SB Nation - Chris Colasanti

And Here Come The Pretzels

Run Up The Score — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:42:59 -0000

On yesterday's ESPN GameDay show, Chris Fowler and the crew passed along information that Penn State coaches indicated their offensive playbook would be uncharacteristically open against Ohio State. The coaching staff trusted the improved offensive line, and especially trusted Daryll Clark to win the game for Penn State. If such a strategy was ever in place for the Penn State offense, it was scrapped after their first offensive play of the game as defensive end Cameron Heyward bolted through Dennis Landolt and Evan Royster, defensive tackle Todd Denlinger spun around Johnnie Troutman, and defensive end Thaddeus Gibson hopped over a weak chop attempt by Ako Poti. The result, 2nd and 16, and 59 minutes of puckering.

And shame on you for not fighting through your doubleteam, Doug Worthington!

Sifting through the rubble this morning, and nothing has changed. Yesterday's game was an absolute owning of the home team -- coaches, players, fans, offense, defense, special teams -- from beginning to end. Cameron Heyward is an unblockable monster. No matter which Penn State offensive lineman he lined up against, they were quickly and embarrassingly thrown aside. Daryll Clark was hit and hurried, and again unable to carry the team in those circumstances.

Clark will take some justified heat for this loss. Fair or not, his place in Penn State quarterbacking history will be roughly alongside Wally Richardson's 1995-1996 run -- fondly remembered, but nowhere approaching legendary. Daryll will leave Penn State with a shared Big Ten title, love and respect from a vast majority of the fanbase, and gaudy stats against awful teams. People will be happy to see him when he returns to campus in 5, 10, 20 years. But he won't be a Penn State legend or anything close to it.

I suspect the coaching staff feels embarrassed this morning. There's absolutely zero excuse for the ongoing clusterfrick that is Penn State's special teams unit. If Joe Paterno expects to win games with defense and special teams, it's probably a fine idea to actually have good special teams. Given the athletes on this team, are we supposed to believe that Drew Astorino is our best ~~punt returner~~ designated fair catcher? Penn State's punt team practically handed Ohio State their first touchdown and took the life out of the crowd. And it's clearly not a matter of putting bad athletes on the field for kicking plays -- the players chasing Ray Small down the field on his first punt return are A.J. Wallace, Knowledge Timmons, Josh Hull, Chris Colasanti, Navorro Bowman, Brandon Beachum, and Andrew Quarless. And they were put in a bad position by an awful Jeremy Boone punt.

The playcalling was atrocious. If you don't have enough confidence to throw the ball on 3rd and 5, do us all a favor and kneel on the ball three straight plays and punt. Your defense will get the same amount of rest, and there's no risk at all! Beats the hell out of running the same tired crap right at Ohio State's strengths, or letting your quarterback get battered play after play.

Tom Bradley and the defense don't get a pass for this either -- they let the team down repeatedly on some crucial third downs. D'anton Lynn blew a coverage that led to DeVier Posey's long touchdown. On Pryor's rushing touchdown, Bowman had him dead in the backfield and was shaken off. They had their chances to turn the game around, or even just get off the damned field, and failed.

Finally, man up and give credit to Terrelle Pryor and Ohio State. This can't be stressed enough: they dominated every single aspect of the game. As for Penn State, they had their two toughest opponents at home and blew it. While 10-2 is still within reach and sounds great, this season has already been cast upon the disappointment heap. Penn State will end up in some middle-tier bowl with a cheesy sponsor. Don't worry. We'll pretend to care about it.

Grading the Penn State Defense Against Michigan

BSD — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:15:22 -0000

More photos » by Carlos Osorio - AP

2 months ago: Penn State linebacker Josh Hull (43) sacks Michigan quarterback Tate Forcier (5) during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game in Ann Arbor, Mich., Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

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Oh, we heard a lot of talk about the Penn State defense before the game. Who had they played? They hadn't seen a rushing offense like Michigan. I think one of our resident BSD Wolverine fans predicted Minor and Brown BOTH going over 100 yards with Forcier getting another 60. So much for that, huh?

