Who would you rather play in Beaver Stadium in the Playoff first round?
- Thread starter PSUWrestlingFanSince2011
- Start date
I honestly don't care. I want to win out and get that home game regardless of the opponent. Boise clearly gives us a better path to the championship but a win against GA would be huge for the program.
Beating Boise, in and of itself, would not be as great as we'd be expected to beat them. But we'd have a talent edge on them. GA is a tough draw no matter what. They are very talented and would probably be favored over us. If we win that home game, regardless of the team, we play Miami who is beatable, in Mercedes Benz Stadium (ATL GA).
That would put us in the semifinal against TX/OleMiss/Indiana winner.
Beating Boise, in and of itself, would not be as great as we'd be expected to beat them. But we'd have a talent edge on them. GA is a tough draw no matter what. They are very talented and would probably be favored over us. If we win that home game, regardless of the team, we play Miami who is beatable, in Mercedes Benz Stadium (ATL GA).
That would put us in the semifinal against TX/OleMiss/Indiana winner.
Last edited:
Pate has hypothetical spreads (I think from fanduel) on his show. I think he said we’d be 1.5 point dogs. Ole miss and bama were also road favorites over indiana and notre dame. I imagine that spread would grow given Franklins reputation but UGA is beatable. Beck has been streaky.
We've played the bowl games pretty well. Half our team sat out against Ole Miss last year. I problem has been tOSU. I think everyone is beatable this year.
The national sentiment on Franklin is he can't beat top 10 teams, they don't differentiate or look at his bowl record. He's 3-2 in NY6 games, which is respectable. The 2 losses being the classic with USC in the Rose Bowl and the Ole Miss game with half a team and no coordinators.
UGA fans love their "cakewalk" https://www.reddit.com/r/georgiabulldogs/
yep. as a lifelong fan, the problem has been tOSU. We played well against other highly ranked teams like UM and Iowa. But in the B1G, the only top ten teams are tOSU and UM in most years.
Something tells me that ND could be a tough opponent. For the life of me I don't know how they lost to Northern Illinois (6-5) but they beat A&M and they've been beating most lesser opponents by decisive margins.
Stanford by 42
GA Tech by 18
FL State by 49
Virginia by 21
I guess we'll know more soon. #18 Army then at USC. A playoff game vs ND would probably draw a big crowd but I have a feeling that they're every bit as good as Georgia.
The army has played nobody with a pulse, and they don't deserve that ranking, in my opinion. (Lehigh, FAU, Rice, Temple, Tulsa, UAB, East Carolina, AF and North TX). I expect ND to win by at least 28 points. The back to back losses by USC to both Wiscy at Wisconsin and PSU at home broke USC's back. They are a much worse team today than the team we played. They were fighting for their life against us and today are a lifeless corpse.
I like how we seem to be peaking at the right time, although I wish we had more balance in the passing game.
Agree. I read a coach saying that offenses try to 'create space' and defenses try to 'eliminate space'. I like that. Urban Myer talks about carving up the defense into nine squares: Three across the LOS, three across the defensive secondary to about ten yards, and three across the deep secondary from ten yards to the end zone. PSU has not effectively attacked that deep third with our WRs except when the game was pretty much decided. Our WRs have to beat DBs deep to be 100%. Getting Singleton back to 100% is huge.
However, we've done great using TEs and RBs all over the field. The defense is playing better, more disciplined although we give up a lot on our first defensive series.
All the teams I've seen, Oregon included, have weaknesses. While I wouldn't necessarily favor us against GA, tOSU or Oregon we will be able to hang. And when you can hang in big games, anything can happen. I like being a "dog" anyway. It adds motivation and keeps you away from feeling pressure in playoff games.
Definitely. But USC has been strong at home and playing ND is a huge game for them to be “up for it” so I expect something reasonably competitive. And I don’t think anyone would be all that surprised if the Trojans win.
I don’t really think Army has much of a chance versus ND though.
well, they've lost four of five games (UM, Minny, PSU, MD) and bounced back with a Big Win (note the sarcasm) against Rutgers. They then lost to Washington, barely, before beating NE. So when you look at it, USC is 3-5 in the B1G, 0-4 in away games. They play USC at home though where they are 4-1 (that lone home loss to PSU).
But I hear you....USC won't be playing in a bowl, in all likelihood. If they do, it will be a crappy one at 7-5 or 6-6. So that ND game is their last big game and they can put all of their failures behind them.
I'm not familiar with all of the possible teams for a first round game, but I will say that the team we don't want to play is one with a prolific passing game. I think Oregon would destroy us.
