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Official PSU - Ohio State Game Thread

Pry called a good first half. It was far better than I had expected. Pressure is what we needed to keep Haskins from throwing it down field. We did that well.

But .... OSU has a good staff. They went to screens in the 2nd half, and we had no answer. We don't run them. So the question is, did we have any preparation against screens? Those plays demand open field tackling, an obvious weakness.
OSU actually went to the screen after Sanders' fumble. Also beat us with a reverse when we over pursued.

Their staff definitely made better adjustments.
 
Yes, I agree plenty of missed plays by the players. But that happens in every single college game ever. It happens on both sides. My point is that despite those plays, which happen every game, the coaches did not put them in the best position to win. And its the third straight double digit big game 4th quarter lead they've done that with. When is it ok to say that Franklin is bad in that situation? Are you still defending Andy Reid's 2 minute clock management as well?

With a team with less talent the staff is putting them repeatedly in a position to win. What else are they supposed to do? The staff isn’t perfect. No staff is and not every play call will work. They had enough great play calls that we should have won the game by 3 TDs against a top 5 team. Why anyone is angry at the staff at this juncture has to ask themselves what staff in America would be doing a better job?
 
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No1. Somewhat. The drops hurt but they still made some plays.

No 2. Yes. Not to put the game into the hands of your senior QB, who played lights out all game is disgusting. Just can't comprehend that decision. I love JF and his staff, but this was bring anything i can defend.

No 3 and 4. No and no. It's a 60 minute game. Trace played like a senior QB should. And you can't blame the game on one play.

This is on the coaches and the lack of d tackling in the second half.

Trace was bad in the first half. Had a great run but other than that his passing was poor.
 
KOA Farmer is SLOW!!!!!!

He came to campus as a Safety that ran a 4.4 if I’m not mistaken. Then bulked up to play LB and well..... His effort on the last TD was abysmal. Parsons bad pursuit angle allowed the prior TD to happen. OLB is a major problem.
 
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Some things to think about...

We have lost a 1 point game the last 2 years to a team with constant top 2-3 recruiting classes. I know this one stings right now, but we have ALL pointed out that this team is a year away. Granted we'll be without Trace, but these defensive breakdowns are right around the corner from being fixed.

Rahne is a first time OC calling his 6th game. Let that soak in a bit. i'm not saying that that's an excuse, but compare that to someone like Kevin Wilson with numerous years of OC experience. You need EXPERIENCE to coach fundamentally sound games against top level opponents. Even then, you chance getting "cute" and not running with what brung you (a la Pete Caroll in the SB).

Honestly look at the game as a whole. The last play call hurt BAD, but that wasn't what lost the game. this YOUNG defense will learn throughout the year. We're not out of it. If anything, we showed the blueprint of how to beat tOSU, and you better believe that UM and MSU will replicate what we did.

With as close as this game was, I can imagine that if we win out (with our schedule) and tOSU can lose a game, we could still make waves at the end of the season. I just hate when it's taken out of our hands.
 
Proud of the team. Embarrassed of the coaching.
I agree the final call of the game was disappointing. But please keep in mind that you played an Ohio State team that's been recruiting top 5 classes since 2012. Still, Penn State beat Ohio State in 2016, lost by 1pt in 2017 and lost by 1pt tonight. The talent gap is all but gone and if Franklin continues working his magic you're one or two classes away from a playoff game and maybe a National Championship game. I look forward to personally watching you guys on 11/17.
 
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With a team with less talent the staff is putting them repeatedly in a position to win. What else are they supposed to do? The staff isn’t perfect. No staff is and not every play call will work. They had enough great play calls that we should have won the game by 3 TDs against a top 5 team. Why anyone is angry at the staff at this juncture has to ask themselves what staff in America would be doing a better job?

I don't expect perfection, not even close. But they repeatedly make completely head-scratching calls in these late fourth quarter games with big leads. It's awesome that we've been in position to win those games, but making horrendous coaching decisions when its all on the line isn't just ok.
 
This is a good point, but it’s frustrating to lose in the fashion that they did. Still, the team will get better from this and have another great season.
All losses are frustrating. Every time we’ve lost has been blamed on the coaches.
 
The play call was poor..coaching staff gambled trying to outsmart OSU..it didn’t work....shame Pry didn’t spy dobbins out of the backfield..
 