Defensive Line

Outside of that first series, they absolutely dominated the Wolverines who only gained 110 yards on the ground. This is the team that led the Big Ten averaging 235 yards per game

. Jared Odrick's 2 tackles and 0.5 TFL don't accurately illustrate how dominating he was. Eating up two blockers on pretty much every play, he disrupted everything Michigan wanted to do. And he should have had a safety but he overran the tackles and let Forcier get it away. On the next play he had the center so nervous the kid snapped the ball right out the back of the endzone.

Jack Crawford had perhaps his best day yet. After getting sucked inside on a few fake handoffs, he settled into his assignment and finished with 3 tackles, all for a loss, and a sack. He also forced the fumble on Robinson late in the game. In all the line finished with 13 tackles, 6.5 TFL, and 3 sacks. Devon Still and true freshman Jordan Hill recorded the other two sacks which makes me feel good about next year after Odrick is gone.

Final Grade: A

Linebackers

What can be said about Lavorro at this point? Not much, really, so I'll just point at the scoreboard: 11 tackles (6 solo), 1 fumble recovery, 1 INT, and 1 sack. As I predicted, Penn State held him back as a spy in passing situations and it worked to perfection. Every time Forcier tried to get out of the pocket to improvise, Bowman was there to drop him or make him get rid of it. By the end of the first quarter Forcier looked like a deer in the headlights. Welcome to the Big Ten, kid.

The Hull-stache had another great day with 10 tackles (6 solo), 2.5 TFL, and a sack. It must be the mustache, because this is not the same player we saw Brandon Minor dragging for 8 yard gains last year.

Bani Gbadyu and Sean Lee split time and combined for 8 tackles. Chris Colasanti got in the game briefly, and Forcier made him look silly by faking him out of his jock on a QB keeper.

Final Grade: A

Secondary

I'll say this: When the coaches let them man up and play, they did well. More on that later. Forcier only managed 140 yards on less than 50% passing. He threw the pick to Astorino, and was sacked five times. Many of the sacks on Forcier were coverage sacks where he couldn't find a man open. There were very few mistakes by the group other than a missed tackle or two.

Final Grade: A

Special Teams

Another so-so performance. Jeremy Boone has to shorten his windup for his punts. That's two he has had blocked this year, and you can bet every team from here on out will be gunning for him.

Collin Wagner hit his two short field goal attempts. Two of his seven kickoffs went for touchbacks. So it was a good day for him. The kickoff coverage team seems to get it now and they are holding down the big returns. At least I don't remember my heart skipping a beat as they make a shoe string tackle to prevent six points this week.

But our own kick returns were much improved highlighted by Chaz Powell's 54 yard return to open the second half.

The punt return game...seriously guys. Absolutely terrible. I shouldn't complain because they are catching the ball, but what was up with Zug catching the ball and starting to run only to find out Drew Astorino called for a fair catch? It's like the Keystone Cops out there. Let's put the dual return man thing to bed. There is absolutely nothing dynamic about our punt return game right now. Something tells me Joe Paterno likes it that way.

Final Grade: C

Defensive Coaching

Okay, so what happened on that first drive? For starters, Michigan had obviously been scripting those plays and practicing them for the past two weeks. They ran with no huddle and everyone obviously knew what they were supposed to do. Penn State had no time to make adjustments or switch personnel. That was a big factor in the drive.

As far as I can tell, the uncertainty surrounding the no huddle forced Penn State to go into some very simple base defensive sets. You know what means, right? Good ol' Cover-3. Forcier took advantage of the soft coverage three times for passes of 7, 7, and 20 yards. The big pass came when Sukay missed a tackle on a short screen. Crawford got sucked into a fake handoff allowing Forcier to gain 8 yards on one play. The rest of the drive was a lot of Carlos Brown and Minor RAGE for decent carries in the 6-8 yard range. But there were also some short 1 and 2 yard gains won by the defense.

