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Oblie's Observations - Outcoached, Undermanned, Crazy, Help! (OUCH)

Obliviax

Well-Known Member
Gold Member
Aug 21, 2001
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First, a personal note. I had to take a 7am flight out of CLE to Vegas Sunday morning and figured I could attend the game, get on the road by 4 and be home by 8PM. With the 9 OTs, few left early so it created a mad dash for the entire crowd. I ended up getting home ~ 10 pm and got up at 5am to catch my 7 am flight. Damn!

Outcoached by Bret Bielema! Wow.

Defense:
  • On the first play, Ill came out with seven offensive linemen and two tight ends. That was nine upfront a QB and an RB. (and a damn good one). I honestly don't believe I've ever seen that. They ran several variations of this but almost never had more than one WR on the field.
  • Penn State's answer to this was a cover two. That is 4DL, 3LB, 2CB and 2S. That leaves 9 big guys blocking 7 big to medium guys and two more to take out a CB or S who was in the 200 lb range.
  • Illinois: Genius. PSU: Insanity.
  • No PJ certainly hurt but it wouldn't have made much difference. But with 9 OTs, just a little difference may have won the game. But I suspect those inside runs would simply have been outside runs.
  • PSU never had a plan for this, never imagined it. I am sure tossing in 6 DL would have been difficult because people wouldn't know their assignments.
  • Run a goal-line defense, you say? Not a bad idea until you realize that PSU had a lead almost the entire game and would have risked giving up an easy, long score.
  • It really was the perfect storm for ILL....a PSU defense thin at DL with their best DL out, a really cold and rainy day limited offensive creativity, PSU trying to play a conservative game to hold onto a lead by not giving up a long score or turnover.
  • PSU defended the 7 one-play overtimes because the "long score" and "lead" were no longer concerns.
  • But, you give up ten points in college football, you expect to win 99 times out of 100.
  • In the end, I'd have liked to have forced them out of that game plan but giving up 10 points was not the problem.
Offense
  • WTF?
  • SC was bad and got worse. He actually had a lower QB rating than Sitkowski (20.7 to 17.8). That is lower than a snake's belly.
  • There was a horrible non-call when SC was cheap-shotted by an ILL DL that wasn't called. SC was injured and barely made it off the field. He was probably in the 80% range before that and around 50% after. He just sucked, really. The kid is a gamer and fights through but CJF HAS TO KNOW when the kid is too hurt because he isn't going to say it. And that cost the team.
  • I believe we were deep into the third quarter before we ran our first WR screen, which has been a bread and butter play for us all year. It is the play that loosened up both Wiscy's and Auburn's defenses. Why?
  • When the run game isn't working, you go to your short to medium passing game. You exploit all levels and all of the three sections of the field (left, right , center). We had only TWO competitions to a RB (lovett) and 3 to TEs.
  • We score a TD on a slant. More slants you say? Nope.
  • Where are our vaunted TEs? Johnson dropped a VERY important pass over the middle and also missed a very catchable pass in the EZ that would. have won the game in OT.
  • In the end, zero creativity when the RG was shut down. CJF should have put Roberson in for at least one series in the third quarter to run the ball and change things up. Also would have given SC time to catch his breath and sort out his head. His passes were off all day and the weather was not that bad. I am sure the injury along with dropped passes were in his head and he started to overthink things when he couldn't run. He had 5 runs for -28 yards. In CJF's defense, he didn't want a TO because we were winning by 3. I get it.
  • Then we missed a chip shot FG......perfect storm.
9 OTs and other things
  • This was the lowest energy game I can remember. I don't think there were over 70k in the stands. The team picked that up and had zero energy. None. They simply weren't mentally prepared. Nobody seemed to want to be there.
  • The worst call of the game was the fumble forward progress call. First, it took WAY TOO long and looked like. a fix. OK, in my dreams I can see that perhaps a whistle blew. I didn't hear one. But I watched the rest of the game and never was there a quick whistle. But what was worse is that they marked the ball as "no gain". It was set at the ten-yard line when should have been marked at the 7 or 8. In all of the confusion, they marked it in the wrong place. Every fan was yelling and the PSU coaches didn't seem to notice it. Horrible. ILL ended up getting a first down on 3rd and 3 which should have been 5 and would have changed the play-calling sequence.
  • There was a horrible non-call when their DL roughed SC, and may have been the turning point of the game because SC was iffy to start but incompetent after that hit. The scoreboard played it 20 times, which I was shocked to see.
  • the sequence where they called the illegal lineman downfield then pass interference, followed by a facemask on PSU to give ILL a first down was crazy. The ref crew, again, looked dazed and confused the entire game. There was also a horrible PI call on Porter for a key first down that was really bad.
  • Again, poor coaching but the 7 OTs are DO OR DIE!!!! A fumble or INT is immaterial unless it is recovered and the defender goes the length of the field. Reach the ball out for shit's sake! Cain didn't and missed a game-winning score. PSU has to coach the kids to go all out and make that play...there is no tomorrow.
  • With SC hurt, not a single sprint out which is the go-to play there. Spring the QB out. If the OLB stays back you run the ball and burry your shoulder into his gut and push him back into the endzone after pump faking. If he comes, you hit a TE at the goal line for a short pass. Again, poor play calling. So we throw a pass to SC but don't run a sprint out pass....sheesh.
  • Brisker HAS TO make the INT. Has to. That will haunt him for years. We also missed an easy INT in regulation by a LB (12 or 13, can't recall)

A perfect storm of shit. Brisker dropped INT, Johnson dropped pass, missed chip shot FG, Cain not reaching the ball into the endzone, SC getting hurt, no confidence in other QBs, Levis in KY, bad call by the refs, bad weather at the wrong time, missing PJ....

nine overtimes, and NCAA record, and we lose to an inferior team to a crappy coach who's been fired several times who outcoached us. What did I miss?
 
Last edited:
First, a personal note. I had to take a 7am flight out of CLE to Vegas Sunday morning and figured I could attend the game, get on the road by 4 and be home by 8PM. With the 9 OTs, few left early so it created a mad dash for the entire crowd. I ended up getting home ~ 10 pm and got up at 5am to catch my 7 am flight. Damn!

Outcoached by Bret Bielema! Wow.

