SB Nation - Terrelle Pryor

If College Football Had a Playoff: #9 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets @ #8 Ohio State Buckeyes

Jeremy Mauss — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:00:19 -0000

Continue the new break out hit of the season "What if College Football had a Playoff' returns for game two of the playoff. Before we get to game two the winner of game one was an expected blowout by Alabama soundly defeating Troy to move on to host the winner of this game.

Now this matchup features two completely different styles with Georgia Tech who runs a triple option and is taking that game to the 'Shoe in Columbus to face the 'we wanna be spread but really a smash mouth football team' Ohio State.

The Ohio State defense is very good but the question has always been the speed of their defense (or lack of speed). Speed and assignment defense is what Ohio State would need to do to try to stop the Georgia Tech option. Last year LSU shut down the Tech option with their speed and Ohio State is a bit behind in their speed then LSU.

Ohio State really wants to pound the ball has the wild card in Terrelle Pryor who is a so-so passer but if the Buckeyes use roll outs and move the pocket that will help use his abilities rather then to just drop back and throw.

Just because of the contrasting styles this should be a very good game. To give some help to those who are not sure who would win I turned to What if Sports to simulate this game.

What if Sports has Ohio State winning a close game 35-31, but Georgia Tech had a 31-20 lead going into the fourth quarter before allowing the Buckeyes to score 15 points to their zero to loss the game. The decision here is for the fans to vote to see who moves on.

Check back daily at 12 PM eastern time to vote for the next matchup, and voting is only for 24 hours. As they say in Chicago vote early and vote often.

Ohio State Stats

Passing

		Passing									Rushing					Sacks
	G	Rating	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/G	Y/A	TD	INT	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Sack	YdsL
Joe Bauserman	5	30.0	6	19	31.6	124	24.8	6.5	0	0	9	10	2	1.1	0	-	-
Terrelle Pryor	12	93.0	144	258	55.8	1828	152.3	7.1	16	10	142	707	58.9	5	7	-	-

Rushing

		Rushing					Receiving
	G	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD
Joe Bauserman	5	9	10	2	1.1	0	0	0	0	0	0
K.C. Christian	2	5	14	7	2.8	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bo DeLande	1	3	5	5	1.7	0	0	0	0	0	0
Joe Gantz	2	4	6	3	1.5	0	0	0	0	0	0
Daniel Herron	9	139	558	62	4	7	8	48	5.3	6	1
Jermil Martin	3	11	84	28	7.6	1	0	0	0	0	0
DeVier Posey	12	2	19	1.6	9.5	0	52	727	60.6	14	7
Terrelle Pryor	12	142	707	58.9	5	7	0	0	0	0	0
Brandon Saine	12	131	694	57.8	5.3	4	15	165	13.8	11	1
Dane Sanzenbacher	11	2	8	.700	4	0	27	506	46	18.7	6
Ray Small	11	4	40	3.6	10	0	15	175	15.9	11.7	0
Lamaar Thomas	9	1	6	.700	6	0	1	10	1.1	10	0

Receiving

		Receiving
	G	Rec	Yds	Y/G	AVG	TD
Jake Ballard	9	13	126	14	9.7	0
Zach Boren	3	4	23	7.7	5.8	1
Duron Carter	6	13	176	29.3	13.5	1
Daniel Herron	9	8	48	5.3	6	1
DeVier Posey	12	52	727	60.6	14	7
Brandon Saine	12	15	165	13.8	11	1
Dane Sanzenbacher	11	27	506	46	18.7	6
Ray Small	11	15	175	15.9	11.7	0
Jake Stoneburner	2	2	30	15	15	0
Lamaar Thomas	9	1	10	1.1	10	0

Kicking

		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts
Devin Barclay	4	-	-	-	-	-	4	7	60.0%	12	12	100.0%	24
Aaron Pettrey	9	-	-	-	-	-	13	19	70.0%	28	29	100.0%	67

Georgia Tech Stats

Passing

		Passing									Rushing					Sacks
	G	Rating	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/G	Y/A	TD	INT	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Sack	YdsL
Josh Nesbitt	13	83.0	73	153	47.7	1689	129.9	11	10	4	259	991	76.2	3.8	18	-	-
Jaybo Shaw	4	-50.0	1	2	50	18	4.5	9	0	1	12	51	12.8	4.3	0	-	-
Tevin Washington	1	100.0	1	1	100	21	21	21	0	0	6	40	40	6.7	0	-	-

Rushing

		Rushing					Receiving
	G	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD
Anthony Allen	13	61	597	45.9	9.8	5	5	112	8.6	22.4	1
Lucas Cox	3	9	31	10.3	3.4	0	0	0	0	0	0
Jonathan Dwyer	13	221	1346	103.5	6.1	14	3	25	1.9	8.3	0
Stephen HIll	8	5	84	10.5	16.8	1	6	137	17.1	22.8	1
Roddy Jones	11	53	345	31.4	6.5	3	0	0	0	0	0
Preston Lyons	11	30	139	12.6	4.6	1	0	0	0	0	0
Jonathan Malone	1	1	5	5	5	0	0	0	0	0	0
Josh Nesbitt	13	259	991	76.2	3.8	18	0	0	0	0	0
Embry Peeples	11	28	143	13	5.1	0	8	244	22.2	30.5	1
Jaybo Shaw	4	12	51	12.8	4.3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Quentin Sims	1	2	19	19	9.5	0	0	0	0	0	0
Orwin Smith	11	5	26	2.4	5.2	0	2	26	2.4	13	0
Demaryius Thomas	13	1	3	.200	3	0	46	1154	88.8	25.1	8
Tevin Washington	1	6	40	40	6.7	0	0	0	0	0	0
Richard Watson	4	9	37	9.3	4.1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Marcus Wright	11	32	190	17.3	5.9	3	0	0	0	0	0

Receiving

		Receiving
	G	Rec	Yds	Y/G	AVG	TD
Anthony Allen	13	5	112	8.6	22.4	1
Jonathan Dwyer	13	3	25	1.9	8.3	0
Stephen HIll	8	6	137	17.1	22.8	1
Daniel McKayhan	2	1	18	9	18	0
Tyler Melton	4	5	46	11.5	9.2	0
Embry Peeples	11	8	244	22.2	30.5	1
Orwin Smith	11	2	26	2.4	13	0
Demaryius Thomas	13	46	1154	88.8	25.1	8

Kicking

		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts
Scott Blair	11	-	-	-	-	-	14	19	70.0%	43	44	100.0%	85
Chris Tanner	3	-	-	-	-	-	0	1	0	14	14	100.0%	14

via l.yimg.com

Poll

Who wins the matchup?

