Always a caveat when looking at just one game - - - - - that caveat being "How good was the opponent".
FWIW, I didn't think Iowa had that much on offense coming in - aside from two REALLY good TEs. I felt their OL was only OK, and Stanley and the WRs pretty pedestrian, and the TBs only useable.
That said, on Defense:
DL:
1) The entire starting defensive front was outstanding. Truly.
Givens and Windsor owned the Iowa G-C-G... and everyone saw how well Matos (and Miller) played.
2) Between them, Givens and Windsor had 29 snaps were they "got a clean chest" (my term for DTs shedding their blocks and showing the front of their Jerseys to the offensive backfield)…. that is an incredibly high number - and every time that happens, any time a DT gets clean penetration, it spells FUBAR for the offense. Windsor's best game as a Lion, and another great game for Givens.
3) Along the D front, the number of "Gold Star" plays (plays that make you say "WOW" when looking at the tape):
Windsor - 2 , Givens - 5, Matos - 4 , Miller - 3, Toney - 1
(I'm a fairly tough "grader".... "WOW" plays are pretty rare in my book. This was by far the most this year)
4) There were occasions - but only a handful - where the DTs got run out of a play (one of the dangers of shooting aggressively) but only a few …... and DEFINITELY worth the tradeoff of FUBARing the Iowa ground game on multiple occasions and making nearly every drop back uncomfortable for Stanley.
DB:
1) The secondary was very, very good as well.
2) Huge kudos to all the safeties who played - especially Scott (3 "gold star" plays - probably the best game of his career, IMO, even without the late pick), Reid (3 "gold star" plays - looked like the Reid of 2016). But Amani (1 "gold star"), Taylor, Sutherland, Fields and even a couple snaps for Monroe all graded highly. Reid in particular had some very nice plays at the LOS as well (shooting and stuffing a short yardage run, and a real nice slot blitz)… and if Taylor could run back pics as well as Reid did, PSU would have won both the OSU and MSU games
3) Not much more to say except that they shut down Iowa's downfield pass game almost completely - and prevented Iowa from doing "Iowa Things" with their TEs..... and run support was very good - and at times OUTSTANDING (especially from the Safeties - very solid)
LB:
1) Overall, probably the most solid 55 minutes of play from the group (the second to last Iowa series was ugly) - very few FUBARs overall .... but also very few outstanding plays - so a bit of a mixed bag.
2) 36 probably had one of his lesser games - he's played better. He was very "sticky" against Iowa (when he got blocked, he usually stayed blocked - not what you want to see from a LBer)
Brown was solid. Parsons was solid - and he just gets involved in more plays per snap than any other PSU LBer - Posluzny was like that (and shows flashes - including having the largest "kill radius" of any of the PSU LBers). #13 was also solid in limited work.
I didn't record Miller #9 as having any defensive snaps. Same for Luketa (but he did have one stellar play in punt coverage)
3) Parsons, as expected, came in earlier than he had been (came in on second series), and played a lot. More snaps at box LBer than Farmer did - Parsons took more Box LBer snaps than anyone except Johnson.
4) Hate to "pick on" one guy - and I'm not, aside from just listing what I saw: Farmer had 5 FUBARs (which is an improvement over the last few weeks, but still worst on the D). Farmer was actually having an "OK" game until the next to last series - - - - the one that ended with the Scott goal line pick.
On that ONE SERIES - at the most critical time of the game - Farmer made THREE HUGE FUBARs (again, hate to pick on one guy, but he has been a killer in critical situations)
1 - Was bumped off of the edge by a wideout on an edge play.... letting that WR get the best of him was bad enough, but then failed to pursue with any intensity and allowed the back to turn a corner he should NEVER have turned (this was the VERY BIG GAINER play that was fortunately overturned with the back stepping on the chalk line - preventing an even bigger gain). On the play, DT Givens (who ALWAYS pursues like a demon) - who was rushing the passer, and 15-20 yards further from the point of attack, pursued and ended up being more closely involved in the stop than was Farmer. That just can't be.
2 - Was fooled and lost contain on an end around. This would have been a HUGE gainer if not for great play by #21 (who did a great job - all by himself on an island - fighting a blocker to seal the edge) and #17, who pursued 2/3 of the width of the field to beat the ball carrier to the edge and hold it to a 5 yard gain.
