Thoughts on our eastern rivals and our direction..

[LMTLION]

How frustrating must it be for rival football fans in the northeast and mid Atlantic to watch PSU's quick (and unforeseen) climb back to national relevance? We were left for dead 5 years ago. Here was a golden opportunity for rutgers, pitt, et al following the horrific sandusky scandal and they all failed. Pitt continues to be average. Rutgers has actually gone backwards and continues to allow PSU and the traditional powers of the old Big 10 to handpick the best hs talent out of NJ . Syracuse continues to stagnate. Maryland is not much better than rutgers. Further south nothing has largely changed for the positive in the VA schools. Further west osu and um continue to be traditional powers, but this reflection is not about them. The failure of our eastern rivals (both past and current rivals) to capitalize on sandusky and the sanctions is now complete and the utter incompetence of those schools to fail to move the competitive needle at all is almost mind boggling.
When the sandusky news first broke the situation was so disgusting and the climate so severe that in discussions with some fellow alums we felt like we were psychologically damaged during that time period. On a football front, to be on this trajectory only a few years later with a future that looks even brighter is simply amazing and refreshin. BOB and Franklin were the perfect coaches to get us through the sanctions and the core group of kids that stuck with us need to be remembered forever.

 

[Alphabets]

What's even more disgusting is that all of those fan bases used and continue to use sexual abuse as a tool to better their programs. And it's backfired. They don't give a sh1t about the welfare of children, they just simply thought that it would give them an advantage on the field. Turns out, the PSU community is so strong, that it rallied around the program and came together to promote everything that is good about Penn State.

 

[ga.lion]

How frustrating must it be for rival football fans in the northeast and mid Atlantic to watch PSU's quick (and unforeseen) climb back to national relevance? We were left for dead 5 years ago. Here was a golden opportunity for rutgers, pitt, et al following the horrific sandusky scandal and they all failed. Pitt continues to be average. Rutgers has actually gone backwards and continues to allow PSU and the traditional powers of the old Big 10 to handpick the best hs talent out of NJ . Syracuse continues to stagnate. Maryland is not much better than rutgers. Further south nothing has largely changed for the positive in the VA schools. Further west osu and um continue to be traditional powers, but this reflection is not about them. The failure of our eastern rivals (both past and current rivals) to capitalize on sandusky and the sanctions is now complete and the utter incompetence of those schools to fail to move the competitive needle at all is almost mind boggling.
When the sandusky news first broke the situation was so disgusting and the climate so severe that in discussions with some fellow alums we felt like we were psychologically damaged during that time period. On a football front, to be on this trajectory only a few years later with a future that looks even brighter is simply amazing and refreshin. BOB and Franklin were the perfect coaches to get us through the sanctions and the core group of kids that stuck with us need to be remembered forever

 

[ga.lion]

How frustrating must it be for rival football fans in the northeast and mid Atlantic to watch PSU's quick (and unforeseen) climb back to national relevance? We were left for dead 5 years ago. Here was a golden opportunity for rutgers, pitt, et al following the horrific sandusky scandal and they all failed. Pitt continues to be average. Rutgers has actually gone backwards and continues to allow PSU and the traditional powers of the old Big 10 to handpick the best hs talent out of NJ . Syracuse continues to stagnate. Maryland is not much better than rutgers. Further south nothing has largely changed for the positive in the VA schools. Further west osu and um continue to be traditional powers, but this reflection is not about them. The failure of our eastern rivals (both past and current rivals) to capitalize on sandusky and the sanctions is now complete and the utter incompetence of those schools to fail to move the competitive needle at all is almost mind boggling.
When the sandusky news first broke the situation was so disgusting and the climate so severe that in discussions with some fellow alums we felt like we were psychologically damaged during that time period. On a football front, to be on this trajectory only a few years later with a future that looks even brighter is simply amazing and refreshin. BOB and Franklin were the perfect coaches to get us through the sanctions and the core group of kids that stuck with us need to be remembered forever.

What we now know for sure is the sanctions weren't as a bad as the death penalty due to a couple quality head coaches, players led by Mauti and Zordich, and recruits starting with Hack and Adam B. Throw in student and fan support and you have the Big Ten East Champs. Remarkable achievement by a very young team. And the NCAA, John Surma, and our BOT still suck

 

[trz103]

I despise Pitt as much as the rest of us but let's be honest here. Even with their modest 8-4 record they do have 2 wins over top 8 teams

 

[AldenT]

I despise Pitt as much as the rest of us but let's be honest here. Even with their modest 8-4 record they do have 2 wins over top 8 teams

Well I know the Sun Bowl committee is certainly impressed.

 

[Madsol]

I despise Pitt as much as the rest of us but let's be honest here. Even with their modest 8-4 record they do have 2 wins over top 8 teams

Yep. And despite that, they can barely crack the top 30. What an indictment on their program.

 

[fairgambit]

I despise Pitt as much as the rest of us but let's be honest here. Even with their modest 8-4 record they do have 2 wins over top 8 teams

Pitt does not get enough credit for being a program on the rise. As you said, they have 2 superior wins and three of their 4 losses were by a touchdown or less. They will be going to their 9th straight bowl game, are tied for 24th in this week's AP Poll, and they are in a conference where they can grow and prosper. I expect us to be better, but they will get some kids we want and we will just have to live with that.