Defense:
  • On the first play, Ill came out with seven offensive linemen and two tight ends. That was nine upfront a QB and an RB. (and a damn good one). I honestly don't believe I've ever seen that. They ran several variations of this but almost never had more than one WR on the field.
  • Penn State's answer to this was a cover two. That is 4DL, 3LB, 2CB and 2S. That leaves 9 big guys blocking 7 big to medium guys and two more to take out a CB or S who was in the 200 lb range.
  • Illinois: Genius. PSU: Insanity.
  • No PJ certainly hurt but it wouldn't have made much difference. But with 9 OTs, just a little difference may have won the game. But I suspect those inside runs would simply have been outside runs.
  • PSU never had a plan for this, never imagined it. I am sure tossing in 6 DL would have been difficult because people wouldn't know their assignments.
  • Run a goal-line defense, you say? Not a bad idea until you realize that PSU had a lead almost the entire game and would have risked giving up an easy, long score.
  • It really was the perfect storm for ILL....a PSU defense thin at DL with their best DL out, a really cold and rainy day limited offensive creativity, PSU trying to play a conservative game to hold onto a lead by not giving up a long score or turnover.
  • PSU defended the 7 one-play overtimes because the "long score" and "lead" were no longer concerns.
  • But, you give up ten points in college football, you expect to win 99 times out of 100.
  • In the end, I'd have liked to have forced them out of that game plan but giving up 10 points was not the problem.
Offense
  • WTF?
  • SC was bad and got worse. He actually had a lower QB rating than Sitkowski (20.7 to 17.8). That is lower than a snake's belly.
  • There was a horrible non-call when SC was cheap-shotted by an ILL DL that wasn't called. SC was injured and barely made it off the field. He was probably in the 80% range before that and around 50% after. He just sucked, really. The kid is a gamer and fights through but CJF HAS TO KNOW when the kid is too hurt because he isn't going to say it. And that cost the team.
  • I believe we were deep into the third quarter before we ran our first WR screen, which has been a bread and butter play for us all year. It is the play that loosened up both Wiscy's and Auburn's defenses. Why?
  • When the run game isn't working, you go to your short to medium passing game. You exploit all levels and all of the three sections of the field (left, right , center). We had only TWO competitions to a RB (lovett) and 3 to TEs.
  • We score a TD on a slant. More slants you say? Nope.
  • Where are our vaunted TEs? Strange dropped a VERY important pass over the middle and also missed a very catchable pass in the EZ that would. have won the game in OT.
  • In the end, zero creativity when the RG was shut down. CJF should have put Roberson in for at least one series in the third quarter to run the ball and change things up. Also would have given SC time to catch his breath and sort out his head. His passes were off all day and the weather was not that bad. I am sure the injury along with dropped passes were in his head and he started to overthink things when he couldn't run. He had 5 runs for -28 yards. In CJF's defense, he didn't want a TO because we were winning by 3. I get it.
  • Then we missed a chip shot FG......perfect storm.
9 OTs and other things
  • This was the lowest energy game I can remember. I don't think there were over 70k in the stands. The team picked that up and had zero energy. None. They simply weren't mentally prepared. Nobody seemed to want to be there.
  • The worst call of the game was the fumble forward progress call. First, it took WAY TOO long and looked like. a fix. OK, in my dreams I can see that perhaps a whistle blew. I didn't hear one. But I watched the rest of the game and never was there a quick whistle. But what was worse is that they marked the ball as "no gain". It was set at the ten-yard line when should have been marked at the 7 or 8. In all of the confusion, they marked it in the wrong place. Every fan was yelling and the PSU coaches didn't seem to notice it. Horrible. ILL ended up getting a first down on 3rd and 3 which should have been 5 and would have changed the play-calling sequence.
  • There was a horrible non-call when their DL roughed SC, and may have been the turning point of the game because SC was iffy to start but incompetent after that hit. The scoreboard played it 20 times, which I was shocked to see.
  • the sequence where they called the illegal lineman downfield then pass interference, followed by a facemask on PSU to give ILL a first down was crazy. The ref crew, again, looked dazed and confused the entire game. There was also a horrible PI call on Porter for a key first down that was really bad.
  • Again, poor coaching but the 7 OTs are DO OR DIE!!!! A fumble or INT is immaterial unless it is recovered and the defender goes the length of the field. Reach the ball out for shit's sake! Cain didn't and missed a game-winning score. PSU has to coach the kids to go all out and make that play...there is no tomorrow.
  • With SC hurt, not a single sprint out which is the go-to play there. Spring the QB out. If the OLB stays back you run the ball and burry your shoulder into his gut and push him back into the endzone after pump faking. If he comes, you hit a TE at the goal line for a short pass. Again, poor play calling. So we throw a pass to SC but don't run a sprint out pass....sheesh.
  • Brisker HAS TO make the INT. Has to. That will haunt him for years. We also missed an easy INT in regulation by a LB (12 or 13, can't recall)

A perfect storm of shit. Brisker dropped INT, Johnson dropped pass, missed chip shot FG, Cain not reaching the ball into the endzone, SC getting hurt, no confidence in other QBs, Levis in KY, bad call by the refs, bad weather at the wrong time, missing PJ....

nine overtimes, and NCAA record, and we lose to an inferior team to a crappy coach who's been fired several times who outcoached us. What did I miss?
With Franklin not denying interest in moving on are the players feeling deserted and unwilling to play hard?
 
With Franklin not denying interest in moving on are the players feeling deserted and unwilling to play hard?
I think the team thought that they could phone it in and win. I am told that, pre-game, kids were dancing and yucking it up during warm ups. I am not sure where the captains are, they need to control this. The weather was really awful and that had to do something with killing the game energy. Then you have the ILL team knocking the stuffing out of us and SC hurt. Team looked confused to me.
 
With Franklin not denying interest in moving on are the players feeling deserted and unwilling to play hard?
Amongst my Penn State friends we have said - Franklin needs a firm statement saying he will be in Penn State as the HC next year and beyond.
I agree it tends to leave an unsettled feeling going forward.

OL
 
First, a personal note. I had to take a 7am flight out of CLE to Vegas Sunday morning and figured I could attend the game, get on the road by 4 and be home by 8PM. With the 9 OTs, few left early so it created a mad dash for the entire crowd. I ended up getting home ~ 10 pm and got up at 5am to catch my 7 am flight. Damn!

Outcoached by Bret Bielema! Wow.