Georgia Tech

120 votes

Ohio State

62 votes

182 votes | Poll has closed

Quack Fix: Practice update, the 1958 Rose Bowl and a JC commitment

ntrebon — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:23:25 -0000

Rose Bowl preparations are finally under way as the Ducks began practice last Friday. With that, we have a little more quack than last Tuesday. Enjoy!

In Monday practice news, Nate Costa was back after missing the first three Rose Bowl practices (all absences were excused). Moseley notes that both Diante Jackson and Cliff Harris made nice plays during the practice session. John Hunt has a brief blog entry up that notes the Ducks practice schedule until they depart for Pasadena on Christmas Day.
In today's Register-Guard, Ron Bellamy takes us back to the 1958 Rose Bowl against Ohio State. tOSU came in as 19-point favorites and escaped with a 10-7 victory. For those of you not familiar with the details, it's definitely worth a read.
Continuing the ongoing Register-Guard feature that spotlights members of this year's Rose Bowl team, today's Duck of the Day is John Boyett.
John Hunt and Jeff Smith have a piece that looks at the different paths taken by two of the top dual-threat quarterback recruits of 2008: Terrelle Pryor and Darron Thomas.
Mike Tokito has a blog entry up discussing a trend that most of us are aware of: Ohio State's recent inability to come through in the big game. This is, of course, all relative. OSU has lost three consecutive BCS bowl games, including back-to-back national championship bowl games. I wish I could say the same for Oregon. That said, once you begin reaching those levels consistently, simply being there isn't enough. Here's hoping Oregon makes it four straight BCS losses for the Buckeyes.
A little under the radar yesterday, but the Ducks landed a JC recruit, defensive lineman Isaac Remington who will have two years to play two. Bob Rickert notes that Remington plans to be on campus in January.
Luke Andrews of the Mail Tribune has a feature piece on E.J. Singler, who has now started three straight games after nearly redshirting this season. This week, the basketball team hosts Mississippi Valley State on Wednesday and Oakland on Saturday as they look to end their recent struggles that have seen them go 1-4 over their last five games. I will be in town for both these as well as the Idaho State game -- anyone interested in checking out the games?

As usual, post any comments or links below.

Go Ducks!

Quack Fix: Basketball prepares for St. Mary's, a few Rose Bowl links

jtlight — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:27:32 -0000

Well, things have really slowed down this week. Here's the quack that's out there:

The Duck men's basketball team has a chance at revenge this weekend. After losing to St. Mary's two years in a row, and a historically bad loss last weekend at Missouri, the Ducks will be going for the win tomorrow, though without Joevan Catron and possibly without Tajuan Porter, who is listed as day-to-day. Bob Clark's practice report for yesterday also had an interesting note. The cold weather in Eugene so affected Mac Court that most players were practicing in long sleeve shirts. Yep, it's time for a new arena.
SBNation's Big 10 blog, The Rivalry, Esq., has an interview with AndyPanda from Building the Dam, to learn a bit about the Ducks from their rival. While Andy does a good job overall, he stumbles into the same excuses many Beaver fans do, blaming lost opportunity for the loss. So quickly the Beaver fans forget that on their last 2 drives, with the game on the line, the Beavers had 10 plays for 37 yards.
Hank Stern from the Willamette Week takes a page from ATQ and does a Q&A with an OSU fan to talk about everybody's favorite topic: Terrelle Pryor.
Ted Miller has a post comparing the preseason and postseason Pac-10 all conference teams.
tOSU bloggers are starting to talk about the game. Here's a post on the early point spread from the Buckeye Blog. The early opinion of tOSU seems to be that the Buckeye's will push the Ducks around on offense and stop the Ducks spread offense on defense. This shouldn't really surprise anyone. Then again, the Buckeye's couldn't beat the 6th place Pac-10 team. At home. Against a true freshman QB who was started for the second time.
Lastly, if you were looking for Rose Bowl tickets, looks like you're going to have to buy them through a third party, as the Ducks will use up their allotment.

As always, leave your comments and links below. GO DUCKS!

Media Wednesday - Scouting the Enemy

dvieira — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:01:01 -0000

The Civil War is behind us and we are on our way to the Rose Bowl. Media Wednesday seeks to do it's best Chip Kelly impression and work through film from the Ohio State Buckeyes. In this first installment, we bring to the table a montage of clips from Terrelle Pryor. It has been easy to bag on him because he didn't choose Oregon but this is still a very talented guy in the backfield for the Buckeyes and we are going to have our hands full with him.

Your 2009 offensive Bammy Award winner is...

Sam @ WWAHT — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:00:25 -0000

Before the season, I decided to come up with an award to help commemorate the contributions (or lack thereof) of one Bam Childress in the following way:

I'd name [this] award for a guy who, for four straight years at Ohio State, overcame overwhelming preseason hype spurred by mesmerizing spring game and practice performances to.... do next to nothing in the regular season. I decided that this award would go to those "other", non-headliner guys at the skill positions - not Pryor, Herron, Posey etc. - who actually deliver on preseason hype, unlike the award's namesake.

Thus, the Bam Childress Award was born. With so many new faces on offense as well as defense, I decided to split the award up into offensive and defensive categories with nominees from both units.

The offensive nominees (along with my preseason thoughts on their chances) were...

Dane Sanzenbacher

I have my concerns about Sanzenbacher - to wit, his size, and his penchant for exposing himself to the big hit - but I am still as high on him as I was when I wrote this back in May:

He doesn't have elite speed, but he's still dangerous in space with his athleticism and ability to make defenders miss (jukification?) and will eventually grow into the role of the reliable third down option for Terrelle Pryor.

Since then, opinions of Dane have gone through a bit of an evolution, with Kurt Coleman at one point considering him potentially the guy:

"Dane is the guy, any way he has to, he's going to get it done, he's going to get the first down," Coleman said. "I think Dane is coming in being the No. 1 receiver, but DeVier is definitely that deep threat, that guy you always have to have someone guarding."

