Don't look now but.....

[PSUForever]

Are we #14 in the B10 and headed for a 3-6 conference record? Yikes. I don't want to overreact Sunday and there is a TON of football left but yellow and red flags are all over the place.

It appears the ISU talent is not ready for prime time or B10 time. I was wrong, I thought guys like Becht, Sowell, Eskildsen (however you spell it), Brahmer were solid talents. Hmmm, after yesterday I dunno. Sowell is pretty good and so is Brahmer but serious concerns about Becht and you don't have an offense without a good or solid QB. Nevertheless no elite guys anywhere from ISU and after Howard (who is not helping being hurt) and Rojas and maybe a couple guys in the secondary there is very pedestrian talent on this team.

Defense is worse than I thought. Don't have Granville so no rush. Did we get a sack? I didn't get to watch the game (probably good thing) so thank you media execs for insisting there needs to be games on Peacock. Back to our D, looks like the D line has no game wreckers and no ability to get to the QB. LBs after Rojas?? Yawn. Remember folks that this Wisky QB is not upper echelon B10. And for that matter this Wisky TEAM, is not that good.

So I took a stab at the B10 pecking order. Really guessing but what I do know is the only games we play that I have some confidence we can win are Purdue, Rutgers and Maryland. We very well could be 3-6 in conference. Yes, we could be 5-4 beating Minny at home and then maybe beating a UDub or The Cheaters or USC. I don't see us winning more than 1 of those 3. And I just don't see us beating NW. Stars are not aligned. NW is due for a signature win and the new stadium opening is a big intangible in their favor.

1) OSU clearly the class of the conference
2) Oregon
3) Indiana
4) USC
5)UCLA
6) Iowa
7)Northwestern
8) Minnesota
9) Nebraska
10) Illinois
11) Michigan
12) Washington
13) Wisconsin
14) Penn State
15) Michigan State
16) Rutgers
17) Purdue
18) Maryland

Can anyone talk me off the ledge?! Say it ain't so!

 

[KingLando]

That list is insane
Miss State destroyed Minnesota
Duke beat Illinois
Washington hasn't beat anyone and lost to Minnesota
Nebraska isn't decent
UCLA is good because they beat Purdue and Maryland?

Just relax--yes, we miss Howard but we likely win 6-8 games--probably 7 and will be in the middle of the pack.
That's fine in year 1 after 6-6 last year.

 

[BUFFALO LION]

That list is insane
Miss State destroyed Minnesota
Duke beat Illinois
Washington hasn't beat anyone and lost to Minnesota
Nebraska isn't decent
UCLA is good because they beat Purdue and Maryland?

Just relax--yes, we miss Howard but we likely win 6-8 games--probably 7 and will be in the middle of the pack.
That's fine in year 1 after 6-6 last year.

We aren’t “Duke” or “Mississippi State”. They would both kick out a$$es by two or three TDs right now. Thank goodness we don’t have to play “Nebraska”. They had a LOT easier time with Michigan State than Notre Dame did. And Fitz has “Michigan State” playing a LOT better than they played last year. “UCLA” is 3-0 against P-4 teams. All pretty much blow outs with a cross country woodshed job on Maryland. Meanwhile, we are 0-1 against the P-4. We can only pray we go cross country to Washington and do what “Minnesota” did last night.

In short, I pretty much agree with his list except I would put the bottom 5 as:

14.) Michigan State - Have looked better than last year against teams a lot better than Wisconsin.
15,) Purdue - Again, have looked better than us against much better competition. They will be a matchup problem for us with their passing game. They have a lot of length and speed, but their defense sucks
16.) Penn State
17,.) Maryland
18 .) Rutgers - Maryland just has better athletes than Rutgers.

One caveat. The game I actually feel most comfortable with is USC. Just like us, they are highly overrated, and have proven they don’t handle cross country travel well. We actually looked better than they have against the non P-4 tomato cans on their schedule, and they had trouble with Rutgers. They look soft to me, and no where near as good as Wisconsin on defense. If I had to pick an upset on our remaining schedule it would be them. IF we beat them, MAYBE it will kick start a run of wins against the easiest remaining Big Ten schedule we have ever had.

