PSU vs. Pitt Thoughts

[PSU Soupy]

1) I do think that CJF and Joe Mo are purposefully limiting Saquon's touches... Saquon toward the end of last year was pretty banged up......you could see that he was more healthy for the USC game and the speed was back. PSU with no bye weeks this year, Barkley will be used enough to gain the wins but not run 30-35 times a game especially against teams that we should beat.

2) Trace looked yesterday like he was looking at the D Line instead of the receivers.....last year in the face of the pressure, Trace would somehow use a Jedi trick to avoid the rush while picking out open receivers and then stand and take the hit.....yesterday he bailed when there were receivers breaking free....Barkley in the middle of the field, Johnson same thing one series later.

3) Pitt was a perfect sparring partner to get us ready for the Big 10 season. Their strengths exposed areas that we need to work on: A) power running game (ie...Iowa, U of M, tOSU) B) Blitz happy to stop the runs (MSU, IU,U of M) C) Sending 5-6 on obvious passing downs ( MSU, U of M) D) Pitt OL holding and grabbing (Entire Big 10) one holding call on the Haley interception which was very visible and right next to the QB so it had to be called.

4) PSU OL pushed Akron around....not so much against Pitt. We did continue to try to run right into the blitz, I think to attempt to break through and get the long run.....Saquon had very few explosive plays up the middle, however it seemed like he could turn the corner when needed.

5) McSorely needs to get re-acquainted with Blacknal and to some degree with Johnson. 2nd week I did not even see a target of Blacknal, Johnson yesterday maybe 2 targets.......the way to beat the Pitt Pressure scheme is running to the outside and beating one on one matchups with big WRs.....where were the patented 50/50 ball throws. Losing Godwin has hurt more than I thought....Not sure that McSorely has the same level of trust with this years receivers. Especially with Whitehead not playing yesterday for Pitt.

6) Pitts OL seems like a strength and they effectively neutralized our defensive strength...our DL. Expected more from C Cothren, P. Cothran, Buchholz, and Brown, thought that S. Miller had a very good game. Our LBs missed a lot of tackles. Farmer, Cabinda, struggled.....Thought that Manny Bowen played well, Allen played well and that Grant Haley was probably our most productive player on Defense. Every big play on defense seems to happen around Haley.........

7) Sander's fumble was big.....game still in doubt, Miles puts the ball on the ground.....next substitution for Barkley was A. Robinson......I think that CJF put in Sanders due to Sanders being a Pittsburgh guy, who has earned some carriers, but on the first carry Sanders puts the ball on the ground, not good.

8) PSU struggled last year with Minnesota (lucky to win), where the offense was bottled up for much of the game and that happened yesterday.....would like to see PSU work to get some of the Offensive kinks out next week and then Big 10 play begins at Iowa on the road who will be a strong test. Power running......bend but don't break defense.

9) Not necessarily Pitt/PSU related but saw that Micah Parsons went on Twitter while on an Official Visit in Columbus calling for JTB to be replaced by the 5 star back up......not well received in Columbus, although the tOSU fans seem to be asking for the same thing. Also not well received was OU dancing all over the tOSU on the 50 yard line......would like to see McSorely and Barkley and team celebrating in Columbus in a few weeks.

 

[psuro]

PSU has a bye week Oct 14.

 

[PSU Soupy]

PSU has a bye week Oct 14.

You are correct.....looked at the schedule and thought that we were playing BYE or BYU.....

 

[bdgan]

1) I do think that CJF and Joe Mo are purposefully limiting Saquon's touches... Saquon toward the end of last year was pretty banged up......you could see that he was more healthy for the USC game and the speed was back.

He wouldn't be returning kicks if they were trying to limit his touches.

 

[PSU Soupy]

He wouldn't be returning kicks if they were trying to limit his touches.

how many returns did he actually have 1? 2 yesterday? rest downed in the end zone.

I think that Franklin is nervous with ball security with Miles.....probably with good reason.

 

[VaNtyLion]

1) I do think that CJF and Joe Mo are purposefully limiting Saquon's touches... Saquon toward the end of last year was pretty banged up......you could see that he was more healthy for the USC game and the speed was back. PSU with no bye weeks this year, Barkley will be used enough to gain the wins but not run 30-35 times a game especially against teams that we should beat.

2) Trace looked yesterday like he was looking at the D Line instead of the receivers.....last year in the face of the pressure, Trace would somehow use a Jedi trick to avoid the rush while picking out open receivers and then stand and take the hit.....yesterday he bailed when there were receivers breaking free....Barkley in the middle of the field, Johnson same thing one series later.