3 - An open field "whiff" on a critical play (3rd and 10) where he not only "whiffed" the ball carrier by 5 feet, put then only put in a half-hearted pursuit downfield.
That series was a real shame, because otherwise, he was better then he had been.
Brown: 66 snaps (he did get some relief on Saturday - but not from Miller, instead - also as expected, Farmer took the relief snaps at Field LBer)
Farmer: 45 snaps
Parsons: 39 snaps (some as a pass rusher in nickle sets)
Johnson: 39 snaps
Ellis: 15 snaps
A couple interesting (to me) overall notes:
As expected (hoped) PSU mixed in more two-deep (to what had been a largely one deep scheme most of the year). That worked REALLY well to shut down the Iowa TE game. They LOVE to exploit the middle of the field with those two guys - and PSU and Brent Pry said "NO". Kudos to the defensive staff.
Even when they got the TEs some touches late, they were plays that were Contested, Short Throws, and Near or Against the sidelines - just where you hope to contain them.
PSU also mixed in a little more Zone underneath - which the executed OK. But they are somewhat better in their man-under IMO (which makes sense given how much more they run it)
Couple other Odds-and-Ends:
Windsor's favorite animal is NOT the Zebra....The facemask call on Windsor was BS (his hand came across the top, outside of the helmet and only caught the area where the facemask screws into the outside of the helmet - - not a penalty),
AND
He recovered Stanley's fumble (the one the Ref originally ruled as "PSU Ball"). I think the Ref told CJF he (the Ref) had made an inadvertent mistake - - - - but Windsor definitely had control of the ball underneath him, while lying on the ground (the Iowa OL pried it out after the fact), and that was the reason for the initial call..... the play should have been reviewed and overturned - much like the fumble recovery by PSU in the Fiesta Bowl game).
And this - for Windsor - on top of the "defensive holding" call earlier this year. Ugh.
2) Not sure if anyone talked about Parsons' "Lavar Leap" on the early kick by Iowa (I think it was their first FG). I am not sure if ANYONE really understands the 'leaping rule", but he simply leapfrogged (with one hand on the OG's butt, the other on the OC's butt) and flew over the two of them and landed cleanly on the other side..... and very nearly blocked the kick. I THINK this is legal, so long as you never step on a guy, get "assistance" with the jump, run into the Center from the front, or land on a guy... but who knows, especially in the B10
PSU DID NOT go back to his at any time later in the game (in fact, I don't even think Parsons was on the field for the other placekicks)….. I would not be surprised to see this move come out at a critical time vs Michigan. #11 is a freak.
3) The guy who likely FUBARed the trickeration play off the fake FG? That was probably Farmer … Ugh.
Iowa kinda set that up with what they did on the first FG - where they ended up running out the play clock and took the meaningless penalty…. my guess is they wanted to see how PSU would react.
They used pre-snap motion to cause confusion - and I think (though it would be impossible to know for sure, without being in the PSU training sessions) that the motion confused Farmer and he ended up leaving #90 unobstructed - and it should have been his responsibility (Shaka Toney ended up being the only one to touch him off of the line, but he was one of the four down linemen - and Johnson was late coming over from the middle of the field trying to break up the play - - - - but I think it was - based on the formation - likely Farmer's responsibility).
Anyway, Where does that leave PSU?
IMO.... Very well played defensive game against a competent offense.
And "finding one more quality LBer" away from being REALLY good. Seriously good.
Enough said.
What about the UMich game?
If they can continue to get the penetration up the middle - they will befuddle the UMich ground game and force Patterson out of his comfort zone. How much better is the Michigan OL than the Iowa OL? We will likely find out. UMich does also often use a FB - which can sometimes help to pick up some of those FUBARs - but that takes an extra guy out of the mix... so its a tradeoff for them.
I can't imagine PSU won't run a very similar scheme vs UMich - who also tries to pound that interior run game and use the TEs (they also have two good ones - but not as good as Iowa's). UMich definitely has scarier outside guys - athletically - but they really haven't made them a integral part of their offense, as of yet they have been "once or twice a half" type playmakers.