 

[KingLando]

We aren’t “Duke” or “Mississippi State”. They would both kick out a$$es by two or three TDs right now. Thank goodness we don’t have to play “Nebraska”. They had a LOT easier time with Michigan State than Notre Dame did. And Fitz has “Michigan State” playing a LOT better than they played last year. “UCLA” is 3-0 against P-4 teams. All pretty much blow outs with a cross country woodshed job on Maryland. Meanwhile, we are 0-1 against the P-4. We can only pray we go cross country to Washington and do what “Minnesota” did last night.

In short, I pretty much agree with his list except I would put the bottom 5 as:

14.) Michigan State - Have looked better than last year against teams a lot better than Wisconsin.
15,) Purdue - Again, have looked better than us against much better competition. They will be a matchup problem for us with their passing game. They have a lot of length and speed, but their defense sucks
16.) Penn State
17,.) Maryland
18 .) Rutgers - Maryland just has better athletes than Rutgers.

One caveat. The game I actually feel most comfortable with is USC. Just like us, they are highly overrated, and have proven they don’t handle cross country travel well. We actually looked better than they have against the non P-4 tomato cans on their schedule, and they had trouble with Rutgers. They look soft to me, and no where near as good as Wisconsin on defense. If I had to pick an upset on our remaining schedule it would be them. IF we beat them, MAYBE it will kick start a run of wins against the easiest remaining Big Ten schedule we have ever had.

Nothing you sa6 has meaning because it's the delusional rant of someone that is still obsessed with Franklin. The inability for you and others to have a rational conversation is absurd. We lost by 4 to Wisconin without our beat player and only lost because of the blown coverage on 3rd down. I'd wager you watch almost no college football outside of Penn State and definitely no Big Ten football

 

[royboy]

Too early to say.

Need to see how PSU reacts in the next couple games.

 

[PSUForever]

Just getting the juices flowing so appreciate the input by all, including you Lando!!

Lando, I hope you're right that I am overreacting but your 7-5 prediction is just one game better than what I'm saying.
Getting Howard back will help but when is that? Mid October?

Of course I want to be dead wrong on my close to doomsday prognostication but yesterday rattled my confidence.

Wisconsin is not very good and even if we held on it would have been a most uninspiring win.

7 wins? First of all that is below what most thought was reasonable at 9-3. It means a 4-5 conference record. Hooray! it is not 3-6!
We are a run of the mill B10 team and conceivably in the bottom 5 of the conference. Minny is not bad and just beat UDub on the road. Miss State is pretty good.
Not sure about Illinois. You could quibble with where we are but at this stage there is no way we are a top half B10 team. I expected much better and certainly didn't think we could open up B10 play 0-4.

 

[KingLando]

Just getting the juices flowing so appreciate the input by all, including you Lando!!

Lando, I hope you're right that I am overreacting but your 7-5 prediction is just one game better than what I'm saying.
Getting Howard back will help but when is that? Mid October?

Of course I want to be dead wrong on my close to doomsday prognostication but yesterday rattled my confidence.

Wisconsin is not very good and even if we held on it would have been a most uninspiring win.

7 wins? First of all that is below what most thought was reasonable at 9-3. It means a 4-5 conference record. Hooray! it is not 3-6!
We are a run of the mill B10 team and conceivably in the bottom 5 of the conference. Minny is not bad and just beat UDub on the road. Miss State is pretty good.
Not sure about Illinois. You could quibble with where we are but at this stage there is no way we are a top half B10 team. I expected much better and certainly didn't think we could open up B10 play 0-4.

7 wins puts us above 14th. I'm not saying we're a top 5 team in the conference. Though after 3 anything is possible--no one else is truly "good"
Most thought 9-3 simply because of the schedule not because of how good we were. I think your expectations of what you thought the game would look like is why you're overreacting. Howard is a huge loss for this team and I fully expect to lose to Northwestern without him despite us being favored. After that, I wouldn't be shocked about beating anyone.

 

[Midnighter]

Are we #14 in the B10 and headed for a 3-6 conference record? Yikes. I don't want to overreact Sunday and there is a TON of football left but yellow and red flags are all over the place.

It appears the ISU talent is not ready for prime time or B10 time. I was wrong, I thought guys like Becht, Sowell, Eskildsen (however you spell it), Brahmer were solid talents. Hmmm, after yesterday I dunno. Sowell is pretty good and so is Brahmer but serious concerns about Becht and you don't have an offense without a good or solid QB. Nevertheless no elite guys anywhere from ISU and after Howard (who is not helping being hurt) and Rojas and maybe a couple guys in the secondary there is very pedestrian talent on this team.