Defense:
  • On the first play, Ill came out with seven offensive linemen and two tight ends. That was nine upfront a QB and an RB. (and a damn good one). I honestly don't believe I've ever seen that. They ran several variations of this but almost never had more than one WR on the field.
  • Penn State's answer to this was a cover two. That is 4DL, 3LB, 2CB and 2S. That leaves 9 big guys blocking 7 big to medium guys and two more to take out a CB or S who was in the 200 lb range.
  • Illinois: Genius. PSU: Insanity.
  • No PJ certainly hurt but it wouldn't have made much difference. But with 9 OTs, just a little difference may have won the game. But I suspect those inside runs would simply have been outside runs.
  • PSU never had a plan for this, never imagined it. I am sure tossing in 6 DL would have been difficult because people wouldn't know their assignments.
  • Run a goal-line defense, you say? Not a bad idea until you realize that PSU had a lead almost the entire game and would have risked giving up an easy, long score.
  • It really was the perfect storm for ILL....a PSU defense thin at DL with their best DL out, a really cold and rainy day limited offensive creativity, PSU trying to play a conservative game to hold onto a lead by not giving up a long score or turnover.
  • PSU defended the 7 one-play overtimes because the "long score" and "lead" were no longer concerns.
  • But, you give up ten points in college football, you expect to win 99 times out of 100.
  • In the end, I'd have liked to have forced them out of that game plan but giving up 10 points was not the problem.
Offense
  • WTF?
  • SC was bad and got worse. He actually had a lower QB rating than Sitkowski (20.7 to 17.8). That is lower than a snake's belly.
  • There was a horrible non-call when SC was cheap-shotted by an ILL DL that wasn't called. SC was injured and barely made it off the field. He was probably in the 80% range before that and around 50% after. He just sucked, really. The kid is a gamer and fights through but CJF HAS TO KNOW when the kid is too hurt because he isn't going to say it. And that cost the team.
  • I believe we were deep into the third quarter before we ran our first WR screen, which has been a bread and butter play for us all year. It is the play that loosened up both Wiscy's and Auburn's defenses. Why?
  • When the run game isn't working, you go to your short to medium passing game. You exploit all levels and all of the three sections of the field (left, right , center). We had only TWO competitions to a RB (lovett) and 3 to TEs.
  • We score a TD on a slant. More slants you say? Nope.
  • Where are our vaunted TEs? Strange dropped a VERY important pass over the middle and also missed a very catchable pass in the EZ that would. have won the game in OT.
  • In the end, zero creativity when the RG was shut down. CJF should have put Roberson in for at least one series in the third quarter to run the ball and change things up. Also would have given SC time to catch his breath and sort out his head. His passes were off all day and the weather was not that bad. I am sure the injury along with dropped passes were in his head and he started to overthink things when he couldn't run. He had 5 runs for -28 yards. In CJF's defense, he didn't want a TO because we were winning by 3. I get it.
  • Then we missed a chip shot FG......perfect storm.
9 OTs and other things
  • This was the lowest energy game I can remember. I don't think there were over 70k in the stands. The team picked that up and had zero energy. None. They simply weren't mentally prepared. Nobody seemed to want to be there.
  • The worst call of the game was the fumble forward progress call. First, it took WAY TOO long and looked like. a fix. OK, in my dreams I can see that perhaps a whistle blew. I didn't hear one. But I watched the rest of the game and never was there a quick whistle. But what was worse is that they marked the ball as "no gain". It was set at the ten-yard line when should have been marked at the 7 or 8. In all of the confusion, they marked it in the wrong place. Every fan was yelling and the PSU coaches didn't seem to notice it. Horrible. ILL ended up getting a first down on 3rd and 3 which should have been 5 and would have changed the play-calling sequence.
  • There was a horrible non-call when their DL roughed SC, and may have been the turning point of the game because SC was iffy to start but incompetent after that hit. The scoreboard played it 20 times, which I was shocked to see.
  • the sequence where they called the illegal lineman downfield then pass interference, followed by a facemask on PSU to give ILL a first down was crazy. The ref crew, again, looked dazed and confused the entire game. There was also a horrible PI call on Porter for a key first down that was really bad.
  • Again, poor coaching but the 7 OTs are DO OR DIE!!!! A fumble or INT is immaterial unless it is recovered and the defender goes the length of the field. Reach the ball out for shit's sake! Cain didn't and missed a game-winning score. PSU has to coach the kids to go all out and make that play...there is no tomorrow.
  • With SC hurt, not a single sprint out which is the go-to play there. Spring the QB out. If the OLB stays back you run the ball and burry your shoulder into his gut and push him back into the endzone after pump faking. If he comes, you hit a TE at the goal line for a short pass. Again, poor play calling. So we throw a pass to SC but don't run a sprint out pass....sheesh.
  • Brisker HAS TO make the INT. Has to. That will haunt him for years. We also missed an easy INT in regulation by a LB (12 or 13, can't recall)

A perfect storm of shit. Brisker dropped INT, Johnson dropped pass, missed chip shot FG, Cain not reaching the ball into the endzone, SC getting hurt, no confidence in other QBs, Levis in KY, bad call by the refs, bad weather at the wrong time, missing PJ....

nine overtimes, and NCAA record, and we lose to an inferior team to a crappy coach who's been fired several times who outcoached us. What did I miss?

Solid write up... I get that Pry wasn't ready for the 7 Olinemen... but at halftime zero adjustments? Even try something... anything???? Try a 5-2 I get it would be difficult for responsibilities on pass plays but at least try it. They had zero answers and tried literally nothing. Answer was to stay in the base 4-3 ... Force them to throw it.... they sat back and just allowed them to set the edge and carve up the defense. Illinois RB was very good and tough to tackle. I just don't get zero adjustments to defense at halftime. Offensively Clifford looked good on the first 2 drives after that progressively got worse. Personally I would have tried Roberson some in the 2nd half to try and wake the offense up. Maybe really run the RPO with him. Clifford was obviously hurting and under/overthrowing open receivers. This game was beyond frustrating. Bieliema totally outcoached PSU. Franklin had 2 weeks to get this team ready and this was what they came up with? I am starting to see it is what it is.... Franklin will lose 1-2 games a season he is supposed to win. Most seasons with him as HC PSU will have a 2-3 loss season.
 
With Franklin not denying interest in moving on are the players feeling deserted and unwilling to play hard?

For all of the issues with Harbaugh and Michigan, at least they know - for better or worse - he’s not going anywhere.
 
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We were able to slow them down a couple of time with a CB or LB crashing off the edge. Not sure why we didn't do that more often as nothing else was working.
 
We were able to slow them down a couple of time with a CB or LB crashing off the edge. Not sure why we didn't do that more often as nothing else was working.
That left us very vulnerable if they popped a run due to a missed tackle. We had nobody to defend it. And with a 3 point lead, the book says to play "not to lose". I am willing to bet the team puts some time into playing a goal line defense at mid field with the CBs back playing S.

BTW, Sitkowski was getting an easy two yards on every QB sneak. Their C was crushing us on short yardage.
 
missed tackle.
From my point of view, I don’t have a lot of heartburn with the defense - it only gave up 10 in regulation - but tackling was a low effort point again yesterday. How many tackles did Illinois runners just break out of?