Give credit to Michigan on that drive. They came out and hit Penn State in the mouth. I see a lot of Michigan blogs and fans asking why they got away from the running game after that drive, but truthfully, two out of Michigan's first three plays were good sized passing gains. Penn State tightened up the coverage after that and Michigan couldn't answer.

Checking the stats today, it is a beautiful sight. Penn State leads the conference in every single defensive statistic. Awesome.

Final Grade: A

A Friday Preview of Nittany Zombies - Minnesota v. Penn State - October 17, 2009

JG2112 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:30:14 -0000

More photos » by Carolyn Kaster - AP

Give me back my cane, or I'll put Royster in the Wild Nittany formation.

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Minnesota enters Zombie Nation fresh off a satisfying 35-20 Homecoming victory over Purdue. Last week I said Purdue was the best 1-4 team in college football. Forget that. Purdue is a terrible team. However, I've made enough hay at this site criticizing Brewster's coaching, his hires, and his recruits. I want to give Brewster credit. The team played tough, played a fundamentally sound game in a cold, gritty environment, and most importantly, they did what i said they should do. Don't believe me? Read from last week's preview:

I don't think Danny Hope is settled in as coach (he has the whiff of 2007 Brewster to him - not vintage yet and should be put back in the cellar for ripening). Fisch just needs to play the statistics, the angles, the mix of rushing and Decker, and get to 27 points. Ultimately, Purdue will screw up in some facet of the game - to not do so would belie their performances the last month. The Gophers have comparable talent to Purdue - they should be able to wait out Purdue's mistakes and plod to an unconvincing win, which fortunately counts just as much as a curb-stomping.

So, obviously someone over in Bierman is paying attention. Good. Well done, and way to get a solid victory.

Now the fun starts.

Earlier this summer TDG ran a series of previews detailing the 12 matchups comprising the Gophers' 2009 football regular season. On July 21, 2009, my glorious preview of the Penn State game made it to press here at TDG. Before getting into the meat of my preview today, I want to touch again on how TDG brings you cutting edge analysis and breakdowns unlike anywhere else in the Gopher football universe.

Back in July (and by the way, notice I predicted Minnesota should be 4-2 going into the Penn State game, huzzah), I touched upon what I thought was a weakness in Penn State's team - the special teams:

One additional point bears mentioning regarding PSU's special teams. The youngest and most inexperienced areas of Penn State's team are their wideouts and defensive backfield. Kickoff return teams normally field some reserve players from these units. As the starters for Penn State are younger, the backups are even younger. Troy Stoudermire should be able to exploit these players' inexperience and youth and have some big returns at Beaver Stadium.

The comments section of my glorious post found people actually willing to argue the point with me:

Special Teams is actually a unit I haven’t heard any PSU fan expressing concern about. Guys like Gerald Hodges, Bani Gbadyu, Andrew Dailey, Chris Colasanti, Nate Stupar are all excellant (sp) talents who could be starting, but will once again be taking the frustrations out on the coverage teams – these guys know how to get down the field and tackle.

Well, on Tuesday, we had Black Shoe Diaries in to talk about their favorite team from Happy Valley. Wouldn't you know what came up:

BSD - Penn State is playing a lot of young players on special teams this year. Normally your coverage teams consist of a lot of second string linebackers and safeties...or in other words, guys who know how to tackle. But Penn State is thin in the secondary due to years of poor recruiting, and they are thin at linebacker due to injuries. So now when I look at the coverage teams I see a lot of backup running backs and true freshmen. So early in the year it took a few shoe string tackles to keep Temple and Syracuse from returning kickoffs for touchdowns. They've made a lot of improvement since then, but they're still not great. They're good at filtering the play inside and stopping it, but not before they give up a 30 yard return. Minnesota should be able to get some good returns on kickoffs.