3) Pitt was a perfect sparring partner to get us ready for the Big 10 season. Their strengths exposed areas that we need to work on: A) power running game (ie...Iowa, U of M, tOSU) B) Blitz happy to stop the runs (MSU, IU,U of M) C) Sending 5-6 on obvious passing downs ( MSU, U of M) D) Pitt OL holding and grabbing (Entire Big 10) one holding call on the Haley interception which was very visible and right next to the QB so it had to be called.

4) PSU OL pushed Akron around....not so much against Pitt. We did continue to try to run right into the blitz, I think to attempt to break through and get the long run.....Saquon had very few explosive plays up the middle, however it seemed like he could turn the corner when needed.

5) McSorely needs to get re-acquainted with Blacknal and to some degree with Johnson. 2nd week I did not even see a target of Blacknal, Johnson yesterday maybe 2 targets.......the way to beat the Pitt Pressure scheme is running to the outside and beating one on one matchups with big WRs.....where were the patented 50/50 ball throws. Losing Godwin has hurt more than I thought....Not sure that McSorely has the same level of trust with this years receivers. Especially with Whitehead not playing yesterday for Pitt.

6) Pitts OL seems like a strength and they effectively neutralized our defensive strength...our DL. Expected more from C Cothren, P. Cothran, Buchholz, and Brown, thought that S. Miller had a very good game. Our LBs missed a lot of tackles. Farmer, Cabinda, struggled.....Thought that Manny Bowen played well, Allen played well and that Grant Haley was probably our most productive player on Defense. Every big play on defense seems to happen around Haley.........

7) Sander's fumble was big.....game still in doubt, Miles puts the ball on the ground.....next substitution for Barkley was A. Robinson......I think that CJF put in Sanders due to Sanders being a Pittsburgh guy, who has earned some carriers, but on the first carry Sanders puts the ball on the ground, not good.

8) PSU struggled last year with Minnesota (lucky to win), where the offense was bottled up for much of the game and that happened yesterday.....would like to see PSU work to get some of the Offensive kinks out next week and then Big 10 play begins at Iowa on the road who will be a strong test. Power running......bend but don't break defense.

9) Not necessarily Pitt/PSU related but saw that Micah Parsons went on Twitter while on an Official Visit in Columbus calling for JTB to be replaced by the 5 star back up......not well received in Columbus, although the tOSU fans seem to be asking for the same thing. Also not well received was OU dancing all over the tOSU on the 50 yard line......would like to see McSorely and Barkley and team celebrating in Columbus in a few weeks.

Pretty good summary. My biggest takeaways in a nutshell are:

1 - PSU defense, if healthy, is going to be a top 10-15 caliber D by seasons end. The DL in particular is best 2-3 deep in a decade. Still a little worried about LBs though but secondary looks sharp.

2 - PSU OL has work to do but could be easy to overreact. Yesterday's game was carbon copy of the MSU first half last year (no coincidence). Pitt and MSU have a good scheme against the RPOs by blowing those plays up before they can develop. I suppose a good adjustment is to hit the flats harder in the passing game and take the 4-5 yds. If the D is bringing more guys than you have to block it's not necessarily a problem of OL blocking. Regardless, the OL still did enough to help put 31 pts on the board so not bad for an underwhelming performance.

3 - Love our special teams. Emergence of Tompkins as a legit threat is huge, but Gilliken will continue to be most under-appreciated aspect of this team.

Through 2 weeks, I think we can say we're in about as good of a place as we can be - two convincing wins but plenty of room for improvement to motivate. It shows how far the program has come in a short time that we can be critical of 19 point victories in games and opponents like yesterday.

 

[bdgan]

how many returns did he actually have 1? 2 yesterday? rest downed in the end zone.

I think that Franklin is nervous with ball security with Miles.....probably with good reason.

Barkley had 2 returns or 50 yards. I'm confident that CJF isn't putting him in there to down the ball in the end zone.

 

[PSU Soupy]

Barkley had 2 returns or 50 yards. I'm confident that CJF isn't putting him in there to down the ball in the end zone.

I think CJF is hoping that he breaks a long run and that these can be splash plays with your best player with the ball in his hand. I do think that Barkley took himself and the coach's took Barkley out of the first two games quite a bit. I do think that CJF probably wanted Sanders to be his KO return man but is nervous about a fumble inside the 20.

