Post Bowl thoughts from some hack, from his couch

[919_Lion]

Rewatched the game, and some random musings:

1. McSorely is a playmaker, period. He just wins. There’s no other QB in the country I’d take over him.
2. Barkley is the best PSU player I’ve ever witnessed play,
3. This is the best I’ve seen the OL perform in the CJF tenure. I think this is game 1 in a long run of dominant OL play.
4. While the defense is good, it isn’t great. It lacks that killer instinct. When it was 28-21, I has that eerie feeling that it was going to be Déjà vu of the Rose Bowl(I was full of crap, and I’m extremely glad I was wrong). I think starting as early as this fall, we reload on D every year, not rebuild.
5. Shane Simmons is going to wreak havoc, starting next season(I guess as of yesterday next season is now this season).
6. I thought the Offensive play calling was amazing. We had their D guessing, pretty much all game.
7. Back to back 11 win seasons!!!! We are 20-3 in our last 23 games. In those 3 losses, our average margin of loss was 2.3 points, and the average margin of victory was 25.6 points. Not too bad for a team that was left for dead in late July of 2012!
8. No defensive TDs this season? When did that last happen?
9. DaeSean Hamilton will be sorely missed. He probably made the most clutch catches in PSU history.
10. CJF FINALLY learned his lesson(I hope) in playing to win/NOT “playing not to lose”. I would’ve bet a huge sum of money that he was running up the gut for 0.5 yards, on the penultimate 3rd down. I am glad I was wrong, and I think we all hope this is the new norm.
11. We DOMINATED a very, very solid team, away from HV, in every statistical category(except turnovers).

 

[AWS1022]

Rewatched the game, and some random musings:

1. McSorely is a playmaker, period. He just wins. There’s no other QB in the country I’d take over him.
2. Barkley is the best PSU player I’ve ever witnessed play,
3. This is the best I’ve seen the OL perform in the CJF tenure. I think this is game 1 in a long run of dominant OL play.
4. While the defense is good, it isn’t great. It lacks that killer instinct. When it was 28-21, I has that eerie feeling that it was going to be Déjà vu of the Rose Bowl(I was full of crap, and I’m extremely glad I was wrong). I think starting as early as this fall, we reload on D every year, not rebuild.
5. Shane Simmons is going to wreak havoc, starting next season(I guess as of yesterday next season is now this season).
6. I thought the Offensive play calling was amazing. We had their D guessing, pretty much all game.
7. Back to back 11 win seasons!!!! We are 20-3 in our last 23 games. In those 3 losses, our average margin of loss was 2.3 points, and the average margin of victory was 25.6 points. Not too bad for a team that was left for dead in late July of 2012!
8. No defensive TDs this season? When did that last happen?
9. DaeSean Hamilton will be sorely missed. He probably made the most clutch catches in PSU history.
10. CJF FINALLY learned his lesson(I hope) in playing to win/NOT “playing not to lose”. I would’ve bet a huge sum of money that he was running up the gut for 0.5 yards, on the penultimate 3rd down. I am glad I was wrong, and I think we all hope this is the new norm.
11. We DOMINATED a very, very solid team, away from HV, in every statistical category(except turnovers).

Agree with all of this. I would also like to see us get more turnovers on defense, but that likely goes back to your point of the defense being good and not great. We're this good with better recruiting classes coming in....exciting stuff.

 

[CDLionFL]

I'm not so sure about #10. Trace bailed them out big time with his 3rd down passing, especially on the final possession. On that last possession, the longest play they had on 1st or 2nd down was 5 yards and converted on 3rd downs of 7, 1, and 8 yards. If Trace doesn't hit those big passes, they put the defense in position to mess it up again. In the past, I was quick to blame the defense in those losses because the offense shouldn't have to put up 100 points to win. But in this game, I paid more attention to the play calling in the last 10 minutes up by 14 and I don't think it was all that different. The difference is that they converted the 3rd downs.

 

[1000_OaksLion]

Good observations. I also rewatched the game and noticed that Cabinda and Smith played every snap. # 6 spelled Farmer on occasion. The good news was that the defense wasn't on the field a lot so they didn't play a lot of snaps. On the other hand it suggests that the coaches don't have much confidence in the current group of back up box LBs. Can't wait to see how things play out with box LBs this spring.

 

[sluggo72]

I'm not so sure about #10. Trace bailed them out big time with his 3rd down passing, especially on the final possession. On that last possession, the longest play they had on 1st or 2nd down was 5 yards and converted on 3rd downs of 7, 1, and 8 yards. If Trace doesn't hit those big passes, they put the defense in position to mess it up again. In the past, I was quick to blame the defense in those losses because the offense shouldn't have to put up 100 points to win. But in this game, I paid more attention to the play calling in the last 10 minutes up by 14 and I don't think it was all that different. The difference is that they converted the 3rd downs.

The reason they converted first downs is, they didn't turn 1st n 10 into second and 17, they kept things manageable.

 

[NCLION]

As a Jets fan I have nightmares of Hamilton goin to patriots in like round three and tormenting me for next few years

 

[lockhavenlion3]

Rewatched the game, and some random musings:

1. McSorely is a playmaker, period. He just wins. There’s no other QB in the country I’d take over him.
2. Barkley is the best PSU player I’ve ever witnessed play,
3. This is the best I’ve seen the OL perform in the CJF tenure. I think this is game 1 in a long run of dominant OL play.
4. While the defense is good, it isn’t great. It lacks that killer instinct. When it was 28-21, I has that eerie feeling that it was going to be Déjà vu of the Rose Bowl(I was full of crap, and I’m extremely glad I was wrong). I think starting as early as this fall, we reload on D every year, not rebuild.
5. Shane Simmons is going to wreak havoc, starting next season(I guess as of yesterday next season is now this season).
6. I thought the Offensive play calling was amazing. We had their D guessing, pretty much all game.
7. Back to back 11 win seasons!!!! We are 20-3 in our last 23 games. In those 3 losses, our average margin of loss was 2.3 points, and the average margin of victory was 25.6 points. Not too bad for a team that was left for dead in late July of 2012!
8. No defensive TDs this season? When did that last happen?
9. DaeSean Hamilton will be sorely missed. He probably made the most clutch catches in PSU history.
10. CJF FINALLY learned his lesson(I hope) in playing to win/NOT “playing not to lose”. I would’ve bet a huge sum of money that he was running up the gut for 0.5 yards, on the penultimate 3rd down. I am glad I was wrong, and I think we all hope this is the new norm.
11. We DOMINATED a very, very solid team, away from HV, in every statistical category(except turnovers).

was composing one of these on the red eye home last night. agree with almost all. would have led with #9. he was clutch his entire career:
1. we are a much better pass rush team when matos & simmons play. best pressure of the game.
2. thought givens played very well. was around the ball all night.
3. the missed fg not withstanding, davis' kick-offs kept the udub return game at bay.
4. gillikin was gillikin.
5. not overly impressed with sanders.
6. rahne eliminating the stand around rpo was a plus.
7. the much ballyhooed lion postion failed big time.
8. chavez had a busy game. too bad he's moving on. was a good spot player in the rotation.
9. ol played well all game, especially in pass protection.
10. feel better about the d next year with reid back and the younger players.
11. looking forward to 2018 fb already.

 

[BTMurphy]

Good summary

As for No 10: my brother and I, in unison, yelled "don't you dare go conservative!" at the start of that series. I agree with cdlion on this one.

Great use of the word "penultimate"