A couple of thoughts

[TheWizardofCamelot]

Cheers, everyone. 2-0 heading into the prime time whiteout vs Auburn feels pretty good. Some things that have jumped out to me after today:

- John Donovan (Washington) is confirmed to be a terrible OC, if we needed it.

- Michigan stinks again. 8-4 at best IMO.

- OSU is beatable and I think we will have a shot in the Shoe this year. That defense is Swiss cheese and although his stats were good, I don’t know if I would trust Stroud.

- If Clifford plays within himself, he manages a pretty nice game. Is he CFP caliber? Not quite sure. But Yurcich has been good for him. He’s noticeably going through his progressions much better.

- MY gets a lot of players involved and it’s fun to watch. It seems like he’s finding a role for anyone with talent.

- I love our RBs. Cain and Lee are both bruisers, but weirdly different in a way. Lee has beautiful footwork and Cain has really improved as a receiver.

- Our run game seems to be very diverse. Is it going under center? Do we now have more options and misdirection? Regardless, it’s fun to watch something different than the zone read.

- The OLine looked better today, we ran the ball well and Clifford had time.

- Franklin/MY got deep ball happy today. At times, needed to just take the five yard run, rather than getting behind the sticks.

- Ball State was taking away the big play all game. They wanted to make PSU grind it out.

- Dotson and Parker Washington are a fabolous tandem. Washington had a few plays for first downs that were really impressive.

- The defense struggled a bit, especially up the middle. Things seemed to change when Brooks entered the game after halftime.

- The Jesse Luketa story is incredible. Not to be a downer, but he’s a below average LBer. But an amazing DE. Has he been playing out of position for 3 years? It’s night and day when he switched between DE/MLB.

- Our DEs are really good, just need to stay healthy.

- Really like CB Hardy. Always seems to be stuck to his man like glue.

- In general, I think this defense will be the most impactful under Franklin. They seem to create a lot of big plays + momentum shifting turnovers.

- Dancing Gnome is the best brewery in Pittsburgh.

Let me know your thoughts.

 

[AWS1022]

Cheers, everyone. 2-0 heading into the prime time whiteout vs Auburn feels pretty good. Some things that have jumped out to me after today:

- John Donovan (Washington) is confirmed to be a terrible OC, if we needed it.

- Michigan stinks again. 8-4 at best IMO.

- OSU is beatable and I think we will have a shot in the Shoe this year. That defense is Swiss cheese and although his stats were good, I don’t know if I would trust Stroud.

- If Clifford plays within himself, he manages a pretty nice game. Is he CFP caliber? Not quite sure. But Yurcich has been good for him. He’s noticeably going through his progressions much better.

- MY gets a lot of players involved and it’s fun to watch. It seems like he’s finding a role for anyone with talent.

- I love our RBs. Cain and Lee are both bruisers, but weirdly different in a way. Lee has beautiful footwork and Cain has really improved as a receiver.

- Our run game seems to be very diverse. Is it going under center? Do we now have more options and misdirection? Regardless, it’s fun to watch something different than the zone read.

- The OLine looked better today, we ran the ball well and Clifford had time.

- Franklin/MY got deep ball happy today. At times, needed to just take the five yard run, rather than getting behind the sticks.

- Ball State was taking away the big play all game. They wanted to make PSU grind it out.

- Dotson and Parker Washington are a fabolous tandem. Washington had a few plays for first downs that were really impressive.

- The defense struggled a bit, especially up the middle. Things seemed to change when Brooks entered the game after halftime.

- The Jesse Luketa story is incredible. Not to be a downer, but he’s a below average LBer. But an amazing DE. Has he been playing out of position for 3 years? It’s night and day when he switched between DE/MLB.

- Our DEs are really good, just need to stay healthy.

- Really like CB Hardy. Always seems to be stuck to his man like glue.

- In general, I think this defense will be the most impactful under Franklin. They seem to create a lot of big plays + momentum shifting turnovers.

