ranked # 2 at the beginning of the season? Even after three miserable performances against cupcakes , PSU remained in the top three. I saw it, you all saw it. A slow weak LUMBERING offensive line that averages roughly 6'5 320 lbs exhibits no power. They simply do not know how to RUN BLOCK and that has been one of the hallmarks and failures of Franklin's tenure. He does not commit to POWER football.
How in any universe was Penn State...
- Thread starter ConcealedCarry
- Start date
The problem with smoke and mirrors, is that eventually you run out of smoke and mirrors.
I was shocked to see them ranked that high to start the season. They had no players returning that had a proven track record of being an elite superstar player that could help them win a big game. That's a big reason why PSU lost the biggest three games of 2024, not enough talent. The only two superstars from that team, Carter and Warren, went pro. I felt a ranking of about #8 would have been fair to start the season since we were returning so many seniors who were supposed to get better from junior to senior year (which didn't happen obviously). After the first three games of this year, we probably should have dropped to #10 or #11 if the pollsters were being honest about the on-field performance against very bad teams. After the loss to Oregon, that would have put us about #15 going into UCLA. It makes the upset more believable, I guess.
Weak is the appropriate word to describe the Penn State offensive line. As a group, the OL has been physically abused by opposing defensive lines. Physicality and toughness are missing for Penn State’s OL.
The need re-instill the trademark of football is higher than ever. Bring back a hard-nosed team!
I dont disagree, but I'd love to know how did this OL suddenly get weak within 8 months (different schemes, size, injuries we dont know about)? At any rate, its been a failure since the first game and we all recognized it but brushed it off.
Of course they should have been ranked that high. They returned virtually the whole offense. Others teams lost everyone .
now why the offense is inept after 5 games is a complete mystery!!
now why the offense is inept after 5 games is a complete mystery!!
Can ask the same about Texas and Arch as preseason Heisman frontrunner. Media still feels the need to inject themselves into a game that doesn’t need much extra hype.
What is the common denominator for TX and PSU? Line play on both sides.
The difference between now and when Joe was here is money. Now that we are paying these kids, the whole paradigm has changed.
In years past, these kids played for their schools, their family, their friends, their degrees, and their teammates. Everybody was in the same boat working for the same goal with the same opportunity to excel. Now that they’re playing for the almighty buck, you can have HUGE team chemistry problems in more ways than I have time to explain here. That team COMPLETELY checked out on Saturday. Especially the defense. The bad chemistry was off the charts.
Do these mercenaries even go to class anymore and mingle with the rest of the student body like they used to? How many actually get a degree anymore? How is their pay structure set up? Is the money we pay them guaranteed? If so, once we pay them, why do they give a crap? To an 18 or 20 year old kid, they think $100,000 will set them up for life. That makes them soft and more willing to make “business decisions”.
If these kids start to sit out the season with “long term UNDISCLOSED injuries”, do we still have to pay them? Do we still have to pay them if they take a requested red shirt year, knowing they will be portaling in a couple of months? If so, a lot of 18 or 20 year old kids will just either take their money and run, or only just go through the motions.
This team will only win if they can win easy. They slept walked through the first three games and won easy. They played their a$$es off against Oregon and lost. That obviously took all the fight out of this team and completely demoralized them. Anyone that doesn’t take Northwestern and 22 points on Saturday is brain dead nuts.
For me an indicator of this teams mentality is celebrating a tackle with showmanship against a much lesser team. Been going on for a while. Hard nosed ? Not at all. Take care of business before you let your head get to you .
PSU as a national favorite makes sense IMO - almost entire offense returning from a top four finish last year and a favorable schedule again this year. Plus the addition of the 'top' DC in the country; the season was supposed to hinge on Oregon and OSU and now we're looking at barely making a bowl game.
Manning as a Heisman frontrunner is on his name alone, which should tell you all you need to know about college football punditry. He literally played in the Little Sisters of the Poor private school league where he was literally the biggest and fastest person on any team. He played well in mop up time last year and that is it on the tape for young Arch; folks forget his dad was the Manning who didn't make the NFL.
Top 4 teams in the preseason rankings.... OSU, PSU, TX, Clemson. Take a look at the last 3 teams combined records.... Yeesh.
I don't think we brushed it off. It was evident from game one.
I think it goes to the absence of Frank Leonard who assisted with OL coaching last year. Word is he kicked OL players in the butt and was tough with his critiques of their play and worked on correctoons.