In camp, "Sanzo" (or, as I call him, "Bloody Sanzio") has struggled with injury and hasn't made a massive dent in the depth chart, but most still consider him to be, at the very least, the probable number two behind Posey. What he brings to the game is not all the different from what Anthony Gonzales brought to the team in 2006: a player who's willing to go across the middle and make the tough catches in heavy traffic on passing downs, even with his lack of size. He will be critical to Pryor's development as a quarterback, and he just might be the most likely breakout player at his position this year.

Official WWAHT Breakout Year Hype-O-Meter: 8 Bam Childresses out of 10

Brandon Saine

Probably the guy that most needs a breakout season, he's going to have to earn it while sharing duties with Boom Herron. Saine came to OSU as a football player who happened to play track, but has spent most of his time looking like a track guy who happened to play football; nursing injuries, avoiding hits, and generally struggling massively as a spell back behind Beanie Wells. This spring, I liked what I saw:

Saine has looked a bit more confident, abandoning his fear of hits and hitting the hole (TWSS) with tenacity, quickness and excellent vision.

Reports from practice on Saine are few and far between, but there was this from the jersey scrimmage:

Brandon Saine didn't get a lot of work, and was 5/20.

So the Saine Hype Train that was steaming along early in the spring appears to have slowed down just a bit, but last I checked, Tressel still plans on rotating Saine with Herron, and since the spring game was the closest thing he has seen to genuine game action since early last fall and he looked excellent in it, I'm not too worried. It's hard to have a "breakout" year as part of a rotation, but I think all the things he brings to the table as a runner are different enough from Herron that he'll continue getting reps throughout the season. 700 yards on the ground may not be out of the question.

Official WWAHT Breakout Year Hype-O-Meter: 6 Bam Childresses out of 10

Ray Small

I know, I know: everyone says this is his year, ever year. This year might be the least likely year that the Motormouth will break out, in fact. But I'm still holding out hope. Tressel apparently is too:

Senior Ray Small, who started the month in Tressel's doghouse again, got plenty of time running routes and returning punts (his job a year ago) Wednesday. He appears to be back in the mix.

Small's recruiting numbers were not excellent without reason: the potential is still there. He has shown how dangerous he can be in space. He also knows that this is his last shot, and he hopefully knows that outside of that punt return, he will be most remembered for this:

Which is not ideal. If these facts, along with all the (somewhat deserved) hate from the fanbase, serve to motivate him just a bit, he might end up partially redeeming his checkered (to put it lightly) career.

Official WWAHT Breakout Year Hype-O-Meter: 5 Bam Childresses out of 10

Taurian Washington

Deacon of the Church of Latter-day Bam himself, Washington has blown up in two straight spring games - catching 8 passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns in the past two years. He would have 9 for 226 had a flag not taken away a 63-yarder in the 2008 edition of the game. Sounds like a star in the making right? I give you his career regular season stat line:

G Rec. Yards Avg. TD Rec./G Yards/G

6 3 46 15.33 1 0.5 7.7

Somewhere, Bam Childress knows that he still has a good man spreading the word and doing his work in Columbus. After this year's electrifying 92-yard spring game performance, Washington finds himself again down on the depth chart, presumably behind Posey and Sanzenbacher. There were previously rumblings that he may get looks in the slot should Ray Small find trouble yet again.

Official WWAHT Breakout Year Hype-O-Meter: 5 Bam Childresses out of Ten

G	Rec.	Yards	Avg.	TD	Rec./G	Yards/G
6	3	46	15.33	1	0.5	7.7

Duron Carter

Reports from practice and the scrimmage have been almost exclusively praise for the scion of Cris Carter. Assuming Ohio State mostly operates out of 3-wide sets this year, Posey, Sanzenbacher and Ray Small all have a considerable leg up on Carter when it comes to playing time. He's too big to play the slot and not quite a burner. One way I could see him having a breakout season is if he's deployed mostly in red zone situations, where defenses would have to work just a bit harder to cover him as they field as many linebackers as they can to stop the rushing attack. They just might not be able to cover someone with his size and speed.

Official WWAHT Breakout Year Hype-O-Meter: 6 Bam Childresses out of 10

with honorable mentions Jake Stoneburner

A converted WR at TE is always an exciting prospect, but to buy the notion that 2009 is Stoney's breakout year is to buy that a) he'll make the transition gracefully as a redshirt-freshman, b) Ohio State starts making a serious effort at utilizing the tight end in the passing game and c) he actually catches anything as the second tight end provided that b) actually happens. Thus, he just remains a darkhorse.

Official WWAHT Breakout Year Hype-O-Meter: 3 Bam Childresses out of 10

and Jaamal Berry

Berry has bounced back excellently from his June marijuana arrest, impressing in camp before succumbing to injury and struggling in the scrimmage. He wasn't here for the spring, so it's safe to say he's a bit behind. Nevertheless, he's the fastest back on Ohio State's roster, and probably the most dangerous in space. But I have my doubts: see here and here on why I think he might struggle.

Official WWAHT Breakout Year Hype-O-Meter: 4 Bam Childresses out of 10

And the winner is...

First, some notes on those who didn't win:

Berry redshirted due to recurring injury problems
Stoneburner ended up getting treated just like every other TE in this offense, sadly, with 2 catches for 30 yards on the year.
Duron Carter is a beast, but only caught 13 balls for 176 yards in OSU's hamstrung passing offense.
Ray Small had an excellent year on special teams, but again was mostly an afterthought in the OSU offense.
Sanzenbacher had a rip-roaring start to the season, catching multiple long bombs in the game against Toledo, as well as an excellent 50-yarder against Southern Cal, but cooled off in Ohio State's finally three game stretch, just as the winner was getting heated up.
Taurian Washington flamed out after the first week - in true Bam fashion, no doubt - following a few dropped first down passes against Navy. As Deacon in the LDCOB, you can't say he isn't incredibly poious
So your winner is, who, unlike the trophy's namesake, followed through after a preseason of massive hype, is....

Tailback Brandon Saine! When the running attack needed a spark - which, after the Purdue game wasn't all that often, though this guy still contributed - Brandon Saine provided it, and was absolutely key to this offense throughout the year. His scoring runs against Michigan and Iowa were the stuff dreams are made of, and his game-sealing TD catch against Penn State capped off the best big game win this program has had since Texas '06. His success this year sets up, provided he stay injury-free, the potential for a massive senior year in what will hopefully be the most dangerous backfield in America, combining the size and power of Saine and Herron with the darting moves of Jaamal Berry and Jordan Hall. Watching his play this year, it's tough to not get excited for next. Congrats on finally arriving, "Brand: Insane."