Again, I don’t have much heartburn for the defense in spite of the statistics because they were stingy on the scoreboard. Maybe better tackling limits Illinois to only 7 but the defense definitely did not lose the game yesterday.
 
First, a personal note. I had to take a 7am flight out of CLE to Vegas Sunday morning and figured I could attend the game, get on the road by 4 and be home by 8PM. With the 9 OTs, few left early so it created a mad dash for the entire crowd. I ended up getting home ~ 10 pm and got up at 5am to catch my 7 am flight. Damn!

Outcoached by Bret Bielema! Wow.

Defense:
  • On the first play, Ill came out with seven offensive linemen and two tight ends. That was nine upfront a QB and an RB. (and a damn good one). I honestly don't believe I've ever seen that. They ran several variations of this but almost never had more than one WR on the field.
  • Penn State's answer to this was a cover two. That is 4DL, 3LB, 2CB and 2S. That leaves 9 big guys blocking 7 big to medium guys and two more to take out a CB or S who was in the 200 lb range.
  • Illinois: Genius. PSU: Insanity.
  • No PJ certainly hurt but it wouldn't have made much difference. But with 9 OTs, just a little difference may have won the game. But I suspect those inside runs would simply have been outside runs.
  • PSU never had a plan for this, never imagined it. I am sure tossing in 6 DL would have been difficult because people wouldn't know their assignments.
  • Run a goal-line defense, you say? Not a bad idea until you realize that PSU had a lead almost the entire game and would have risked giving up an easy, long score.
  • It really was the perfect storm for ILL....a PSU defense thin at DL with their best DL out, a really cold and rainy day limited offensive creativity, PSU trying to play a conservative game to hold onto a lead by not giving up a long score or turnover.
  • PSU defended the 7 one-play overtimes because the "long score" and "lead" were no longer concerns.
  • But, you give up ten points in college football, you expect to win 99 times out of 100.
  • In the end, I'd have liked to have forced them out of that game plan but giving up 10 points was not the problem.
Offense
  • WTF?
  • SC was bad and got worse. He actually had a lower QB rating than Sitkowski (20.7 to 17.8). That is lower than a snake's belly.
  • There was a horrible non-call when SC was cheap-shotted by an ILL DL that wasn't called. SC was injured and barely made it off the field. He was probably in the 80% range before that and around 50% after. He just sucked, really. The kid is a gamer and fights through but CJF HAS TO KNOW when the kid is too hurt because he isn't going to say it. And that cost the team.
  • I believe we were deep into the third quarter before we ran our first WR screen, which has been a bread and butter play for us all year. It is the play that loosened up both Wiscy's and Auburn's defenses. Why?
  • When the run game isn't working, you go to your short to medium passing game. You exploit all levels and all of the three sections of the field (left, right , center). We had only TWO competitions to a RB (lovett) and 3 to TEs.
  • We score a TD on a slant. More slants you say? Nope.
  • Where are our vaunted TEs? Strange dropped a VERY important pass over the middle and also missed a very catchable pass in the EZ that would. have won the game in OT.
  • In the end, zero creativity when the RG was shut down. CJF should have put Roberson in for at least one series in the third quarter to run the ball and change things up. Also would have given SC time to catch his breath and sort out his head. His passes were off all day and the weather was not that bad. I am sure the injury along with dropped passes were in his head and he started to overthink things when he couldn't run. He had 5 runs for -28 yards. In CJF's defense, he didn't want a TO because we were winning by 3. I get it.
  • Then we missed a chip shot FG......perfect storm.
9 OTs and other things
  • This was the lowest energy game I can remember. I don't think there were over 70k in the stands. The team picked that up and had zero energy. None. They simply weren't mentally prepared. Nobody seemed to want to be there.
  • The worst call of the game was the fumble forward progress call. First, it took WAY TOO long and looked like. a fix. OK, in my dreams I can see that perhaps a whistle blew. I didn't hear one. But I watched the rest of the game and never was there a quick whistle. But what was worse is that they marked the ball as "no gain". It was set at the ten-yard line when should have been marked at the 7 or 8. In all of the confusion, they marked it in the wrong place. Every fan was yelling and the PSU coaches didn't seem to notice it. Horrible. ILL ended up getting a first down on 3rd and 3 which should have been 5 and would have changed the play-calling sequence.
  • There was a horrible non-call when their DL roughed SC, and may have been the turning point of the game because SC was iffy to start but incompetent after that hit. The scoreboard played it 20 times, which I was shocked to see.
  • the sequence where they called the illegal lineman downfield then pass interference, followed by a facemask on PSU to give ILL a first down was crazy. The ref crew, again, looked dazed and confused the entire game. There was also a horrible PI call on Porter for a key first down that was really bad.
  • Again, poor coaching but the 7 OTs are DO OR DIE!!!! A fumble or INT is immaterial unless it is recovered and the defender goes the length of the field. Reach the ball out for shit's sake! Cain didn't and missed a game-winning score. PSU has to coach the kids to go all out and make that play...there is no tomorrow.
  • With SC hurt, not a single sprint out which is the go-to play there. Spring the QB out. If the OLB stays back you run the ball and burry your shoulder into his gut and push him back into the endzone after pump faking. If he comes, you hit a TE at the goal line for a short pass. Again, poor play calling. So we throw a pass to SC but don't run a sprint out pass....sheesh.
  • Brisker HAS TO make the INT. Has to. That will haunt him for years. We also missed an easy INT in regulation by a LB (12 or 13, can't recall)

A perfect storm of shit. Brisker dropped INT, Johnson dropped pass, missed chip shot FG, Cain not reaching the ball into the endzone, SC getting hurt, no confidence in other QBs, Levis in KY, bad call by the refs, bad weather at the wrong time, missing PJ....

nine overtimes, and NCAA record, and we lose to an inferior team to a crappy coach who's been fired several times who outcoached us. What did I miss?
You missed: it is time…
 
Solid write up... I get that Pry wasn't ready for the 7 Olinemen... but at halftime zero adjustments? Even try something... anything???? Try a 5-2 I get it would be difficult for responsibilities on pass plays but at least try it. They had zero answers and tried literally nothing. Answer was to stay in the base 4-3 ... Force them to throw it.... they sat back and just allowed them to set the edge and carve up the defense. Illinois RB was very good and tough to tackle. I just don't get zero adjustments to defense at halftime. Offensively Clifford looked good on the first 2 drives after that progressively got worse. Personally I would have tried Roberson some in the 2nd half to try and wake the offense up. Maybe really run the RPO with him. Clifford was obviously hurting and under/overthrowing open receivers. This game was beyond frustrating. Bieliema totally outcoached PSU. Franklin had 2 weeks to get this team ready and this was what they came up with? I am starting to see it is what it is.... Franklin will lose 1-2 games a season he is supposed to win. Most seasons with him as HC PSU will have a 2-3 loss season.
Well, we already have 2 losses and the meat of our schedule is still ahead…
 
From my point of view, I don’t have a lot of heartburn with the defense - it only gave up 10 in regulation - but tackling was a low effort point again yesterday. How many tackles did Illinois runners just break out of?

