thoughts on tOSU game

[PSU Soupy]

Two of the best defenses in college yesterday played.....both have to be in the top 5.

Things I wanted to see more of: 1) running the ball, we seemed to do well in the first half, then got away from it. 2) misdirection plays - faking run left....rollout right 3) WR screens 4) RB screens.......something Paterno offenses were excellent at 5) QB keeping the ball on the option.......tOSU was zeroing in on the merge point and not even considering Allar keeping the ball. Would have worked numerous times on 3rd down runs....move the chains. 6) running plays that are not RPO. 7) Crossing patterns get some traffic in the middle of the field, hope for a legal pick play.

It has been forever since we had a WR running wide open through a defense.

The O Line played fairly well. You are not going to get 6 seconds to throw against great defenses.....a number of times Drew had a clean pocket or one rusher to avoid.....he got hurried up and his mechanics went off the rails.

I would like Drew to throw an interception in trash time next week against Indiana, so that we do not have to hear that he has yet to throw an interception.


Defense played well......the penalty on King was a penalty, but the PSU wrs were getting mugged by tOSU, just unfortunate that the refs picked that time to call the penalty. PSU needed a lead, needed some big plays.....we finally get one and it comes back. It felt like here we go again........

Dixon and Hardy played unbelievable games yesterday. I think the lack of action on Kings side of the field for 2023 showed up yesterday and when they went after him he got grabby against Harrison. Sad that a Philly kid was the difference maker for tOSU. I had forgotten that their QB was also from Philly. DL was awesome.......LBs were awesome and DBs were spectacular with the exception of the key flag on King.

Kicking game was very good.

tOSU outplayed us yesterday.....which is troubling as the offense for tOSU was second string RB and a missing first or second round WR.

tOSU offensive coaches put their team into chances to win......our offensive coaches seemed to run the same 5-10 plays that we have run all year. Other than the double passes, flea flickers that we tried, which were not close to working, nothing original from our coaches. disappointing.

The defense talks about the confidence that they get from Manny........his pre-game talks, his demeanor on the sidelines.....confident, do not see the same level of confidence on the Offensive side.........

 

[LemonEars]

If you sit Harrison Jr. off to the side the two teams were amazingly evenly matched, both on offense and defense. Whichever team had Harrison Jr. was destined to win the game.

I think Harrison Jr. is the best receiver in the country, including the NFL.

 

[joeaubie21]

The stupid and needless PI ruined a scoop and score when Penn State needed one.

 

[olelion]

The Ohio State series reminds me of West Virginia back in the day. WVU always lost to Penn State, no matter how good the WVU team was. Every year, you could figure a loss to PSU. We're WVU now

 

[PSU Soupy]

With many saying that the penalty on King was a clear penalty......why the 2 minute discussion with the Refs before calling the penalty? ....they huddled for an extended period of time, I was hoping for the no flag on the play call. Seemed as if one of the back judges saw the penalty and that the other saw no penalty......... the call could have been made, but the subjectivity of the call, when PSU finally gets makes a break against tOSU, sent the message that today was not the day........

 

[bdgan]

Two of the best defenses in college yesterday played.....both have to be in the top 5.

Things I wanted to see more of: 1) running the ball, we seemed to do well in the first half, then got away from it. 2) misdirection plays - faking run left....rollout right 3) WR screens 4) RB screens.......something Paterno offenses were excellent at 5) QB keeping the ball on the option.......tOSU was zeroing in on the merge point and not even considering Allar keeping the ball. Would have worked numerous times on 3rd down runs....move the chains. 6) running plays that are not RPO. 7) Crossing patterns get some traffic in the middle of the field, hope for a legal pick play.

It has been forever since we had a WR running wide open through a defense.

The O Line played fairly well. You are not going to get 6 seconds to throw against great defenses.....a number of times Drew had a clean pocket or one rusher to avoid.....he got hurried up and his mechanics went off the rails.

I would like Drew to throw an interception in trash time next week against Indiana, so that we do not have to hear that he has yet to throw an interception.


Defense played well......the penalty on King was a penalty, but the PSU wrs were getting mugged by tOSU, just unfortunate that the refs picked that time to call the penalty. PSU needed a lead, needed some big plays.....we finally get one and it comes back. It felt like here we go again........

Dixon and Hardy played unbelievable games yesterday. I think the lack of action on Kings side of the field for 2023 showed up yesterday and when they went after him he got grabby against Harrison. Sad that a Philly kid was the difference maker for tOSU. I had forgotten that their QB was also from Philly. DL was awesome.......LBs were awesome and DBs were spectacular with the exception of the key flag on King.