Defense is worse than I thought. Don't have Granville so no rush. Did we get a sack? I didn't get to watch the game (probably good thing) so thank you media execs for insisting there needs to be games on Peacock. Back to our D, looks like the D line has no game wreckers and no ability to get to the QB. LBs after Rojas?? Yawn. Remember folks that this Wisky QB is not upper echelon B10. And for that matter this Wisky TEAM, is not that good.

So I took a stab at the B10 pecking order. Really guessing but what I do know is the only games we play that I have some confidence we can win are Purdue, Rutgers and Maryland. We very well could be 3-6 in conference. Yes, we could be 5-4 beating Minny at home and then maybe beating a UDub or The Cheaters or USC. I don't see us winning more than 1 of those 3. And I just don't see us beating NW. Stars are not aligned. NW is due for a signature win and the new stadium opening is a big intangible in their favor.

1) OSU clearly the class of the conference
2) Oregon
3) Indiana
4) USC
5)UCLA
6) Iowa
7)Northwestern
8) Minnesota
9) Nebraska
10) Illinois
11) Michigan
12) Washington
13) Wisconsin
14) Penn State
15) Michigan State
16) Rutgers
17) Purdue
18) Maryland

Can anyone talk me off the ledge?! Say it ain't so!

 

[Nothing Special]

Just getting the juices flowing so appreciate the input by all, including you Lando!!

Lando, I hope you're right that I am overreacting but your 7-5 prediction is just one game better than what I'm saying.
Getting Howard back will help but when is that? Mid October?

Of course I want to be dead wrong on my close to doomsday prognostication but yesterday rattled my confidence.

Wisconsin is not very good and even if we held on it would have been a most uninspiring win.

7 wins? First of all that is below what most thought was reasonable at 9-3. It means a 4-5 conference record. Hooray! it is not 3-6!
We are a run of the mill B10 team and conceivably in the bottom 5 of the conference. Minny is not bad and just beat UDub on the road. Miss State is pretty good.
Not sure about Illinois. You could quibble with where we are but at this stage there is no way we are a top half B10 team. I expected much better and certainly didn't think we could open up B10 play 0-4.

Don't mean to jump into the conversation here. Winning on Saturday MAY have had done long-term damage than losing it. Winning that game justifies the conservative approach. what happens next matters. As royboy said, need to see how the staff and players respond.

 

[BUFFALO LION]

7 wins puts us above 14th. I'm not saying we're a top 5 team in the conference. Though after 3 anything is possible--no one else is truly "good"
Most thought 9-3 simply because of the schedule not because of how good we were. I think your expectations of what you thought the game would look like is why you're overreacting. Howard is a huge loss for this team and I fully expect to lose to Northwestern without him despite us being favored. After that, I wouldn't be shocked about beating anyone.

7 wins puts as squarely at 14th. We would have to beat at least one of USC, Washington, or Michigan to be any better than 14th, with no trip up against an improved Minnesota or Purdue. Beating Maryland, Rutgers, Purdue, and Minnesota won’t make us any better than 14th unless Michigan State or someone else totally melts down.

I agree that Northwestern will kick our a$$.

 

[KingLando]

7 wins puts as squarely at 14th. We would have to beat at least one of USC, Washington, or Michigan to be any better than 14th, with no trip up against an improved Minnesota or Purdue. Beating Maryland, Rutgers, Purdue, and Minnesota won’t make us any better than 14th unless Michigan State or someone else totally melts down.

I agree that Northwestern will kick our a$$.

4-5 and 7-5 puts us way ahead of 14th...just using math. It's cute you think everyone we don't play is just automatically better than us.
I like Patty Fitz but MSU isn't better than us. Hell most will say Wisconsin isn't. You do realize teams lose to others that they're better than all the time. Right? Any given Sunday is a saying for a reason

 

[IoffendwithTruth1]

Nothing you sa6 has meaning because it's the delusional rant of someone that is still obsessed with Franklin. The inability for you and others to have a rational conversation is absurd. We lost by 4 to Wisconin without our beat player and only lost because of the blown coverage on 3rd down. I'd wager you watch almost no college football outside of Penn State and definitely no Big Ten football

Outside of our DB getting pushed to the ground (OPI that was missed but it is what it is), our offense was still in bed apparently. Becht looked absolutely terrible, by far the worst game he has ever played IMO. With the way our offense looked and losing by 4; Id would say that is our worse game we play this year. I believe PSU shows up to NW on Friday and shows out with Becht having an absolute baller night. I just cannot see him play any worse than he did on Saturday. I believe this team will come out with a purpose and bad intensions Friday night. I hope I am right.