Again, I don’t have much heartburn for the defense in spite of the statistics because they were stingy on the scoreboard. Maybe better tackling limits Illinois to only 7 but the defense definitely did not lose the game yesterday.
Agreed. But those RBs were big and strong. Zero is a FR who is over 240 lbs who was a highly recruited LBer but wanted to play RB so went to ILL. You give a kid a five yard head of steam and try to tackle him with a 190 lb CB or 200 lb safety.

BTW, Lee, who also can't seem to stay healthy, buried a S from ILL on one play.
 
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I should have added that we have a big problem at both L and R guard. ILL attacked these two positions like the Russians at St. Petersburg. We also seem to have trouble pulling. I saw several occasions where the OL got to is assignment, after pulling, way too soon or way too late.
 
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We made few defensive adjustments... if any. they showed what they were going to do in the first qtr..... and yet... gave up 10 in regulation. 10 points... thats it. We couldnt score more than 10. Prys defense gave up tons...but only 10 points. Our offense was just dog shit and it comes back the Franklin...
 
T
That left us very vulnerable if they popped a run due to a missed tackle. We had nobody to defend it. And with a 3 point lead, the book says to play "not to lose". I am willing to bet the team puts some time into playing a goal line defense at mid field with the CBs back playing S.

BTW, Sitkowski was getting an easy two yards on every QB sneak. Their C was crushing us on short yardage.
There was no one over the center on the sneaks. And then when we had LB positioned and crashing there, Sitkowski simply adjusted to the back and handed it to him with no backer to clean up. Easy 1st down.
 
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Well, we already have 2 losses and the meat of our schedule is still ahead…

Yup... the question for me is am I ok with 2-3 loss seasons? PSU will almost always lose to OSU, if we are lucky play .500 against michigan and seem to lose a game we aren't suppose to against the Indiana/Purdue of the world... so am I ok with 9-3/10-2 type seasons every year? To me what we are paying him .... no I am not. For that kind of money he needs to take the program up another level and hasn't done that, nor do I see it happening.
 
Yup... the question for me is am I ok with 2-3 loss seasons? PSU will almost always lose to OSU, if we are lucky play .500 against michigan and seem to lose a game we aren't suppose to against the Indiana/Purdue of the world... so am I ok with 9-3/10-2 type seasons every year? To me what we are paying him .... no I am not. For that kind of money he needs to take the program up another level and hasn't done that, nor do I see it happening.
Agreed....and right now, we will be very fortunate to finish the season with only three losses. We have to win two of three versus Sparty, UM and tOSU.

Also, remember, CJFs big years were the two years of Barkley's soph and jr years. He was a generational back and one of the top five RBs of all time in my book
 
Our Oline which mistakenly, I thought would be a strength this year is really soft.

tOSU will run DE/DT stunts all day at our RG who stays with this original assignment and does not see the DE coming straight through the gap.

If you do not have a great run blocking team.....it is hard to play against a good run blocking team. It is like trying to face a hard throwing pitcher throwing 92 when the hardest thrower on your team is 85...... And it works both ways...when we do not have a stout run defense, it is hard for our Oline to understand what it takes to run the ball against some big bodies.

As long as we stay in the Big 10 and holding is not called on running plays up the middle, our Defense had better be working on dislodging from holding that is taught very effectively at Wisconsin, Michigan and now Illinois. Our offensive line man better be learning about getting their hands inside and doing the Big 10 dance with the DL.

Outside of our game, two surprises that I saw yesterday was Tennessee being able to move the ball for 3 quarters on Alabama (I know this Alabama defense not as stout), and Pitt basically outplaying Clemson on offense and defense. Outside of the normal 10 penalties for Pitt, they dominated Clemson.
 
First, a personal note. I had to take a 7am flight out of CLE to Vegas Sunday morning and figured I could attend the game, get on the road by 4 and be home by 8PM. With the 9 OTs, few left early so it created a mad dash for the entire crowd. I ended up getting home ~ 10 pm and got up at 5am to catch my 7 am flight. Damn!

Outcoached by Bret Bielema! Wow.

