This team

[bdgan]

• Disappointed with OL. I expected more.
• Mixed feelings about Moorehead's offense. I expected more short throws, 4 WR sets, etc. to spread things out. Almost all running plays are between the tackles.
• I feel pretty good about McSorely but he's got to hold onto the football.
• WRs as expected but I'd like to see more of J. Johnson.
• DL is a huge concern, even bigger than expected.
• LBs have been a big disappointment. Could improve as Cabinda gets healthy and Wartman works his way back to full speed.
• Secondary & kicking game are good.

I think the offense can improve but I'm not sure about the defense. Kent state rushed for 200 yds if you exclude sacks. Pitt shredded our defense. Can't win if you can't stop the run. If anybody should be on the hot seat it's Pry. Is Franklin too loyal to his buddies?

 

[LaJolla Lion]

• Disappointed with OL. I expected more.
• Mixed feelings about Moorehead's offense. I expected more short throws, 4 WR sets, etc. to spread things out. Almost all running plays are between the tackles.
• I feel pretty good about McSorely but he's got to hold onto the football.
• WRs as expected but I'd like to see more of J. Johnson.
• DL is a huge concern, even bigger than expected.
• LBs have been a big disappointment. Could improve as Cabinda gets healthy and Wartman works his way back to full speed.
• Secondary & kicking game are good.

I think the offense can improve but I'm not sure about the defense. Kent state rushed for 200 yds if you exclude sacks. Pitt shredded our defense. Can't win if you can't stop the run. If anybody should be on the hot seat it's Pry. Is Franklin too loyal to his buddies?

Not sure why you expected more from the OL based on the last 2 years, but they did manage to put up 39 on the road this weekend. I'm not sure how many short throws you wanted either. Hamilton had a ton this weekend. TE screen. Throw to Barkley out of the backfield for a TD. You want to fire PRY after 2 games when he is replacing 3 NFL DL with a bunch of RS FROSH and RS Sophs. Franklin also fired 2 of his buddies last year so I guess the answer is NO...he isn't too loyal.

 

[royboy]

• Disappointed with OL. I expected more.
• Mixed feelings about Moorehead's offense. I expected more short throws, 4 WR sets, etc. to spread things out. Almost all running plays are between the tackles.
• I feel pretty good about McSorely but he's got to hold onto the football.
• WRs as expected but I'd like to see more of J. Johnson.

Freshmen are no quick fix in most cases. McGovern came in and got a false start that hurt a drive. Juwan Johnson made a brief appearance, but was called for a hold that also hurt a drive.

I don't get the disappointment with Moorhead's offense -- as you note, the OL is still not clicking and we have an inexperienced QB. Yet, the offense generated 39 points on the road, despite a lot of game pressure and with a good TD conversion rate in the red zone.

 

[AWS1022]

Freshmen are no quick fix in most cases. McGovern came in and got a false start that hurt a drive. Juwan Johnson made a brief appearance, but was called for a hold that also hurt a drive.

I don't get the disappointment with Moorhead's offense -- as you note, the OL is still not clicking and we have an inexperienced QB. Yet, the offense generated 39 points on the road, despite a lot of game pressure and with a good TD conversion rate in the red zone.

Some folks will never be happy regardless of what the team does. They will always find fault with what Franklin has done, is doing or is planning to do. I've never seen so many experts in my life. What is it about football that brings out all the wannabe coaches in the world?

 

[redbyrds]

I am not a fan of the offense as it is currently constructed. When your best player is an NFL caliber back, why is it that every time they give him the ball, he is standing still and getting a draw play?

How about a series with a pro set or with a fullback and a sweep or a pitch play?? Give him the ball on the run and let his natural athletic ability be put to use. At least occasionally.

Our offense looks like we belong in the Big 12 playing 45-40 games.

It is only one game (I do not count Kent State), so will wait to see what happens, but...

 

[LaJolla Lion]

I am not a fan of the offense as it is currently constructed. When your best player is an NFL caliber back, why is it that every time they give him the ball, he is standing still and getting a draw play?

How about a series with a pro set, with a fullback and a sweep or a pitch play?? Give him the ball on the run and let his natural athletic ability be put to use.

Our offense looks like we belong ion the Big 12 playing 45-40 games.

IT is only one game (I do not count Kent State), so will wait to see what happens, but...

