This is why we shouldn't play Pitt. Beating them gives us nothing.
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USC jumps us in coaches poll. Now at #5.
This is why we shouldn't play Pitt. Beating them gives us nothing.
Another reason why preseason polls matter. Oklahoma's win means something because OSU was #2....and it will mean something all year regardless of what OSU ends up doing.It probably did not matter how Penn State played. I contend that a blowout win over pitt would still have been viewed as less impressive than usc's win over stanford and oklahoma's win over Tosu. It's about the strength of schedule.
A quality opponent that isn't thought of as quality does us no good.I was actually thinking just the opposite. Pitt was quality opposition and you need at least one of those in the pre-conference games.
It's ideal to have quality opposition but not a team like, say, Oklahoma that might come into your house and clean your clock before you're ready to play a big time game. What happened to Ohio State quite deflating.
It's really good for PSU that they struggled -- but they did a lot of really good thing too. Plenty to work on in the two weeks before the B1G starts.
A quality opponent that isn't thought of as quality does us no good.
Impressing the committee is the same as impressing poll voters....same system, different name. If you took four teams under the BCS it would be the same results as now.In the playoff era, impressing the poll voters is less important, thank god. PSU does not have a strength of schedule problem if they can win their games. Their problem is they are facing some awfully tough physical teams. For them to get a physical game early was maybe better than a blowout over a more highly regarded paper tiger team (remember Arizona and Trung Canidate).
I think this team is pretty well grounded, but if there as a danger of them becoming ungrounded, Pitt took care of that problem yesterday.
There are 3 priorities for PSU football, and they are the only 3 that matter:
1. Defeat Michigan;
2. Defeat Ohio State;
3. Win the conference.
That's it. We dont control polls or selection committees. We do control 1, 2, and 3. We take care of those priorities every season, I'll be quite content to let the playoff chips fall where they may.
Impressing the committee is the same as impressing poll voters....same system, different name. If you took four teams under the BCS it would be the same results as now.
Not surprised. I think we are a little overrated. We may develope into a playoff team, but we are not there yet.USC jumps us in coaches poll. Now at #5.
Our main problem yesterday was that Oklahoma beat Ohio State. That was not a great outcome for us. It will be hard to jump Oklahoma from here on out. USC will take care of itself - if you watched the Western Mich. game you know they are not running the table.
Not surprised. I think we are a little overrated. We may develope into a playoff team, but we are not there yet.
I
We jumped USC last week, they looked bad we looked great. USC crushed a ranked team this week and we were soso against a team that went to OT against Youngstown.
This.......take care of business on the field. Anything that involves voting, PSU is gonna get hosed.Didn't you all learn from 1994? Fukh the polls. Just win.
They dont look that deeply into it. USC defeated a ranked team. PSU did not. It's the second week of the season
Relax.
I am relaxed. We Did Not Play Well.....Pitt beat us on both sides of the ball.
It hurts is when we lose to them and it hurts us when we beat them. No win situation other than maybe preparing us for Iowa.I'm not for playing Pitt every year. You can only afford one home-and-home series in the pre-conf and, if you want PSU to start scheduling Miami or Notre Dame or USC again, then there's no room for Pitt.
But this year, I think this turned out to be a pretty good game in terms of the development of this football team. Exposed some weaknesses and that is a good thing.
It hurts is when we lose to them and it hurts us when we beat them. No win situation other than maybe preparing us for Iowa.
But to me that's a win. Preparing for the physical teams of the B1G, for the kind of battles on the LOS, that's the No. 1 thing for this team right now. I think the LOS is the last piece of the puzzle for this team.
Look back at the Rose Bowl, they lost the LOS battle all game and stayed in it (even built a lead) with superb skill position talent. If they'd been able to grind out a few first downs in 4th quarter, or if the D-line had been able to get ANY penetration and pressure Darnold, they would have won that game.
David Jones had a column last night arguing that maybe smashmouth doesn't matter any more, that speed and scoring are the future of football. PSU got pushed all over the field by Pitt and still won seemingly comfortably.
I thought about it but I don't buy it. If PSU wants to be a contender they have to be beefy and super strong up front. And they may have the players to do it -- but they weren't all that yesterday.
No problem. Just win win win. One game at a time and it will be fine.USC jumps us in coaches poll. Now at #5.
I don't think the nation thinks that. Tell me, who does the Big XII have other than Oklahoma? Maybe Oklahoma State?Looking at this another way: How in the world does the nation think that the Big Ten is the worst power five conference?
Allow me to add that I had Andrew Nelson graded higher than Chasz Wright yesterday, by a large margin, after rewatching the entire game.
It sure would be good for PSU if Pitt beat Oklahoma State next week.I don't think the nation thinks that. Tell me, who does the Big XII have other than Oklahoma? Maybe Oklahoma State?
Pitt did not push Penn State all over the field. Pitt runs a gimmicky offense that is as hard to prepare for as Navy, or Army, or Georgia Tech. Navy ran all over Ohio State 3 years ago and nobody said Navy pushed Ohio State all over the field, and Ohio State won the national championship that year. Pitt made 5 first downs by either inches or just one yard, and all on third downs, and they also ran 9 shovel passes and completed 8 of them. Your narrative about how Pitt pushed Penn State all over the field is false.