+1 to TDG.

Onto the preview. On Thursday night I listened to Tim Brewster's radio show on WCCO. It was basically a 60-minute recruitment advertisement, as it should be. Offensive line coach and "run game coordinator" Tim Davis also was on the show in a clear sell job for Seantrel Henderson. Two things the coaches said really stuck in my mind, one relevant to recruiting (and not relevant to this game), and one relevant to Penn State:

(1) Brewster talked up Fisch and Davis's coaching ability and the entire staff's NFL background, saying that every guy they sign should have the NFL as their goal, and that they have the ability to get these kids to "The League." Again, another reason why I don't get the coaching staff's recruitment philosophy. 13 of Minnesota's 20 recruits either had their only BCS offer from Minnesota, or had Minnesota and Purdue only (2). They obviously believe they can coach up these kids.

(2) Davis said specifically that they've been watching film on Penn State this week, and that Penn State hasn't changed what they've done offensively since Davis worked for Wisconsin.

So I checked my history. Galen Hall was brought in as Penn State's OC after the 2004 season, installing what evolved into the Spread HD offense. Tim Davis left Wisconsin after the 2001 season. I hope Davis has current film on the NIttany Lions.

You're going to get quite a bit of the Penn State perspective on this game by looking at GN's conversation with Black Shoe Diaries, both done here and the one GN did at BSD.

You've read about the special teams above, and you know that Minnesota should hold a significant advantage in special teams. Let's look at a few other statistical measures that could tilt the game Saturday:

(1) Penn State's rushing defense v. Duane Bennett, DeLeon Eskridge and Kevin Whaley (and Hoese, Salomon, etc.) - PSU ranks eighth nationally in rushing defense. Minnesota ranks 99th in rushing offense (TIM DAVIS C'MON). Let's keep in mind a couple things: first, Penn State's defense is skewed by having played 5 soup cans and Iowa in a rainstorm, and second, Minnesota has that lowly-ranked rushing attack despite 207 yards against Purdue. Egads. My guess: Minnesota rushes for about 130 yards with one touchdown.

(2) Penn State's scoring defense v. Minnesota's offense - Penn State has given up 10.2 ppg, and under 9 ppg at home. Minnesota is averaging about 30 ppg on the road, and 27 ppg for the season. With a clear sky, I would expect the Gophers to get about 24-27 points. We'll talk more about Mother Nature later.

(3) Let's quantify the punt and kick return games - Minnesota is 7th and 12th nationally in punt and kick return yards, respectively. Penn State is 65th and 93rd on punt and kick defense. Advantage, again, Minnesota, pending Mother Nature.

(4) Penn State getting sacks - Penn State is 7th nationally with 3.33 sacks per game, while Minnesota is 93rd giving up 2.5 sacks. State's front seven is stacked, with Navorro Bowman, Jared Odrick, Sean Lee (if healthy and playing), and others. This could be a problem - there's only so many ways to stop Penn State's D-line without committing 7 or 8 to block.

(5) The Collado factor - Penn State is third nationally in third-down conversions (55%). Minnesota is 112th in stopping teams on third down (48.4%). Beware the nickel scenarios, Gophers.

Finally, weather? Yes, weather. Have a look for yourself - cold, snowy, and in the 30s. What does that mean? Fumbles, conservative playcalling, and defense. The grass will cut up in Beaver Stadium. Linebackers. Importantly, this could test what is considered the nation's best student section to stay involved and loud for the entire game. And let's hope they can't, because Zombie Nation (and the accompanying "We. Are. Penn. State.") is easily becoming the most obnoxious college football audio experience this side of Fight On (USC - check NBC Saturday for your fill).

