Penn State 2019 Season articles
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“He’s 6-foot-5, 250 and you talk to the Penn State players, they all point out how physically dominating he’s been in practice,” Herbstreit said during last night’s ESPN college football preview special. “They’ve got some defensive ends coming back but look out when teams are ready to throw the ball. He has a chance to be special.
“...He gave us a taste of what’s to come with those sacks. Put him in with that defense, Micah Parsons and some others up front and they have a lot of talent. I feel Penn State as a team is a forgotten team. That defense is going to be outstanding.”
Feature: Forward Thinkers
Matt Herb
Blue White Illustrated
The caveat to all of the happy talk on media day was that it’s now been nearly three years since the Nittany Lions have won a championship. But because they came tantalizingly close to the Big Ten Championship Game the past two years, losing four regular-season games to Ohio State and Michigan State by a combined margin of nine points, those seasons are viewed by some as missed opportunities rather than as part of a more general upward trend.
Which brings us back to those championship habits that Franklin and his staff are looking to instill. The biggest disappointment of Penn State’s past two seasons (three if you count the Rose Bowl loss to USC in January 2017) was the team’s habit of faltering in the fourth quarter of games that it could have won. In those four games vs. the Buckeyes and Spartans, PSU was outscored 45-19 in the fourth quarter. If you subtract last year’s come-from-ahead loss to Ohio State, in which they scored two touchdowns prior to the Buckeyes’ rally, the Lions’ output dips to six points in three games.
As those six points indicate, part of the solution to the team’s fourth-quarter malaise involves the offense. The Lions haven’t run the ball consistently the past few years, and that’s an especially glaring weakness when you’re clinging to a late lead and are trying to shorten the game.
But there’s another way of looking at all this, and that is to put those disappointments into context. Penn State is one of only six teams to finish in the top 15 of the Associated Press poll each of the past three seasons. Its past three recruiting classes have ranked among the top dozen in the country according to Rivals.com, and its 2020 class, despite a number of early-summer defections, is rated 12th nationally. What’s more, its average attendance of 105,485 per game was second-best in the country last season, trailing only Michigan. There aren’t a whole lot of programs in college football where those sorts of accomplishments would be considered a mixed bag.
The answers to all those questions are forthcoming. If they’re the kind of answers Franklin and his staff have been seeking, they’ll be able to keep the positive vibes reverberating into the regular season.
Matt Herb
Blue White Illustrated
The caveat to all of the happy talk on media day was that it’s now been nearly three years since the Nittany Lions have won a championship. But because they came tantalizingly close to the Big Ten Championship Game the past two years, losing four regular-season games to Ohio State and Michigan State by a combined margin of nine points, those seasons are viewed by some as missed opportunities rather than as part of a more general upward trend.
Which brings us back to those championship habits that Franklin and his staff are looking to instill. The biggest disappointment of Penn State’s past two seasons (three if you count the Rose Bowl loss to USC in January 2017) was the team’s habit of faltering in the fourth quarter of games that it could have won. In those four games vs. the Buckeyes and Spartans, PSU was outscored 45-19 in the fourth quarter. If you subtract last year’s come-from-ahead loss to Ohio State, in which they scored two touchdowns prior to the Buckeyes’ rally, the Lions’ output dips to six points in three games.
As those six points indicate, part of the solution to the team’s fourth-quarter malaise involves the offense. The Lions haven’t run the ball consistently the past few years, and that’s an especially glaring weakness when you’re clinging to a late lead and are trying to shorten the game.
But there’s another way of looking at all this, and that is to put those disappointments into context. Penn State is one of only six teams to finish in the top 15 of the Associated Press poll each of the past three seasons. Its past three recruiting classes have ranked among the top dozen in the country according to Rivals.com, and its 2020 class, despite a number of early-summer defections, is rated 12th nationally. What’s more, its average attendance of 105,485 per game was second-best in the country last season, trailing only Michigan. There aren’t a whole lot of programs in college football where those sorts of accomplishments would be considered a mixed bag.
The answers to all those questions are forthcoming. If they’re the kind of answers Franklin and his staff have been seeking, they’ll be able to keep the positive vibes reverberating into the regular season.