Defense:
  • On the first play, Ill came out with seven offensive linemen and two tight ends. That was nine upfront a QB and an RB. (and a damn good one). I honestly don't believe I've ever seen that. They ran several variations of this but almost never had more than one WR on the field.
  • Penn State's answer to this was a cover two. That is 4DL, 3LB, 2CB and 2S. That leaves 9 big guys blocking 7 big to medium guys and two more to take out a CB or S who was in the 200 lb range.
  • Illinois: Genius. PSU: Insanity.
  • No PJ certainly hurt but it wouldn't have made much difference. But with 9 OTs, just a little difference may have won the game. But I suspect those inside runs would simply have been outside runs.
  • PSU never had a plan for this, never imagined it. I am sure tossing in 6 DL would have been difficult because people wouldn't know their assignments.
  • Run a goal-line defense, you say? Not a bad idea until you realize that PSU had a lead almost the entire game and would have risked giving up an easy, long score.
  • It really was the perfect storm for ILL....a PSU defense thin at DL with their best DL out, a really cold and rainy day limited offensive creativity, PSU trying to play a conservative game to hold onto a lead by not giving up a long score or turnover.
  • PSU defended the 7 one-play overtimes because the "long score" and "lead" were no longer concerns.
  • But, you give up ten points in college football, you expect to win 99 times out of 100.
  • In the end, I'd have liked to have forced them out of that game plan but giving up 10 points was not the problem.
Offense
  • WTF?
  • SC was bad and got worse. He actually had a lower QB rating than Sitkowski (20.7 to 17.8). That is lower than a snake's belly.
  • There was a horrible non-call when SC was cheap-shotted by an ILL DL that wasn't called. SC was injured and barely made it off the field. He was probably in the 80% range before that and around 50% after. He just sucked, really. The kid is a gamer and fights through but CJF HAS TO KNOW when the kid is too hurt because he isn't going to say it. And that cost the team.
  • I believe we were deep into the third quarter before we ran our first WR screen, which has been a bread and butter play for us all year. It is the play that loosened up both Wiscy's and Auburn's defenses. Why?
  • When the run game isn't working, you go to your short to medium passing game. You exploit all levels and all of the three sections of the field (left, right , center). We had only TWO competitions to a RB (lovett) and 3 to TEs.
  • We score a TD on a slant. More slants you say? Nope.
  • Where are our vaunted TEs? Johnson dropped a VERY important pass over the middle and also missed a very catchable pass in the EZ that would. have won the game in OT.
  • In the end, zero creativity when the RG was shut down. CJF should have put Roberson in for at least one series in the third quarter to run the ball and change things up. Also would have given SC time to catch his breath and sort out his head. His passes were off all day and the weather was not that bad. I am sure the injury along with dropped passes were in his head and he started to overthink things when he couldn't run. He had 5 runs for -28 yards. In CJF's defense, he didn't want a TO because we were winning by 3. I get it.
  • Then we missed a chip shot FG......perfect storm.
9 OTs and other things
  • This was the lowest energy game I can remember. I don't think there were over 70k in the stands. The team picked that up and had zero energy. None. They simply weren't mentally prepared. Nobody seemed to want to be there.
  • The worst call of the game was the fumble forward progress call. First, it took WAY TOO long and looked like. a fix. OK, in my dreams I can see that perhaps a whistle blew. I didn't hear one. But I watched the rest of the game and never was there a quick whistle. But what was worse is that they marked the ball as "no gain". It was set at the ten-yard line when should have been marked at the 7 or 8. In all of the confusion, they marked it in the wrong place. Every fan was yelling and the PSU coaches didn't seem to notice it. Horrible. ILL ended up getting a first down on 3rd and 3 which should have been 5 and would have changed the play-calling sequence.
  • There was a horrible non-call when their DL roughed SC, and may have been the turning point of the game because SC was iffy to start but incompetent after that hit. The scoreboard played it 20 times, which I was shocked to see.
  • the sequence where they called the illegal lineman downfield then pass interference, followed by a facemask on PSU to give ILL a first down was crazy. The ref crew, again, looked dazed and confused the entire game. There was also a horrible PI call on Porter for a key first down that was really bad.
  • Again, poor coaching but the 7 OTs are DO OR DIE!!!! A fumble or INT is immaterial unless it is recovered and the defender goes the length of the field. Reach the ball out for shit's sake! Cain didn't and missed a game-winning score. PSU has to coach the kids to go all out and make that play...there is no tomorrow.
  • With SC hurt, not a single sprint out which is the go-to play there. Spring the QB out. If the OLB stays back you run the ball and burry your shoulder into his gut and push him back into the endzone after pump faking. If he comes, you hit a TE at the goal line for a short pass. Again, poor play calling. So we throw a pass to SC but don't run a sprint out pass....sheesh.
  • Brisker HAS TO make the INT. Has to. That will haunt him for years. We also missed an easy INT in regulation by a LB (12 or 13, can't recall)

A perfect storm of shit. Brisker dropped INT, Johnson dropped pass, missed chip shot FG, Cain not reaching the ball into the endzone, SC getting hurt, no confidence in other QBs, Levis in KY, bad call by the refs, bad weather at the wrong time, missing PJ....

nine overtimes, and NCAA record, and we lose to an inferior team to a crappy coach who's been fired several times who outcoached us. What did I miss?
What are you talking about? Crappy coach who's been fired several times? Bielema was fired once for not winning enough in the SEC, and he ended up coaching for Belichick after that. I had a feeling that Bielema would be a problem at some point. I didn't think it would be this year.
 
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This team has one massive structural problem, and it's been building for years - it simply has no commitment to running the ball. None. It turns it on for a few games, but even then it almost feels like going through the motions. Play action is completely non-existent. You want chunk plays? Freeze the defense for an instant. Of course no qb under center makes play action almost impossible. This post shouldn't be construed as relegating the pass to second fiddle, because there's no reason both can't comfortably co-exist. Five! Offensive Coordinators in five years is batshit crazy. That's on Franklin, so is the construction of this offense. I think he's fully capable of fixing it, but you have to recognize the problem first, and I see no indication that he does.
 
I think yesterday was all about play calling and the scheme we run. We ran with elite recievers when they were man to man with 8 or 9 in the box, we passed when they had 4 in the box. More often than not it looked like they knew the plays and they knew the snap count. Defense gave up just 10 points in regulation.
 
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First, a personal note. I had to take a 7am flight out of CLE to Vegas Sunday morning and figured I could attend the game, get on the road by 4 and be home by 8PM. With the 9 OTs, few left early so it created a mad dash for the entire crowd. I ended up getting home ~ 10 pm and got up at 5am to catch my 7 am flight. Damn!

Outcoached by Bret Bielema! Wow.