So, what do we think? We're Penn State's homecoming opponents, which is their letdown alert #1. Penn State plays at Michigan next Saturday, which is letdown alert #2. Potentially bad weather sets up letdown alert #3. The possibility of backbreaking special teams plays is letdown alert #4. Finally, I called this game for Minnesota back in July - letdown alert #5. While I'm not backing down now, I am revising the score due to potential weather. Fact is, Eric Decker is unplayable for defensive backs, Minnesota gets Cedric McKinley back on the D-line, and Minnesota's front seven will be playing an incredibly makeshift Penn State O-Line. Minnesota needs to shorten the game and play with focus. If so, well, my mind hasn't changed since July - Minnesota will win this game.

Minnesota 20 - Penn State 13.

Grading the Penn State Defense Against Eastern Illinois

BSD — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:00:39 -0000

More photos » by Carolyn Kaster - AP

Penn State defenders Jack Crawford, right, and Jared Odrick, celebrate Odrick's sack of Eastern Illinois quarterback Jake Christensen by hugging as grown men do during the first half of an NCAA college football game in State College, Pa., Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009. Penn State won 52-3. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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This is going to be short and sweet because, well, it's Eastern Illinois.

Defensive Line

The defensive line dominated as you expect against an opponent like this. The Panthers only managed 59 yards rushing on 32 attempts. Crawford, Ogbu, and Odrick combined for 4 sacks, 6 TFL, and 9 tackles. Odrick was particularly dominating, and Ogbu forced the fumble Navorro Bowman returned for the touchdown.

A bunch of the younger guys like James Terry, Sean Stanley, Chima Okoli, Jordan Hill, and Kevion Latham all got significant playing time.

Final Grade: A

Linebackers

Josh Hull and Navorro Bowman looked good. Hull had 11 tackles while Bowman had five. But Eastern Illinois really tried to run away from Bowman (wouldn't you?). Still he managed to get 2 TFL and of course he had fumble return for the touchdown. Bani Gbadyuand Nate Stupar did nothing to impress me.

A lot of the younger guys got in the game late, but to be honest I lost interest at that point and didn't see anything remarkable in their performance. I was glad to see Chris Colasanti get in there and get a sack. He's a good kid that just hasn't had his Penn State career go the way I'm sure he pictured it.

Final Grade: B

Secondary

I felt like the secondary took a step back in this game. Christensen only threw for 137 yards, but they just didn't look very tight. A.J. Wallace was making a lot of tackles 10-15 yards down field. He did have the interception, but I credit that to Ogbu who pressured Christensen forcing him to lob a ball up for grabs. It's not like Wallace baited him or read the play perfectly and anticipated it was going there.

I was really disappointed with Drew Astorino and Nick Sukay. They both just looked slow in getting to the ball, and Astorino flat out dropped a pick. Maybe it's time we give Gerald Hodges a look or two in the backfield. I was disappointed to not notice him in the game until late in the fourth quarter, and that was at outside linebacker. I guess we need the depth there right now, but I'm worried that the coaches' knee-jerk reaction to some linebacker injuries is going to stunt his development at safety. He had a really nice teeth-rattling hit on his lone tackle.

But once again I thought D'Anton Lynn and Stephon Morris played really well. Add Knowledge Timmons to that list as well. I'm not at all worried about our cornerback situation next year.

Final Grade: C

Special Teams

Penn State only punted twice all day which is an indicator of just how dominant they were. Boone only punted once for 37 yards which you would think dooms the special teams for a failing grade this week. Ryan had the other punt for 43 yards. Breen also got a shot at a kickoff, and nailed it in the endzone for a touchback. I think he deserves another shot, and Wagner needs to be put on notice that just getting it past the ten yard line isn't going to cut it anymore. The real season is starting, so if he can't get the job done, we'll give it to someone else who can.