You nailed it, Buffalo. I'd been thinking these very things over the last few of days. This isn't near the college football most of us once knew. These guys don't give a damn, and there is no longer any pride within them for the university they represent. Now to be fair, I lost much of my own pride due to the lack of backbone on the part of those running the school back in 2011. Good to see one of your posts again. As I remember they were always well thought out.
He took PSU -21.5. That is pretty optimistic, especially considering that they are 0-5 vs the spread.
YoU mIsSeD tHe SaRcAsIm.
I completely bought into the ranking. I predicted they’d make it to the final four. This is why I don’t bet my own money.
I was also thinking this may be a good time to bet PSU ( I have not this season). Buy the dip. Hoping the number goes down.
I laid the points against Oregon, but that's been it so far. I won't add anything if it hits 21, but would definitely add to it if any 20.5's pop.
Also watching closely to see where UCLA goes from here. Was Saturday just a dead cat bounce, or will they find something with the move away from Foster (and/or was he really just that bad).
The people who do the rankings really don't know the teams very well. People who really watch PSU football closely (I think John Sauber is one) I think identified DT, DE and linebacker as potential depth problems. But I don't think anyone would have foreseen that OL would be such a mess. It just didn't compute that PSU couldn't run the ball the first three weeks of the season but now it's clear PSU just doesn't have the ability to run the ball. And they certainly don't throw the ball well enough to make up for not running the ball.
Having all the seniors coming back may end up being a liability now. They have nothing to play for. They could lose a whole lot of games. At least a younger team could play hard, have fun and look forward to next year. I don't think anybody on this team is having fun right now.
No team should be allowed to be ranked until they've played at least one game. So no preseason rankings. Then if there are only two games in Week 0 rankings, the rankings after that week will have only four team in it.
Okay, it'll never happen, but I like the idea.
Okay, it'll never happen, but I like the idea.
The dead cat bounce has been good so far this season - VT and OkSt both covered the week after. UCLA didn't win the week after, but 2 weeks after firing Foster.
I have a feeling that UCLA was too undervalued and their power rating may take a bit to catch up. Also, I've not seen Nico run like he did on Saturday before. Don't know where that came from but it was likely the difference in the game (not necessarily the cover). If that continues, they can definitely get some more covers.
Not sure there are enough public bettors to get this PSU line below 21 considering the opponent.
I think its a mix with UCLA.... Foster was bad, new coaches are better and also the players wanted to really show out for the PSU game. Once they get a few games on film it will become much tougher when teams see what you like to do and figure out ways to defend it... i.e. put a spy on their qb.
The very fans who thirst for pre-season comparisons and rankings are among the first to point out how unreliable the rankings are two weeks after season starts.
Unfortunately...we will end the year likely where we should based on last four years' of recruiting....ranked like 20, 7, 13, 15 based on composites. Ohio State in comparison has been in top 5 all of those years. At some point, it is hard to overcome superior talent. I
t can be done at times like UCLA just did to us, but hard to do consistently (Us beating OSU or Oregon)...especially when you don't have a top coach (at least offense and head for us). We probably win the UCLA game with Rojas....but when backup is former walk-on who is slow and misses tackles , it shows the lack of depth....back to the recruiting issues.
t can be done at times like UCLA just did to us, but hard to do consistently (Us beating OSU or Oregon)...especially when you don't have a top coach (at least offense and head for us). We probably win the UCLA game with Rojas....but when backup is former walk-on who is slow and misses tackles , it shows the lack of depth....back to the recruiting issues.
They will win some. Nico will be able to take over versus some of these bottom rung B10 teams now that he has a better play caller and is simply playing better. Of course other opponents will actually play defense against them.
Yes it will be interesting to see if Franklin can rally the team or are they checked out at this time. He clearly had no idea what was wrong from his press conference answers.
Finally had the 20.5 turn up...became a bit bigger play for me now as I repopped it.
I'm surprised there isn't some "animosity"over the amount of money some players are getting vis a vis others. I have no basis, but these are young men, first time making money and I'd be surprised there isn' t some questioning
Penn state still does not stretch the field. If the defense knows you're a 10 or so yard pass team they can cheat up and in effect become stronger against the run. Add in that we are a run first team, even though we don't gain any yardage, and I would think we make it easy on a defense.