Kicking game was very good.

tOSU outplayed us yesterday.....which is troubling as the offense for tOSU was second string RB and a missing first or second round WR.

tOSU offensive coaches put their team into chances to win......our offensive coaches seemed to run the same 5-10 plays that we have run all year. Other than the double passes, flea flickers that we tried, which were not close to working, nothing original from our coaches. disappointing.

The defense talks about the confidence that they get from Manny........his pre-game talks, his demeanor on the sidelines.....confident, do not see the same level of confidence on the Offensive side.........

I agree that we should have run more but OSU was selling out at the LOS because they had no fear that a PSU receiver could get open 10 yds downfield. That's a huge problem.

I agree about no misdirection plays. No rollouts by Allar. No inside screens to RBs. No effort to get RBs in space.

 

[Obliviax]

If you sit Harrison Jr. off to the side the two teams were amazingly evenly matched, both on offense and defense. Whichever team had Harrison Jr. was destined to win the game.

I think Harrison Jr. is the best receiver in the country, including the NFL.

That’s right. In reading the stats there is only one that jumps off the page. 160! Yards receiving. Nobody on either team accounted for half that.

 

[MacNit2.0]

With many saying that the penalty on King was a clear penalty......why the 2 minute discussion with the Refs before calling the penalty? ....they huddled for an extended period of time, I was hoping for the no flag on the play call. Seemed as if one of the back judges saw the penalty and that the other saw no penalty......... the call could have been made, but the subjectivity of the call, when PSU finally gets makes a break against tOSU, sent the message that today was not the day........

Insuring (as has happened many times in past as well-documented) that any game changing play in PSU’s favor is snuffed out.

Think it is a coincidence after all these years?

 

[bdgan]

That’s right. In reading the stats there is only one that jumps off the page. 160! Yards receiving. Nobody on either team accounted for half that.

Do we really have good TEs? It seems to me that a good TE should be able to beat a LB or DB for a 7 yd completion. Our TEs struggled to get even a yard of separation much less be able to make difficult catches in traffic.

We definitely don't have a WR who can get deep and stretch the field. I also don't know if any are in the pipeline. Saunders is still young but size is a question. We haven't seen much from Cephas or Evans and our 2024 recruits are all 3*.

 

[Obliviax]

Do we really have good TEs? It seems to me that a good TE should be able to beat a LB or DB for a 7 yd completion. Our TEs struggled to get even a yard of separation much less be able to make difficult catches in traffic.

We definitely don't have a WR who can get deep and stretch the field. I also don't know if any are in the pipeline. Saunders is still young but size is a question. We haven't seen much from Cephas or Evans and our 2024 recruits are all 3*.

I don’t feel like our tight ends are designed to be pass catchers first. I think they are designed to be run blockers first and we abandoned the run game for whatever reason it probably works great against Northwestern, but not so great against the elite programs maybe with having a pocket passer like Allar, we need a pass catching tight end

 

[PSU Soupy]

I have faith in Allar.....for a young QB he shows a lot of talent, but today he was flustered. He also was not helped by his WRs, RBs or Offensive Coordinators to make some easy connections.... nobody made a contested catch. No WR was running free through the secondary. RBs dropped 2 throws, TE dropped an early throw which seemed to scare our offensive coaches........

Allar will eventually become a good QB. After WVU, I thought that he would play this year and then next year and be gone.......could still happen, but he may need 3 years to get to where he will need to be to be a starting QB in the NFL. Go an get an elite WR.....I know that there are not 50 of them out there....but the table is set for an elite, big, fast WR to get plugged into the PSU offense.

 

[PSU20]

I don’t feel like our tight ends are designed to be pass catchers first. I think they are designed to be run blockers first and we abandoned the run game for whatever reason it probably works great against Northwestern, but not so great against the elite programs maybe with having a pocket passer like Allar, we need a pass catching tight end

I agree with you about our TE's. But, as good as a blocker as he has been, Johnson let Tuimololoau run right by him in the backfield and sack Allar. He never even tried to block him which was probably his responsibility since it appeared that OLU blocked down and No One laid a glove on JT.

 

[bvillebaron]

If you sit Harrison Jr. off to the side the two teams were amazingly evenly matched, both on offense and defense. Whichever team had Harrison Jr. was destined to win the game.

I think Harrison Jr. is the best receiver in the country, including the NFL.

He’s the best receiver in college but not the NFL.