- Dancing Gnome is the best brewery in Pittsburgh.

Let me know your thoughts.

Great points…one you forgot was Clifford’s 66 yards rushing. That’s always nice to get when you don’t have to rely on it like last year.

 

[AvgUser]

A couple? That was about a dozen 🤣

 

[cment]

I watched the 2nd quarter closely and thought Clifford let some big plays on the field.

where the heck are the right ends?

How many 10 personnel sets are we going to get? What happened to Cliff’ being under center?

not convinced Clifford can lead us past 9-3.

defense is solid.

 

[CVLion]

A couple? That was about a dozen 🤣

Yeah, I was gonna ask if the OP could give me a couple of bucks lol

 

[PearlSUJam]

Cheers, everyone. 2-0 heading into the prime time whiteout vs Auburn feels pretty good. Some things that have jumped out to me after today:

- John Donovan (Washington) is confirmed to be a terrible OC, if we needed it.

- Michigan stinks again. 8-4 at best IMO.

- OSU is beatable and I think we will have a shot in the Shoe this year. That defense is Swiss cheese and although his stats were good, I don’t know if I would trust Stroud.

- If Clifford plays within himself, he manages a pretty nice game. Is he CFP caliber? Not quite sure. But Yurcich has been good for him. He’s noticeably going through his progressions much better.

- MY gets a lot of players involved and it’s fun to watch. It seems like he’s finding a role for anyone with talent.

- I love our RBs. Cain and Lee are both bruisers, but weirdly different in a way. Lee has beautiful footwork and Cain has really improved as a receiver.

- Our run game seems to be very diverse. Is it going under center? Do we now have more options and misdirection? Regardless, it’s fun to watch something different than the zone read.

- The OLine looked better today, we ran the ball well and Clifford had time.

- Franklin/MY got deep ball happy today. At times, needed to just take the five yard run, rather than getting behind the sticks.

- Ball State was taking away the big play all game. They wanted to make PSU grind it out.

- Dotson and Parker Washington are a fabolous tandem. Washington had a few plays for first downs that were really impressive.

- The defense struggled a bit, especially up the middle. Things seemed to change when Brooks entered the game after halftime.

- The Jesse Luketa story is incredible. Not to be a downer, but he’s a below average LBer. But an amazing DE. Has he been playing out of position for 3 years? It’s night and day when he switched between DE/MLB.

- Our DEs are really good, just need to stay healthy.

- Really like CB Hardy. Always seems to be stuck to his man like glue.

- In general, I think this defense will be the most impactful under Franklin. They seem to create a lot of big plays + momentum shifting turnovers.

- Dancing Gnome is the best brewery in Pittsburgh.

Let me know your thoughts.

I'm a Clifford fan and was at the game today. I'm not sure he's going through progressions much better. I'm not sure what you could see on TV but there were multiple times when he had wide open opportunities in the middle of the field and didn't trust it.

 

[TheWizardofCamelot]

Clifford is never going to be a heisman finalist or a first round pick. He’s been in the program for 5 years now, he is what he is.

He’s going to miss reads, and struggle occasionally finding the open progression. But if he can be efficient (enough), without turning the ball over, it’s going to give this team a chance.

 

[AWS1022]

Clifford is never going to be a heisman finalist or a first round pick. He’s been in the program for 5 years now, he is what he is.

He’s going to miss reads, and struggle occasionally finding the open progression. But if he can be efficient (enough), without turning the ball over, it’s going to give this team a chance.

Back to old time Penn State football….manage the offense, don’t have turnovers, and win with defense.

 

[blion72]

I watched the 2nd quarter closely and thought Clifford let some big plays on the field.

where the heck are the right ends?

How many 10 personnel sets are we going to get? What happened to Cliff’ being under center?

not convinced Clifford can lead us past 9-3.

defense is solid.