I do not support Barkely returning Kick Offs, but James sees it as a way to give him a chance to make a big play.

This year our special teams have been better than I can remember for the past 25 years......great punt, kick off coverage. I do think that CJF was sending a message kicking to Henderson yesterday. Could not understand ABC stating how PSU will avoid kicking to Q. Henderson when they did kick to him multiple times yesterday......

 

[BBrown]

1) I do think that CJF and Joe Mo are purposefully limiting Saquon's touches... Saquon toward the end of last year was pretty banged up......you could see that he was more healthy for the USC game and the speed was back. PSU with no bye weeks this year, Barkley will be used enough to gain the wins but not run 30-35 times a game especially against teams that we should beat.

2) Trace looked yesterday like he was looking at the D Line instead of the receivers.....last year in the face of the pressure, Trace would somehow use a Jedi trick to avoid the rush while picking out open receivers and then stand and take the hit.....yesterday he bailed when there were receivers breaking free....Barkley in the middle of the field, Johnson same thing one series later.

3) Pitt was a perfect sparring partner to get us ready for the Big 10 season. Their strengths exposed areas that we need to work on: A) power running game (ie...Iowa, U of M, tOSU) B) Blitz happy to stop the runs (MSU, IU,U of M) C) Sending 5-6 on obvious passing downs ( MSU, U of M) D) Pitt OL holding and grabbing (Entire Big 10) one holding call on the Haley interception which was very visible and right next to the QB so it had to be called.

4) PSU OL pushed Akron around....not so much against Pitt. We did continue to try to run right into the blitz, I think to attempt to break through and get the long run.....Saquon had very few explosive plays up the middle, however it seemed like he could turn the corner when needed.

5) McSorely needs to get re-acquainted with Blacknal and to some degree with Johnson. 2nd week I did not even see a target of Blacknal, Johnson yesterday maybe 2 targets.......the way to beat the Pitt Pressure scheme is running to the outside and beating one on one matchups with big WRs.....where were the patented 50/50 ball throws. Losing Godwin has hurt more than I thought....Not sure that McSorely has the same level of trust with this years receivers. Especially with Whitehead not playing yesterday for Pitt.

6) Pitts OL seems like a strength and they effectively neutralized our defensive strength...our DL. Expected more from C Cothren, P. Cothran, Buchholz, and Brown, thought that S. Miller had a very good game. Our LBs missed a lot of tackles. Farmer, Cabinda, struggled.....Thought that Manny Bowen played well, Allen played well and that Grant Haley was probably our most productive player on Defense. Every big play on defense seems to happen around Haley.........

7) Sander's fumble was big.....game still in doubt, Miles puts the ball on the ground.....next substitution for Barkley was A. Robinson......I think that CJF put in Sanders due to Sanders being a Pittsburgh guy, who has earned some carriers, but on the first carry Sanders puts the ball on the ground, not good.

8) PSU struggled last year with Minnesota (lucky to win), where the offense was bottled up for much of the game and that happened yesterday.....would like to see PSU work to get some of the Offensive kinks out next week and then Big 10 play begins at Iowa on the road who will be a strong test. Power running......bend but don't break defense.

9) Not necessarily Pitt/PSU related but saw that Micah Parsons went on Twitter while on an Official Visit in Columbus calling for JTB to be replaced by the 5 star back up......not well received in Columbus, although the tOSU fans seem to be asking for the same thing. Also not well received was OU dancing all over the tOSU on the 50 yard line......would like to see McSorely and Barkley and team celebrating in Columbus in a few weeks.

Thats what makes Barkley returning kicks iffy at best. Needless pounding especially when your up by 35 against Akron. Yea I'm not a fan.

We do have a bye before michy.

 

[royboy]

3 - Love our special teams. Emergence of Tompkins as a legit threat is huge, but Gilliken will continue to be most under-appreciated aspect of this team.

Through 2 weeks, I think we can say we're in about as good of a place as we can be - two convincing wins but plenty of room for improvement to motivate. It shows how far the program has come in a short time that we can be critical of 19 point victories in games and opponents like yesterday.

Amen on Gilliken; punted 6 times for an average of 43.2 yards, and Pitt's net return yardage was "zero" with losses offsetting the one positive return late.

 

[BBrown]

how many returns did he actually have 1? 2 yesterday? rest downed in the end zone.

I think that Franklin is nervous with ball security with Miles.....probably with good reason.

Good point. Sanders needs to get it together, I never felt our game was in doubt but if pitt recovers that ball it could have made things a lot more dramatical. LOL.

