FFS. Go look at some of the SEC OOC schedules and get back to us.
What are your positives & negatives from game #1
- Thread starter DaytonRickster
- Start date
Well.....Bama played FSU......the Gators play FSU and Miami.......South Carolina plays Virginia Tech......Arkansas plays Notre Dame.......LSU played at Clemson.....Texas played at OSU.....Georgia at least plays Tech
I think maybe you are the one that needs to do some research?
both Rucci and Donkoh looked "rusty" I think even Donkoh said he's about 90%. I think it was just lack of communication and not being comfortable with one another more than anything else. JMO
Yup. First week of this year. Good for them for stepping up. Now, go look at the rest of their OOC opponents and look at their recent history of OOC schedules. We’ve been over this a million times. Georgia plays Marshall, Austin Peay, and Charlotte this year. Mercer will get a shot at at least two of them.
You’re giving SC credit for playing VT but forgetting that VT was supposed to play at PSU this year.
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Here’s more: Alabama plays Western Illinois in late November. Every big-time team plays pasties. Some play them at the beginning of the year, the SEC tends to schedule them mid-or late-season.
Hope Fisher gets healthy. His absence is concerning.
By the way, any word on why Q. Matin (RB) did not get any reps?
I think eventually we see Donkoh returning to RT as the starter and Cousins or Shanhan starting at RG.
I agree about Cousins at RG but I believe Donkoh should be the starting RT.
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Interesting list and none of them had to deal with what Franklin did in his first several years except for maybe Kiffen. I cant remember all the fall out they after Pete Caroll left.
We get upset when they talk about our kid toucher nationally but we talk about our kid toucher all the time on here hmmmmm
I'll have to go back and re-read my post to make sure I didn't mention it.....
Nope nothing just the "fall out"...carry on.
Please learn how to quote the poster in your reply. Thank You.
and do you not agree there was "fall out"
I didnt say that, I’m bringing up the jerry double standard. (national shouldn’t talk about our ped. Nittany nation can use our boy as an excuse (15 years after no less)
now the Phillies are on, please excuse me for 3)
No thanks.Our top choices for PSU head coach, in no particular order:
Munchak
Golden
Rhule
Schiano
I thought I read J'Ven Williams is still a bit dinged up and like Fisher missed some camp time.
I wiki’d oregon coach, he took over in 2021. Did we resign big game in 21? hmmm
Lb, look at the timing I read
LOOK!
AI Overview
James Franklin has had multiple contract adjustments at Penn State; he signed a major 10-year, $85 million contract extension in November 2021. More recently, his contract was restructured in November 2024 to include incentives for the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff format, though the core terms of the 2021 deal remained largely the same.
LOOK!
AI Overview
James Franklin has had multiple contract adjustments at Penn State; he signed a major 10-year, $85 million contract extension in November 2021. More recently, his contract was restructured in November 2024 to include incentives for the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff format, though the core terms of the 2021 deal remained largely the same.
see so much easier this way.
You must be on your second miller lite because how you got all that from my post is God's own little mystery.
I also said "Interesting list and none of them had to deal with what Franklin did in his first several years" the key part of that being "THE FIRST SEVERAL YEARS" If you cant recognize or don't understand the challenges of fielding a team with less than 85 scholarships and maybe 2 OLinman I really cant help you and there is no further need of this discussion.
Pretty sure they said his hand was in a cast.
The 4-2-5 is Knowles scheme. It isn't being done for any reason other than that.
I loved Joe and he was the HC when I went to school, but that truth is very difficult for a number of our fans to swallow. Franklin is performing on par with Joe, and that’s with the disadvantage of starting his PSU tenure coming out of the sanctions when we are left for dead. I do think that Franklin will get a Natty here.
You and I are clearly not like the "elite" fans who deserve better.
If Franklin has won 102 games here, a good coach would, without question, have won more. Just ask the BWICAC.
Same. I was there in the 90’s when Enis, Arrington, etc were there and it was a heck of a ride. But the overall numbers are pretty consistent for PSU football over the years and there were a number of disappointing loses when I was there.
I haven’t followed his career, so I don’t know what scheme he likes. If this is what he runs, it helps to hide our weak LB recruiting but it forces someone in the secondary to come up to support the run defense. That guy is likely undersized unless he is Ed Reid level of good. With OSU having 5 star guys at every position, my guess is you can run no scheme and win most of the games. They just held Texas to 7 points without him. I just hope our talent level works with the system.