The Rose Bowl Game - An Early Look

Law Buckeye — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:47:39 -0000

Although the majority of selections won't be made until Sunday, it's officially bowl season on The Rivalry, Esq.

Let's inaugurate the fair-weather festivities with an introductory look at The Granddaddy of 'Em All, the 96th Rose Bowl Game. Having saved its best quarter of play for last, the Oregon Ducks captured the Pac 10 Conference Championship in the cold confines of Autzen Stadium last night, 37-33 over Oregon State. That means Eugene can finally take its seat at the table with Ohio State, who's been waiting patiently for almost three weeks to learn the name of its adversary.

Strength against Strength? Oregon's Offense versus Ohio State' Defense

I stayed late at a local Grandview pub to watch the game, and after three Bells winter white ales, my buddy turned to me and declared: "I like this matchup. It pits strength against strength." He's referring, of course, to Oregon's spectacular run-spread attack against Ohio State's rock solid 3-4 defense. I agreed, with slight reservation. The Buckeye's struggles against the spread offense are well documented. Oregon State, which boasted the best rushing defense in the Pac 10 coming into the Civil War, gave up 288 yards on the ground to the Ducks. (They gave up less to Stanford, and its almost-certain-to-be-a-Heisman-finalist tailback Toby Gerhart).

Make sure to go back and submit your picks for Week 14 of the Obligatory Predictions Contest. Weekly winners get a chance to write 500 words on the site.

The fact that Ohio State's defense, a unit that's adept at swallowing Big Ten power rushers, will be forced to de-stack the box, and dispatch into space to track a multifaceted (misdirectional) option attack should be cause for concern in Columbus. Last night, Oregon employed motion Pistol, two-back, and spread sweep sets, along with the bread-and-butter zone read to perfection against the Beavers.

But before you panic, remember, success begins and ends at the line of scrimmage. To compensate for the strength and depth of Ohio State's defensive line, Oregon will have to count numbers in the box, and hope for favorable blocking angles. When they get them, they can move on anyone like a hot knife through butter (see versus USC). When they can't, their attack is as flat as Kansas (see versus Boise State). If Ohio State's DT's can jam the middle and blow Oregon off the line early, they'll be sitting ducks.

But what about Oregon's lateral speed? Let me say this. While the Ducks appear to be sprightly at the receiver, and tailback positions, Quarterback Jeremiah Masoli isn't nearly the speedster that say, Terrelle Pryor is. Perhaps ironically, (like Oregon State did last night) Ohio State will try to force Masoli outside to limit the damage his powerful size can do north to south, while Oregon will try to force Terrelle Pryor inside to prevent him from skating to 12 yards a carry.

Thanks to the sideline-to-sideline speed injection we've received from Linebacker Brian Rolle, Ohio State is more than capable of keying Masoli and running him down on the edge. I'm more worried about bottling things up between the tackles.

How Bend But Not Break Comes into Play

Anyone who fears the return of Slow-Hi-O against the spread should remember the job Jim Heacock did against the Texas Longhorns in last year's Fiesta Bowl. A Longhorn team that was averaging some 43.9 points a game coming into Glendale was held to just 3 in the first half, and 24 overall. But the final total disguises the fact the Colt McCoy walked away from the game with his usual prodigious stats (41 of 59 for 414 yards).

Magic? Nope. Bend and not break.

Expect to see Oregon rack up a pile of yards on quick outs, and quick slants early on in drives as they march unimpeded down the field. But the closer they get to the goal, the tighter our corners cover, and a pass that Masoli could comfortably place three downs before, is suddenly jumped for a Pick 6. Ohio State has three players (Kurt Coleman, Ross Homan, and Anderson Russel) that rank in the Top 10 in conference for interceptions. Expect them to single-handedly mitigate big Oregon drives.

Thus, the early keys to the game:

Oregon Offense

Stunt to achieve favorable blocking angles.
Don't worry about going down the field early, keep the passing game short
Finish what you start.

Ohio State Defense

Win at the line.
Flush Masoil outside.
Bend, but don't break.

Poll

Who Wins the 2009 Rose Bowl Game?

Ohio State

248 votes

Oregon

648 votes

896 votes | Poll has closed

You Disappoint Me: A Discussion

grahamfiller10 — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:32:18 -0000

On the BHGP podcast last night (coming soon!), featuring an All Star lineup of Bama, Me, Hawkeye State, and OPS, we got especially animated when discussing Big Ten "disappointments" of 2009. What is it that makes us giggle like schoolgirls about the failings of others? It could be our overwhelming immaturity...or it could be the cognitive dissonance that goes with watching something happen that surprises you.

I THINK, and Phil Steele THOUGHT, Illinois was a 9-3 team, so when I see them falling apart., I get disoriented.

Connie - if you don't listen to me...and marry this man...you'll disappoint me

My #1 disappointing unit is the Illinois offense. This is like beating a dead horse, but my god. OC Mike Schultz ran the same Spread formation that was run in '07 (successful, run focused) and '08 (successful, deep throw focused), but drove his unit straight into the turf via unimaginative run plays and throwing formations ill-fitted for Juice Williams. The last thing you want to do is drop Juice Williams straight back, but that's the first thing that Schultz ordered when the run game was slowed. Here are the Big Ten stats for this unit:

9 games with +300 yards, but STILL 10th in scoring offense
10th in pass offense
7th in total offense
7 games of less than 20 points scored

Realizing this team was playing below its potential, Zook made QB changes to shake things up midseason and the Illini beat Michigan and Mini with a revitalized Juice and Jacob Charest sharing duties. This ability to make changes was something that my #1 disappointing coaching staff couldn't do. Ladies and gentlemen, your Minnesota Golden Gophers coaching staff. Was there a worse idea than throwing the ball 40 times against Iowa? Who decided to ingrain a pass-heavy philosophy into a team with good run blockers and a "power run" loving OC? Why were easy-to-complete sit down routes tossed aside in favor of low percentage sideline timing routes? I was laughed at on the podcast because I complained that with all its talent, Minnesota seemed to have no idea what to do with it. Come on they said, everyone knows Brewster is an ass clown who has naked pictures of the school president keeping his job secure.

