How did THIS happen...PSU 20, Army 14

shields

Heisman
Aug 5, 2002
79,194
16,848
113
Simple, Barkley did not play or 2nd string running back. Barkley would have had 200 yards vs Army if he played.
 

RobertG

Heisman
Jul 25, 2001
12,785
11,520
113
I figured Peppers should have been able to handle Army all by himself.
 

knightfan7

Heisman
Jul 30, 2003
93,357
67,198
113
I figured Peppers should have been able to handle Army all by himself.

Peppers plays for Michigan but ok lol.

Army, who had 3 turnovers to PSU's none, outgained PSU on the day and had the ball in PSU territory late in the 4th with a chance to win. Turned it over on downs.

Doesn't matter who played or who didn't. Injuries are part of the game right? Fact is it was probably the best Army effort all year. I watched some of it. Hack and PSU WR's all had a bad day.
 

saran

Senior
May 17, 2011
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When was the last time PSU played an option team? If you haven't played it in awhile it can be hard. It can also be hard to run in practice (a reason given by UConn for a loss to Army). Plus - Army often plays hard vs the big teams that are supposed to kill them. Conversely they often lose to teams they take for granted. I once saw Army play Stanford well for 3 quarters. I saw them beat Northwestern and BC. I also saw them lose to Stony Brook, Fordham and Yale. Army can catch a bigger team napping. I'm sure PSU was expecting a week off.
 
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calvin2711

Sophomore
Nov 6, 2007
394
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It's not that surprising. Army's offense is tough for just about everyone to handle and PSU's offense is a train wreck, especially without Barkley.
 

krup

Heisman
Feb 5, 2003
70,133
10,066
0
Fire Franklin!
Interesting you should mention that. I had local sports radio on here in the Lehigh Valley today and they were discussing Penn State football. The two guys on the radio were talking about how they are not sold on Franklin and that if he started worse than 3-1 next year (Kent St, at Pitt, Temple, at Michigan) PSU should be looking for their next coach.
 

OC Knight

All-Conference
Oct 24, 2010
2,464
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Interesting you should mention that. I had local sports radio on here in the Lehigh Valley today and they were discussing Penn State football. The two guys on the radio were talking about how they are not sold on Franklin and that if he started worse than 3-1 next year (Kent St, at Pitt, Temple, at Michigan) PSU should be looking for their next coach.
Man they could be 1-3 with that schedule.
 

KingHigh

All-American
Apr 12, 2005
21,293
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A big psu fan I know was teasing me about flood and I asked if he still liked franklin and he called him a used car salesman. It won't be long before he's fired.
 

krup

Heisman
Feb 5, 2003
70,133
10,066
0
Temple loses their whole team this year, Pitt is no joke though... They won't fire him at 2-2, 1-3 and they may get uneasy
Don't underestimate how delusional PSU fans are about where they should "naturally" be in the hierarchy of college football. In addition Franklin's personality, which helps hims attract highly rated players to Penn State, also feeds into the unrealistic expectations they already possess.
 
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rufeelinit

All-Conference
May 16, 2010
12,647
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So they are stooping down to play Pitt again next year. That ought to be a fun one to watch.
 

seels2662

Heisman
Aug 16, 2005
23,815
15,902
113
Guys Franklin is a terrible coach. He may be one of the best recruiters in the country, but he is a terrible coach.
 

Scarlet_Scourge

Heisman
May 25, 2012
26,524
13,604
0
PSU plays Rutgers a lot harder than they do Army.. since Rutgers is not a rival.

But seriously, why the hell did Rutgers have a legit shot of beating MSU this year?

The answer is that every week is different, you never know who will be hurt or healthy or having an off day. That is why we play the games.
 
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NBKnight

Heisman
Jul 8, 2008
24,592
15,504
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PSU plays Rutgers a lot harder than they do Army.. since Rutgers is not a rival.

But seriously, why the hell did Rutgers have a legit shot of beating MSU this year?

The answer is that every week is different, you never know who will be hurt or healthy or having an off day. That is why we play the games.

Who saw MSU beating OSU on the road without Cook?
 
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SHUSource

All-Conference
Jun 3, 2001
41,478
3,284
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Temple loses their whole team this year,
Somehow this idea caught some wind, but it's not even close to being true. They lose some key starters, but also have many key starters returning,and the guys occupying the No. 2 spots on the depth chart have played very well. If Temple takes a step back, it won't be huge. Easier schedule next year, too, which would also soften the landing, FWIW.
 