Great article, really. THIS is the year. And, not being able to run the ball the "last few years" is scary because "the last few years" include Barkley and Sanders. While we've got a stable of very good RBs, I don't see any of them being as good as Barkley and Sanders the last three years. I am happy to be wrong on that.Feature: Forward Thinkers
Matt Herb
Blue White Illustrated
The caveat to all of the happy talk on media day was that it’s now been nearly three years since the Nittany Lions have won a championship. But because they came tantalizingly close to the Big Ten Championship Game the past two years, losing four regular-season games to Ohio State and Michigan State by a combined margin of nine points, those seasons are viewed by some as missed opportunities rather than as part of a more general upward trend.
Which brings us back to those championship habits that Franklin and his staff are looking to instill. The biggest disappointment of Penn State’s past two seasons (three if you count the Rose Bowl loss to USC in January 2017) was the team’s habit of faltering in the fourth quarter of games that it could have won. In those four games vs. the Buckeyes and Spartans, PSU was outscored 45-19 in the fourth quarter. If you subtract last year’s come-from-ahead loss to Ohio State, in which they scored two touchdowns prior to the Buckeyes’ rally, the Lions’ output dips to six points in three games.
As those six points indicate, part of the solution to the team’s fourth-quarter malaise involves the offense. The Lions haven’t run the ball consistently the past few years, and that’s an especially glaring weakness when you’re clinging to a late lead and are trying to shorten the game.
But there’s another way of looking at all this, and that is to put those disappointments into context. Penn State is one of only six teams to finish in the top 15 of the Associated Press poll each of the past three seasons. Its past three recruiting classes have ranked among the top dozen in the country according to Rivals.com, and its 2020 class, despite a number of early-summer defections, is rated 12th nationally. What’s more, its average attendance of 105,485 per game was second-best in the country last season, trailing only Michigan. There aren’t a whole lot of programs in college football where those sorts of accomplishments would be considered a mixed bag.
The answers to all those questions are forthcoming. If they’re the kind of answers Franklin and his staff have been seeking, they’ll be able to keep the positive vibes reverberating into the regular season.
Team talent composite. PSU is #5 in the nation with 49 four or five star players. They are #8 in average player ranking.
https://247sports.com/Season/2019-Football/CollegeTeamTalentComposite/
https://247sports.com/Season/2019-Football/CollegeTeamTalentComposite/
The 2016 team was similarly young at the skill positions. The difference may be that the 2016 schedule had Pitt (who was actually favored in that game) and Michigan in the first four games. Trace and the offense as a whole didn't begin to find their stride until halftime of the Minnesota game that year.
This year Idaho, Buffalo, Pitt, at Maryland, Purdue are the first 5. None of them ranked. Can the offense with a RS Frosh at LT and all soph eligibility at starting QB, RB, TE and 3 WRs make progress through that first 5 games? If they can gel and look competent by the Iowa night game while the defense plays like a dominating unit.......you could have something going this year. Clifford has all the intangibles and pedigree that you want in a QB. He's gotta go out and do it on the field. If a dog's gonna bite, he'll bite as a pup. We'll know shortly what we have.
The talent difference is becoming quite pronounced when PSU plays 2nd and lower tier B1G teams.
49 4- and 5-star recuits vs:
Maryland -- 15
MSU -- 13
Wisconsin -- 9
Iowa -- 7
Minnesota -- 5
Northwestern -- 3
Purdue -- 5
Indiana -- 4
If you believe that four stars beats 3 stars, and that talent determines 60%-75% of the outcome of a college football game, then PSU should be able to find a way to beat Michigan State one of these years, and Iowa does not need to be a nail-biter if the team can execute in a hostile environment.
Need the offense to play with aggression this year and bring it. We know the defense will.
49 4- and 5-star recuits vs:
Maryland -- 15
MSU -- 13
Wisconsin -- 9
Iowa -- 7
Minnesota -- 5
Northwestern -- 3
Purdue -- 5
Indiana -- 4
If you believe that four stars beats 3 stars, and that talent determines 60%-75% of the outcome of a college football game, then PSU should be able to find a way to beat Michigan State one of these years, and Iowa does not need to be a nail-biter if the team can execute in a hostile environment.