 

[PSU Soupy]

I agree with you about our TE's. But, as good as a blocker as he has been, Johnson let Tuimololoau run right by him in the backfield and sack Allar. He never even tried to block him which was probably his responsibility since it appeared that OLU blocked down and No One laid a glove on JT.

That play was destined for failure.......pullling johnson from the right "wing back" to block JT coming from the left side of the OL was not going to work. Olu and Illoane early in the game were moving the OSU d Line........once they brought their LBS and Safety down in the box running got harder.....but we could not punish them through the air due lack of play makers at the WR. Our OC knew the issue which is why we tried two flea flickers and a double pass.......and even with the trickery we could not get open. It is like a basketball team without a 3 point shooter, the defense collapses to defend the rim.....without the outside shot, the offense cannot punish the defense for this strategy.

 

[northernbuck]

Two of the best defenses in college yesterday played.....both have to be in the top 5.

Things I wanted to see more of: 1) running the ball, we seemed to do well in the first half, then got away from it. 2) misdirection plays - faking run left....rollout right 3) WR screens 4) RB screens.......something Paterno offenses were excellent at 5) QB keeping the ball on the option.......tOSU was zeroing in on the merge point and not even considering Allar keeping the ball. Would have worked numerous times on 3rd down runs....move the chains. 6) running plays that are not RPO. 7) Crossing patterns get some traffic in the middle of the field, hope for a legal pick play.

It has been forever since we had a WR running wide open through a defense.

The O Line played fairly well. You are not going to get 6 seconds to throw against great defenses.....a number of times Drew had a clean pocket or one rusher to avoid.....he got hurried up and his mechanics went off the rails.

I would like Drew to throw an interception in trash time next week against Indiana, so that we do not have to hear that he has yet to throw an interception.


Defense played well......the penalty on King was a penalty, but the PSU wrs were getting mugged by tOSU, just unfortunate that the refs picked that time to call the penalty. PSU needed a lead, needed some big plays.....we finally get one and it comes back. It felt like here we go again........

Dixon and Hardy played unbelievable games yesterday. I think the lack of action on Kings side of the field for 2023 showed up yesterday and when they went after him he got grabby against Harrison. Sad that a Philly kid was the difference maker for tOSU. I had forgotten that their QB was also from Philly. DL was awesome.......LBs were awesome and DBs were spectacular with the exception of the key flag on King.

Kicking game was very good.

tOSU outplayed us yesterday.....which is troubling as the offense for tOSU was second string RB and a missing first or second round WR.

tOSU offensive coaches put their team into chances to win......our offensive coaches seemed to run the same 5-10 plays that we have run all year. Other than the double passes, flea flickers that we tried, which were not close to working, nothing original from our coaches. disappointing.

The defense talks about the confidence that they get from Manny........his pre-game talks, his demeanor on the sidelines.....confident, do not see the same level of confidence on the Offensive side.........

From an OSU fan:
1. PSU has a great defense
2. Allar did not play well. That is the first time I have seen him play.
3. Neither QB is that good at this point in their career.
4. The team that had Harrison was likely to win. He should be a Heisman candidate.
5. A great game.

 

[sdwcpa]

With many saying that the penalty on King was a clear penalty......why the 2 minute discussion with the Refs before calling the penalty? ....they huddled for an extended period of time, I was hoping for the no flag on the play call. Seemed as if one of the back judges saw the penalty and that the other saw no penalty......... the call could have been made, but the subjectivity of the call, when PSU finally gets makes a break against tOSU, sent the message that today was not the day........

I don’t think that the long conversation was about whether there was a penalty or not as much as it was about whether it was pre or post change in possession.

 

[fairfaxlion2]

thought it was one of the lousiest top 10 games I have seen, on both sides. aside from a few moments from Harrison and some PSU defensive stands it was almost unwatchable

 

[PSU Soupy]

thought it was one of the lousiest top 10 games I have seen, on both sides. aside from a few moments from Harrison and some PSU defensive stands it was almost unwatchable

Good defensive teams do make the game “uglier”. I prefer a great defensive game to a Big 12 48-45 game.

 

[fairfaxlion2]

Good defensive teams do make the game “uglier”. I prefer a great defensive game to a Big 12 48-45 game.

I do too, but are you really sure it was the defenses making the two QBs look like they did? I saw the PSU qb miss screen passes by 10 feet. OSU qb didn't exactly look great either

i thought that game kind of stunk all around

 

[PSUSignore]

From an OSU fan:
1. PSU has a great defense
2. Allar did not play well. That is the first time I have seen him play.
3. Neither QB is that good at this point in their career.
4. The team that had Harrison was likely to win. He should be a Heisman candidate.
5. A great game.