 

[PSUFTG]

Would be a shocker if they lose to NW - even after this week's debacle.

I wouldn't write off the game vs USC either - they are nearly as "troubled" as PSU right now (they haven't played defense for years - and this doesn't look like the year that changes).
Gave up 30 to Louisiana (over 350 yards of offense, UL QB was 16-22 for well over 200)
Gave up 35 to RUTGERS (nearly 500 yards offense - DYLAN LONERGAN threw for over 250)
Gave up 41 to Oregon (over 500 yards - their back-up QB comes in and throws for 19 of 25 for 289)
USC D has TWO sacks total in the three games.


Could be the classic "Stoppable Force meets Movable Object" type of game when PSU has the ball.

 

[KingLando]

Outside of our DB getting pushed to the ground (OPI that was missed but it is what it is), our offense was still in bed apparently. Becht looked absolutely terrible, by far the worst game he has ever played IMO. With the way our offense looked and losing by 4; Id would say that is our worse game we play this year. I believe PSU shows up to NW on Friday and shows out with Becht having an absolute baller night. I just cannot see him play any worse than he did on Saturday. I believe this team will come out with a purpose and bad intensions Friday night. I hope I am right.

What's the old saying "you're never as good as you think you are after a win or as bad as you think you are after a loss".
The frustration is understandable and I hope you're right about beating Northwestern. I just think Northwestern is better than people realize but could be somewhat biased there.

 

[IoffendwithTruth1]

4-5 and 7-5 puts us way ahead of 14th...just using math. It's cute you think everyone we don't play is just automatically better than us.
I like Patty Fitz but MSU isn't better than us. Hell most will say Wisconsin isn't. You do realize teams lose to others that they're better than all the time. Right? Any given Sunday is a saying for a reason

Would Michigan losing to Western Michigan be a good example? Or Notre Dame losing to NIL in 2024? Gotta show up ready to play.

 

[IoffendwithTruth1]

What's the old saying "you're never as good as you think you are after a win or as bad as you think you are after a loss".
The frustration is understandable and I hope you're right about beating Northwestern. I just think Northwestern is better than people realize but could be somewhat biased there.

I do not think that is biased at all. I have been telling people around me and on here that the NW game scares me the most. They are a good team that will bite you if you give them a chance. I completely understand everyone's frustration because...well...it is indeed warranted, lol. I look at it from a different lens. PSU lost by 4 looking as bad as they did on Saturday; should have some say in this. That is where I am at. I simply cannot fathom that we can look any worse. Becht left SOOOOO many opportunities and points out there that this game, even on a mediocre day should have been a 31-10 win that somewhat mirrored (game play) the Temple win. But it didn't and here we are. Time to learn from it, refocus and move on to the next game.

 

[BUFFALO LION]

4-5 and 7-5 puts us way ahead of 14th...just using math. It's cute you think everyone we don't play is just automatically better than us.
I like Patty Fitz but MSU isn't better than us. Hell most will say Wisconsin isn't. You do realize teams lose to others that they're better than all the time. Right? Any given Sunday is a saying for a reason

Well, “Wisconsin” was sure better than us on Saturday, playing on the road in a semi-night game in front of a Homecoming Crowd with Penn State getting most of the breaks and good bounces. They ran and passed through us like a knife through cheese once the stakes were on the line.

 

[PSUoh90.]

Well, “Wisconsin” was sure better than us on Saturday

They were horrific. They did everything they could to hand us the game.

 

[JVP_Yahweh]

I wouldn't say Ohio is the class of the conf. They shat the bed vs UT and IU and Iowa are looking pretty dang good

 

[BUFFALO LION]

Would be a shocker if they lose to NW - even after this week's debacle.

I wouldn't write off the game vs USC either - they are nearly as "troubled" as PSU right now (they haven't played defense for years - and this doesn't look like the year that changes).
Gave up 30 to Louisiana (over 350 yards of offense, UL QB was 16-22 for well over 200)
Gave up 35 to RUTGERS (nearly 500 yards offense - DYLAN LONERGAN threw for over 250)
Gave up 41 to Oregon (over 500 yards - their back-up QB comes in and throws for 19 of 25 for 289)
USC D has TWO sacks total in the three games.


Could be the classic "Stoppable Force meets Movable Object" type of game when PSU has the ball.