Need the offense to play with aggression this year and bring it. We know the defense will.
That 2016 team also had a lot of inexperience in the defensive front 7 (especially after injuries). They lost to Pitt because they couldn't stop the run in the 1st half against a very good Pitt OL. This year PSU's got experience and physical maturity on the DL.
If they stay healthy, this D could just overwhelm every OL they play till they get to Iowa. Pitt will try to run the ball but it doesn't sound like they have the horses this year.
The soft early season is probably a blessing for an offense that has talent but needs game reps. Still, when you hit the heart of the B1G, when you face Chase Young and Epenesa, it's almost a totally different game.
If they stay healthy, this D could just overwhelm every OL they play till they get to Iowa. Pitt will try to run the ball but it doesn't sound like they have the horses this year.
The soft early season is probably a blessing for an offense that has talent but needs game reps. Still, when you hit the heart of the B1G, when you face Chase Young and Epenesa, it's almost a totally different game.
We also had the best college RB in a decade or more. I am not saying that guy isn't on our team but it is just "hope". And "hope" is not a "plan."
I think we as fans are a bit gun shy. The bad losses last year vs The big three in our division and the bowl loss has everyone second questing. In reality, we have been reloading up to OSU and Mich. standards and have decent experience to go with the quality young talent. If other talent rich programs can complete on a yearly basis while losing talented players, then so should we. IMO, the plan is reload. If we have a sub par season, then you need to start looking at coaching as the problem.
totally agree. Interestingly, we've outperformed UM in recent years given the sanctions. (we, at least, won one B1G and beat ohio state this decade). But until you've done it, you haven't done it. Was 2016 the Barkley/JoeMo show or was it CJF? I think it was a lot to do with CJF but don't know for sure. some of the fourth quarters against USC, tOSU and MSU have me scratching my head.
Wasn’t Moorhead the guy running the fourth quarter offense during those head scratchers in the USC game and the 2017 OSU and MSU games?
This. You've tapped into the discontentment felt over the past 8-10 months. The Snooze Fest that was the Citrus Bowl against a lackluster opponent, the loss of Bresee and F*****g, the horrible shortfall against o$u, the destruction by scUM, the baffling losses to mSu back-to-back, the drops, the coaching issues, the ST issues -- all of this has really impacted the fan based and a lot of the media AND makes the 8-4 type projections seem logical and reasonable. But, I think the team is really hungry, really close. I think they have some great leadership. I think this will be a really big year this year.
so, by your logic, it can't have happened against tOSU last year because JoeMo wasn't there?
It's not one factor, it is many. At the head, is CJF. Can he successfully establish, lead and maintain a tOSU-like program? CJF hired JoeMo and had the authority to tell him what to do. that was, overall, a successful combination.
I don't disagree. to add to that, some of the best recruiting classes in the school's history.
on the downside, we have a QB that hasn't played a meaningful snap. We have a soph RB that looks good but has not had a full year of leading a program. We've got a WR corp that is still searching. We haven't had good line play in ten years but feel this year is the year.
Lots of gaps and question marks. Doesn't mean we won't be national championship, just that the probabilities are long.
Wholly agree with the fact that having #'s 26 and 24 should have mattered, but I think that breakdown in the 4th spoke more to the lack of depth, experience and size at the OL position, and teams that had straight up bruits at the OL position (a la tOSU, MSU... etc) were able to push around the OL late in the games. Having more depth and skill at the OL position will help the running game I believe. I look at it as back then, the RB/OL split per se was 80-20 or so with the RB accounting for 80, while this year it's probably closer to 60-40 or so with the RB position having the 60, but it's much closer.
and none of this is taking into account the defensive depth and being able to get off the field. If the defense can't get off the field, the other team's defense is resting up and able to take it to the OL when they get back on the field.
I just think it's really nuanced and spread across the board instead of one position being blamed for the breakdowns.
People's expectations were not realistic going into 2017 and 2018. For sure there are plenty of coaching issues/decisions to pinpoint, but those teams had some talent deficits that ended up costing them when they hit the meat of the schedule.