At least Brewster kept his program at a nice simmering level of mediocrity, never getting the chance to fail in a nationally relevant game. This wasn't the case for my #1 disappointing big game player, Daryll Clark. PSU fans have heard enough shit-talk and felt enough pain to really care anymore, but his deer in the headlights performances against OSU and Iowa probably shouldn't be blamed on anyone else. The normally decisive Clark, who leveled every other Big Ten opponent with crisp short throws and well thrown wheel routes, got happy feet under the bright lights. His veteran status and "#1 QB in the Big Ten" label certainly didn't show when he was confusedly throwing into triple coverage.

If you feel the need to hate on anyone else, feel free. We could have talked about Terrelle Pryor, who was on the tail end of preseason Heisman lists. We could have talked about Michigan State's pass defense or the early season performance by Corey Wootton. And tongues could have been clicked derisively towards any player/unit residing in Ann Arbor. But that's enough negativity for now.

2009 Quarterback Rankings, Final Edition: Across The Board, Marked Improvement Over 2008

grahamfiller10 — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:08:08 -0000

Another year has passed and no Big Ten QB has made any kind of national impact...or at least a positive one. Terrelle Pryor was on the tail end of some Heisman lists, but the USC game quickly bucked him off those. Daryll Clark found himself spewing astronomical stats in almost every game...except the ones that mattered on a BCS level.

2009 QB Rankings, First Edition: Optimism!

2009 QB Rankings, Second Edition: Back to Reality!

2009 QB Rankings, Third Edition: You're Better Than This!

One obvious observation - the quarterback play was improved all the way across the Big Ten. In fact, let me illustrate this:

Improved QB Situation from 2008: Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, NW, Wisconsin, Indiana,

Declining QB Situation from 2008: Illinois, Minnesota

Similar QB Situation of 2008: Penn State, OSU, Iowa

In the running back focused league of 2008, QB's struggled with injuries and consistency. Although two of them (Painter, Hoyer) made it to 3rd string status in the NFL, the ratings were horrendous and offenses stagnated badly when the run game was slowed. Last year, only four quarterbacks had a 126 QB rating or higher. This year, that number rose to nine.

Our group of QB's here, who mostly avoided injuries, consists of four seniors, four juniors, two sophomores, and one freshman. Since none of the seven non-seniors are good enough to jump to the NFL right now, that's a good amount of returning starters for next year. Weber and Forcier will face major challenges to their hold on the starting job. Without further adieu, enjoy the 2009 Big Ten Quarterback Rankings, Final Edition.

	QB	Team	Comments
#1	Daryll Clark	PSU	Destroyed Michigan State last week. Rivals has him as the 27th best QB in the nation, for what it's worth. Since this rankings inception in 2008, has always been #1 in my rankings.
#2	Mike Kafka	NW	Played his best game of the year versus Wisky, a mistake free 326 yard, 2 TD performance. Ran the NW Spread well all year and would have semi-torched PSU if not for injury.
#3	Kirk Cousins	MSU	Laser-rocket armed Baptist boy will be an asset for the Spartans for the next two years. Hit a bit of a sophomore wall toward the end of the year, running into Penn State and Purdue defenses who confused him into picks and incompletions. Cousins v. Western: 22-25, 353 yards, 2 TD's. Nice.
#4	Terrelle Pryor	OSU	All he does is win games, right? That's bullshit. He would have won more games if he didn't go noodle armed against Purdue and USC. Does TreS misuse him? Yes. But when Pryor get's unleashed, things get wild. TP is almost impossible to slow on the ground, as witnessed in AA Saturday.
#5	Joey Elliot	PU	A great leader and less injury prone than Painter. 22/13 TD/INT ratio compared to 13/11 for 2008 Painter. Also sported a QB Rating 13 points higher. 8 TD's in his final three games. Definitely one of the pleasant surprises in the Big Ten.
#6	Scott Tolzien	WI	FAR better than the 2008 combo of Evridge/Sherer. Blew apart a couple opponents selling out to stop the run. Things to work on in the offseason: 1) Mobility and 2) Not being so cavalier throwing the ball into coverage. 16/10 TD/INT Ratio.
#7	Ricky Stanzi	Iowa	Worse QB rating than 2008 and almost lost a couple of games with INT's. After an offseason of Tom Brady comparisons and TRE's orgasmic musings about perfect mechanics, took a step backward by throwing some inconceivable picks. Injury won't affect 2010 performance.
#8	Ben Chappell	IND	Another pleasant surprise who made a habit of scaring the hell out of teams in the first half, only to regress terrible in the second half. Stats v. Wisky three weeks ago: 25-35, 323 yards, 3 TD's, 2 Picks. Microcosm of a thoroughly entertaining Hoosier team.
#9	Adam Weber	MN	I called for his benching four weeks ago. After torching State like Stewie torching Brian during the "Got My Money" Family Guy episode, had three consecutive bad performances. This offense can't transition to MarQueis Gray quick enough. Threw the single worst Big Ten pass of the year (the pick6 to Derek Domino of South Dakota St).
#10	Juice Williams	ILL	Juice shredded Michigan and was generally effective versus NW. Early season struggles are hard to overcome on this list though, especially coming from the main catalyst of the Big Ten's most disappointing team.
#11	Tate Forcier	UM	He's not REALLY the worst QB in the Big Ten. But I'm a Michigan fan and he threw four picks against OSU, thus prolonging a 5 game losing streak.

All-Big Ten Awards Announced, Swept Once Again By Toto

Oops Pow Surprise — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:00:45 -0000

by Charlie Neibergall - AP

about 1 month ago: Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz looks on during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Northwestern, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009, in Iowa City, Iowa. Northwestern won 17-10. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

View full size photo »

Good news, everyone!* The Big Ten announced its picks for the all-conference teams. Naturally, the offensive and defensive player of the year are both Terrelle Pryor. Okay, not true; he's not even honorable mention.

But there's plenty of actual good news. First, the devil media named Kirk Ferentz coach of the year, and here he is reminding them that they can go suck it and he hasn't forgiven them for the slights of the regular season.

Such language, Kirk!

As for the players, here's the link to the voting results. The media named Bryan Bulaga to the first team on offense, while the second team featured four of his friends from the line: Rafael Eubanks, Dace Richardson, Kyle Calloway, and Tony Moeaki.