Harrison should probably win the Heisman, probably could have said that last year too. Unfortunately the Heisman is now a "best QB" award so he probably won't. As a Bears fan I'm looking forward to seeing him in Chicago next season.

 

[mcpat]

Ohio State continues to beat us b/c they are a top 3 recruiting school (with Alabama and Georgia). Penn State is a top 10 recruiting school and finishes around there more often than not. Harbaugh seems to outplay his recruiting lately but we may have recently found out why.

 

[LandoComando]

Harrison should probably win the Heisman, probably could have said that last year too. Unfortunately the Heisman is now a "best QB" award so he probably won't. As a Bears fan I'm looking forward to seeing him in Chicago next season.

You may have found a QB today.

 

[fastlax16]

I don’t know if it’s coaching but we also have WRs that seemingly never ask for a flag. They get mugged play ends they run back. Watching other games guys beg for flags like they’re doing their best Lebron impressions.

 

[ivan brunetti]

I think the lack of offense from both teams made two good defense look "great". Sure, Maserati Marv is a top five draft pick. Maybe even number one over all. But Honda McCord isn't, as yet, anything special. Ohio State can't run the ball. Their offensive line has been suspect all year. And they were missing a couple of key offensive players.

Ohio State's defense looks solid overall, but Penn State has almost no passing threat.

 

[mcpat]

I was watching some of the game yesterday; the snaps to Allar from center still aren’t clean. He’s handling them, but rarely does he get a snap where he can just drop back and read the defense without first adjusting to and from where the ball is snapped. It’s been a problem all season and I wonder how much it affects timing, especially against an elite defense like Ohio St.

 

[NCLION]

I will add there was a pass to #1 in the second half where the OSU DB had a handful of the front of his shoulder pad that was uncalled. The color guy kind of mentioned it quickly.

also going for it in our own territory was a bad decision.

 

[PSU Soupy]

Plan going forward.....reduce the RPO runs by 50%.....replace with QB under center and running with 2 running backs or a TE in the backfield to help block. Like last year when we had explosive plays in the backfield.......

Screen passes, draws, pitches to the outside.....all can bring you explosive plays.....The RPO action is actually being blocked fairly well......if we are going to stay with the RPO Allar has to keep every now and then.......

 

[bcspsu]

I think the lack of offense from both teams made two good defense look "great". Sure, Maserati Marv is a top five draft pick. Maybe even number one over all. But Honda McCord isn't, as yet, anything special. Ohio State can't run the ball. Their offensive line has been suspect all year. And they were missing a couple of key offensive players.

Ohio State's defense looks solid overall, but Penn State has almost no passing threat.

OSU's weaknesses this season, and they have several, will be exposed by Michigan. Of course, PSU's weaknesses, which are even more than OSU's, also will be exposed even more by Michigan than by OSU.

 

[lazydave841]

But Honda McCord isn't

Brilliant! I 🤣 at this.

Good point to make: how does OSU feel about their team after this win? They had 1 guy who could move the ball. They fended off a 1 legged man in a asš kicking contest at home.

Michigan looks complete AND they know your play calls. They have better DTs and will control the lackluster run game with 5 players instead of 7.

 

[LandoComando]

Brilliant! I 🤣 at this.

Good point to make: how does OSU feel about their team after this win? They had 1 guy who could move the ball. They fended off a 1 legged man in a asš kicking contest at home.

Michigan looks complete AND they know your play calls. They have better DTs and will control the lackluster run game with 5 players instead of 7.

They're probably terrified of playing Michigan but know they're going to be 11-0 going into that game.

 

[northernbuck]

They're probably terrified of playing Michigan but know they're going to be 11-0 going into that game.

No they aren't. OSU players live for this game. It is an OSU tradition and it is called "the game". It will be interesting since UM will not have so much "help' with signs this year.

 

[LandoComando]

No they aren't. OSU players live for this game. It is an OSU tradition and it is called "the game". It will be interesting since UM will not have so much "help' with signs this year.

i didn't say the players were--discussing the fans
If you're not concerned you should be. The fact you're already talking about sign stealing kind of proves my point...

 

[TheHuskerFreak]

The Ohio State series reminds me of West Virginia back in the day. WVU always lost to Penn State, no matter how good the WVU team was. Every year, you could figure a loss to PSU. We're WVU now

Penn State really blew it not winning those 17 and 18 games. Still great teams by other program standards, but flawed by tOSU standards and Penn State was probably the better team, just failed to close the game.