I agree the final call of the game was disappointing. But please keep in mind that you played an Ohio State team that's been recruiting top 5 classes since 2012. Still, Penn State beat Ohio State in 2016, lost by 1pt in 2017 and lost by 1pt tonight. The talent gap is all but gone and if Franklin continues working his magic you're one or two classes away from a playoff game and maybe a National Championship game. I look forward to personally watching you guys on 11/17.

The closing of the talent gap has been incredible. I love 99% of what Franklin brings. But I can't ignore horrendous decisions repeatedly in the most important games. Not just second-guessing reasonable calls, but calls that are absurd.
 
All losses are frustrating. Every time we’ve lost has been blamed on the coaches.

So you liked the 7 Stevens plays that went for about -20 yards? You liked having our 5'10" QB who gets batted down five times a game throw a quick out on 4th and 1? You liked not running the play clock down with 6 minutes left in a game you lead? You liked throwing deep on 2nd and 10 with a lead late? You liked a run on 4th and 5 for the last play of the game?

Go ahead, defend all that. When you do, just accept that you'll never blame anything on the coaches if you do.
 
I agree the final call of the game was disappointing. But please keep in mind that you played an Ohio State team that's been recruiting top 5 classes since 2012. Still, Penn State beat Ohio State in 2016, lost by 1pt in 2017 and lost by 1pt tonight. The talent gap is all but gone and if Franklin continues working his magic you're one or two classes away from a playoff game and maybe a National Championship game. I look forward to personally watching you guys on 11/17.

Where is his magic in late game play calling??
 
Some things to think about...

We have lost a 1 point game the last 2 years to a team with constant top 2-3 recruiting classes. I know this one stings right now, but we have ALL pointed out that this team is a year away. Granted we'll be without Trace, but these defensive breakdowns are right around the corner from being fixed.

Rahne is a first time OC calling his 6th game. Let that soak in a bit. i'm not saying that that's an excuse, but compare that to someone like Kevin Wilson with numerous years of OC experience. You need EXPERIENCE to coach fundamentally sound games against top level opponents. Even then, you chance getting "cute" and not running with what brung you (a la Pete Caroll in the SB).

Honestly look at the game as a whole. The last play call hurt BAD, but that wasn't what lost the game. this YOUNG defense will learn throughout the year. We're not out of it. If anything, we showed the blueprint of how to beat tOSU, and you better believe that UM and MSU will replicate what we did.

With as close as this game was, I can imagine that if we win out (with our schedule) and tOSU can lose a game, we could still make waves at the end of the season. I just hate when it's taken out of our hands.

You can look at the game as a whole and feel good about it, but that last play hurt more than one play ever should. Look at the tweet above. That's what will play in the media.

This was a massive recruiting event. That one play threw a lot of water on the white-out fire. By the 4th quarter I thought we couldn't lose even if OSU finished with more points. We found a way.
 
Trace was bad in the first half. Had a great run but other than that his passing was poor.
Did you watch the game? Several critical WR drops, second half defense collapses he can't help. You still put the ball in his hands with the game on the line. The last play was complete chicken shit. Period.
 
So you liked the 7 Stevens plays that went for about -20 yards? You liked having our 5'10" QB who gets batted down five times a game throw a quick out on 4th and 1? You liked not running the play clock down with 6 minutes left in a game you lead? You liked throwing deep on 2nd and 10 with a lead late? You liked a run on 4th and 5 for the last play of the game?

Go ahead, defend all that. When you do, just accept that you'll never blame anything on the coaches if you do.
We lost by one point to a better team. We could have done things better, but every team could have as well. The last play call was bad, but that didn’t cost us the game. I’m just so sick of every loss being put at the feet of the coach. At some point the players have to make some plays.
 
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We lost by one point to a better team. We could have done things better, but every team could have as well. The last play call was bad, but that didn’t cost us the game. I’m just so sick of every loss being put at the feet of the coach. At some point the players have to make some plays.

You say OSU is a better team because of their recruiting rankings. I watched them play tonight, I do not think OSU was the better team. I think the Stevens garbage in the first half killed 3 different drives, and I think the decision making at the end cost them another chance. That's a lot of points taken away by coaching decisions to not be willing to say coaches played a significant role.
 
The Stevens setup actually worked. If he didn't drop that ball it's an easy touchdown because the coaches saw they were selling out to stop him from running. It ended up being very unfortunate, but I liked it and think it was a good move.
 
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The closing of the talent gap has been incredible. I love 99% of what Franklin brings. But I can't ignore horrendous decisions repeatedly in the most important games. Not just second-guessing reasonable calls, but calls that are absurd.