Sean Clifford simply misses open WRs too much to take us to a next level.

 

[cntblvitsbutter]

Sean Clifford simply misses open WRs too much to take us to a next level.

Yeah, he was good today but should've been great. He just takes too long to make a decision and panics under pressure. It's too bad, cause with McSorley, this team is a serious CFP contender.

 

[PearlSUJam]

Clifford is never going to be a heisman finalist or a first round pick. He’s been in the program for 5 years now, he is what he is.

He’s going to miss reads, and struggle occasionally finding the open progression. But if he can be efficient (enough), without turning the ball over, it’s going to give this team a chance.

In all fairness he's with his 4th OC. I hope his confidence in this offense grows because they left some big plays out there on the field today. There's only one way to master the offense, and it can't be done in the bookstore at the big blue on the corner.

 

[tlbakernc]

Clifford hangs onto the ball to long. He was responsible for 2 /3 of his sacks. Doesn’t seem to read thru his progressions. Accuracy is a big problem with him. At some point I want to see him move on from being a game manager and become a game winner. I just don’t see him being able to win the big game on a final drive down by 5.

 

[Nitwit]

Clifford hangs onto the ball to long. He was responsible for 2 /3 of his sacks. Doesn’t seem to read thru his progressions. Accuracy is a big problem with him. At some point I want to see him move on from being a game manager and become a game winner. I just don’t see him being able to win the big game on a final drive down by 5.

Perhaps holding the ball too long as you say is why he hasn’t thrown an interception or fumbled in two games. I’ll take the occasional sack over a turnover any day. Look at his stats today and tell me how inaccurate he was. He is making good decisions and protecting the ball instead of trying to force things that aren’t there.

 

[tlbakernc]

Perhaps holding the ball too long as you say is why he hasn’t thrown an interception or fumbled in two games. I’ll take the occasional sack over a turnover any day. Look at his stats today and tell me how inaccurate he was. He is making good decisions and protecting the ball instead of trying to force things that aren’t there.

That’s a good point. But a 5th year senior should have a feel for when times up and throw away the ball. Taking sacks on 1st and 2nd downs hurts and hurts bad. You go from 1st down and 10 to 2nd down and 16 or 2nd down and 3 to 3rd down and 11. This offense isn’t good enough to overcome obstacles like that.

 

[AWS1022]

That’s a good point. But a 5th year senior should have a feel for when times up and throw away the ball. Taking sacks on 1st and 2nd downs hurts and hurts bad. You go from 1st down and 10 to 2nd down and 16 or 2nd down and 3 to 3rd down and 11. This offense isn’t good enough to overcome obstacles like that.

So a good QB never gets sacked? Didn’t know that.

 

[BBrown]

Cheers, everyone. 2-0 heading into the prime time whiteout vs Auburn feels pretty good. Some things that have jumped out to me after today:

- John Donovan (Washington) is confirmed to be a terrible OC, if we needed it.

- Michigan stinks again. 8-4 at best IMO.

- OSU is beatable and I think we will have a shot in the Shoe this year. That defense is Swiss cheese and although his stats were good, I don’t know if I would trust Stroud.

- If Clifford plays within himself, he manages a pretty nice game. Is he CFP caliber? Not quite sure. But Yurcich has been good for him. He’s noticeably going through his progressions much better.

- MY gets a lot of players involved and it’s fun to watch. It seems like he’s finding a role for anyone with talent.

- I love our RBs. Cain and Lee are both bruisers, but weirdly different in a way. Lee has beautiful footwork and Cain has really improved as a receiver.

- Our run game seems to be very diverse. Is it going under center? Do we now have more options and misdirection? Regardless, it’s fun to watch something different than the zone read.

- The OLine looked better today, we ran the ball well and Clifford had time.

- Franklin/MY got deep ball happy today. At times, needed to just take the five yard run, rather than getting behind the sticks.

- Ball State was taking away the big play all game. They wanted to make PSU grind it out.