 

[psuno1]

Do we really have good TEs? It seems to me that a good TE should be able to beat a LB or DB for a 7 yd completion. Our TEs struggled to get even a yard of separation much less be able to make difficult catches in traffic.

We definitely don't have a WR who can get deep and stretch the field. I also don't know if any are in the pipeline. Saunders is still young but size is a question. We haven't seen much from Cephas or Evans and our 2024 recruits are all 3*.

Saunders and Cephas need to see more playing time and I thought they said Lambert Smith ran 4.3 he should be able to stretch the field with that speed.

 

[SLion]

Two of the best defenses in college yesterday played.....both have to be in the top 5.

Things I wanted to see more of: 1) running the ball, we seemed to do well in the first half, then got away from it. 2) misdirection plays - faking run left....rollout right 3) WR screens 4) RB screens.......something Paterno offenses were excellent at

Reality is that if we wanted to commit to run like Joe era then we get a FB and take out TE. CJF and MY won't do it bc they are enamored with formations...formations that work against mediocre teams but not against great Ds. They will never learn. Our OL is just never good enough and TE blocking, especially Theo, sucks.

 

[Wareo]

i didn't say the players were--discussing the fans
If you're not concerned you should be. The fact you're already talking about sign stealing kind of proves my point...

We are not terrified to play Michigan, I know most of their fans think they already beat us by 30 and show no respect at all. Ohio State can stay in the game because of their defense and if McCord could play a complete game and not suck in the first half I think we have a shot at beating them. It is hard to really tell though, because they have played zero teams with a pulse and Ohio State will go in battle tested. On top of that they will have a ton of pressure to win it all this year as they lose a lot of guys and probably their coach as well.

Does Michigan have the advantage? Of course they do, they have a solid experienced QB. Hell how good would Ohio State be right now if CJ had returned.. Everyone said we got lucky at Notre Dame, which we did to a point but they also made the plays to get it done in a very tough environment. A lot of people thought that this was the Penn St team that was going to beat Ohio State. Unfortunately for Penn St fans, people are just crapping all over your team, which is dumb, still a very good team. A good team with holes, like most teams, but it is amazing that after Saturday the amount of National Media people crapping all over the Lions. yea your QB had a bad game, but geezus the kids is a kid, cut him some slack.

I think people also underestimate how much sign stealing can help a team. Clemson beats Ohio State easily one year, then the next year Ohio State finds out they were stealing signs so they change up and just throttle Clemson. I mean if it doesn't really matter, then why did they do it? Also everyone assumes it was Ohio State ratting them out, but that is all an assumption at this point.

 

[Psubiomed]

The o line didn't play "fairly well". They stunk.

 

[LandoComando]

We are not terrified to play Michigan, I know most of their fans think they already beat us by 30 and show no respect at all. Ohio State can stay in the game because of their defense and if McCord could play a complete game and not suck in the first half I think we have a shot at beating them. It is hard to really tell though, because they have played zero teams with a pulse and Ohio State will go in battle tested. On top of that they will have a ton of pressure to win it all this year as they lose a lot of guys and probably their coach as well.

Does Michigan have the advantage? Of course they do, they have a solid experienced QB. Hell how good would Ohio State be right now if CJ had returned.. Everyone said we got lucky at Notre Dame, which we did to a point but they also made the plays to get it done in a very tough environment. A lot of people thought that this was the Penn St team that was going to beat Ohio State. Unfortunately for Penn St fans, people are just crapping all over your team, which is dumb, still a very good team. A good team with holes, like most teams, but it is amazing that after Saturday the amount of National Media people crapping all over the Lions. yea your QB had a bad game, but geezus the kids is a kid, cut him some slack.

I think people also underestimate how much sign stealing can help a team. Clemson beats Ohio State easily one year, then the next year Ohio State finds out they were stealing signs so they change up and just throttle Clemson. I mean if it doesn't really matter, then why did they do it? Also everyone assumes it was Ohio State ratting them out, but that is all an assumption at this point.

I don't think you got lucky against ND. I think you earned that win. And are the better team.

Yes I think the difference is the experience at QB. Not that you're not a good team.

I don't have any opinion on who ratted out Michigan. Nor does it really matter. Someone was going to do it.

 

[joeaubie21]

Stop responding to lando.

 

[Wareo]

Stop responding to lando.

But he is the coolest Star Wars character!