Defense:
  • On the first play, Ill came out with seven offensive linemen and two tight ends. That was nine upfront a QB and an RB. (and a damn good one). I honestly don't believe I've ever seen that. They ran several variations of this but almost never had more than one WR on the field.
  • Penn State's answer to this was a cover two. That is 4DL, 3LB, 2CB and 2S. That leaves 9 big guys blocking 7 big to medium guys and two more to take out a CB or S who was in the 200 lb range.
  • Illinois: Genius. PSU: Insanity.
  • No PJ certainly hurt but it wouldn't have made much difference. But with 9 OTs, just a little difference may have won the game. But I suspect those inside runs would simply have been outside runs.
  • PSU never had a plan for this, never imagined it. I am sure tossing in 6 DL would have been difficult because people wouldn't know their assignments.
  • Run a goal-line defense, you say? Not a bad idea until you realize that PSU had a lead almost the entire game and would have risked giving up an easy, long score.
  • It really was the perfect storm for ILL....a PSU defense thin at DL with their best DL out, a really cold and rainy day limited offensive creativity, PSU trying to play a conservative game to hold onto a lead by not giving up a long score or turnover.
  • PSU defended the 7 one-play overtimes because the "long score" and "lead" were no longer concerns.
  • But, you give up ten points in college football, you expect to win 99 times out of 100.
  • In the end, I'd have liked to have forced them out of that game plan but giving up 10 points was not the problem.
Offense
  • WTF?
  • SC was bad and got worse. He actually had a lower QB rating than Sitkowski (20.7 to 17.8). That is lower than a snake's belly.
  • There was a horrible non-call when SC was cheap-shotted by an ILL DL that wasn't called. SC was injured and barely made it off the field. He was probably in the 80% range before that and around 50% after. He just sucked, really. The kid is a gamer and fights through but CJF HAS TO KNOW when the kid is too hurt because he isn't going to say it. And that cost the team.
  • I believe we were deep into the third quarter before we ran our first WR screen, which has been a bread and butter play for us all year. It is the play that loosened up both Wiscy's and Auburn's defenses. Why?
  • When the run game isn't working, you go to your short to medium passing game. You exploit all levels and all of the three sections of the field (left, right , center). We had only TWO competitions to a RB (lovett) and 3 to TEs.
  • We score a TD on a slant. More slants you say? Nope.
  • Where are our vaunted TEs? Johnson dropped a VERY important pass over the middle and also missed a very catchable pass in the EZ that would. have won the game in OT.
  • In the end, zero creativity when the RG was shut down. CJF should have put Roberson in for at least one series in the third quarter to run the ball and change things up. Also would have given SC time to catch his breath and sort out his head. His passes were off all day and the weather was not that bad. I am sure the injury along with dropped passes were in his head and he started to overthink things when he couldn't run. He had 5 runs for -28 yards. In CJF's defense, he didn't want a TO because we were winning by 3. I get it.
  • Then we missed a chip shot FG......perfect storm.
9 OTs and other things
  • This was the lowest energy game I can remember. I don't think there were over 70k in the stands. The team picked that up and had zero energy. None. They simply weren't mentally prepared. Nobody seemed to want to be there.
  • The worst call of the game was the fumble forward progress call. First, it took WAY TOO long and looked like. a fix. OK, in my dreams I can see that perhaps a whistle blew. I didn't hear one. But I watched the rest of the game and never was there a quick whistle. But what was worse is that they marked the ball as "no gain". It was set at the ten-yard line when should have been marked at the 7 or 8. In all of the confusion, they marked it in the wrong place. Every fan was yelling and the PSU coaches didn't seem to notice it. Horrible. ILL ended up getting a first down on 3rd and 3 which should have been 5 and would have changed the play-calling sequence.
  • There was a horrible non-call when their DL roughed SC, and may have been the turning point of the game because SC was iffy to start but incompetent after that hit. The scoreboard played it 20 times, which I was shocked to see.
  • the sequence where they called the illegal lineman downfield then pass interference, followed by a facemask on PSU to give ILL a first down was crazy. The ref crew, again, looked dazed and confused the entire game. There was also a horrible PI call on Porter for a key first down that was really bad.
  • Again, poor coaching but the 7 OTs are DO OR DIE!!!! A fumble or INT is immaterial unless it is recovered and the defender goes the length of the field. Reach the ball out for shit's sake! Cain didn't and missed a game-winning score. PSU has to coach the kids to go all out and make that play...there is no tomorrow.
  • With SC hurt, not a single sprint out which is the go-to play there. Spring the QB out. If the OLB stays back you run the ball and burry your shoulder into his gut and push him back into the endzone after pump faking. If he comes, you hit a TE at the goal line for a short pass. Again, poor play calling. So we throw a pass to SC but don't run a sprint out pass....sheesh.
  • Brisker HAS TO make the INT. Has to. That will haunt him for years. We also missed an easy INT in regulation by a LB (12 or 13, can't recall)

A perfect storm of shit. Brisker dropped INT, Johnson dropped pass, missed chip shot FG, Cain not reaching the ball into the endzone, SC getting hurt, no confidence in other QBs, Levis in KY, bad call by the refs, bad weather at the wrong time, missing PJ....

nine overtimes, and NCAA record, and we lose to an inferior team to a crappy coach who's been fired several times who outcoached us. What did I miss?
Excellent summary.
 
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The worst call of the game was the fumble forward progress call. First, it took WAY TOO long and looked like. a fix. OK, in my dreams I can see that perhaps a whistle blew. I didn't hear one. But I watched the rest of the game and never was there a quick whistle. But what was worse is that they marked the ball as "no gain". It was set at the ten-yard line when should have been marked at the 7 or 8. In all of the confusion, they marked it in the wrong place. Every fan was yelling and the PSU coaches didn't seem to notice it. Horrible. ILL ended up getting a first down on 3rd and 3 which should have been 5 and would have changed the play-calling sequence.
Not a bad read with one exception. While they spotted the ball incorrectly, but the forward progress call was absolutely correct. There is no case for it being a bad call. The ball carrier was in contact with the defender and going backward. This was a very different situation than a similar play later in the game.
 
Excellent summary. Just one comment here regarding the 70k in the stands. A one loss team at Georgia or Alabama or Ohio State will still fill the stands against a junior high school team. What does this say about Penn State fans? Especially those who are relatively close to State College.
You have a point, but don't forget this

125042_h.jpg


 
This team has one massive structural problem, and it's been building for years - it simply has no commitment to running the ball. None. It turns it on for a few games, but even then it almost feels like going through the motions. Play action is completely non-existent. You want chunk plays? Freeze the defense for an instant. Of course no qb under center makes play action almost impossible. This post shouldn't be construed as relegating the pass to second fiddle, because there's no reason both can't comfortably co-exist. Five! Offensive Coordinators in five years is batshit crazy. That's on Franklin, so is the construction of this offense. I think he's fully capable of fixing it, but you have to recognize the problem first, and I see no indication that he does.
Nick Saban's had 5 OC's in the same time period. It hasn't hurt Alabama too much. But I agree that running the football should be an important part of PSU's offense.
 
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Excellent summary. Just one comment here regarding the 70k in the stands. A one loss team at Georgia or Alabama or Ohio State will still fill the stands against a junior high school team. What does this say about Penn State fans? Especially those who are relatively close to State College.
 
Excellent summary. Just one comment here regarding the 70k in the stands. A one loss team at Georgia or Alabama or Ohio State will still fill the stands against a junior high school team. What does this say about Penn State fans? Especially those who are relatively close to State College.
Try again, check OSU games earlier this year.
 
We were able to slow them down a couple of time with a CB or LB crashing off the edge. Not sure why we didn't do that more often as nothing else was working.
Some of the worst tackling I have seen all year long didn’t help. The transfer tackle from UVA and the transfer DE from Temple were out of position and abused the whole game.
 
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Nick Saban's had 5 OC's in the same time period. It hasn't hurt Alabama too much. But I agree that running the football should be an important part of PSU's offense.
I agree but unfortunately that hasn’t happened all year and the continued attempts to keep trying it in 1st down virtually the entire second half really hurt. Tell me one play where a PSU running back burst through a hole all year.
 
Our Oline which mistakenly, I thought would be a strength this year is really soft.

tOSU will run DE/DT stunts all day at our RG who stays with this original assignment and does not see the DE coming straight through the gap.

