Ugly? A Penn State win this year is NOT ugly. Fact is, it was beautiful. Penn State simply dominated the line of scrimmage in the first half on both offense and defense. This, against a Rutgers team that was playing very good ball on offense. R has been averaging over 30 points per game. So here we are, in December, playing football in NJ. As expected, conditions were not ideal. So the ground game ruled and the passing games didn't. Penn State has a 17 point lead at the half, which, for all intents and purposes, ended the game.
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General
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- Keyvone appears to be the real deal. 17 carries for 95 yards in tough sledding. Kid moves the chains. Ford ran well, also, but Lee is simply better in traffic.
- With the OL dominating, Lee just lowered his shoulder when there wasn't a hole and everyone got pushed between 3 and 5 yards.
- We have a short-yardage game that is working and it is called, Will Levis. I don't know the 3rd down conversions but it was much better than in the first five games.
- I totally agree with CJF going uber-conservative in the second half. R moved their guys down in the box to stop the run. The obvious thing to do is pass, but with the heavy wind and propensity to turn the ball over, along with the success of the running game, that makes complete sense. Bringing all of the defense close to the LOS is a high-risk defense. You attack it by going long. The wind didn't allow us to go long. We actually broke two runs but Lee, seems to be his only real weakness, is that he isn't fast....at all. Lets hope he can gain speed.
- Lee has an interesting style. He is patient yet seems to accelerate in the hole quickly. He's got a good jump cut and spin. Odd someone so deft with quick feet can't run in a straight line well. Regardless, he makes good decisions AND he's a good blocker. He only got 31 yards when he cleared the entire D and they caught him from behind.
- Speaking of blocking, we actually ran a couple of bubble screens well. The WR and TE blocked! The timing looks good too. This is huge as having the slowish Lee takes the pressure off the defense's edge. The bubble screens keep them honest as we can now spread the field so the D can't pack the middle.
- It is hard to get a bead on passing as it was so windy. But SC's TD pass was a seed. Great throw. His INT was off the WR's hands. But that INT caused CJF to go completely into a shell, which was probably smart as well as the D played.
- WR's are improving. A couple of drops but mostly good play. I love the story that Lutz is. I am sure, while not as talented, his years in the program and maturity are helping a lot. Perhaps his blocking as well.
- Not sure that the three QB draws in a row were expected to do. I kept waiting for Levis to take a step forward then throw deep. Maybe we just didn't need it. Levis carried the ball 17 times and didn't attempt a single pass. Clifford ran the ball 8 times. So, the QB ran the ball 25 times out of 57 rushing attempts.
- Back to the draws, it wasn't fun to watch but I certainly understood when we were trying to do. And, in this case, it made sense.
- While Ford and Lee averaged 5.9 and 5.6 YPC, the team averaged 4.4.
- To me, it was a fun game to watch as you could see the strategic changes R made at halftime and how PSU responded. We lack a deep threat at RB or at WR and we need to develop that for next year. My guess is that Dotson is that guy but he doesn't seem to have the deep speed we had last year with Hamler. A deep TD to a WR or Lee going the distance would have ended the game in the 3rd quarter and made R pay for the D strategy in the second half.
- Looks like we've got three young guys on the OL who can play. Scruggs is becoming the feel-good story of the year as he earns playing time, perhaps a starting position, after a bad car accident. OL has clearly been the biggest disappointment this year with a very senior group. This had me concerned about next year. But we are seeing the emergence of Scruggs, Walker, and Wallace.
- Great to see our DT's dominate. I thought the team played well across the board on defense. We only gave up 83 yards rushing.
- The LBers are playing better. They are still slow but are developing a feel for the game: better positioning, better reads, better angles....The defense is playing with much better discipline.
- Brisker...my God, Brisker! Perhaps the guy that has made the most improvement throughout the year on defense. S play was good but have to factor in the wind limited R passing as it did ours.
- We still only got one turnover. We lost two so we were -1 in that department. Still not good enough. We just aren't getting INT's.
- But Joey Porter Jr. is the best player we have on defense right now. In a running contest, Porter covered the run and is like a S out there. At 6-2, I can certainly see him moving to S if we can develop some young CBs. Kid is everywhere, has a nose for the ball, is a good run stopper, sticks his nose in there and can still cover. Kid was second on the team in tackles from the CB position! Luketa has 10 and Brooks (and JP jr) had 7.
- We used a lot of guys on Defense. 27 guys notched at least one tackle.
- 3-3 on FG, one with Stoudt that was 47 yards. Good stuff. FG kicking has improved a lot
- Still not thrilled with punting as we averaged 37 yards. But with this wind it is hard to judge.
- Coverage was excellent at R is one of the better kick/punt return teams in the B1G.
General
- Refs simply missed the turnover. The kid's foot was OOB. The field view was a bit obstructed but while you couldn't see the player, you can see the ball is out. In the overhead view, you couldn't see the ball but you can see his foot was out. When you piece them together, it is clear the player's foot was OOB when he first touched the ball.
- The three QB sneaks in a row was head-scratching. But I totally get the conservatism at that point. PSU had just turned the ball over on an INT and this team if fragile. No turnovers = a win the way our D was playing so lets win the game, period.
- Sparty simply sucked against a much-depleated tOSU team. Hopefully, PSU can end the "regular season" with a win. I'd love to get another crack at Iowa who is playing the best ball in the B1G outside of tOSU right now.
- Indy beats UW; that team is pretty good (and without their starting QB)
- Lots of rumors that Harbaugh's agent is floating his name in the NFL. Perhaps just smart negotiations but I am not sure he will be UM's coach next year. tOSU could beat them by 50 if they play and are healthy.
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