Last year we opened up with Temple and Buffalo and scored 37 points in 2 games. This year it was Pitt and Kent State and they put up 72 points. I am a pretty big fan of the offense scoring points....that is kind of their deal. Maybe our young DL needs to get better and grow up? Could that be it?

 

[rudedude]

• Disappointed with OL. I expected more.
• Mixed feelings about Moorehead's offense. I expected more short throws, 4 WR sets, etc. to spread things out. Almost all running plays are between the tackles.
• I feel pretty good about McSorely but he's got to hold onto the football.
• WRs as expected but I'd like to see more of J. Johnson.
• DL is a huge concern, even bigger than expected.
• LBs have been a big disappointment. Could improve as Cabinda gets healthy and Wartman works his way back to full speed.
• Secondary & kicking game are good.

I think the offense can improve but I'm not sure about the defense. Kent state rushed for 200 yds if you exclude sacks. Pitt shredded our defense. Can't win if you can't stop the run. If anybody should be on the hot seat it's Pry. Is Franklin too loyal to his buddies?

Well we won by 20 week one and came within a click of winning Saturday despite the big rushing totals. Does not matter if no one can stop our offense either. We put up 72 points in two games. Let's see how it all plays out first. Expect more of these types of games all year.

 

[Obliviax]

• Disappointed with OL. I expected more. Why? I think, if this happens against T, we'll see sweeping changes.
• Mixed feelings about Moorehead's offense. I expected more short throws, 4 WR sets, etc. to spread things out. Almost all running plays are between the tackles. Offense hasn't been the problem, other than turnovers.
• I feel pretty good about McSorely but he's got to hold onto the football. Agree. But he is less of a runner than I thought. But he's a better pocket passer. He is also weak at throwing running to his left, which is odd that he tends to run left when flushed.
• WRs as expected but I'd like to see more of J. Johnson. No problem with WR's so far.
• DL is a huge concern, even bigger than expected. They are as expected, surprise has been lack of run support at S and LB..
• LBs have been a big disappointment. Could improve as Cabinda gets healthy and Wartman works his way back to full speed. check.
• Secondary & kicking game are good. Check, except for run support by one unnamed S.

 

[redbyrds]

Last year we opened up with Temple and Buffalo and scored 37 points in 2 games. This year it was Pitt and Kent State and they put up 72 points. I am a pretty big fan of the offense scoring points....that is kind of their deal. Maybe our young DL needs to get better and grow up? Could that be it?

I will wait to see, you may be right.

But we have not played a very good defense yet either. I would rather keep ours off the field and not have them out there 35+ minutes per game.

 

[LaJolla Lion]

I will wait to see, you may be right.

But we have not played a very good defense yet either. I would rather keep ours off the field and not have them out there 35+ minutes per game.

How did that work out the last 2 years with a DL that had 3 people drafted? I get that some want Joe's O back, but it's not coming back.

 

[Howie'81]

Not sure why you expected more from the OL based on the last 2 years, but they did manage to put up 39 on the road this weekend. I'm not sure how many short throws you wanted either. Hamilton had a ton this weekend. TE screen. Throw to Barkley out of the backfield for a TD. You want to fire PRY after 2 games when he is replacing 3 NFL DL with a bunch of RS FROSH and RS Sophs. Franklin also fired 2 of his buddies last year so I guess the answer is NO...he isn't too loyal.

It's also interesting to note that those short passes for 4 or 5 yards are really designed to get the yardage of running plays. Pitt keyed on Barkley so throw a little hitch to get 4 or 5 yards. That's pretty good play calling IMO. It's the proverbial "take what the defense gives you" rather than trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. I haven't seen too many comments mentioning McSorley's stats. He threw for a lot of yards and had a very nice completion percentage. It's worth pointing that out because if teams continue to try and take Barkley out of the game and if McSorley continues throwing like that, ultimately it will lead to defenses playing honest and then you'll see Barkley have explosive games.

 

[getmyjive11]

39 points and 400 yards of offense against what should be a solid Pitt defense and you are disappointed? I think you simply expected too much.

 

[jrd23psu]

I am not a fan of the offense as it is currently constructed. When your best player is an NFL caliber back, why is it that every time they give him the ball, he is standing still and getting a draw play?

How about a series with a pro set, with a fullback and a sweep or a pitch play?? Give him the ball on the run and let his natural athletic ability be put to use.

Our offense looks like we belong ion the Big 12 playing 45-40 games.