- Dotson and Parker Washington are a fabolous tandem. Washington had a few plays for first downs that were really impressive.

- The defense struggled a bit, especially up the middle. Things seemed to change when Brooks entered the game after halftime.

- The Jesse Luketa story is incredible. Not to be a downer, but he’s a below average LBer. But an amazing DE. Has he been playing out of position for 3 years? It’s night and day when he switched between DE/MLB.

- Our DEs are really good, just need to stay healthy.

- Really like CB Hardy. Always seems to be stuck to his man like glue.

- In general, I think this defense will be the most impactful under Franklin. They seem to create a lot of big plays + momentum shifting turnovers.

- Dancing Gnome is the best brewery in Pittsburgh.

Let me know your thoughts.

Pretty much agree with everything you said.
I'll add a few:
I think KLS is going to be good as a 3rd option.
I thought we would get the TE's more involved in the passing game.
Where was Caziah Holmes? I think we need some lightening with our thunder.
Need more sacks out of the front 4 but again will they please call holding on AK. Geesh.
Stout is fantastic and punting but I'm not sold on him as a FG kicker.
Juice Scruggs is very good.
The Secondary is as good as advertised.

 

[BBrown]

I watched the 2nd quarter closely and thought Clifford let some big plays on the field.

where the heck are the right ends?

How many 10 personnel sets are we going to get? What happened to Cliff’ being under center?

not convinced Clifford can lead us past 9-3.

defense is solid.

we went under center at least 3 times.

 

[BBrown]

I'm a Clifford fan and was at the game today. I'm not sure he's going through progressions much better. I'm not sure what you could see on TV but there were multiple times when he had wide open opportunities in the middle of the field and didn't trust it.

Interesting, I was at the game as well and kind of disagree with that.
I thought the Ball St. secondary did a pretty decent job of coverage. 🤷‍♂️
But there were times I thought he held on to the ball too long. He's not going to get that kind of time in many other games.

 

[BBrown]

That’s a good point. But a 5th year senior should have a feel for when times up and throw away the ball. Taking sacks on 1st and 2nd downs hurts and hurts bad. You go from 1st down and 10 to 2nd down and 16 or 2nd down and 3 to 3rd down and 11. This offense isn’t good enough to overcome obstacles like that.

JMO but I don't think it matters if he's a frosh or a sr. You either have that internal clock or you don't. Trace may have had one of the best internal clocks I've seen at QB for PSU.

 

[roswelllion]

Cheers, everyone. 2-0 heading into the prime time whiteout vs Auburn feels pretty good. Some things that have jumped out to me after today:

- John Donovan (Washington) is confirmed to be a terrible OC, if we needed it.

- Michigan stinks again. 8-4 at best IMO.

- OSU is beatable and I think we will have a shot in the Shoe this year. That defense is Swiss cheese and although his stats were good, I don’t know if I would trust Stroud.

- If Clifford plays within himself, he manages a pretty nice game. Is he CFP caliber? Not quite sure. But Yurcich has been good for him. He’s noticeably going through his progressions much better.

- MY gets a lot of players involved and it’s fun to watch. It seems like he’s finding a role for anyone with talent.

- I love our RBs. Cain and Lee are both bruisers, but weirdly different in a way. Lee has beautiful footwork and Cain has really improved as a receiver.

- Our run game seems to be very diverse. Is it going under center? Do we now have more options and misdirection? Regardless, it’s fun to watch something different than the zone read.

- The OLine looked better today, we ran the ball well and Clifford had time.

- Franklin/MY got deep ball happy today. At times, needed to just take the five yard run, rather than getting behind the sticks.

- Ball State was taking away the big play all game. They wanted to make PSU grind it out.

- Dotson and Parker Washington are a fabolous tandem. Washington had a few plays for first downs that were really impressive.

- The defense struggled a bit, especially up the middle. Things seemed to change when Brooks entered the game after halftime.