On defense, the first team had a little more Iowa representation; Adrian Clayborn, Pat Angerer, and Tyler Sash all received their no-brainer merits. On the second team, Brett Greenwood and Amari Spievey. Iowa put eight players on the media's honorable mention team: Ryan Donahue, Broderick Binns, A.J. Edds, Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, Karl Klug, Daniel Murray, Adam Robinson, and Ricky Stanzi.

Not surprisingly, the coaches had a slightly higher opinion of the Hawkeyes; here's the link to their voting results. Bryan Bulaga was named their offensive lineman of the year(!!!), an award the media doesn't give out. Bulaga is joined on the first team by Moeaki and Richardson, both of which are worthy selections. Calloway and Eubanks didn't make the second team--not sure why on Calloway--but Derrell Johnson-Koulianos snuck in on a three-player tie for second-team WR.

On defense, the coaches agreed with the media in putting Sash, Clayborn, and Angerer on the first team roster. They also added Amari Spievey; as coaches, they're more likely to know that the reason Spievey didn't have a ton of picks wasn't that he's not good at football, but that there's just no hope in throwing at him; Spievey was a machine this season, and we're starting to lose hope that he's got more than one game left in an Iowa uniform. A.J. Edds is the lone Hawkeye on the defensive second team.

For honorable mention, it's as follows:Christian Ballard, Kyle Calloway, Ryan Donahue, Brent Greenwood, Karl Klug, and Adam Robinson.

Full All-BXI teams and a few thoughts are after the break.

MEDIA

POS.	FIRST TEAM	SECOND TEAM
QB	Daryll Clark, Penn State	Mike Kafka, Northwestern
RB	Evan Royster, Penn State	Brandon Saine, Ohio State
RB	JOHN CLAY, Wisconsin	Ralph Bolden, Purdue
WR	Tandon Doss, Indiana	Blair White, Michigan State
WR	Keith Smith, Purdue	Zeke Markshausen, Northwestern
C	Stefen Wisniewski, Penn State	Rafael Eubanks, Iowa
G	Justin Boren, Ohio State	Jon Asamoah, Illinois
G	John Moffitt, Wisconsin	Dace Richardson, Iowa
T	Bryan Bulaga, Iowa	Kyle Calloway, Iowa
T	Gabe Carimi, Wisconsin	Dennis Landolt, Penn State
TE	Garrett Graham, Wisconsin	Tony Moeaki, Iowa
PK	Brett Swenson, Michigan State	Stefan Demos, Northwestern

POS.	FIRST TEAM	SECOND TEAM
DL	Adrian Clayborn, Iowa	Jammie Kirlew, Indiana
DL	Brandon Graham, Michigan	Thaddeus Gibson, Ohio State
DL	Ryan Kerrigan, Purdue	Cameron Heyward, Ohio State
DL	O'Brien Schofield, Wisconsin	Jared Odrick, Penn State
LB	Pat Angerer, Iowa	Ross Homan, Ohio State
LB	GREG JONES, Michigan State	Josh Hull, Penn State
LB	Navorro Bowman, Penn State	Sean Lee, Penn State
DB	Tyler Sash, Iowa	Brent Greenwood, Iowa
DB	Donovan Warren, Michigan	Amari Spievey, Iowa
DB	Sherrick McManis, Northwestern	Brad Phillips, Northwestern
DB	Kurt Coleman, Ohio State	David Pender, Purdue
P	Zoltan Mesko, Michigan	Jeremy Boone, Penn State

COACHES

POS.	FIRST TEAM	SECOND TEAM
QB	Daryll Clark, Penn State	Mike Kafka, Northwestern
RB	Evan Royster, Penn State	Brandon Saine, Ohio State
RB	John Clay, Wisconsin	Ralph Bolden, Purdue
WR	Eric Decker, Minnesota	Tandon Doss, Indiana*
WR	Blair White, Michigan State	Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, Iowa* Keith Smith, Purdue*
C	Stefen Wisniewski, Penn State	Rafael Eubanks, Iowa* Joel Nitchman, Michigan State*
G	Dace Richardson, Iowa	Jon Asamoah, Illinois
G	John Moffitt, Wisconsin	Justin Boren, Ohio State
T	Bryan Bulaga, Iowa	Rodger Saffold, Indiana
T	Dennis Landolt, Penn State	Gabe Carimi, Wisconsin
TE	Tony Moeaki, Iowa	Garrett Graham, Wisconsin
PK	Brett Swenson, Michigan	Stefan Demos, Northwestern

POS.	FIRST TEAM	SECOND TEAM
DL	Adrian Clayborn, Iowa	Jammie Kirlew, Indiana
DL	Brandon Graham, Michigan	Thaddeus Gibson, Ohio State
DL	Jared Odrick, Penn State	Cameron Heyward, Ohio State
DL	O'Brien Schofield, Wisconsin	Ryan Kerrigan, Purdue
LB	Pat Angerer, Iowa Linebacker	A.J. Edds, Iowa
LB	Greg Jones, Michigan State	Ross Homan, Ohio State
LB	Navorro Bowman, Penn State	Sean Lee, Penn State
DB	Tyler Sash, Iowa	Donovan Warren, Michigan*
DB	Amari Spievey, Iowa	Sherrick McManis, Northwestern*
DB	Brad Phillips, Northwestern	Brandon King, Purdue*
DB	Kurt Coleman, Ohio State	David Pender, Purdue* Jay Valai, Wisconsin*
P	Zoltan Mesko, Michigan	Jeremy Boone, Penn State

Okay. While we're quite happy that Bulaga got such high accolades for the season, we can't be alone in thinking that he was hardly the best lineman in Iowa City, much less the Big Ten. He was either on the sidelines or out of sorts for the majority of the season, and we still haven't seen the elephant-tusk-covered road grader from last season on display. He totally would have deserved a preseason OL of the year, but his performance over 2009 didn't merit such superlatives.

This is hardly a new development from these postseason lists, however; generally, the lists are crafted off of the preseason lists, and anybody whose knee blew out with more than four games left was excised and replaced by someone else. After all, Bulaga was only a second-team All-BXI player last season, even though he was by far the best lineman on the team in 2008. Seth Olsen, meanwhile, had the good fortune to be a first-teamer to start the year, so he was on the first team after 2008, despite a relatively blah senior campaign; we'd have put him about fourth on the list of Iowa linemen for 2009, behind the two bookends at tackle and Rob Bruggeman at center.

