Penn State will be O.K.

[abpk2903]

Although many people seem to think that Saturday's game spun Penn State back into mediocrity there was actually promise in the game:

-Penn State moved the ball well and actually outgained Notre Dame.
-The running game got going until they got so far behind they had to pass.
-Morelli did not make to many mistakes for playing in a hostile environment.
-The defensive line got pressure even though only bringing three most of the time
-Linebackers look good as always
-DB's made some hard hits and jarred several balls free

Now looking at the schedule I can only find 4 potential loses:

-Youngstown State- Win by 40
-Ohio State-Lose by 30
-Northwestern-Win by 20
-Minnesota-Win by 7
-Michigan-Lose by 10
-Illinois-Win by 14
-Purdue-Win by 10
-Wisconsin-Lose by 3
-Temple-Win by 40
-Michigan State-Win by 10

Now if they could figure out a way to get past Mich. or Wis. they would have less but Minn., MSU, Purdue could sneak up on them. The point being 2 years ago PSU would have taken a 7-5, 8-4, 9-3 season in a heartbeat.

[El-Moldo]

Has anyone noticed that since the ND loss, every article about Penn State contains the words "young" and "rebuilding". These couldn't be excuses now could they.

[Captain Coveman]

I thought every article before the ND game also had those same words included.

[abpk2903]

[quote="El-Moldo";p="126587"]Has anyone noticed that since the ND loss, every article about Penn State contains the words "young" and "rebuilding". These couldn't be excuses now could they.[/quote]

Where is young and rebuilding? I know I don't see it anywhere. Obviously you must think that they are in fact young and rebuilding for making that assumption. Great programs (USC, Ohio St., Flordia, ect.) don't rebuild they reload and that is where Penn State needs to get back to.

[Former Wildcat]

With the recruits that Penn State gets, they should reload. Their coaches just are not at the level with those other programs. Both Penn State and Ohio State lost a ton of defensive players from last year and I would say that OSU lost more. Both teams recruited similarly the past two years. However, OSU's young defensive players went into a hostile environment and dominated an offense with more talent (except at QB) than Notre Dame. I think there are two reasons for this: 1) the recruiting rankings are faulty and 2) OSU's coaches better prepare their young players.

By the way, I think OSU might have the best linebackers in the Big 10 again from what I saw Saturday. Did you see Laurenaitis, Freeman, Homan, Terry, Kerr, and Grant against Texas? Wow! Talk about reloading. Four of them were recruited in the past two years.

[abpk2903]

[quote="Former Wildcat";p="126611"]However, OSU's young defensive players went into a hostile environment and dominated an offense with more talent (except at QB) than Notre Dame.
[/quote]

So you are saying a potential Heisman winner and senoir Brady Quinn who started in over 40 games is not as good as first year starter who only big game they played in was slaughtered by Ohio State.

[Former Wildcat]

Pay attention! I said QB was the one position where Notre Dame had MORE TALENT than Texas. The Texas line, RBs and WRs are all better than Notre Dame's. How did this great ND offense do against Georgia Tech?

[Former Wildcat]

My point is that it doesn't matter how well Penn State recruits because their coaching staff is inferior. Here is a great example: Who was a bigger recruit at corner, Justin King or Malcolm Jenkins? King was 5 stars and Jenkins was 3. Who has been a better shutdown corner so far? Jenkins by far. Was King even covering the Notre Dame receivers? Jenkins shut down the best Texas receiver.

[ham55]

Posluszny was a 3 star recruit and so was Hunt. Scott was a 5 star recruit, and we both know who's toteing the ball more in the PSU offense. Those rankings don't mean jack! Just something for the average fans to look at and gloat about in the preseason.

[Coach]

King and PSU was playing in a zone against ND...wish they wouldn't have, it killed them!


King will be All Big Ten at least once before he leaves PSU. I'd bet on that.