- The Jesse Luketa story is incredible. Not to be a downer, but he’s a below average LBer. But an amazing DE. Has he been playing out of position for 3 years? It’s night and day when he switched between DE/MLB.

- Our DEs are really good, just need to stay healthy.

- Really like CB Hardy. Always seems to be stuck to his man like glue.

- In general, I think this defense will be the most impactful under Franklin. They seem to create a lot of big plays + momentum shifting turnovers.

- Dancing Gnome is the best brewery in Pittsburgh.

Let me know your thoughts.

I like what you say. I would add our TE's look big and slow. I thought we had the best TE room in the country. ah I don't think so.

 

[Cosmos]

Pretty much agree with everything you said.
I'll add a few:
I think KLS is going to be good as a 3rd option.
I thought we would get the TE's more involved in the passing game.
Where was Caziah Holmes? I think we need some lightening with our thunder.
Need more sacks out of the front 4 but again will they please call holding on AK. Geesh.
Stout is fantastic and punting but I'm not sold on him as a FG kicker.
Juice Scruggs is very good.
The Secondary is as good as advertised.

Re: Stout's punts, how many times did he drop it inside the ten but our coverage got suckered to stop short by the receiver. I count at least twice we could've downed the ball inside the five if only we had looked up to see where the freaking ball was going. You got the best punter in the NCAA and you don't take advantage of it.

 

[bdgan]

Sean Clifford simply misses open WRs too much to take us to a next level.

Some of his completions are delivered late or to a spot that prevents the receiver from catching the ball in stride. I don't think it has anything to do with physical ability. I think it's because the game has never slowed down for Clifford mentally.

That said, Clifford fights hard and never gives up. He's a warrior and he deserves credit for that.

 

[Fayette_LION]

Cheers, everyone. 2-0 heading into the prime time whiteout vs Auburn feels pretty good. Some things that have jumped out to me after today:

- John Donovan (Washington) is confirmed to be a terrible OC, if we needed it.

- Michigan stinks again. 8-4 at best IMO.

- OSU is beatable and I think we will have a shot in the Shoe this year. That defense is Swiss cheese and although his stats were good, I don’t know if I would trust Stroud.

- If Clifford plays within himself, he manages a pretty nice game. Is he CFP caliber? Not quite sure. But Yurcich has been good for him. He’s noticeably going through his progressions much better.

- MY gets a lot of players involved and it’s fun to watch. It seems like he’s finding a role for anyone with talent.

- I love our RBs. Cain and Lee are both bruisers, but weirdly different in a way. Lee has beautiful footwork and Cain has really improved as a receiver.

- Our run game seems to be very diverse. Is it going under center? Do we now have more options and misdirection? Regardless, it’s fun to watch something different than the zone read.

- The OLine looked better today, we ran the ball well and Clifford had time.

- Franklin/MY got deep ball happy today. At times, needed to just take the five yard run, rather than getting behind the sticks.

- Ball State was taking away the big play all game. They wanted to make PSU grind it out.

- Dotson and Parker Washington are a fabolous tandem. Washington had a few plays for first downs that were really impressive.

- The defense struggled a bit, especially up the middle. Things seemed to change when Brooks entered the game after halftime.

- The Jesse Luketa story is incredible. Not to be a downer, but he’s a below average LBer. But an amazing DE. Has he been playing out of position for 3 years? It’s night and day when he switched between DE/MLB.

- Our DEs are really good, just need to stay healthy.

- Really like CB Hardy. Always seems to be stuck to his man like glue.

- In general, I think this defense will be the most impactful under Franklin. They seem to create a lot of big plays + momentum shifting turnovers.

- Dancing Gnome is the best brewery in Pittsburgh.

Let me know your thoughts.

I’ll add one to your couple list.. Joe. Mo knows how to score against the buck nuts.