But overall the special teams actually wasn't that bad this week. The kick off return coverage still looks a little soft. There were too many returns getting out to the 30 yard line, but I don't recall any kicks where we were a shoe string tackle away from giving up six points. For the most part they did a good job of filtering the play into the middle and containing it. Now they just have to get more aggressive at it. Maybe it's time to put Stupar back out there and let him destroy the wedge like he did last year. Curse you, Penn State linebacker knee hating God for putting us in the depth situation.

Both of Penn State's kick off returns went for touchbacks, so we can't evaluate the kick return game this week.

But the punt return game may have a new star. Justin Brown caught three punts on Saturday and his 20 yard return was the longest play Penn State has had all year.

Final Grade: B

Defensive Coaching

Nothing special to report here. They were fast and aggressive in the beginning until the game was in hand. Then they called off the dogs and put the younger guys in. Kudos to the coaches for keeping the intensity up against a lesser opponent. I was also glad to see a few cornerback blitzes in the package. This is a welcome new wrinkle.

Final Grade: A

Joe Paterno Press Conference Notes

BSD — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:15:09 -0000

More photos » by Pat Little - AP

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Here are the bullet points from Joe Paterno's weekly press conference.

Joe wasn't ready to say the running game has turned the corner yet. He says it takes more than one game. Illinois was more concerned about the pass which opened some things up, but they did a better job of holding their blocks this week. Joe expects more blitzing from Eastern Illinois so we'll see what happens.
Not surprisingly, Joe did not want to discuss the Bobby Bowden situation.
Joe has been pleased with the performance of Jack Crawford and Eric Latimore. Overall, he thinks the defense played well against Illinois.
There was a somewhat heated discussion about scheduling. You can hear the unedited version here.
Joe gave a rambling answer in reference to the defensive tackle rotation. Basically he has been pleased with the depth at defensive tackle and defensive end. He's still worried about depth at linebacker, and he would like to see the secondary get a little quicker at reacting to the ball.
Joe is very pleased with Jeremy Boone. Says Boone has made things a lot easier on the defense by giving them good field position.
Injury Update: Devon Smith is probably out. Nerraw McCormack is doubtful with a bum ankle. Brent Carter, Stephfon Green, and Chris Colasanti are all "banged up", and DeOn'tae Pannell "has an ankle". Most likely they will all play except for McCormack and Smith. Also, Sean Lee is out.
Chaz Powell will play. There were rumors he had the flu or something last week.
Quarless and Shuler have been doing a good job. They have been blocking well, and they felt they were going to be able to get them involved in the passing game against Illinois.
Not surprisingly, Joe calls Eastern Illinois a "good solid football team."
Joe was really impressed with Stephfon Green. Says he's come a long way and credits Galen Hall for coaching him up.
Joe isn't thrilled with running Clark as much as they did against Illinois, but he feels that some of the younger quarterbacks are coming along, so they can take some chances with Clark. Illinois opened up some things that lended themself to running Clark more. Going forward they may not do that.
Joe wishes they could have found more time for Newsome to play. But they want to put him in situations where he can succeed, because if they put him in there and he struggles they worry it may set him back.
Lou Eliades is coming along. He's learning how to play hurt and getting better.
Stephon Morris is playing cornerback in the nickle package and D'Anton Lynn is moving over to the nickle back. He's playing well and the staff is pleased

Depth Chartin': Last Clan Standing

Run Up The Score — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:44:41 -0000

It's been said here at BSD that depth charts are part information, part motivation. Perhaps now, we can just split it in thirds, because trickeration may have just walked into the bar.