May 11, 2010
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Somehow this idea caught some wind, but it's not even close to being true. They lose some key starters, but also have many key starters returning,and the guys occupying the No. 2 spots on the depth chart have played very well. If Temple takes a step back, it won't be huge. Easier schedule next year, too, which would also soften the landing, FWIW.

Their schedule was easy this season too overall.
 

SHUSource

All-Conference
Jun 3, 2001
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Their schedule was easy this season too overall.
I wouldn't call it brutal, but Notre Dame, Memphis, and a State Penn team that turned out to be pretty good at home, plus Cincinnati (who wasn't as good as advertised, but no pushover) and a USF team that has improved as much as anyone over the pasty six weeks on the road isn't too easy for an AAC team. The league is certainly competitive. And they'll likely face either Navy or Houston in the American title game.
 
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May 11, 2010
72,487
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I wouldn't call it brutal, but Notre Dame, Memphis, and a State Penn team that turned out to be pretty good at home, plus Cincinnati (who wasn't as good as advertised, but no pushover) and a USF team that has improved as much as anyone over the pasty six weeks on the road isn't too easy for an AAC team. The league is certainly competitive. And they'll likely face either Navy or Houston in the American title game.

Please, it was a weak schedule overall.

Shirley had a good season but nothing to get all excited over.
 

RUkhoury

Senior
Oct 17, 2010
684
685
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We should hire Franklin...great recruiter could build a wall around NJ....half kidding, half not.
 

wegea

Freshman
Jan 27, 2010
167
71
0
Schiano put in place a scheme to defend the option that worked well and we still use it today.
 

RUSK97

All-American
Dec 28, 2007
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Simple, Barkley did not play or 2nd string running back. Barkley would have had 200 yards vs Army if he played.
Can someone explain to me how Barkley not playing is an excuse for their off game, but us playing a RB as a safety because of an entire missing secondary is not excusable for our lack of dominance?
 
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Virginiarufan

All-Conference
Jul 26, 2001
3,672
2,605
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The SHU fan doesn't have an argument. They beat PSU at home the first game of the year. PSU was asleep at the wheel though Temple played well. Temple lost to ND and USF and Memphis whom they beat appears to be on their way down losing three in a row. Temple played UCF, Umass, SMU, UNC Charlotte and ECU. That's 6 cupcakes out of 11 opponents. The only team they have left is doormat Uconn. There are no Big Ten teams with a schedule remotely that easy.
 

SHUSource

All-Conference
Jun 3, 2001
41,478
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The SHU fan doesn't have an argument. They beat PSU at home the first game of the year. PSU was asleep at the wheel though Temple played well. Temple lost to ND and USF and Memphis whom they beat appears to be on their way down losing three in a row. Temple played UCF, Umass, SMU, UNC Charlotte and ECU. That's 6 cupcakes out of 11 opponents. The only team they have left is doormat Uconn. There are no Big Ten teams with a schedule remotely that easy.
PSU was asleep when they ran out to a quick 10-0 lead and then were thoroughly dominated in every sense for the next three and a half quarters with 35,000 of their fans in the building? And they lost to Notre Dame, but had a lead with what, 90 seconds left in the game? And I wouldn't say Memphis is on the way down; they just ran into Navy, Houston and Temple for three consecutive weeks. They're still the same team that whipped Ole Miss, but Temple didn't surrender a single touchdown to them.

You want to say that UCF, Umass, SMU, and UNC-Charlotte are cupcakes, but at ECU on a Thursday night TV game is a decent win. I wasn't comparing Temple's schedule to anyone else's - my point was simply that they don't lose their whole team next year, or even close. But if they played, say, Iowa's schedule, it's hard to imagine their record being much different. Might even be a game better.
 

knightfan7

Heisman
Jul 30, 2003
93,357
67,198
113
PSU was asleep when they ran out to a quick 10-0 lead and then were thoroughly dominated in every sense for the next three and a half quarters with 35,000 of their fans in the building? And they lost to Notre Dame, but had a lead with what, 90 seconds left in the game? And I wouldn't say Memphis is on the way down; they just ran into Navy, Houston and Temple for three consecutive weeks. They're still the same team that whipped Ole Miss, but Temple didn't surrender a single touchdown to them.

