So when we write the epitaph on the 2017 Football Season, is the theme
- Thread starter vcrindc
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Let’s wait until the season plays out to answer that question.
Hmmm....good question.
To be the best of the best, you need born skills, work ethic, cunning, depth, and luck.
We are a little short of depth and luck (rain delay).
I feel like tOSU was better than us so don't angst that game much. we were better than UM, Iowa and MSU.
I feel like we missed an opportunity in that, had we beaten MSU, we'd be in the driver's seat to the B1G and the playoffs. We should have won that game (to contrast tOSU, we COULD have won that game).
To be the best of the best, you need born skills, work ethic, cunning, depth, and luck.
We are a little short of depth and luck (rain delay).
I feel like tOSU was better than us so don't angst that game much. we were better than UM, Iowa and MSU.
I feel like we missed an opportunity in that, had we beaten MSU, we'd be in the driver's seat to the B1G and the playoffs. We should have won that game (to contrast tOSU, we COULD have won that game).
Why wait for it to play out? At this point, the BEST CASE scenaio is some chaos that allows us to sneak into a NYD bowl game...worst case is the Holiday Bowl.
we'll be a hot bowl game commodity. We are the best TV draw in the B1G and people want to see our offense. We also travel well. So we are great in terms of both ticket sales and TV ratings.
My guess is that we will come in behind the two B1G championship game participants. So we'll probably get the third B1G slotting.
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
Guest
Missed opportunity, but further along than many probably thought. Elevated expectations from last year and this year, coupled with two back to back gut wrenching losses make things worse. Get Parsons, Walker, and one of the other two DEs (and maybe Enis) and I’ll feel much better.
yeah...but cannot underestimate the loss of barkley. He's a difference maker and I don't see another difference maker on the team (offense or defense) right now. I like our RB depth but just don't see the guy that is going to make the opposing team get off their standard "cover 2" (or whatever) defense.
We were not as good as the hype. For example, going in we thought SB was a great back and may win the Heisman, although there was competition. Then we beat Iowa by two points and he was the greatest football player ever born. It really got absurd.
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
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They may not, but we’ll have the horses to go head to head. Someone like Slade could have a field day in this offense.
I'm still not sold on SB leaving... he's the kind of kid who wants to succeed beyond his goals. He came here to help PSU win a NC... we aren't going that route this year. Next year we have a darn good shot as the OLine is going to have depth we've not had in a long, long time, he and TM will be seniors and the WR corp will be So/Jr/Sr, and the D is going to get considerable depth. He comes back and this team is 100x better than without him. No knock on Sanders, Robinson, Allen, Brown, Slade - they just aren't every down kind of backs. Now maybe they can do what Barkley did by committee, but it will much easier to game plan if you can compute some percentages on when X is in PSU tends to do A, B, or C - when Y is in they tend to do B, D, E - when Z is in they tend to do A, C, F, G - you get my drift (hopefully)
Barkley needs to leave. Being irrational is not a good life lesson
If PSU had beaten MSU, we would not be in the driver's seat. OSU would still own the tie breaker with PSU and been in control of their own destiny. As it stands now, both OSU and MSU are in control of their own destiny until next saturday.
We aren’t as good as we thought. Offensive line was supposed to be a strength of the team and barkley was gonna be able to dominate the games like he did vs Iowa. That hasn’t happened. Teams have figured out ways to stop the running game and our offensive line is a weakness. Winning in the trenches is the difference between what we thought we were and what we are. We aren’t as good as we thought we were.
Injuries to RB, Brown, Bates along with Mahon and Wright being hampered with ankle injuries have really hurt the lines even more.
Injuries to RB, Brown, Bates along with Mahon and Wright being hampered with ankle injuries have really hurt the lines even more.
I would chalk it up as, to use your language, "Were never really that good".
Let's be clear, this PSU team is very talented, but the OL is the weak spot. Whether it be from a talent, depth, or coaching issue, they have not played great all year.
After week 6 when I raised this concern, I was attacked. It seemed fairly valid to say that the OL hadn't play great against the average P5 programs on the schedule and if an indicator or true talent/performance, the games against UM, OSU could prove to be long days for the Offense.
The future is bright, but it's tough to win the B1G with an average OL. Despite this, PSU lost 2 games by a combined 4 points. My biggest complaint is giving up 3 score leads against OSU and USC. Elite teams finish and clearly we "were never really THAT good".
I am not sure anyone said the OL would be a strength of the team. Across the front you've got So, So, So, Sr, Fr. We lost Bates (So LT) and Nelson (Sr) with Wright banged up. I think the future looks bright but no way our OL was going to be a strength.
We lost an unfortunate game to MSU. If not for that loss, we run the table from here on out and we'd be ranked in the top four going into the B1G championship game.
You are not the best TV draw from the BIG10. Maybe in your mind. You are a big draw but you are not the biggest draw. OSU and Michigan are. Sorry
The theme is if we had an offense that could punch it in when inside the 5 yard line or get two yards when needed we would be undefeated and the Iowa game would have been a blowout.
Dude....get a clue...PSU was in the highest rated college game ever! That is a fact! We also were 3 of the top 10 rated games this season....tOSU and scUM are big draws as well, but PSU can hold their own with anyone out their
Agree on oline, but I wouldn't give the defensive side of the ball a pass. The last two games have highlighted our inability to defend against a good passing offense. In our 3 losses Z(going back to USC) we made Darnold, Barrett and Lewerke look like Heisman winners. I don't know if it's the players, the scheme or what, but the defense really needs to be analyzed and fixed.