Your starting linebackers, according to this week's Game Notes from GoPSUSports.com:

Outside Linebacker
45 Sean Lee (6-2, 236, Sr/Sr)
9 Michael Zordich (6-1, 225, So/Fr)
33 Michael Yancich (6-2, 223, So/Fr)
Inside Linebacker
43 Josh Hull (6-2, 236, Sr/Sr)
48 Chris Colasanti (6-2, 238, Jr/Jr)

Outside Linebacker
11 Navorro Bowman (6-1,230, Sr/Jr)
34 Nate Stupar (6-1, 236, Jr/So)
15 Bani Gbadyu (6-1, 231, Sr/Jr)
54 James Van Fleet (6-0, 216, So/Fr)

Lee and Bowman are listed as "possible" on the injury report. Possible. Anything is possible, right? Without Lee, we're probably looking at Gbadyu | Hull | Bowman. If Bowman is also out, expect Stupar to get the start in his place. And hold on, baby. Hold on. For now, Bowman is expected to play. Colasanti burned his redshirt last week, so he's available for duty if necessary.

Elsewhere, Johnnie Troutman is the starter at left guard. The left cornerback is Knowledge Timmons OR A.J. Wallace. James Terry has nudged his way up to second team DT. Graham Zug has been cleared to play on Saturday.

Iowa has its own share of injury news, as stud left tackle Bryan Bulaga, perpetually brittle tight end Tony Moeaki, and all-around villainous turd Derrell Johnson-Koulianos are missing from the Hawkeyes' depth chart:

Here’s what Ferentz said about the three after Saturday’s 27-17 victory over Arizona:

"Day to day. We talked about it a little earlier. Realistically we thought that they would have a shot, outside of Bryan. We knew he was out because he missed practice on Thursday. We were hoping to get some good news sooner or later. The injuries that Tony and Derrell have, they could be fine this week or they might not be. We will know more by Tuesday."

Marc Morehouse, Hawkeye reporter/blogger and BHGP fave, thinks the three will play.

Update: Lee has a possible ankle injury, too?

Grading the Penn State Defense Against Temple

BSD — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:00:21 -0000

More photos » by Carolyn Kaster - AP

3 months ago: Penn State linebacker Josh Hull reacts to dropping an interception against Temple during the first half of their NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009, in State College, Pa. Penn State won 31-6. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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The equivalent of the NFL exhibition season is over, and just like the NFL exhibition season, we are left to wonder if the team is as good as we think they are. The defense has performed like we hoped they would. They have yet to allow any opponent to score more than seven points. But is that due to the fact they are extremely talented and well coached, or is it just a byproduct of the level of competition they played? In any regard, let's grade the defense against the Temple Owls.

Defensive Line

I didn't come away as impressed with the defensive line this week as I had the first two games. Maybe I'm being too hard on them. I mean, they did hold Temple to just 46 yards rushing. I guess I'm spoiled by watching two weeks of Odrick hitting the ball carrier as soon as he gets the ball. They did have moments of brilliance. Jack Crawford had 2.5 TFL and a sack. Jared Odrick and James Terry chipped in with a sack by each. And Ollie Ogbu caused the first fumble that was recovered by the defense this year. The pressure was good all day, but every once in a while the Owls would rip off an eight yard gain right up the gut that made me wonder. But overall it was another great job by the defensive line.

Final Grade: B+

Linebackers

Let there be no doubt that Sean Lee is back, and I swear he looks faster than he did two years ago. Lee finished with 12 tackles, 2.5 TLF, and a sack. He looked nothing short of brilliant in stuffing the holes and blowing up any play Temple tried to run to the outside. His stellar performance earned him Big Ten Player of the Week honors for the third time in his career. It's so great to see him back.

Josh Hull I felt played a solid game, but he really is a liability in the passing game. Temple had most of their success in moving the ball by attacking the medium middle of the field or by attacking the short seems between the linebackers. This is Hull's territory.

The other linebacker spot was a steady rotation of Bani Gbadyu, Nate Stupar, and Chris Colasanti. None of these guys looked very spectacular, though they did combine for 12 tackles in the game. Penn State desperately needs Navorro Bowman back on the field.

FInal Grade: B

Secondary

At this point I don't have any worries about the defensive backfield. Temple really challenged the secondary in this game and I thought they performed very well. There was one major mistake where Temple overloaded the left side with receivers and Andrew Dailey lost his man on a wheel route giving up a 36 yard play just after the half.