In 2017 some people (such as me) were pointing out that the team had depth problems on the D-front that could bite them, and just about got hooted off this board. Bring ranked #4 in the country made people think the team was invincible. When Pitt ran the ball very effectively for the second year in a row, that was a sign of trouble but no one wanted to hear it because it was still a great win.
Last year I got a bad feeling when the team was extremely sloppy at Champaign in the fourth game of the season. The offense was a mess till the 4th quarter, and the D was almost as bad. The Illini, a dreadful team, ended up with 400 yards of total offense, 250 on the ground. That was a sign of trouble -- especially for the fourth game of the season -- but no one wanted to hear it because the final score was 63-24.
This year I am really optimistic. The only real potential weakness is OL I think. If the OL plays just OK and becomes good in mid-season, the sky is the limit for this team IMHO. But at the same time, there is relatively little that anybody knows until the team plays some games.
You can learn a lot from early season games if you pay attention. Does the defense play positionally sound team D or try to make individual plays? Is the D tackling well (last year they were tackling horribly in the early season)? Can the OL, backs and TEs pick up stunts and blitzes? Are the receivers and Clifford on the same page?
I can't wait to see the Pitt game. If Pitt runs its misdirections and sweeps and the PSU linebackers and ends are consistently fooled again, that would be bad. But I don't think it's gonna happen.
And this year's a little different from the last two because it's a young team and WILL improve. Last two years it was an experienced team that should been good right out of the gate -- and sometimes wasn't.
In 2017 some people (such as me) were pointing out that the team had depth problems on the D-front that could bite them, and just about got hooted off this board. Bring ranked #4 in the country made people think the team was invincible. When Pitt ran the ball very effectively for the second year in a row, that was a sign of trouble but no one wanted to hear it because it was still a great win.
Last year I got a bad feeling when the team was extremely sloppy at Champaign in the fourth game of the season. The offense was a mess till the 4th quarter, and the D was almost as bad. The Illini, a dreadful team, ended up with 400 yards of total offense, 250 on the ground. That was a sign of trouble -- especially for the fourth game of the season -- but no one wanted to hear it because the final score was 63-24.
This year I am really optimistic. The only real potential weakness is OL I think. If the OL plays just OK and becomes good in mid-season, the sky is the limit for this team IMHO. But at the same time, there is relatively little that anybody knows until the team plays some games.
You can learn a lot from early season games if you pay attention. Does the defense play positionally sound team D or try to make individual plays? Is the D tackling well (last year they were tackling horribly in the early season)? Can the OL, backs and TEs pick up stunts and blitzes? Are the receivers and Clifford on the same page?
I can't wait to see the Pitt game. If Pitt runs its misdirections and sweeps and the PSU linebackers and ends are consistently fooled again, that would be bad. But I don't think it's gonna happen.
And this year's a little different from the last two because it's a young team and WILL improve. Last two years it was an experienced team that should been good right out of the gate -- and sometimes wasn't.
No. Franklin puts his faith in his coordinators to call games. Moorhead made a bunch of good calls for us and he deserves credit for that - and it ultimately got him a job in the SEC. Moorhead also made the offensive calls in the fourth quarter against USC, MSU and OSU.
Franklin owns the ultimate results though, good and bad - I just find it a little confusing how some of our fans (not necessarily you Obvi) tend to put the good results on Moorhead and the bad results on Franklin. It doesn’t seem to be consistent to me.
It's never consistent with fans. They are fickle and just need someone to blame after a loss. If people still think Franklin cannot coach after his time at Vandy and his time at PSU thus far, they are a bit off IMO.
Donovan Johnson not on depth chart. Injury of some sort. Oweh beat out Joseph for 2nd string. Parsons will start at SAM b/c of Cam's 1st half suspension.
Wait, is Franklin allowed to know when Scruggs returns from injury???
Franklin just hasn't decided what "soon" means. Once he decides, he'll inform the doctor accordingly.
Penn State offensive starters, by eligibility
Fr: 1
Soph: 7
Jr: 2
Sr: 1
Defense
Soph: 2
Jr: 5
Sr: 4
Fr: 1
Soph: 7
Jr: 2
Sr: 1
Defense
Soph: 2
Jr: 5
Sr: 4
From today's teleconference: Reid says Keaton Ellis led the team in takeaways during camp
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