Our best chance is to play teams with a flawed QB. I do think we could disrupt Beck, but then the rest of the game becomes like playing an OSU. We are not a complete team -- lack of wide receivers and linebackers, to name two key position gaps. In each case we are missing at least two players.
We could sneak through a couple of rounds with the right matchups. To get past a truly complete team will require Franklin and company to game-plan beyond what we've seen. Let's remember that Franklin teams lose when an underdog. The only win I can think of where that did not hold was when we beat OSU via the Immaculate Field Goal Kick Block by Grant Haley. That was a long time ago.
Our best chance is to play teams with a flawed QB. I do think we could disrupt Beck, but then the rest of the game becomes like playing an OSU. We are not a complete team -- lack of wide receivers and linebackers, to name two key position gaps. In each case we are missing at least two players.
We could sneak through a couple of rounds with the right matchups. To get past a truly complete team will require Franklin and company to game-plan beyond what we've seen. Let's remember that Franklin teams lose when an underdog. The only win I can think of where that did not hold was when we beat OSU via the Immaculate Field Goal Kick Block by Grant Haley. That was a long time ago.
I think ND has hit their stride and are a dangerous team. Thir QB Riley Leonard is playing really well. While their shedule is rather weak they are putting teams away by very wide margins, they have a strong running game with speed at the WR position. Al Golden (DC) has built a solid defense. At this time they have remained healthy.
Confident little pricks, aren't they. They were confident back in 1982 when I was in New Orleans as well.
I agree that it's mostly about the opposing QB. Pocket passers (Howard, Rourke, Beck) can usually be slowed down with pressure. Running QBs (Ward, Milroe) can be spied with Carter to minimize the damage. QBs that can do both well (Gabriel, Leonard) could be a problem for us.
Yes
I don’t think we’ll draw ND. We both need to win out. If they lose to army I think they’re out.
Someone like Gabriel will have a prolific short passing game that puts pressure on our linebackers. That's the problem I see. When I watch anyone other than #41 they seem lost to me. So easy to exploit by a team with time to prepare. Where is the coaching for those guys?
I also don't like how we play pass defense by the secondary. Always grabbing when in my opinion we are fast enough and don't need to play like that. If officials decide to call that we are in trouble. We'll have to have our wide receivers actually step up to take advantage, and I'm not confident of that.
I am ready to eat crow. I am just as hopeful as anyone to see a PSU team get an NC. I just don't know how you do it without a complete team and with a staff that often blunders.
Every week. Every injury report. Every weather update. Every Northern Lights. Every SpaceX launch 🤷🏿♂️
Then they are unlikely to end up in a position where they’re on the road in the first round.
Fans and media typically look at a coach’s entire bowl record or bowl record at their school. Through that lens Franklin’s bowl record:
At Penn State: 4-6 (below 50%) over a decade
I’ve seen his ny6 record referenced on podcasts. The line of conversation is about how he fares against top competition. You don’t see that in the pinstripe bowl.
Appreciate you calling out that 4-6 is below 50%. Would have never figured it out.
That would be great for a home White Out playoff game! The ratings would be through the roof, crazy crowd, and they appear to be over rated again so we should win and move on.
Unlikely but I think it’s conceivable that a 10-2 Notre Dame is an 11 seed if A&M does well the rest of the season (eg if they win out and end up SEC champions at 11-2).
Thanks. That's how long it has been -- faded in memory. We remember only the guy that made it to the end zone.
Great, but so what? They still don't play zone very well and grab people in man coverage.
A few guys on defense are carrying the load. That won't cut it against a team with an elusive QB that can distribute the ball well.
If the goal is to make it to an NY6 game that is one thing. We've been there before. Going the distance is quite another.
Franklin's won as an underdog more recently than 2016.
5.5 point dogs to Wisconsin in 2021. https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...s-week-1-predictions-from-model-on-57-37-run/
2 point dog to Utah in the Rose Bowl. https://www.si.com/betting/2022/12/29/odds-lines-spread-penn-state-utah-rose-bowl
I think the 2021 game against Wisconsin was the last time we've been an underdog in a regular season matchup that wasn't Michigan or OSU.
Rojas has not emerged like I thought he would thus our LB play is so so. We haven't even faced an elite QB. Gabriel would probably have a field day as you suggest. Dart and Milroe would do damage as well. Beck, Leonard. Ewers we know even Howard all pose problems in my opinion.
Similar threads
Latest posts
-
-
-
FB Recruiting Penn State monitoring 2025 Power-Five Wide Receiver commit- Latest: Dylan Callaghan-Croley
-
-