Essentially, Bulaga won the award in 2009 for his play in 2008.

At the end of the day, this comes down to stats; there aren't any for linemen, despite the ill-fated attempt to get the "pancake" introduced about a decade ago (for this, we blame Orlando Pace). It's assumed that linemen are sure things, and that as long as they stay healthy, the narrative has stayed true. After all, without stats, most scribes have no time (or no idea) how to watch linemen individually.

Frankly, though it's a subjective stat, we'd love to see how linemen grade out per play (remember that Blake Larsen famously graded at 100% during his senior season at Atlantic; lord, had those knees survived...) Without having the means to undertake such an activity ourselves, we'd imagine that if you graded each Iowa offensive lineman, Kyle Calloway or Dace Richardson would probably be at the top.

If they're not, which is possible, then it would probably be the guy who didn't even get an honorable mention: Riley Reiff. He was stout in relief of Bulaga--hell, we're pretty sure O'Brien Schofield would not have batted Reiff around like a catnip mouse, unlike some Iowa linemen--and he basically forced his way into the starting lineup even before Big Dace went down. But since he wasn't even a projected starter, to say nothing of a preseason honoree, Reiff didn't have much of a chance for postseason mention. Shame, really; dude is legit, and he hasn't even filled out his frame yet.

As for the skill players, it's a little disappointing that Stanzi only made one honorable mention team. But we get how that can happen. Spievey only making second team in the media is flatly ridiculous. If he'd put together that same season in an Ohio State uniform, he'd be getting All-American talk.

Other than that, we don't have a ton of beef; Stanzi killed himself by leading the conference in interceptions when he went down to injury, and the rest of the offensive skill players were far too inconsistent or hurt to merit much consideration. Jeremiha Hunter not getting any honorable mention love is a little disconcerting, but the BXI was lo-ho-hoaded at linebacker this season; we're not quite sure whom we'd place him above. He'll get some love in 2010 if he stays healthy. Also--given the play of Jeff Tarpinian in relief--if Hunter stays healthy between now and next September, there's no position battle at weakside backer next season, right?

So, all in all, a fair list, even if the voting on offensive linemen is basically a year behind schedule. It's a year behind for everyone else, after all. Anybody else that you folks think got shafted? Did Marvin McNutt deserve a nod, or is he still a year away from recognition?

*/Farnsworth'd

Preview: Michigan State vs. Penn State

LVS — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:20:02 -0000

More photos » by Al Goldis - AP

about 1 month ago: Michigan State's Keshawn Martin (82) scores a touchdown on a 48-yard pass reception during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game against Western Michigan, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009, in East Lansing, Mich. Michigan State won 49-14. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)

Browse more photos »

Your MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS vs. the PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS

SPARTAN STADIUM, EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN

3:30 (ET), ABC (coverage map)

WEATHER: 52 DEGREES AT KICKOFF, TEMPERATURE FALLING AFTER DUSK.

Hey, a game that's not the most important of the season! Your Spartans obviously did the heavy lifting last week against Purdue; in all likelihood, this game is not about whether MSU will make a bowl, but rather, about whether we're going to San Antonio or Orlando or, of course, rollin' down Woodward to Ford Field (!). Penn State, after a season that has to be characterized as quite disappointing, amazingly still has a shot at a BCS berth. You know the backstory: last season, PSU absolutely demolished us; the season before, however, was good times:

It appears that the play-by-play guy attended the Joe Buck school of announcing excitement. Also, I miss Devin Thomas.

So, here cometh TEH GREATEST RIVALRY GAME IN ALL TEH LAND, and the opportunity to beat a team with a pulse for the first time this season. (Says the guy whose team's best win is against Temple. w00t.) The 8-million member PSU blogosphere and commentariat seems surprisingly reticent about this game. But, after last week's defensive fiasco I'm simply not comfortable picking us to win against teams with competent offenses. Penn State is such a team. I'd love to be proven wrong.

More, after the jump.

Big game plz, Colin.

WHEN MICHIGAN STATE IS ON DEFENSE: At this point, I think the secondary is probably going to suck no matter what we do, so we might as well stack the box to try to stop the run and get as much pressure on Darryl Clark as possible. Indeed, as RUTS told us, this is what you want to do with Clark:

He's like about any other good, but not great, quarterback. If he has a clean pocket and can set his feet, he's as good as anyone in the country. If he gets hit too much, he gets rattled and starts making bad decisions with the ball. In that sense, he can be knocked back into looking like a talented quarterback in his second or third start -- he thinks he can make throws that he can't actually pull off.

Clark struggled mightily in the Iowa and Ohio State games--and even in the Illinois game--because he was under pressure (ding ding ding da da ding ding). Pressuring him may allow Clark some opportunities to scramble (as Brian said earlier this year, he's "not Michael Vick but isn't John Navarre, either."), but it's probably the best chance to contain the PSU offense. PSU partisans seem to think that our defensive line will have success against their offensive line, and pressure Clark heavily; I'm not so certain. Many anticipated that Penn State's offensive line was going to be the downfall of the team this year, as it was the most inexperienced group in the conference. PSU has allowed only 12 sacks on the season, although it looked overmatched against Adrian Clayborn and Cameron Heyward, among others. But, uh, we don't have Clayborn or Heyward; we've got a defensive line which failed to pressure Joey Elliott (until the last play, of course), and hasn't proven the ability to apply pressure on its own. My suspicion is that, if PSU is content to throw from three-step drops, they'll have a lot of success: we won't have the ability to get to Clark that quickly, and our secondary is obviously vulnerable. Bottom line: stack the box, try to get pressure, hope for the best.

And, about those guys Clark will be throwing to: RUTS sez . . .

Starting WR Chaz Powell is out for the game with a shoulder injury. In his place, you'll see a rotating group including the very tall Brett Brackett and the very quick Curtis Drake. Maybe true freshman Justin Brown gets in the game, but I doubt it. Graham Zug had a nightmare game against Indiana last week, but that was mostly due to fumbling punts. He runs good routes and gets open against passive zone coverages. Really, that goes for the whole group -- if you can press and bump them, they become ineffective quickly. [ . . . ]

Derek Moye is probably our best receiver, but he was totally shut out by Ohio State's press coverage and only had two catches for 28 yards against Indiana. Because of that, I suspect PSU will make an effort to get him involved quickly.