If you do not have a great run blocking team.....it is hard to play against a good run blocking team. It is like trying to face a hard throwing pitcher throwing 92 when the hardest thrower on your team is 85...... And it works both ways...when we do not have a stout run defense, it is hard for our Oline to understand what it takes to run the ball against some big bodies.

As long as we stay in the Big 10 and holding is not called on running plays up the middle, our Defense had better be working on dislodging from holding that is taught very effectively at Wisconsin, Michigan and now Illinois. Our offensive line man better be learning about getting their hands inside and doing the Big 10 dance with the DL.

Outside of our game, two surprises that I saw yesterday was Tennessee being able to move the ball for 3 quarters on Alabama (I know this Alabama defense not as stout), and Pitt basically outplaying Clemson on offense and defense. Outside of the normal 10 penalties for Pitt, they dominated Clemson.
O Line has been soft since 1994
 
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First, a personal note. I had to take a 7am flight out of CLE to Vegas Sunday morning and figured I could attend the game, get on the road by 4 and be home by 8PM. With the 9 OTs, few left early so it created a mad dash for the entire crowd. I ended up getting home ~ 10 pm and got up at 5am to catch my 7 am flight. Damn!

Outcoached by Bret Bielema! Wow.

Defense:
  • On the first play, Ill came out with seven offensive linemen and two tight ends. That was nine upfront a QB and an RB. (and a damn good one). I honestly don't believe I've ever seen that. They ran several variations of this but almost never had more than one WR on the field.
  • Penn State's answer to this was a cover two. That is 4DL, 3LB, 2CB and 2S. That leaves 9 big guys blocking 7 big to medium guys and two more to take out a CB or S who was in the 200 lb range.
  • Illinois: Genius. PSU: Insanity.
  • No PJ certainly hurt but it wouldn't have made much difference. But with 9 OTs, just a little difference may have won the game. But I suspect those inside runs would simply have been outside runs.
  • PSU never had a plan for this, never imagined it. I am sure tossing in 6 DL would have been difficult because people wouldn't know their assignments.
  • Run a goal-line defense, you say? Not a bad idea until you realize that PSU had a lead almost the entire game and would have risked giving up an easy, long score.
  • It really was the perfect storm for ILL....a PSU defense thin at DL with their best DL out, a really cold and rainy day limited offensive creativity, PSU trying to play a conservative game to hold onto a lead by not giving up a long score or turnover.
  • PSU defended the 7 one-play overtimes because the "long score" and "lead" were no longer concerns.
  • But, you give up ten points in college football, you expect to win 99 times out of 100.
  • In the end, I'd have liked to have forced them out of that game plan but giving up 10 points was not the problem.
Offense
  • WTF?
  • SC was bad and got worse. He actually had a lower QB rating than Sitkowski (20.7 to 17.8). That is lower than a snake's belly.
  • There was a horrible non-call when SC was cheap-shotted by an ILL DL that wasn't called. SC was injured and barely made it off the field. He was probably in the 80% range before that and around 50% after. He just sucked, really. The kid is a gamer and fights through but CJF HAS TO KNOW when the kid is too hurt because he isn't going to say it. And that cost the team.
  • I believe we were deep into the third quarter before we ran our first WR screen, which has been a bread and butter play for us all year. It is the play that loosened up both Wiscy's and Auburn's defenses. Why?
  • When the run game isn't working, you go to your short to medium passing game. You exploit all levels and all of the three sections of the field (left, right , center). We had only TWO competitions to a RB (lovett) and 3 to TEs.
  • We score a TD on a slant. More slants you say? Nope.
  • Where are our vaunted TEs? Johnson dropped a VERY important pass over the middle and also missed a very catchable pass in the EZ that would. have won the game in OT.
  • In the end, zero creativity when the RG was shut down. CJF should have put Roberson in for at least one series in the third quarter to run the ball and change things up. Also would have given SC time to catch his breath and sort out his head. His passes were off all day and the weather was not that bad. I am sure the injury along with dropped passes were in his head and he started to overthink things when he couldn't run. He had 5 runs for -28 yards. In CJF's defense, he didn't want a TO because we were winning by 3. I get it.
  • Then we missed a chip shot FG......perfect storm.
9 OTs and other things
  • This was the lowest energy game I can remember. I don't think there were over 70k in the stands. The team picked that up and had zero energy. None. They simply weren't mentally prepared. Nobody seemed to want to be there.
  • The worst call of the game was the fumble forward progress call. First, it took WAY TOO long and looked like. a fix. OK, in my dreams I can see that perhaps a whistle blew. I didn't hear one. But I watched the rest of the game and never was there a quick whistle. But what was worse is that they marked the ball as "no gain". It was set at the ten-yard line when should have been marked at the 7 or 8. In all of the confusion, they marked it in the wrong place. Every fan was yelling and the PSU coaches didn't seem to notice it. Horrible. ILL ended up getting a first down on 3rd and 3 which should have been 5 and would have changed the play-calling sequence.
  • There was a horrible non-call when their DL roughed SC, and may have been the turning point of the game because SC was iffy to start but incompetent after that hit. The scoreboard played it 20 times, which I was shocked to see.
  • the sequence where they called the illegal lineman downfield then pass interference, followed by a facemask on PSU to give ILL a first down was crazy. The ref crew, again, looked dazed and confused the entire game. There was also a horrible PI call on Porter for a key first down that was really bad.
  • Again, poor coaching but the 7 OTs are DO OR DIE!!!! A fumble or INT is immaterial unless it is recovered and the defender goes the length of the field. Reach the ball out for shit's sake! Cain didn't and missed a game-winning score. PSU has to coach the kids to go all out and make that play...there is no tomorrow.
  • With SC hurt, not a single sprint out which is the go-to play there. Spring the QB out. If the OLB stays back you run the ball and burry your shoulder into his gut and push him back into the endzone after pump faking. If he comes, you hit a TE at the goal line for a short pass. Again, poor play calling. So we throw a pass to SC but don't run a sprint out pass....sheesh.
  • Brisker HAS TO make the INT. Has to. That will haunt him for years. We also missed an easy INT in regulation by a LB (12 or 13, can't recall)

A perfect storm of shit. Brisker dropped INT, Johnson dropped pass, missed chip shot FG, Cain not reaching the ball into the endzone, SC getting hurt, no confidence in other QBs, Levis in KY, bad call by the refs, bad weather at the wrong time, missing PJ....

nine overtimes, and NCAA record, and we lose to an inferior team to a crappy coach who's been fired several times who outcoached us. What did I miss?
You missed how this kind of thing happens to a Franklin coached team every single year
 
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