Fewer short possessions from the O would certainly help as well - because that 1st team PSU D-Line -, if they don't have to substitute a lot - is really, really coming on. (90, 100, and 90 plays in consecutive weeks is just too damn many)
FWIW, I didn't think Iowa had that much on offense coming in - aside from two REALLY good TEs. I felt their OL was only OK, and Stanley and the WRs pretty pedestrian, and the TBs only useable.
That said, on Defense:
DL:
1) The entire starting defensive front was outstanding. Truly.
Givens and Windsor owned the Iowa G-C-G... and everyone saw how well Matos (and Miller) played.
2) Between them, Givens and Windsor had 29 snaps were they "got a clean chest" (my term for DTs shedding their blocks and showing the front of their Jerseys to the offensive backfield)…. that is an incredibly high number - and every time that happens, any time a DT gets clean penetration, it spells FUBAR for the offense. Windsor's best game as a Lion, and another great game for Givens.
3) Along the D front, the number of "Gold Star" plays (plays that make you say "WOW" when looking at the tape):
Windsor - 2 , Givens - 5, Matos - 4 , Miller - 3, Toney - 1
(I'm a fairly tough "grader".... "WOW" plays are pretty rare in my book. This was by far the most this year)
4) There were occasions - but only a handful - where the DTs got run out of a play (one of the dangers of shooting aggressively) but only a few …... and DEFINITELY worth the tradeoff of FUBARing the Iowa ground game on multiple occasions and making nearly every drop back uncomfortable for Stanley.
DB:
1) The secondary was very, very good as well.
2) Huge kudos to all the safeties who played - especially Scott (3 "gold star" plays - probably the best game of his career, IMO, even without the late pick), Reid (3 "gold star" plays - looked like the Reid of 2016). But Amani (1 "gold star"), Taylor, Sutherland, Fields and even a couple snaps for Monroe all graded highly. Reid in particular had some very nice plays at the LOS as well (shooting and stuffing a short yardage run, and a real nice slot blitz)… and if Taylor could run back pics as well as Reid did, PSU would have won both the OSU and MSU games
3) Not much more to say except that they shut down Iowa's downfield pass game almost completely - and prevented Iowa from doing "Iowa Things" with their TEs..... and run support was very good - and at times OUTSTANDING (especially from the Safeties - very solid)
LB:
1) Overall, probably the most solid 55 minutes of play from the group (the second to last Iowa series was ugly) - very few FUBARs overall .... but also very few outstanding plays - so a bit of a mixed bag.
2) 36 probably had one of his lesser games - he's played better. He was very "sticky" against Iowa (when he got blocked, he usually stayed blocked - not what you want to see from a LBer)
Brown was solid. Parsons was solid - and he just gets involved in more plays per snap than any other PSU LBer - Posluzny was like that (and shows flashes - including having the largest "kill radius" of any of the PSU LBers). #13 was also solid in limited work.
I didn't record Miller #9 as having any defensive snaps. Same for Luketa (but he did have one stellar play in punt coverage)
3) Parsons, as expected, came in earlier than he had been (came in on second series), and played a lot. More snaps at box LBer than Farmer did - Parsons took more Box LBer snaps than anyone except Johnson.
4) Hate to "pick on" one guy - and I'm not, aside from just listing what I saw: Farmer had 5 FUBARs (which is an improvement over the last few weeks, but still worst on the D). Farmer was actually having an "OK" game until the next to last series - - - - the one that ended with the Scott goal line pick.
On that ONE SERIES - at the most critical time of the game - Farmer made THREE HUGE FUBARs (again, hate to pick on one guy, but he has been a killer in critical situations)
1 - Was bumped off of the edge by a wideout on an edge play.... letting that WR get the best of him was bad enough, but then failed to pursue with any intensity and allowed the back to turn a corner he should NEVER have turned (this was the VERY BIG GAINER play that was fortunately overturned with the back stepping on the chalk line - preventing an even bigger gain). On the play, DT Givens (who ALWAYS pursues like a demon) - who was rushing the passer, and 15-20 yards further from the point of attack, pursued and ended up being more closely involved in the stop than was Farmer. That just can't be.
2 - Was fooled and lost contain on an end around. This would have been a HUGE gainer if not for great play by #21 (who did a great job - all by himself on an island - fighting a blocker to seal the edge) and #17, who pursued 2/3 of the width of the field to beat the ball carrier to the edge and hold it to a 5 yard gain.
