Wow, as the old adage says, "when it rains, it pours". This is one of those times of adversity HCMC told his team would occur. Let's watch and see how they overcome. Test for team leadership.
Howard and Rapp Questionable for Saturday vs Wisky (UPDATE HOWARD OUT)
- Thread starter TheWizardofCamelot
- Start date
Wow, as the old adage says, "when it rains, it pours". This is one of those times of adversity HCMC told his team would occur. Let's watch and see how they overcome. Test for team leadership.
This is bad news with Howard. I don't see any game changers after him. We just lost our #1 WR. I think at least 2 losses is imminent and most likely the ceiling on wins just dropped to 9. I hope I am just being overly negative but this one hurts and cuts to the bone.
Are you saying PSU can't beat a team with a pulse without Kobe Howard? If you can't beat Washington, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Purdue, Maryland, Rutgers and Minnesota without Kobe, this wasn't a good team anyway. I think 10 wins is still realistic.
I just can't see a way they can go 4-0 over the next four weeks with out Howard - let alone 3-1. 2-2 would seem like a win, that might doom us from playoff contention.
Washington, Wisconsin, and Northwestern don't have a pulse?
Sowell, Eskildsen & Brahmer are solid but they don't have the speed and quickness that Koby does. The best hope might be Zay Robinson.
So much for Becht getting Howard more than 1,000 yds.
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We will see this Saturday how anemic the offense is without Howard. I still think we win.
NW now becomes even dicier. Let's see how NW looks vs Indiana this Friday night. If they put up a good fight then I will be very concerned about that game especially if we don't look so hot in the passing game vs Wisky.
IF we make it through Wisky and NW then this USC game is huge. I think this Howard loss could mean 3 losses this year but maybe we find a way to get by USC. If so, then we could lose to scUM and UDub without Howard and then he comes back and we win the rest of them and have a playoff shot at 10-2.
NW now becomes even dicier. Let's see how NW looks vs Indiana this Friday night. If they put up a good fight then I will be very concerned about that game especially if we don't look so hot in the passing game vs Wisky.
IF we make it through Wisky and NW then this USC game is huge. I think this Howard loss could mean 3 losses this year but maybe we find a way to get by USC. If so, then we could lose to scUM and UDub without Howard and then he comes back and we win the rest of them and have a playoff shot at 10-2.
At least Franklin was smart enough not to play Howard. He doesn’t play, he doesn’t get hurt.
Agree. Plus league play requires an injury report so there is little chance for a surprise.
This implies that none of the teams that PSU plays is going to sustain injuries that are going to keep their players out of any games, which we all know is unrealistic. Of course, PSU now has lost two players since the week after the first game to season ending injuries, one in practice and one in pregame warmups, so it always could get worse for PSU too.
That was a typo. Becht said he wants to get Howard more than 1,000 yds. He had 344 in 3 games so he was certainly on his way. I know they were against weaker opponents but he didn't play much in the 2nd half of those games.
Yes all teams lose players but PSU has less depth and fewer A level players and recruits defected after JF was fired.
Are PSU's rash of injuries related to the Strength & Conditioning coach? Perhaps we shouldn't have let Mr. Handlebar Mustache Man leave with Franklin? 
I actually think that PSU is pretty deep at most positions this season, and an overall deeper team than last season.
Also, even when Howard returns, PSU isn’t going to be an aerial circus in Big 10 games. It’s an offense that needs to be able to run the ball and throw a lot of passes to the tight ends and hopefully the backs and control the ball. I think some were deluded by the passing game against Marshall and Buffalo and even Temple. Let’s face it, a lot of teams would’ve been able to pass all over those teams.
I also was beginning to detect in the Buffalo game that Becht was looking too much for the big play, which won’t work against most Big 10 defenses.
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I know it’s been a brutal week, but it
could be worse. Looks like we avoided a nightmare with Sitake…
A Morman coach and 109,000 alcohol fueled fans? A stroke of genius.
Investigation is warranted. No other team has injuries.Are PSU's rash of injuries related to the Strength & Conditioning coach? Perhaps we shouldn't have let Mr. Handlebar Mustache Man leave with Franklin?