They had 24 first downs to PSU's 14. They had 340 yards and their offense was mostly between the tackles. This wasn't Army or Navy -- for sure deception is a big part of it but you can't say it was a finesse offense. They were mostly running between the tackles, and to do that you have to move DTs and middle linebackers out of the way, you have to physically block people downfield, and they were doing that.
And you're not addressing the offensive side at all.
The last 54 minutes of this game, PSU scored 19 points. Had 13 first downs.
Longest drive of the day for PSU was 7 plays. (Pitt had two 15-play drives just in the first half.) PSU converted 4 of 12 3rd downs, pretty similar to last year.
Are we going to say it was a gimmick defense that was hard to prepare for?
PSU was very fortunate in this game to get the turnovers early and to have the defense play really well in the red zone.
I know people want to believe in this team, but I think this team has a ways to go if they're to reach their goals. Pitt showed us that, and that's not a bad thing to find out now -- rather than a month from now. There is still time.
So.. your "narrative" is that PSU just got unlucky a lot that Pitt was able to complete all those first downs and sustain all those drives. That PSU was fooled by smoke and mirrors? For four quarters?
They had 24 first downs to PSU's 14. They had 340 yards and their offense was mostly between the tackles. TOP 32 minutes to 21? That's awful.
Thank god PSU has so much DL depth because old PSU teams would have been worn down to nothing by the 4th quarter.
And really if you consider that Browne is not a very good QB, it makes what Pitt accomplished on the ground even more remarkable. They HAD to the run the ball (or shovel passes) because they couldn't protect Browne, PSU knew they had to run the ball and still couldn't stop them.
This wasn't Navy -- for sure deception is a big part of it but you can't say it was a finesse offense. They were mostly running between the tackles, and to do that you have to move DTs and middle linebackers out of the way, you have to physically block people downfield, and they were doing that.
And you're not addressing the offensive side at all.
The last 54 minutes of this game, PSU scored 19 points. Had 13 first downs.
Longest drive of the day for PSU was 7 plays. (Pitt had two 15-play drives just in the first half.) PSU converted 4 of 12 3rd downs, pretty similar to last year.
Are you going to argue that it was a gimmick defense that was hard to prepare for? Or that McSorley was just "off."
PSU was very fortunate in this game to get the turnovers early and to have the defense play really well in the red zone.
I know people want to believe in this team, but I think this team has a ways to go if they're to reach their goals. Pitt showed us that, and that's not a bad thing to find out now -- rather than a month from now. There is still time.
I don't want to sound negative. It was a good win, there was so much to like about PSU's performance. I just think it raises questions about PSU's line play, questions that will be answered one way or another in about two weeks.
USC jumps us in coaches poll. Now at #5.
You can write as many paragraphs as you want, Iowa's offensive line is not better than Pitt's.
I kind of don't think the polls mean all that much in week 2 for the teams that do start in the top 10. Just win baby.
That said, it is disrespectful. Just imagine how far we would have fallen if we gave up that last second garbage TD at the end there? Who knows?
OSU could have been ranked #10 in the preseason and it still would have been viewed as a impressive road win.Another reason why preseason polls matter. Oklahoma's win means something because OSU was #2....and it will mean something all year regardless of what OSU ends up doing.
Did you feel this way at end of last season? A team just missing the playoffs has "a ways to go"? It is virtually the same team.So.. your "narrative" is that PSU just got unlucky a lot that Pitt was able to complete all those first downs and sustain all those drives. That PSU was fooled by smoke and mirrors? For four quarters?
They had 24 first downs to PSU's 14. They had 340 yards and their offense was mostly between the tackles. TOP 32 minutes to 21? That's awful.
Thank god PSU has so much DL depth because old PSU teams would have been worn down to nothing by the 4th quarter.
And really if you consider that Browne is not a very good QB, it makes what Pitt accomplished on the ground even more remarkable. They HAD to the run the ball (or shovel passes) because they couldn't protect Browne, PSU knew they had to run the ball and still couldn't stop them.
This wasn't Navy -- for sure deception is a big part of it but you can't say it was a finesse offense. They were mostly running between the tackles, and to do that you have to move DTs and middle linebackers out of the way, you have to physically block people downfield, and they were doing that.
And you're not addressing the offensive side at all.
The last 54 minutes of this game, PSU scored 19 points. Had 13 first downs.
Longest drive of the day for PSU was 7 plays. (Pitt had two 15-play drives just in the first half.) PSU converted 4 of 12 3rd downs, pretty similar to last year.
Are you going to argue that it was a gimmick defense that was hard to prepare for? Or that McSorley was just "off."
PSU was very fortunate in this game to get the turnovers early and to have the defense play really well in the red zone.
I know people want to believe in this team, but I think this team has a ways to go if they're to reach their goals. Pitt showed us that, and that's not a bad thing to find out now -- rather than a month from now. There is still time.
I don't want to sound negative. It was a good win, there was so much to like about PSU's performance. I just think it raises questions about PSU's line play, questions that will be answered one way or another in about two weeks.
But if they were unranked, it wouldn't have.OSU could have been ranked #10 in the preseason and it still would have been viewed as a impressive road win.