 

[Ward Hog]

In all fairness he's with his 4th OC. I hope his confidence in this offense grows because they left some big plays out there on the field today. There's only one way to master the offense, and it can't be done in the bookstore at the big blue on the corner.

Mastering the offense can only be done if he and the coaches listen to us posters. Here is where mastery is made every day.

 

[bvillebaron]

Mastering the offense can only be done if he and the coaches listen to us posters. Here is where mastery is made every day.

BINGO.

 

[LMTLION]

Sean Clifford simply misses open WRs too much to take us to a next level.

It’s frustrating that we do have top talent at wr, te, and rb but the qb cannot reliably get them the ball. I guess nobody is going to be able to fix Clifford’s head. He has the physical tools but just gets too excited. One compliment I do have was his long run. That was nice. In fantasy land if you could combine Clifford’s arm with Trace’s head you would have a Heisman Trophy quarterback.

 

[bdgan]

It’s frustrating that we do have top talent at wr, te, and rb

Dotson is a very good WR. Washington looks good too.

Cain is a good RB and he's even catching passes. Lee is a bruiser. The best running I've seen in 2 games was from him yesterday. The thing we're lacking is a RB with breakaway speed.

A lot of people say we have great TEs but at this point I think that's still on paper. I think the TEs have great "potential". I hope their blocking continues to improve and I'd really like to see one of them become a big target who can fight for balls in traffic. Especially in the red zone where it's more difficult for our WRs to create separation.

 

[NittPicker]

we went under center at least 3 times.

As an example of how times change, I can remember when we were always under center. Fans were wondering when we'd get out of the stone age and use the shotgun formation. When we finally did, circa Rashard Casey, fans were amazed. Fast forward to 2021 and fans are wondering why we don't go under center more often. It's funny how the game changes.

 

[BBrown]

Dotson is a very good WR. Washington looks good too.

Cain is a good RB and he's even catching passes. Lee is a bruiser. The best running I've seen in 2 games was from him yesterday. The thing we're lacking is a RB with breakaway speed.

A lot of people say we have great TEs but at this point I think that's still on paper. I think the TEs have great "potential". I hope their blocking continues to improve and I'd really like to see one of them become a big target who can fight for balls in traffic. Especially in the red zone where it's more difficult for our WRs to create separation.

+1 on both of those.
I think Lovett has some sort of nagging injury right? And what about Holmes?

 

[klive]

Lee was running well on one of the last series Clifford was still in. I think there were like 4 straight plays Lee picked up 11+ yards, then he left the game and never returned. Anyone know if he got dinged on his last run which in which he fumbled but recovered?

 

[PearlSUJam]

Interesting, I was at the game as well and kind of disagree with that.
I thought the Ball St. secondary did a pretty decent job of coverage. 🤷‍♂️
But there were times I thought he held on to the ball too long. He's not going to get that kind of time in many other games.

It was 86 on crossing routes in particular. It could be that he wasn't the read and was the player trying to set a pick. 🤷‍♂️ Or it could be that from where my seats were (under 2016 on the suites), the 10 beers and a shot pre game, and blazing sun I wasn't seeing straight! 😆

 

[McCloudersportLion]

Mastering the offense can only be done if he and the coaches listen to us posters. Here is where mastery is made every day.

Imagine being in film room, on the practice field, all week trying to fine tune things and those damned messages bored guys aren't taking Ball State seriously enough

 

[Wallace Breen]

- In general, I think this defense will be the most impactful under Franklin. They seem to create a lot of big plays + momentum shifting turnovers.

End of the day, I am hoping they are equal to the 2016 defense. They are not in the ballpark of the 2014 or 2015 units. We have not had a linemen or defensive back since that would start on either of those teams.

 

[Wallace Breen]

- The OLine looked better today, we ran the ball well and Clifford had time.