The last step of closing the talent gap IMO is in the secondary. Need guys who can cover and tackle, closer to the talent level we see at Ohio State and Alabama in those positions. I don't doubt Coach Franklin will get it done. The last few steps can be hard.
 
You say OSU is a better team because of their recruiting rankings. I watched them play tonight, I do not think OSU was the better team. I think the Stevens garbage in the first half killed 3 different drives, and I think the decision making at the end cost them another chance. That's a lot of points taken away by coaching decisions to not be willing to say coaches played a significant role.
I’m sure OSU fans will tell you a lot of things that OSU did which were bad decisions. In the end, fans don’t really know shit.
 
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No. You have a lead with O$U at their own 4. D has to be good enough to not let them drive 96 yards for a TD. IT WASNT THE COACHES. If we catch all our dropped balls we win this game by 3 TDS. That’s not on the staff. Trace dropped a ball on a dime into Johnson’s hand in the end zone. You have to catch it. That’s not on the coaching staff. O$U came in scoring 55 a game. We shut them out most of the night. We just don’t have that one defensive stopper this year like Cabinda and Allen.

What is bad is that Ohio state will continue to be talked up about how good they are, but yet were totally outplayed in every aspect of the game besides the scoreboard. And yes I do realize the score is all that matters, but still
 
I don't expect perfection, not even close. But they repeatedly make completely head-scratching calls in these late fourth quarter games with big leads. It's awesome that we've been in position to win those games, but making horrendous coaching decisions when its all on the line isn't just ok.
I don't agree there have been horrendous decisions by the coaches. Coaching wasn't perfect but OSU is still a little bit better in the trenches on both side of the ball. That's why we lost this game. They had more success getting their
TBs going. PSU could not get Sanders any room to run. We're closing the talent and depth gap in the trenches but we're not there yet.
 
Did you watch the game? Several critical WR drops, second half defense collapses he can't help. You still put the ball in his hands with the game on the line. The last play was complete chicken shit. Period.
Oh. I would absolutely have put the ball in his hands. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t play poorly in the he first half.

Yes. There were bad drops. But he also had bad throws and more importantly bad reads on the RPO which imo have been his biggest shortcoming. I still think he makes too many bad reads at this point his career
 
The offensive line once again lost the battle in the trenches... Miles Sanders had 4 carries today that went longer than 5 yards... Just four... That's not good enough to win against a team like that... And once again our trench warfare failed
 
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Saban, Swinney and Meyer are on a different level coaching wise. They consistently make the right decisions and consistently win games other coaches probably lose. I think Franklin can get there but he's not there yet. If he kicks the field goal they win the game. That's the kind of decision the top 3 make correctly most of the time.
 
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Saban, Swinney and Meyer are on a different level coaching wise. They consistently make the right decisions and consistently win games other coaches probably lose. I think Franklin can get there but he's not there yet. If he kicks the field goal they win the game. That's the kind of decision the top 3 make correctly most of the time.
I do not trust our field goal kicker so I liked the decision, but not the execution.
 
Saban, Swinney and Meyer are on a different level coaching wise. They consistently make the right decisions and consistently win games other coaches probably lose. I think Franklin can get there but he's not there yet. If he kicks the field goal they win the game. That's the kind of decision the top 3 make correctly most of the time.

Now, now,....I do not think that Meyer makes the right decisions all the time.

He does 'forget' certain events now and then.
 
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I do not trust our field goal kicker so I liked the decision, but not the execution.

I don't trust him with FGs over 40 yards, but this was I think a 35 yard attempt on the right hash. Herbie noted that he has a natural right to left pull on his kicks so kicking from the right hash increases his accuracy.
 
Now, now,....I do not think that Meyer makes the right decisions all the time.

He does 'forget' certain events now and then.


Well, I suspect he’ll always remember tonight while there’s not a Penn State fan that will ever forget tonight.....no matter how hard we try.
 
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I don't trust him with FGs over 40 yards, but this was I think a 35 yard attempt on the right hash. Herbie noted that he has a natural right to left pull on his kicks so kicking from the right hash increases his accuracy.
I'm a kicker with a natural hook and HATE kicking from the right hash. It's very comfortable from the left. Herbstreit was incorrect.
 
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I'm a kicker with a natural hook and HATE kicking from the right hash. It's very comfortable from the left. Herbstreit was incorrect.


Suspect some kickers prefer the right hash, some the left hash. Some may (or may not) like the middle of the field.

Herby (or anybody else) has NO way of knowing unless they actually ask the kicker, otherwise it’s 100% speculation.
 
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