 

[grinagrin]

Thats what makes Barkley returning kicks iffy at best. Needless pounding especially when your up by 35 against Akron. Yea I'm not a fan.

We do have a bye before michy.

Why don't they put Thompkins back there for kick-offs as well? Returning punts is more challenging than kick-offs, and he seems comfortable there now, so kick-offs for him should be a no brainer.

 

[PSU20]

Good point. Sanders needs to get it together, I never felt our game was in doubt but if pitt recovers that ball it could have made things a lot more dramatical. LOL.

Can't recall, but has Sanders fumbled before?

 

[PSU Soupy]

Can't recall, but has Sanders fumbled before?

Yes. It has been an issue.

 

[mjh218]

Importantly PSU got through the first two games with no major injuries.

Felt that the offense didn't have an identity yesterday. They hit on a bunch of 10-15 yard runs in the second half with Barkley, but they stopped going to him. They had some early success with Hamilton but other than that the WRs were not a major factor in the game

Also thought Trace looked less accurate than normal. He had a few bad looking passes. It is unreasonable to expect an A+ game from a QB every single week. Im certain he will have many better games this season.

The good news is the talent was far superior to Pitt at virtually every spot.

Next up is GA St. only goal there is to make it through without any injuries. They are a really bad team.

 

[BBrown]

Importantly PSU got through the first two games with no major injuries.

Felt that the offense didn't have an identity yesterday. They hit on a bunch of 10-15 yard runs in the second half with Barkley, but they stopped going to him. They had some early success with Hamilton but other than that the WRs were not a major factor in the game

Also thought Trace looked less accurate than normal. He had a few bad looking passes. It is unreasonable to expect an A+ game from a QB every single week. Im certain he will have many better games this season.

The good news is the talent was far superior to Pitt at virtually every spot.

Next up is GA St. only goal there is to make it through without any injuries. They are a really bad team.

Don't know about the injuries. Amani O. went out in the 4th and it didn't look good from the stands. He has been playing really, really well these last 2 games.

 

[PSU Soupy]

Don't know about the injuries. Amani O. went out in the 4th and it didn't look good from the stands. He has been playing really, really well these last 2 games.

Did Amani O return to game? I don't think so, he has been excellent and if he is hurt, cb an early strength will be very thin.

 

[BBrown]

Did Amani O return to game? I don't think so, he has been excellent and if he is hurt, cb an early strength will be very thin.

Not that I saw.

 

[Brian LB-U]

Happy with the win but I have to admit it was a bit frustrating to watch. While we now have numbers along the DL and at LBer, it's clear to me they still need to get a lot better. Much of this stems from youth and some of it comes from a lack of ability. If you look back on the DLs we had drafted even in the past ten years I'm not seeing that type of talent right now. Pitt's OL won the run game battle against our front 7, and our pass rush was at times underwhelming. The stat line shows 5 sacks on the day which is great, but that doesn't really tell the full story, does it? There were SO many plays where Browne was standing back there like a statue with all day to throw. The DL is going to take more time. Same goes for LBer, obviously.

As for the offense, again not a great performance but I'm not worried about it. Weird game where it seemed like we either scored right away or punted away on 3-and-outs. The fact we controlled the ball for only 21 minutes during which time we scored 33 points off a mere 14 first downs and 312 yards of offense seems to bear this out. I'm not sure they ever got into a groove this game. But again, I'm not worried about it. It's week 2 and the OL still needs time to gel.

 

[NittanyLionRoar]

Yeah, I am really worried about Amani Oruwariye. He looked awesome and I worry that his injury is bad. If we don't hear anything about it (protocol), then that's a good thing. They'll let us know if he's out for the season.

Luckily, we're deep at that position. We've got Christian Campbell who is really good. We're also definitely going to need Wade and Castro-Fields if Oruwariye doesn't return.

 

[Option Bob]

I saw a picture of the players singing to/with the crowd after the game and #21 was standing next to #14 ... no crutches or ice pack on a knee or anything. I hope that indicates he is all right.

 

[psu_1989]

Did anyone else feel that the offensive play calling was predictable after the first two TDs? The wide screen to Barkley was obvious each time they ran it. The read option also seemed predictable which allowed Pitt to stop, thus it setting up long plays, which Pitt new would be a passing play and brought pressure. Even the Tommy Stevens screen was obvious. I felt like JoMo went conservative as if he didn't want to show anything for the start of the B1G.