You want to say that UCF, Umass, SMU, and UNC-Charlotte are cupcakes, but at ECU on a Thursday night TV game is a decent win. I wasn't comparing Temple's schedule to anyone else's - my point was simply that they don't lose their whole team next year, or even close. But if they played, say, Iowa's schedule, it's hard to imagine their record being much different. Might even be a game better.

Temple had more returning starters than all but 1 or 2 teams in the country this year. It was a major plus especially earlier in the year. Their biggest strength, their front 7 on D, gave PSU fits all day.

If the depth chart I saw is correct possibly they lose 11 of 22 starters. 2 WR's and more important 3 OL. On D they lose 3 of 4 DL, Matakevich, and 2 DB on the D. Do they have players in the wings capable of taking over next year? I don't know but it usually seems teams at TU's level as opposed to a OSU, Bama, MSU, etc don't.

Just taking it to an extreme from way outside the box, I believe Rhule leaving for any but a couple open jobs would say a lot. If he goes instead of waiting to see if Franklin sticks at PSU would indicate they can't maintain the success.
 
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Kbee3

Heisman
Aug 23, 2002
43,724
35,255
0
The two kids from Elizabeth....Walker and Thomas are juniors. So they should be back next year.
Matakevich and Ioannidis are seniors and will not.
I don't see how Temple replaces them....particularly Matakevich, who seems to make every tackle for the Owls.
 

JoeRU0304

Heisman
Nov 9, 2005
106,218
17,364
103
Somehow this idea caught some wind, but it's not even close to being true. They lose some key starters, but also have many key starters returning,and the guys occupying the No. 2 spots on the depth chart have played very well. If Temple takes a step back, it won't be huge. Easier schedule next year, too, which would also soften the landing, FWIW.

...watch what happens in 2017. They'll be a bowl team next year (but not on the level of this year's squad), but in '17 they may have the potential to be this year's UCF (dunno if they'll be THAT bad, but they won't touch what they're doing now).


Joe P.
 

Jeismeister

Freshman
Nov 18, 2014
138
61
0
Temple loses their whole team this year, Pitt is no joke though... They won't fire him at 2-2, 1-3 and they may get uneasy
amazing the ignorance on this board ... temple does NOT lose its whole team next year loses only one starter on the dl (Matt Ioannidis, replace by Freddy Booth-Lloyd who nearly plays as many snaps now), one LB (Matakevich, replaced by this year's starting fullback, Nick Sharga), and 1 starting db (Tavon Young, replaced by current 4-star redshirt Kareem Ali). Plenty of impact players back on offense (P.J. Walker, Jahad Thomas, Ventell Bryant). But, yeah, keep thinking that Temple loses the whole team.
 

mktman

Freshman
Jan 31, 2012
300
55
0
amazing the ignorance on this board ... temple does NOT lose its whole team next year loses only one starter on the dl (Matt Ioannidis, replace by Freddy Booth-Lloyd who nearly plays as many snaps now), one LB (Matakevich, replaced by this year's starting fullback, Nick Sharga), and 1 starting db (Tavon Young, replaced by current 4-star redshirt Kareem Ali). Plenty of impact players back on offense (P.J. Walker, Jahad Thomas, Ventell Bryant). But, yeah, keep thinking that Temple loses the whole team.

But they will lose their head coach so that should sting a little bit
 

Caliknight

Hall of Famer
Sep 21, 2001
195,623
147,229
113
Did Shurr play? You play with who you have, but their starting QB is a difference maker for them.
 

Kbee3

Heisman
Aug 23, 2002
43,724
35,255
0
amazing the ignorance on this board ... temple does NOT lose its whole team next year loses only one starter on the dl (Matt Ioannidis, replace by Freddy Booth-Lloyd who nearly plays as many snaps now), one LB (Matakevich, replaced by this year's starting fullback, Nick Sharga), .

Well, we didn't think the Owls would leave the positions empty. Obviously there would be replacements. It just looked to me like Ioannidis was being double-teamed all of the time. That's not so easy to replace....no matter what name you type. And Matakevich has had over 100 tackles for four years in a row....something that very few have accomplished. We know the Owls are gonna put somebody in his position. It's just kinda hard not to expect a dropoff at that position. A rather significant dropoff.
See, we put someone in Leonte Carroo's position when he went down. And also Darius Hamilton's spot when he was unavailable. But there was a serious decline in productivity from those spots. It turns out that, unlike Ohio State and Alabama and apparently Temple, RU must rebuild....not reload.
 
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