The O-line is where we will see the most improvement week to week until the bye. Three seasons, three very different blocking schemes. We'll see how much of the improvement from week 1 to week 2 was the result of players getting it or the opponent. That is the biggest question mark heading into Auburn. Nobody knows to include the coaches.

 

[Sooner Lion]

I watched the 2nd quarter closely and thought Clifford let some big plays on the field.

where the heck are the right ends?

How many 10 personnel sets are we going to get? What happened to Cliff’ being under center?

not convinced Clifford can lead us past 9-3.

defense is solid.

11-2. 2019.

 

[N&B4PSU]

Clifford hangs onto the ball to long. He was responsible for 2 /3 of his sacks. Doesn’t seem to read thru his progressions. Accuracy is a big problem with him. At some point I want to see him move on from being a game manager and become a game winner. I just don’t see him being able to win the big game on a final drive down by 5.

I mentioned before that he opened up smoking hot at 9-10. I misspoke.. he opened 12-13 and finished 9-16 (with one throwaway). In short, he came out accurate and dialed in, but as the game progressed he came back to earth and missed some ez opps that we will need to beat the better teams.

Even so, he brought some nice feet into the game, handled the ball well, and got it done. Gets a solid B/B+ from me. He keeps managing the game this way I feel pretty good about our chances in every game we play.

 

[N&B4PSU]

Cheers, everyone. 2-0 heading into the prime time whiteout vs Auburn feels pretty good. Some things that have jumped out to me after today:

- John Donovan (Washington) is confirmed to be a terrible OC, if we needed it.

- Michigan stinks again. 8-4 at best IMO.

- OSU is beatable and I think we will have a shot in the Shoe this year. That defense is Swiss cheese and although his stats were good, I don’t know if I would trust Stroud.

- If Clifford plays within himself, he manages a pretty nice game. Is he CFP caliber? Not quite sure. But Yurcich has been good for him. He’s noticeably going through his progressions much better.

- MY gets a lot of players involved and it’s fun to watch. It seems like he’s finding a role for anyone with talent.

- I love our RBs. Cain and Lee are both bruisers, but weirdly different in a way. Lee has beautiful footwork and Cain has really improved as a receiver.

- Our run game seems to be very diverse. Is it going under center? Do we now have more options and misdirection? Regardless, it’s fun to watch something different than the zone read.

- The OLine looked better today, we ran the ball well and Clifford had time.

- Franklin/MY got deep ball happy today. At times, needed to just take the five yard run, rather than getting behind the sticks.

- Ball State was taking away the big play all game. They wanted to make PSU grind it out.

- Dotson and Parker Washington are a fabolous tandem. Washington had a few plays for first downs that were really impressive.

- The defense struggled a bit, especially up the middle. Things seemed to change when Brooks entered the game after halftime.

- The Jesse Luketa story is incredible. Not to be a downer, but he’s a below average LBer. But an amazing DE. Has he been playing out of position for 3 years? It’s night and day when he switched between DE/MLB.

- Our DEs are really good, just need to stay healthy.

- Really like CB Hardy. Always seems to be stuck to his man like glue.

- In general, I think this defense will be the most impactful under Franklin. They seem to create a lot of big plays + momentum shifting turnovers.

- Dancing Gnome is the best brewery in Pittsburgh.

Let me know your thoughts.

Lotsa of good points.. don't agree on michigan. I think they will give us ALL we can handle. They have a good QB and 2 exceptional RB's (not sure why we never really went after corum). Their D looks very strong -- i think it is light years better than what the vaunted don Brown was fielding the past couple years... this team appears far more intense and focused on D. If they still had Bell...

Never like saying anything nice about meatwagon and hopefully they will quickly prove me wrong... but this just feels more like an old time michigan team than i've see in some time. We'll see.

 

[AWS1022]

End of the day, I am hoping they are equal to the 2016 defense. They are not in the ballpark of the 2014 or 2015 units. We have not had a linemen or defensive back since that would start on either of those teams.

Oh good lord.