he process his reads quickly enough when Wallace - who he throws to alot - is covered and Allar has to look elsewhere?

 

[junior1]

CJF said we were behind the sticks, defensively. meaning, we were giving up too much yardage on first downs. Most of those were runs. And he also mentioned gap integrity. It sounds like we had players not minding their assigned gaps. That got fixed at half time and BGs running game was weak in the second half.

i'll never understand why, if they see the problem in the first half, why wait until halftime to fix it.

 

[Rip_E_2_Joe_PA]

Not saying that. Is Wallace the primary receiver of every passing play? Probably not. So he should be able to pass to other receivers. It would be interesting to know if there is charting showing if Allar is focusing his passing primarily to the location where Wallace is running his routes. I believe Allar has shown vast improvement in his passing, pocket awareness, running, and leadership on the field. For games against B1G teams can he process his reads quickly enough when Wallace - who he throws to alot - is covered and Allar has to look elsewhere?

Different offensive coordinator different style of play.. I think he demonstrated he could go through his reads last year. Too many reads too much fear of throwing an INT. A slow progression time and time again often skipping guys that were wide open. This year he doesn't have more options but he will have more receivers open earlier on in his read progression. Just my guess..