Did your mom tell you that? Just like Santa Claus, I'm afraid she's lied to you.
The Michigan/OSU bromance rears its ugly head again.
First, with respect to the OP, how does one type out that many posts and get only 7 likes? Methinks this is yet another attempt this week to paint PSU in a bad light.
Secondly, where we are right now is the amalgam of B1G scheduling, key injuries at the wrong positions at the wrong time, and not quite (barely) having the depth of players returning from a previously sanctioned roster to overcome it.
No team in the B1G or likely in the country survives Michigan, at Ohio St, and at Mich St three weeks in a row. Why would the B1G schedule that except to ensure that we do wear down or have a let down? Honestly, only losing by 4 points total with that gauntlet is pretty remarkable. The injuries came to the areas with the greenest depth (OL and DE) on the roster and could least afford it. I'm surprised that we were so close to pulling it all off. The deck was certainly stacked against us.
Lastly, Barkley may come back. 10% or less chance. But he is already irrational. No rational human squats and cleans what he does and then runs a 4.3. No rational human hurdles guys while stiff arming the next defender. Saquon is not normal but he is definitely Penn State. So yeah, 10%.
Secondly, where we are right now is the amalgam of B1G scheduling, key injuries at the wrong positions at the wrong time, and not quite (barely) having the depth of players returning from a previously sanctioned roster to overcome it.
No team in the B1G or likely in the country survives Michigan, at Ohio St, and at Mich St three weeks in a row. Why would the B1G schedule that except to ensure that we do wear down or have a let down? Honestly, only losing by 4 points total with that gauntlet is pretty remarkable. The injuries came to the areas with the greenest depth (OL and DE) on the roster and could least afford it. I'm surprised that we were so close to pulling it all off. The deck was certainly stacked against us.
Lastly, Barkley may come back. 10% or less chance. But he is already irrational. No rational human squats and cleans what he does and then runs a 4.3. No rational human hurdles guys while stiff arming the next defender. Saquon is not normal but he is definitely Penn State. So yeah, 10%.
2 points
1. VCRINDC has been on this board for a while, just does not post much. I distinctly remember having a conversation with him about things to see and do in Vancouver, BC when I went there for a trip - and this was when Morelli was the QB at PSU at the time.
2. How does Big Ten schedule? I am assuming they have some sort of computer algorithim that actually does the scheduling, and from what I understand, it's done a couple of years out.
I doubt Delaney takes up his valuable time poring over an Excel spreadsheet, one of those green accounting visors, and a glass of absinthe to figure which teams are playing each other and when.
Um...franklin did...serveral times before the season. Said for the first time since he has been here the O-line would be a strenth on the team. Please don' make me find links, but I swear he said it more than a few times. In fact, he said it would be the biggest difference between last year and this year.
I wouldn't confuse what a coach says to the media with reality - Misdirection, motivation, acknowledgement of improvement maybe, but not necessarily reality.
yeah...agree...two points:
- I did in the middle of his fr season. He was a lot of our offense and made quite a difference after he didn't play much early (party due to being a true fr and party an ankle sprain).
- Barkley is a once in a generation back. I don't think we can expect to get another Barkley anytime soon (but one can hope!).
Reality is both We are very good, not great We played well agaisnt OSU and got two huge close calls on out TDs - both of which could have been INTs, plus some other breaks with regard to OSU not being crisp in the first half. They have more talent, but we could have and, as it played out, probably should have won that game. So missed opportunity there.
Vs MSU, they are good and played at home. We should have beaten them on paper and as it played out - even though we played average at best. So, blown opportunity. Thompkins catches the 4th down pass we almost surely win.
That said, we almost blew the Iowa game that we dominated. JJ drops the 4th down pass we surely lose
Play in too many close games you win some, you lose some. More talent and development doesn't guarantee victory (see OSU, Clemson year after year). It just gives a greater margin for performance error and bad luck so you have fewer close games.
My initial reaction to the question was “both”. After reading all of the subsequent posts I still feel that way.
With a little bit of luck or a couple key plays being made/called, we could easily be 9-0 and staring down 12-0 with a return to the B1G championship game. So that feels like an opportunity lost.
Having said that, we still have some pretty obvious holes on both lines, LBs and depth that make me think we aren’t there yet as far as a top 4 team. The good news is that we have done really well with those shortcomings and the talent is only going to get better. I am in the camp that the offense in its current form is a shortcoming as well. I’m not suggesting a major overhaul is n order, but I certainly hope we see some tweaks going into next year. No excuse for the number of TFLs and the running game in general so far this year. That must be improved.
So overall it’s a little disappointing based on what could have been, but in the big picture we are doing great in my opinion. The caveat is that we absolutely must win these next 3 though or things will look a little different.
Should read: WITH EACH GAME WE ALLOWED HIM TO BECOME MORE OF A DECOY AND LESS OF A FORCE... AND DID NOTHING ABOUT IT...RIP!
I edit: As well as TMc played, he would have been even better if SB was still a force. As much of an oxymoron as it is, SB would have been an even more valuable decoy if still a force!
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I didn't realize that there was a post to like ratio that I needed to hit.
Some of us were way more active on this board 15 or so years ago, before we had children....
Not meant to be an excuse, but the last 3 opponents back-to-back-to-back did us no favors. Having that bye week somewhere between, rather than before would have done us a ton of good, imo.
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