You are right about USC. They are just as, if not more overrated than we are. I actually think we have a better chance of beating them at Home than Northwestern on the Road.

I explained in another post why I think there is a very good chance we could upset them. Unfortunately, it will probably be the least intriguing White Out Game in our official White Out History. We are both so bad that by that time, there may be nothing more on the line than a satisfying, feel good win.

 

[PSUFTG]

I actually think we have a better chance of beating them at Home than Northwestern on the Road.

I don't know if I would personally go quite that far (mostly because I don't think that much of NW, despite their early successes) - but I don't think you are necessarily wrong either.
I like their coach - and I always thought Chiles had potential - that he never reached at MSU.

I think you are right about this being the "duddiest" white out game ever (both Minnesota and the Washington game were lousy opponents, but at least PSU had something to play for in those games - they may not for the USC game, if they wet the bed in Evanston this week).
The only thing making it "interesting" may be that it is the best game on the home schedule - by default.

 

[BCS PSU]

You are right about USC. They are just as, if not more overrated than we are. I actually think we have a better chance of beating them at Home than Northwestern on the Road.

I explained in another post why I think there is a very good chance we could upset them. Unfortunately, it will probably be the least intriguing White Out Game in our official White Out History. We are both so bad that by that time, there may be nothing more on the line than a satisfying, feel good win.

USC just is a totally different team in Big 10 road games than they are at home (just look at the Rutgers game on 9/19/26 as an example).

 

[BUFFALO LION]

They were horrific. They did everything they could to hand us the game.

That is a MAJOR BINGO!!!!!

They played as bad of a football game as you could play against us. Maybe one of the worst games I have seen played against us in years, and we played exponentially worse. Especially in the 4th quarter when the game was on the line. At Home, in a semi-night game, in front of an Homecoming crowd.

And that makes us somehow BETTER than them?

 

[Binder74]

That is a MAJOR BINGO!!!!!

They played as bad of a football game as you could play against us. Maybe one of the worst games I have seen played against us in years, and we played exponentially worse. Especially in the 4th quarter when the game was on the line. At Home, in a semi-night game, in front of an Homecoming crowd.

And that makes us somehow BETTER than them?

How do you win the turnover margin 3 to 1 and lose?

 

[KingLando]

Well, “Wisconsin” was sure better than us on Saturday, playing on the road in a semi-night game in front of a Homecoming Crowd with Penn State getting most of the breaks and good bounces. They ran and passed through us like a knife through cheese once the stakes were on the line.

So UCLA was better than us last year?
Or just better than us on the day we played them?

 

[KingLando]

That is a MAJOR BINGO!!!!!

They played as bad of a football game as you could play against us. Maybe one of the worst games I have seen played against us in years, and we played exponentially worse. Especially in the 4th quarter when the game was on the line. At Home, in a semi-night game, in front of an Homecoming crowd.

And that makes us somehow BETTER than them?

You're still pretending the better team always wins...we've seen elite teams lose to bad teams then bounce back. Not saying that's Penn State this year (it's not) but I'd we play Wisconsin 10 times we win 7 or 8. Should have won Saturday honestly

 

[PSUoh90.]

You're still pretending the better team always wins...we've seen elite teams lose to bad teams then bounce back. Not saying that's Penn State this year (it's not) but I'd we play Wisconsin 10 times we win 7 or 8. Should have won Saturday honestly

Correct. If they played again this coming Saturday, the line wouldn't change much.

 

[Efejle]

How do you win the turnover margin 3 to 1 and lose?

Not just that. Penn State had a defensive touchdown. The odds of losing in a game in which you score on defense are much worse than a normal game. In addition, I the other touchdown was set up by an interception that went to their ten yard line.

Basically Penn State scored no touchdowns on their own offensively, and was stopped at the Wisconsin 5 on the other drive, while having possession after possession with good field position.

To add to this, the Penn State punting game is high school level.

This is not a good team and may not even be an average team. Right now it looks like a sub par team with a few really good players and a whole bunch of average to below average players.

 

[Nitt1300]

I remain surprised that anyone was surprised.

Did you actually believe that a mid-pack Big 12 group was somehow going to be better in the B1G?

Seriously?

 

[Marshall2323]

I remain surprised that anyone was surprised.

Did you actually believe that a mid-pack Big 12 group was somehow going to be better in the B1G?

Seriously?

Game planning and in game decisions (clock management) is all improved.