He's to blame. If Franklin hadn't recruited him, he wouldn't have been injured at Beaver Stadium.At least Franklin was smart enough not to play Howard. He doesn’t play, he doesn’t get hurt.
Oh I’ve learned far too many times to not make ANYTHING of ANYTHING posted ANYWHERE in 2026 and beyond.
He’s to blame. If Pangaea hadn’t started breaking apart some 200 million years ago, setting off a few hundred million years of continental drift, evolutionary chaos and beaver migration, there’s a very real chance Pennsylvania never gets beavers—and therefore, through a completely scientifically indefensible chain of events, we never get Beaver Stadium. Think about that.
?It sounds crazy, but I will say that plenty of ISU fans on X suggested that injuries were a big part of the HCMC experience the last few years. Something like 47 guys the last 2 years or something. Im sure its just smoke, but you can find a lot of cyclone fans that were...dissatisfied with the stregth and conditioning coach.Are PSU's rash of injuries related to the Strength & Conditioning coach? Perhaps we shouldn't have let Mr. Handlebar Mustache Man leave with Franklin?
@Tom McAndrew You have some major house cleaning on your hands. I doubt you’ll purge this board of the obvious and recurring Pitt vermin because you enjoy the revenue hits.
It shouldn’t take the likes of me to determine that your board has been overwhelmed with a certain Pittiot with VPN and hundreds of mimicked board names.
It’s your board. For better or for worse.
Not going to minimize the loss of Howard, but if the entire season falls apart based on his injury, the season was destined for less wins than hoped for anyway. Time to see Robinson, Jackson, Sowell, Eskildsen, and the tight ends. "Adversity doesn't build character, adversity reveals it." Let's see what they have.
In 2024, both Winston and Rappleyea sustained season ending knee injuries in the week of practice after the WVU game, then Cam Wallace sustained a season ending knee injury in the Kent State game, then Singletom missed the UCLA game with some type of soft tissue injury and really wasn’t the same the rest of the season, and then Donkoh sustained a season ending knee injury in the Minnesota game. And then in 2025 in the span of less than two weeks, Rojas sustained a season ending knee injury in practice after the Oregon game and Allar broke his ankle in the Northwestern game. All of those injuries occurred under the former head coach and former strength coach.
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Oh I know, I wasnt putting merit into this, just reporting that ISU fans claimed the team sustained a perceived disproportionate number of significant injuries the last few years. Im sure every fan base feels the same way.
You mean fans on the internet blaming the staff....that simply cannot be true as fans online tend to be the most level headed folks around.
I was looking at the current B1G availability report and one thing that really stood out about PSU's questionable is Riker & Rulli (Centers) are both listed as questionable. If neither can play, then that leaves only one Center (Ikakoula) because Will Tompkins (out for the season) was able to play Center. I wonder if they are giving practice reps to Cousins at back-up Center if Riker can't play?
Every year college and nfl fans blame their s&c programs for increased injuries and poor line play. It’s like clockwork. Are there possibly other new techniques to incorporate into training to help prevent injuries across all of football? Possibly. Are there teams that are statistical outliers over a longer period of time? I have not seen that. Like you said, it seems like we have simply had really bad luck two seasons in a row with two different staffs. I would argue last year was worse.
I criticized Franklin for focusing too much on big (explosive) plays but I think we definitely need somebody to stretch the field. We haven't had that since Dotson & Hamler. Running and passing to TEs gets pretty difficult if you can't do that.
Numbers don't equal quality depth. IIRC PSU had zero 1st team preseason ALL BiG. They also had zero on the second team. I think they had two on the 3rd team. We certainly have some good players plus a couple that might breakout but we aren't 3 deep with A level talent. Look what happened last year after we lost Rojas.
This year we lost Granville who was probably our best hope for a pass rush at DE. Now we've lost Howard who was our best WR (at least best in terms of explosiveness). Rapp is questionable and he's far ahead of Brahmer as a blocker. Yes I think it's a problem.
I certainly hope so. Man, the injury bug seems bad this year. Hope it's not linear....
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