IT is only one game (I do not count Kent State), so will wait to see what happens, but...

Because it's not a formation in the playbook. It's not going to be, either. This seems to be one of the bigger misconceptions on this board, that we can just run an I formation, or some sort of formation where the QB lines up under center.

The kind of formation that utilizes a fullback (a pro set) is not even a formation we have in the playbook, nor is a fullback even a position that we have on the entire roster. You're expecting the impossible. None of the QBs on our roster ran an offense where they lined up under center in high school. In other words, they've never done it. It's not easy, and every single QB who transitions from CFB to the NFL that never did it has to be taught how to do it , and it takes time. A big criticism of Marriota out of college was that he didn't know how to play from under center because he had literally never taken a snap from under center.

There is a lot to learn in a pro style offense. We do not have that style of offense and we are not going to see it. The sooner fans understand this the better off they will be.

Now, with a spread offense and lining up in the shotgun you can do things to speed up the hand off process. You can have designed runs where there is no option, where the QB is going to hand the ball off. This will remove the time it takes for Trace to read the defense. I do think at times we should be running designed runs where we are giving Barkley the ball and removing the reads.

However, we are not going to see a pro set formation. We are not going to see any QB lined up under center. We are not going to see a fullback. We do not have the personnel for it and it's an entirely different offense.

 

[bdgan]

• Disappointed with OL. I expected more. Why? I think, if this happens against T, we'll see sweeping changes.
• Mixed feelings about Moorehead's offense. I expected more short throws, 4 WR sets, etc. to spread things out. Almost all running plays are between the tackles. Offense hasn't been the problem, other than turnovers.
• I feel pretty good about McSorely but he's got to hold onto the football. Agree. But he is less of a runner than I thought. But he's a better pocket passer. He is also weak at throwing running to his left, which is odd that he tends to run left when flushed.
• WRs as expected but I'd like to see more of J. Johnson. No problem with WR's so far.
• DL is a huge concern, even bigger than expected. They are as expected, surprise has been lack of run support at S and LB..
• LBs have been a big disappointment. Could improve as Cabinda gets healthy and Wartman works his way back to full speed. check.
• Secondary & kicking game are good. Check, except for run support by one unnamed S.

1. I'm not sure what changes can be made on the OL. These guys might be the best we have at the moment.
2. Agree that we've scored points. I just think there is more opportunity to spread things out to give Barkley more room to work. He keeps getting hit in the backfield. Have you noticed that we flared him out for a pass just twice in 2 games and both went for big plays?
3. Agree about lack of run support but DL hasn't kept containment. LBs have been caught in no man's land. Not sure why. Coaching? Lack of confidence? Injury? Was hoping for more from Bowen & Cooper. They have to start next year.

 

[bdgan]

Freshmen are no quick fix in most cases. McGovern came in and got a false start that hurt a drive. Juwan Johnson made a brief appearance, but was called for a hold that also hurt a drive.

I don't get the disappointment with Moorhead's offense -- as you note, the OL is still not clicking and we have an inexperienced QB. Yet, the offense generated 39 points on the road, despite a lot of game pressure and with a good TD conversion rate in the red zone.

Offense certainly not the big problem but I'd like to see Barkley in space rather than slow plays up the gut.

I'd like to see a big WR like Johnson more down near the goal line. Our options didn't look good after Reid's fumble recovery at the 11 yd line.

The bigger problem is that we're getting run over on defense. I knew DT would be a problem but was hoping our LBs would be able to help. I'm not sure why PSU was so slow to sell out and stop the run, forcing Pitt to beat us in the air.

 

[southern_lion]

I am not a fan of the offense as it is currently constructed. When your best player is an NFL caliber back, why is it that every time they give him the ball, he is standing still and getting a draw play?

This is the one frustrating part about this new offense. I get that the OLine isn't great, we all expected that. The QB is still young, we all know that, but every time Barkley gets the ball he's basically standing still.

I know OSU runs a RPO type spread offense and their QB is clapping his hands, but when Elliot got the ball last year he was already moving and had some momentum.

It appears that half the time Barkley is jumping out of somebody's way as he receives the handoff. I just wonder if they have running plays that allow him to get some momentum towards the line or towards the sideline so he can use his speed, vision, and cutting ability.

I guess if I rewatch both the kent st and pitt games I'll find those plays, but this was the part that I was frustrated with. The other frustrated "things" about Penn State I think we could have expected them (to an extent).