It was ugly, point blank and there's no sugar coating that.
-- The offense as a whole just wasn't there on Saturday and I think you can blame a combination of things for why that was, starting with some questionable play calling by Mike Yurcich. There were times, especially on third and shorts where he would go into shotgun and call pass plays despite there being no time to throw or no one open. On top of that, I think he tried to get way too cute with the offense as well, too many trickery plays and not sticking to the bread and butter of the offense which is the run game.
-- Regardless, it's not all on him as Allar made some bad throws on the day too. It was a big moment for him and he failed to step up in that moment. He definitely had some really poor throws, but the offensive line was doing him no favors at all. Nourzad had multiple low snaps and both he and Wormley were flat out bad against what is a talented Buckeyes defensive line. They need to be better in the future, especially if they want any chance in the upcoming Michigan game.
-- Last, but not least the wide receiver room is flat out bad. There's no other way to put it. Not entirely sure who you put the blame on there, but it starts with recruiting and yes they've had some great wide receivers in the past, but this group just isn't able to get the job done. I like KLS a lot as a receiver, but he's not a WR1 in this conference, he's at best a WR2. Harrison Wallace, who I thought might have a breakout year just hasn't been able to create a ton of separation so far and part of that could be because of his midseason injury, but I'm not one for making excuses, if he's not healthy then don't play him. Then the rest of the group has been non-existent pretty much. Clifford dropped several passes in his hands yesterday. Transfers Dante Cephas who was a serious weapon at Kent State, has been virtually unknown this season and yeah maybe arriving late in summer didn't help his case, but I mean the guy has put up numbers in the past, so not entirely sure what his deal is currently. There's been rumors he's lazy in practice and workouts, but end of the day I think you need to try anything to try and rejuvenate this position group. Not to mention the young guys just don't seem to be developing. We've heard tons of hype around Kaden Saunders (former four-star), Omari Evans (pushing for starter snaps to now zero snaps) and the rest of the young guys just aren't getting virtually any snaps. Do you blame the OC? The WRs coach who has only been on campus for about eight months or the previous WRs coach for not recruiting better? That's totally up for debate, but for an offense that has a lot of talented pieces, they should be much better at receiver imo.
-- Now my final point is about Coach Franklin and some of you might not want to hear this, but I still feel he is the best man for the job currently. He's been on campus now for 10 seasons (including this one) and he's produced at times and fell short at times, but realistically I think he's the best man for the job. Yes he's struggled against the two big programs in Ohio State and Michigan, but he's also won a Big Ten title in his 10 seasons. On top of that Penn State isn't the easiest place to sell recruits on and Franklin has proven time and time again, he's one of the best recruiters out there. He will get the job done and he will get PSU into the CFP and he will get them back to a National Championship sooner rather than later.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.
-- The offense as a whole just wasn't there on Saturday and I think you can blame a combination of things for why that was, starting with some questionable play calling by Mike Yurcich. There were times, especially on third and shorts where he would go into shotgun and call pass plays despite there being no time to throw or no one open. On top of that, I think he tried to get way too cute with the offense as well, too many trickery plays and not sticking to the bread and butter of the offense which is the run game.
-- Regardless, it's not all on him as Allar made some bad throws on the day too. It was a big moment for him and he failed to step up in that moment. He definitely had some really poor throws, but the offensive line was doing him no favors at all. Nourzad had multiple low snaps and both he and Wormley were flat out bad against what is a talented Buckeyes defensive line. They need to be better in the future, especially if they want any chance in the upcoming Michigan game.
-- Last, but not least the wide receiver room is flat out bad. There's no other way to put it. Not entirely sure who you put the blame on there, but it starts with recruiting and yes they've had some great wide receivers in the past, but this group just isn't able to get the job done. I like KLS a lot as a receiver, but he's not a WR1 in this conference, he's at best a WR2. Harrison Wallace, who I thought might have a breakout year just hasn't been able to create a ton of separation so far and part of that could be because of his midseason injury, but I'm not one for making excuses, if he's not healthy then don't play him. Then the rest of the group has been non-existent pretty much. Clifford dropped several passes in his hands yesterday. Transfers Dante Cephas who was a serious weapon at Kent State, has been virtually unknown this season and yeah maybe arriving late in summer didn't help his case, but I mean the guy has put up numbers in the past, so not entirely sure what his deal is currently. There's been rumors he's lazy in practice and workouts, but end of the day I think you need to try anything to try and rejuvenate this position group. Not to mention the young guys just don't seem to be developing. We've heard tons of hype around Kaden Saunders (former four-star), Omari Evans (pushing for starter snaps to now zero snaps) and the rest of the young guys just aren't getting virtually any snaps. Do you blame the OC? The WRs coach who has only been on campus for about eight months or the previous WRs coach for not recruiting better? That's totally up for debate, but for an offense that has a lot of talented pieces, they should be much better at receiver imo.
-- Now my final point is about Coach Franklin and some of you might not want to hear this, but I still feel he is the best man for the job currently. He's been on campus now for 10 seasons (including this one) and he's produced at times and fell short at times, but realistically I think he's the best man for the job. Yes he's struggled against the two big programs in Ohio State and Michigan, but he's also won a Big Ten title in his 10 seasons. On top of that Penn State isn't the easiest place to sell recruits on and Franklin has proven time and time again, he's one of the best recruiters out there. He will get the job done and he will get PSU into the CFP and he will get them back to a National Championship sooner rather than later.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.