Nice post. Thanks for being real. Long season. They won which is important
It’s also different playing top 5 teams when you’re also a top 5 team (Smart, Day). And how many of Franklin’s losses came against OSU and Michigan…all but 3? It’s not like he’s losing to top 5 teams across the country, mainly just one.
Yeah, 95-99 seasons each had some magic but ultimately were hugely disappointing. Joe had so much talent on those teams and squandered it. Those were not his finest years as a head coach and it lead to the dark years. It was not all his fault. The conference was not going to allow itself to be embarrassed again as it was in ‘94 and the officiating became decidedly anti-PSU in the late 90s to the point I believe it had an impact as well.
No idea if it was nerves or what, but Arch was missing bad on his passes until the 4th quarter. Scheme is irrelevant when you are throwing at the feet of wide open targets.
OSU remained in the same 4-2-5, but as has been noted everywhere they had a lot of disguised coverage. Patricia was willing to let Texas run the ball until goal-to-go and let his LBs clean anything up.
As for us, I think Nevada scared people with a mobile QB. He was the offense. RBs had basically no yardage. WRs had 100 in a game they trailed entirely and half of them came against the 2nd/3rd string blended defense. While our DEs not named Dani didn't record a lot of stats, I think our DTs had to be a big surprise. Disruptive was the name of the game and we saw that from a lot of them. When Knowles had us spy, Purdy couldn't get nowhere.
WRT the O Line, and the personnel packages there:
For most of the game - the first 6 possessions through the middle of the 3rd Q:
The O Line was: 66 and 72 (Shelton and Rucci) at the tackles, 68 and 71 (Donkoh and Vega) at Guard, and 53 (Dawkins) at C.
The only exception was the 4th series (a 3-and-out right after the long kick off return)
For those three snaps they moved 68 (Donkoh) out to RT and put 50 (Cousins) in at RG.... 72 to the bench.
I think they will take a long look at that set - as 72 did not have a very good game.
They did that again for series 7 and 8, when they also brought in 54 (Shanahan) at LG. In addition to likely not being sold on 72 and 68 at T and G - as opposed to 68 and 50 at T and G, I think they just wanted to get 54 some snaps, and rest Vega some.
I expect they believe they can win with a combination of those 7 guys - and that is the likely 7 who will get some snaps each game for the time being (the starters plus Cousins and Shanahan).
The last two series were full second unit:.
77 and 70 (Sexton and Aliciene, if the rosters were correct) at tackle, 50 and 54 at guard, and 52 (Rulli) at C.
Among the veteran guys, neither Birchmeier or Williams took any offensive snaps (Williams may be banged up)
The only other change up was using some 6 and 7 OL packages in the first series. (Which is not unusual for Kotelnicki - including the now commonplace use of 71 as a wing/man-in-motion). They used 50 and/or 54 as the 6th/7th man in those situations
I think Donkoh is the best between him, Rucci and Cousins. He is able to play guard but I don't think Rucci can play guard. Not sure how Rucci looked on Saturday but maybe Rucci comes off the bench at RT and we start Donkoh at RT and Cousins at RG.
Pretty sure Knowles ran a 4-2-5 at OSU too. So while it might help mask a light LB room, I don't think it's the REASON for it.
9 times out of 10....perhaps 10 of 10.....if you run into an opponent with better talent at every position the only scheme that will win is sneaking an extra player or two on the field. I'm pretty sure that when Franklin shopped for a DC, he had as a priority someone who ran a defense similar to what they have been employing. Nuances are unavoidable. However, reverting back to my original post call him Star, Rover, Lion, its a high bred and has been for some time. Down, distance, score and perhaps even hash mark will determine if the "5th" player is a traditional linebacker or a safety/corner type. I don't think PSU is alone in phasing out the Dick Butkus types and looking for the players with more ability in open space. The game has changed.
A year ago, the coaching staff talked about how valuable it was to get Rucci, who is very tall at 6–8, up to 320 as he was only 308 when he transferred over from Wisconsin. According to the official roster, he is back down to only 304. I don’t think that’s sufficient to play OL in our conference at that height.