The football program has reached an inflection point.

[tboyer]

Watch it again.

Illinois almost never faked a blitz, regularly sent pressure, tried to stunt the DL, and played soft coverage the entire game.

It's kind of an oversimplification. I wouldn't make it into a negative. With Barkley healthy, with Hack apparently healthy with decent mobility, with an OL holding together pretty well -- all of a sudden PSU becomes kind of difficult to defend.

Maryland played the high risk D and almost came away with a win. Illinois had more confidence in their front so they played a more straight up defense. That might have been the right choice for them. The bottom line is the Illinois secondary couldn't cover the PSU receivers -- so continual all-out blitz (what Maryland did) wouldn't necessarily have worked out any better for them.

I do think it's fair to say that Illinois was playing away from home, they had played a physical game the week before vs Wisconsin. So they may have come in tired, and definitely got worn down in the 2nd half esp. when their offense couldn't sustain drives.

Northwestern will have fresher legs, but I'm not sure the NW defensive personnel is any better than Illinois.

 

[bvillebaron]

Northwestern is a well coached team. Penn State is a young team. Anything can happen.

I've been on record with my thoughts about our team numerous times here. I can't help it you have your panties in a bunch and think we're going to beat the New England Patriots after beating a hapless Illinois team without a decent gameplan 39-0.

Wow are you always this dense or just on Mondays? I disagreed with your post which claims that the victory was not so much PSU playing well, but Illinois being lousy and playing poorly. Somehow in your mind this translates into me thinking this is the best PSU team ever and that they would beat the Patriots. There's a stretch in "logic" which is beyond absurd.

While I agree with your assessment of what could happen in the game (that's why they play them, huh?), you still haven't answered a very simple request; Do you think Northwestern is a good team or not before the game is played? I know they are well-coached and have all the respect in the world for their Fitzgerald. That's not what I asked.

P.S. Since you brought it up, I will get my panties un-bunched right after you get your head out of your you know what.

 

[tboyer]

Two: For the DEFENSE, it is all about LB play. Can they contain a "mobile" QB? Well, we will see that on Saturday. Have to take better angles and protect the edges. Middle LB has to make plays.

Clayton Thorson, the NW QB, is a good athlete but not a running QB, really nothing like the picture you have of a NW quarterback. He's is 6-4, 220 with a great arm, a good athlete but mostly a pocket QB. He runs well but mostly he is going to run QB draws up the middle or scramble. He does have 5 rushing TDs this year so PSU needs to watch him in red zone situations. As long as PSU is positionally sound, I don't think he is going to hurt PSU too much with his feet.

NW has a pretty good stable of receivers but they don't have that all-Big Ten type receiver that they often have.

And they are starting a freshman at one of the tackle spots, so they have some of the same worry PSU has with inexperience up front.

At running back they're solid, like receiver, but again no gamebreakers, just solid guys who average 4-5 ypc.

So I think the NW offense is actually going to look a bit like the Illinois offense -- a lot quick passing. If they can't run the ball better than Illinois could against the PSU D, they will have trouble sustaining drives.

NW's strength is probably the D which is very sound. They don't have a lot of future NFL players jumping out at you but they don't beat themselves.

 

[ThePennsyOracle]

Wow are you always this dense or just on Mondays? I disagreed with your post which claims that the victory was not so much PSU playing well, but Illinois being lousy and playing poorly. Somehow in your mind this translates into me thinking this is the best PSU team ever and that they would beat the Patriots. There's a stretch in "logic" which is beyond absurd.

While I agree with your assessment of what could happen in the game (that's why they play them, huh?), you still haven't answered a very simple request; Do you think Northwestern is a good team or not before the game is played? I know they are well-coached and have all the respect in the world for their Fitzgerald. That's not what I asked.

P.S. Since you brought it up, I will get my panties un-bunched right after you get your head out of your you know what.

You're mighty testy today! Get some Midol.

Northwestern is Northwestern. They are what they are. They're a well-coached team who seems to take a yearly slide to a 7-5 or 8-4 record. The rest of their schedule sets up nicely, so it's not out of the question for them to finish 9-3 or 10-2 since they don't play MSU or OSU. This year, the 'cats seem to be lacking the big play threat on offense.....so it depends on whose definition of "good" we are using. They're an 8-4/7-5 B1G team......not good, not bad......just Northwestern, and a huge step up from Illinois.

 

[91Joe95]

How, if at all, does an inflection point differ from the apex? Is the inflection point always a good thing?

An inflection point is when a curve changes direction. An apex is an inflection point, but not all inflection points are apexes. A nadir is an inflection point, but not all nadirs are inflection points. Etc.

 

[Howie'81]

How, if at all, does an inflection point differ from the apex? Is the inflection point always a good thing?

The inflection point is not the apex. In differential calculus, an inflection point, point of inflection, flex, or inflection (inflexion) is a point on a curve at which the curve changes from being concave (concave downward) to convex (concave upward), or vice versa.

 

[bvillebaron]

You're mighty testy today! Get some Midol.

Northwestern is Northwestern. They are what they are. They're a well-coached team who seems to take a yearly slide to a 7-5 or 8-4 record. The rest of their schedule sets up nicely, so it's not out of the question for them to finish 9-3 or 10-2 since they don't play MSU or OSU. This year, the 'cats seem to be lacking the big play threat on offense.....so it depends on whose definition of "good" we are using. They're an 8-4/7-5 B1G team......not good, not bad......just Northwestern, and a huge step up from Illinois.

Okay thanks, that's all I asked. By and large, I agree with you.

 

[adh110]

Well, if so then they are overly confident regarding arithmetic--31 plus 39 is 70.

Ok...you got me! I meant to say 70 points

 

[sluggo72]

The inflection point is not the apex. In differential calculus, an inflection point, point of inflection, flex, or inflection (inflexion) is a point on a curve at which the curve changes from being concave (concave downward) to convex (concave upward), or vice versa.

ok then what's a saddle point?

 

[Howie'81]

ok then what's a saddle point?

haha

 

[SR108]

Many here were upset about the close game in Baltimore. I was not among them. I felt it was a good tough win where we grew a lot in the 4th quarter. That was the kind of game where you learn how to win a tight ball game, which is very important. The team leveraged that into their best performance of the season by far. None of this, "It's only Illinois baloney," either. Illinois played decent ball coming into that game and it's a team that beat us last season. PSU carved them up in what should have been a 41 - 0 score. Sorry Joe the toe.

I will be very, very surprised if we lay an egg in Evanston. Could happen, but I truly believe this program turned a corner the last 2 weeks. Sometimes you just see the light bulb go off if you're watching closely enough.

Saturday was a really good win for this team and this program. The "potential" was on display. However, I don't know that we have turned a corner yet. The last impressive win a PSU team had was against Wisconsin at Wisconsin in 2013. If we can beat a well coached North Western on the road Saturday, I will be tempted to say we have turned a corner. It does seem that our inexperience is getting experienced, and the talent is starting to show as a result.

 

[Eurotrash1]

I agree, the team has improved. Consistency is what will make them a great team. I don't expect us to win out. However, I do expect us to crush the cupcakes and hang close with the Big Boys. Beating Michigan would be a big step into next season.