 

[LMTLION]

I despise Pitt as much as the rest of us but let's be honest here. Even with their modest 8-4 record they do have 2 wins over top 8 teams

I agree their record looks ok and they beat us, but if we played today we would win by 14+. Their defense is pathetic and the ACC is nowhere near the B1G in difficulty. Pitt is also a senior team and they will be back to 5 or 6 wins next season.

 

[trz103]

The point of the discussion was taking advantage of PSU's demise. While they may not have capitalized their talent level certainly did increase. Otherwise they have no chance in those games. This isn't rocket science here what is so hard to understand?

 

[m.knox]

Can't tell you too much about our eastern rivals, but here in Ann Arbor, we went to get a Christmas tree today (in full PSU garb) and the response was overwhelmingly "thank GOD OSU isn't going to the championship game"....

Here I was hoping to bust some balls........ Epic fail.

 

[fairgambit]

I agree their record looks ok and they beat us, but if we played today we would win by 14+. Their defense is pathetic and the ACC is nowhere near the B1G in difficulty. Pitt is also a senior team and they will be back to 5 or 6 wins next season.

I doubt they will drop to 5/6 wins. They are developing underclass talent. They are in an easier conference which almost guarantees them 7/8 wins a year.

 

[cavic]

I doubt they will drop to 5/6 wins. They are developing underclass talent. They are in an easier conference which almost guarantees them 7/8 wins a year.

Laughable.
Connor probably goes pro.
More than half the D is gone, including Price. I also wouldn't be shocked if Whitehead didn't look for other pastures; there's clearly a rift between him and the coaching staff.
If the Nar-dog is developing talent, where was it when the Orange droped a hoops score on them.
Agreed, the ACC is an inferior conference to ours. That night cede them 6 wins, but not 8

 

[pandaczar12]

I despise Pitt as much as the rest of us but let's be honest here. Even with their modest 8-4 record they do have 2 wins over top 8 teams

Pitt is really close to a 6-6 team. Anyone who watched those games knows that both were extremely lucky. If either of those games were played this weekend, Pitt loses both handily.

Speaking of Pitt, I don't visit the lair much, but I was wondering if anyone else had this problem. When I go to the upper right to find their page, I ALWAYS click "high schools" instead of "colleges". Freudian slip I guess.

 

[pandaczar12]

What's even more disgusting is that all of those fan bases used and continue to use sexual abuse as a tool to better their programs. And it's backfired. They don't give a sh1t about the welfare of children, they just simply thought that it would give them an advantage on the field. Turns out, the PSU community is so strong, that it rallied around the program and came together to promote everything that is good about Penn State.

It makes me sick to see fans from other schools try make JVP look bad when he did EXATLY what he was supposed to do, instead of putting the focus on the professionals that actually failed the victims... all because of football. I can't believe they truly don't care about the welfare of children. The saddest part is that they know JVP was a great man who did the right thing, they just play dumb about the facts... because of football.

 

[lionlurker]

I doubt they will drop to 5/6 wins. They are developing underclass talent. They are in an easier conference which almost guarantees them 7/8 wins a year.

Not next year. I think 6-6 is their limit.

 

[psuro]

Neither Maryland nor Rutgers had the football history to have cashed in on the issues of the Sandusky scandal, as it related to football. Most (not all) recruits of any serious level of talent in these recruiting areas were not going to look at Rutgers and Maryland anyway - at least seriously.

On another note - the kids that did commit here - you also have to include their families as part of the reason that the program is one of only two in the Big Ten to have winning seasons since 2004. They believed not only in the football program, but they were able to dissociate the actions of the BoT from the program. I have a business relationship with a father of one of the players, and he told me that when his kid was being recruited - by all sorts of schools across the country - he told him "Find a school you would want to go to even if you were not playing football." And that kid came back and said "Dad, it's Penn State". When asked why, the kid simply said "This is a great university, and this is where I want to spend the next 4 years of my life".

 

[BoulderFish]

The point of the discussion was taking advantage of PSU's demise. While they may not have capitalized their talent level certainly did increase. Otherwise they have no chance in those games. This isn't rocket science here what is so hard to understand?

They are a very very senior-laden team (except for the new DB), just good enough to catch an "any given saturday" game against a paper-tiger Clemson team, and caught us very early in the season when we were a completely different team (and down 1.5 LBs).

Good for them, but they've landed something like 3-4 recruits (literally) that we offered -- since the Sandusky mess hit the fan five years ago!.

It isn't rocket science to see that if they benefited at all from the Sandusky mess, it isn't even a measurable amount.

 

[harjeff]

What's even more disgusting is that all of those fan bases used and continue to use sexual abuse as a tool to better their programs. And it's backfired. They don't give a sh1t about the welfare of children, they just simply thought that it would give them an advantage on the field. Turns out, the PSU community is so strong, that it rallied around the program and came together to promote everything that is good about Penn State.

Except for Rodney and the Old School BOT!