3 - An open field "whiff" on a critical play (3rd and 10) where he not only "whiffed" the ball carrier by 5 feet, put then only put in a half-hearted pursuit downfield.
That series was a real shame, because otherwise, he was better then he had been.
Brown: 66 snaps (he did get some relief on Saturday - but not from Miller, instead - also as expected, Farmer took the relief snaps at Field LBer)
Farmer: 45 snaps
Parsons: 39 snaps (some as a pass rusher in nickle sets)
Johnson: 39 snaps
Ellis: 15 snaps
A couple interesting (to me) overall notes:
As expected (hoped) PSU mixed in more two-deep (to what had been a largely one deep scheme most of the year). That worked REALLY well to shut down the Iowa TE game. They LOVE to exploit the middle of the field with those two guys - and PSU and Brent Pry said "NO". Kudos to the defensive staff.
Even when they got the TEs some touches late, they were plays that were Contested, Short Throws, and Near or Against the sidelines - just where you hope to contain them.
PSU also mixed in a little more Zone underneath - which the executed OK. But they are somewhat better in their man-under IMO (which makes sense given how much more they run it)
Couple other Odds-and-Ends:
Windsor's favorite animal is NOT the Zebra....The facemask call on Windsor was BS (his hand came across the top, outside of the helmet and only caught the area where the facemask screws into the outside of the helmet - - not a penalty),
AND
He recovered Stanley's fumble (the one the Ref originally ruled as "PSU Ball"). I think the Ref told CJF he (the Ref) had made an inadvertent mistake - - - - but Windsor definitely had control of the ball underneath him, while lying on the ground (the Iowa OL pried it out after the fact), and that was the reason for the initial call..... the play should have been reviewed and overturned - much like the fumble recovery by PSU in the Fiesta Bowl game).
And this - for Windsor - on top of the "defensive holding" call earlier this year. Ugh.
2) Not sure if anyone talked about Parsons' "Lavar Leap" on the early kick by Iowa (I think it was their first FG). I am not sure if ANYONE really understands the 'leaping rule", but he simply leapfrogged (with one hand on the OG's butt, the other on the OC's butt) and flew over the two of them and landed cleanly on the other side..... and very nearly blocked the kick. I THINK this is legal, so long as you never step on a guy, get "assistance" with the jump, run into the Center from the front, or land on a guy... but who knows, especially in the B10
PSU DID NOT go back to his at any time later in the game (in fact, I don't even think Parsons was on the field for the other placekicks)….. I would not be surprised to see this move come out at a critical time vs Michigan. #11 is a freak.
3) The guy who likely FUBARed the trickeration play off the fake FG? That was probably Farmer … Ugh.
Iowa kinda set that up with what they did on the first FG - where they ended up running out the play clock and took the meaningless penalty…. my guess is they wanted to see how PSU would react.
They used pre-snap motion to cause confusion - and I think (though it would be impossible to know for sure, without being in the PSU training sessions) that the motion confused Farmer and he ended up leaving #90 unobstructed - and it should have been his responsibility (Shaka Toney ended up being the only one to touch him off of the line, but he was one of the four down linemen - and Johnson was late coming over from the middle of the field trying to break up the play - - - - but I think it was - based on the formation - likely Farmer's responsibility).
Anyway, Where does that leave PSU?
IMO.... Very well played defensive game against a competent offense.
And "finding one more quality LBer" away from being REALLY good. Seriously good.
Enough said.
What about the UMich game?
If they can continue to get the penetration up the middle - they will befuddle the UMich ground game and force Patterson out of his comfort zone. How much better is the Michigan OL than the Iowa OL? We will likely find out. UMich does also often use a FB - which can sometimes help to pick up some of those FUBARs - but that takes an extra guy out of the mix... so its a tradeoff for them.
I can't imagine PSU won't run a very similar scheme vs UMich - who also tries to pound that interior run game and use the TEs (they also have two good ones - but not as good as Iowa's). UMich definitely has scarier outside guys - athletically - but they really haven't made them a integral part of their offense, as of yet they have been "once or twice a half" type playmakers.
Fewer short possessions from the O would certainly help as well - because that 1st team PSU D-Line -, if they don't have to substitute a lot - is really, really coming on. (90, 100, and 90 plays in consecutive weeks is just too damn many)