Moye is indeed good: 41 catches for 676 yards and 5 touchdowns this season. He's 6'5", 195 pounds . . . and if you're thinking, "holy hell, he's Mike Floyd in disguise," well, yeah, me too. He's not quite there, talent-wise, but, erm, I wouldn't want to be fighting for a jump ball against him. I suspect that our cornerbacks wouldn't want to be, either. And, yeah, about that Quarless guy: he reminds me a lot of Kellen Davis in that he's ludicrous athletically, but the results don't quite meet the expectations. But, the same could be said of Garrett Graham, and that didn't end so well for us earlier this year.

This is probably Evan Royster's last regular season game for Penn State, as most expect him to jump to the NFL.
Last year, he only carried the ball 12 times against MSU, but those carries were relatively successful, as he averaged 6.6 yards per game. This season, he's been a bit up-and-down: he had big games against Northwestern and Minnesota, but not-so-good efforts against Iowa and Ohio State. MSU's rush defense has been mostly a positive this season, although last week was a bit of a regression. I suspect that Royster will approach 100 yards but not be the deciding factor in this game. His backup, Stephfon Green, has intermittently battled injuries and hasn't played much or well since the Illinois game much earlier this season.

Safe to say at this point: one of my all-time favorite Spartan football players.

WHEN MICHIGAN STATE IS ON OFFENSE: . . . we need for Kirk Cousins to have the best game of his career. As a preliminary matter, let's stipulate that we're going to get basically nothing against Penn State on the ground: the Lions are 8th nationally against the run, and our rushing offense is not good. The goal in this game should be to do just enough to semi-effectively set up play action.

Ah, so the main event: MSU's passing offense vs. Penn State's pass defense. It starts wtih the offensive line, obviously. Penn State doesn't have Tamba Hali or Courtney Brown or anyone of similar fear-producing ability, but the stats are certainly there: they lead the conference in sacks, and while Brian noted that:

[t]he numbers are impressive—PSU is 11th nationally with three sacks per game—but there is the whole schedule thing to take into account. Jack Crawford has four sacks, all of which come against the Akrons and Temples on the schedule. In Penn State's three real-ish games, they acquired one sack (Odrick) against Minnesota, three (Crawford, Latimore, Stanley) against Illinois, and two (Hull and Crawford/Lynn) against Iowa.

. . . Penn State sacked Forcier/Robinson 5 times, and then, the next week, sacked Mike Kafka 6 times. Since then, things have cooled down a bit: they weren't able to sack Terrelle Pryor (although Pryor is surely one of the most difficult sacks in the country), and were only able to get to Ben Chappell twice last week. Nonetheless, this is an impressive line; they're led by scary beast Jared Odrick, who has 6 sacks, and the aforementioned Jack Crawford, who now has 5.5. RUTS says that:

Penn State loves to just send the defensive line if they can get away with it. The defensive scheme actually depends on it, but PSU's defensive ends have been several notches below their predecessors. There's no Aaron Maybin, Maurice Evans, or Tamba Hali on this defensive line, so they'll send linebackers on occasion, and maybe mix in a corner blitz once or twice per game, but that's it.

We can't let them get tons of pressure from the front four alone. I know it's tempting disaster to say that I *want* Navorro Bowman, Sean Lee, and the corners to blitz, but Penn State blitzing and leaving the secondary exposed is how Cousins will be able to throw for lots of yards.

Penn State's defense is statistically impressive against the pass: 16th nationally in pass efficiency defense, and 17th nationally in pass defense. Once again, I'll let RUTS write my preview for me:

Penn State can be thrown on, but they do their best to protect any obvious liabilities in the secondary. Free Safety Nick Sukay has steadily improved throughout the year. Drew Astorino (#28) plays the other safety position, and it's no secret that he's trying to fight through a shoulder injury. CB A.J. Wallace sustained a concussion last week, he's listed as "possible" for Sparty. So there may be opportunities for you in the passing game.

So, PSU is good, but they're not scary in the way that Iowa is: this season, the Lions have allowed 252 yards passing to Northwestern, 263 to Illinois (!), and 298 last week to Indiana. (Note that they won all three of those games, however.) Quite frankly, our passing offense is better than any of those teams'. I think Cousins has a big day, and throws for at least 250 yards; look for B.J. Cunningham to play the Devin Thomas role this time around. If he's able to deliver, Cousins stands in line for first team all-conference honors, so there should be some personal motivation, too.

FINAL PREDICTION: Cut and paste, for starters:

Clark picked our defense apart last year, and while you don't have Derrick Williams anymore, our pass defense is even worse this time around. Also, I have distressing visions of Jared Odrick pwning whoever's blocking him and not giving Cousins enough time to be comfortable.

More generally, Dantonio has done a lot of good things during his time at MSU, but beating teams with appreciably more talent certainly hasn't been one of those things. So, I'll remain skeptical until we finally win one of these games. It's at home, which is good, and I could definitely see the special teams stats ending up very lopsided in our favor. But PSU is the better team, and you're playing for more: a win for us would upgrade our bowl game slightly, but a win for PSU might send you guys to the BCS. So, an upset isn't out of the possibility, but I'm not particularly optimistic.

I wrote that yesterday morning, and honestly, I'm a bit more optimistic now. Penn State fans seem quite worried about this game, and one columnist even questions whether Penn State's players even have their hearts into the game anymore. Which, like, what? Even if that's true, you're playing for the BCS! I'd dismiss it out of hand if the sentiment didn't seem to be a common one across the PSU internets.

One thing that doesn't fit into my normal preview format: if you've been reading previews of this game anywhere else, you'll know that PSU's special teams have been an unmitigated disaster this year, and ours have been very good. I'm normally skeptical that special teams play has any predictive value, but here the discrepancy between the teams seems so great that it may indeed be relevant this week. Keshawn Martin, Brett Swenson, Aaron Bates: keep on doing what you do so well. kthx.

Nonetheless, this is a pretty talented football team we're playing. PSU is excellent on defense, and the offense -- with many of the same players -- ripped us apart last year. It seems that I'm saying this every week now, but truly, our defense will determine whether we win this game. If they show up, we have a chance. If they play like they did last week, we don't. It's awfully tempting to say that MSU wins this game on the strength of the passing game and special teams play. But, visions of Quarless and Zug running rampant across the middle of the field prevent me from tempting fate, for now. Penn State 31, Michigan State 27.

Your thoughts welcome, of course.