So, PSU is 9-2. Absolutely horriffic at football, but 9-2.

[BobPSU92]

Welcome.

 

[bdgan]

This is one reason the playoff isn't good for football. It ruins the bowls. Once you are out of it, it feels like a lost season. And it shouldn't ........ This was and still is a good year.

I sure don't feel that way. I think getting into and winning a NY6 bowl game is a great goal and a great achievement.

 

[coveydidnt]

As I said last week, if we can’t go 12-0, we might as well go 0-12.

Bob thinks it will improve our draft position.

feel free to use the ignore feature.

 

[NJPSU]

That's a bit dramatic Bob. I don't think many people believe PSU is a horrific team. They're just concerned that the team sometimes hasn't lived up to expectations.

The OL really struggled last year but they seemed to improve late in the year. Every player returned except for Gaia who wasn't viewed as a strong player anyway. People were talking about Barkley improving his rushing stats from 1,500 yards to perhaps 2,000 yards. Instead Barkley only has 1,076 yards with just one regular season game remaining. We've gone backwards. I'm not sure if it's the kids or if opponents have caught on to Moorehead's scheme but they've definitely not lived up to expectations.

Gesicki was awesome the last half of last year so expectations were sky high. Do you think he's improved? Not me! I think he's a very good receiver and we don't use him enough in the red zone but he certainly hasn't lived up to expectations. Hamilton, on the other hand, has had an excellent senior year. Johnson & Thompkins have been good but they don't adjust to the ball like Godwin.

PSU's DTs looked really good late last year and I expected that to continue this year. Not so much. They aren't bad but they certainly haven't lived up to expectations IMO. Perhaps it's because they aren't getting help from the DEs. Now we'll be losing Chavis, Cothran, and Cothren. We're really going to need players like Ellison & Shelton to step up next year.

We knew that DE could be a problem. It's really a shame that Sickels didn't return. Then Brown went down early and now Buchholz. Miller and Toney are too small and too young. Simmons has been a bit slow to develop. No fault there, just one of those things.

We knew we had a problem at LB and they've played about as expected. Next year we could take a step back with Cabinda and Smith gone. That position is going to take time. I don't see us returning to LBU any time soon.

The secondary lost a couple of kids like Golden but had a lot returning. Marcus Allen had 81 tackles as a sophmore and 110 as a junior. Only 60 with 1 regular season game remaining this year which is a significant drop off. Losing Reid really hurt (Campbell is good but not as good as Reid). Haley has been OK. McPhearson & Wade looked lost yesterday which is discouraging. Taylor was a highly rated recruit but has hardly moved up the depth chart.

Bottom line is that this is a good team but some areas haven't improved which is a cause for concern. I think fans will be generally happy if the team can beat Maryland and win a NY6 Bowl game. Anything less will be a bit disappointing given the expectations.

You went through the team and basically called us worse in every area however our record this year is the same as last year. In fact this years results were better because we lost 2 games by a combined 4 points.

 

[JosephNit]

Fans are often more about "what could have been" than what is. If PSU ends 10-2, that will be a good record. With the 3 game stretch of UM, tOSU and MSU I thought that 10-2 was the best possible finish they'd have this year. In hindsight - with PSU losing the 2 road games by a total of 4 points - it is understandable that fans would fantasize about what could have been. Too bad that no matter how hard you try you can't change the results.

That stretch of three games, two of them on the road, against top-20 teams in successive weeks was brutal from the standpoint of emotions and psychology. It’s very hard to stay at an emotional peak three weeks in a row. Winning all three of those games was probably never in the cards. As it turned out, two of them would have been enough. The real punch in the gut is that winning two was well within our grasp. We just couldn’t make a play when we needed it.

 

[JosephNit]

People had sky high expectations after last season. CJF did nothing to discourage the expectations.

If Ohio State had simply pounded us, people could live with that. Gagging up a big lead to blow an undefeated season is always going to create angst. That's where the negativity started.

Yeah, I think that getting beaten badly by Ohio State would have been easier to take than losing the way we did. In fact, I think it would even have left us better off the next week against Michigan State. It’s just very hard, after a heartbreaking and emotionally draining loss like that, to have to play a top-20 team on the road the very next week.

As for high expectations, true, but that in itself is one of the best indications of Franklin’s success -- the fact that people had those expectations and will have them again looking forward to next year.

Honestly, if we finish out the regular season at 10-2 and then beat a good team in a good bowl game, my own high expectations will have been met. By just about any measure, that’s a very good year. Remember, Paterno coached, what, 45 years or so, and only two of them ended in national championships. (Well, not counting two or three other years his teams were screwed over, but that’s another story.)

But first things first: we’ve got to get the defense’s head back on straight because it just doesn’t look much like the unit that turned in dominating performances in a bunch of games before the Ohio State disaster. Unless Franklin and company get the defense back on track, I’m not sure we’re going to beat a top-flight team in a bowl.

 

[john4psu]

The trouble with college football fans today is if their team doesn't make the playoffs , there is this what's the use, it doesn't matter, i don't care attitude.
That is totally immature for anyone especially a PS fan.
This is what ND fans do, and any team base in the SEC.Great coaches like Phil Fulmer, Dan Devine, Bob Davie, Mark Richt, were ousted by greedy fan bases.
Coach Franklin is doing a fantastic job, and the team is a highly motivated goal seeking squad . When a QB goes 16 for 16 in a quarter, and you have a 3 1/2 hour delay, well it's just not your day.
Bottom line to some fans - Grow the F up.

Your point is well taken Haze.

Congratulations on being the first in the history of the English language to use Bob Davie and great in the same sentence without the words not a in it.

 

[step.eng69]

Lattes!

Make mine a double..three fingers

 

[bdgan]

That stretch of three games, two of them on the road, against top-20 teams in successive weeks was brutal from the standpoint of emotions and psychology. It’s very hard to stay at an emotional peak three weeks in a row. Winning all three of those games was probably never in the cards. As it turned out, two of them would have been enough. The real punch in the gut is that winning two was well within our grasp. We just couldn’t make a play when we needed it.

Winning all 3 would have been difficult but still quite possible. PSU blew a lead against O$U because of a blocked punt and because Franklin went conservative too early That was very winnable. PSU is a much better team than MSU but back to back game on the road are difficult. That said, we probably win that game if we have Bates and Buchholz. Heck, we probably win that game if the weather was better. That long delay in an inferior locker room couldn't have helped.