I was particularly impressed with the young players D'Anton Lynn and Stephon Morris. The few times I saw Temple challenge them they were always in position to break up the pass. Morris specificially showed a lot of awareness when Temple tried to beat him deep on a flea flicker. The wide receiver faked as though he tripped to try to bait Morris into attacking the sweep coming his direction, but Morris didn't bite. After the game defensive coordinator Tom Bradley said he warned Morris to be ready for the play because Temple had run it against Penn State back in 2007, and Morris stuck with it proving he's a very heads up player. Bradley said after the game that Morris will be "playing alot" this year. It's truly remarkable to see Joe Paterno allow a true freshman to see so much time in a high profile position like cornerback like Morris is seeing this year.

Final Grade: B+

Special Teams

Would the word "horrible" be an understatement? This was by far the most disappointing part of the game. The kickoff game is terrible on both ends. The kickoff returns look completely out of sync. The wedge takes too long to form and even longer to get going. Devon Smith has all the speed in the world, but his blockers are going so slow he can't get it out of second gear. And of course there was the one kickoff return where Joe Suhey was caught napping and Temple recovered the onside kick.

As bad as the kick return game is going, the kickoff coverage team is even worse. A lot of Colin Wagner's kicks were landing at the seven yard line without a lot of hang time. Only one kick went for a touchback, and Temple returned two kicks out past the 35 yard line. When you look at the players being used they are young, they are inexperienced, and they are undisciplined in staying in their lanes. It's just a matter of time until the kickoff coverage team gives up an easy touchdown.

And what the heck is up with the punt return game? Have we returned a punt yet this year? I think it's time to call an end to the Royster/Zug/Astorino dual punt returners experiment. Last year every punt return was a threat to score with Derrick Williams back there. Now we know it's just a guaranteed fair catch. Graham Zug may have suffered a concussion on one hit he took, so for all of you that argued against me when I said punt returners don't get hurt, can I please get a side of honey-mustard to go with my crow?

Wagner nailed his one chip shot field goal attempt, and Jeremy Boone was his usually ninja-kicking self averaging 47.8 yards on four punts. Boone was the only person saving the special teams from a failing grade.

Final Grade: D

Defensive Coaching

It's Temple. They held them to six points. Meh. Draw up plays in the dirt and we still win.

Final Grade: B

Penn State's Reason For Hope #2 - We're Linebacker U

BSD — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:00:11 -0000

More photos » by Carolyn Kaster - AP

Yeah they're ok. I could have had guns like that back in my days at Brown. But I was too busy chasing girls and eating pasta. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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Some things never change from year to year. Lou Holtz will always think Notre Dame is going undefeated. Jim Tressel will be rocking the sweater vest like it's a 1955 Sock Hop. Pitt will always suck. And Penn State will churn out a batch of man-eating linebackers. 2009 is no exception.

Linebackers have always been the heart and soul of Joe Paterno's defense. From Jack Ham and Dennis Onkotz to Ed O'Neil and Greg Buttle to Shane Conlan and Trei Bauer to LaVar Arrington and Brandon Short to Paul Posluszny and Dan Connor, Penn State has been turning out dominating linebackers for five decades.

Last year Navorro Bowmanemerged as a dominating force in only his redshirt sophomore year. Bowman led the team in tackles with 106 (61 solo), and was second in tackles for loss with 16.5, And though Penn State played their worst game of the year in the Rose Bowl, Bowman played his best game recording five solo tackles for loss against the Trojans. This year, with the full hype kicking in from the first snap of the season, Bowman is poised to rocket himself into many of the post season award shows. And then he will probably rocket himself into a first round draft pick next April.

But it won't be Bowman everyone will be watching when Akron lines up in a little over a week from now. All eyes will be on No. 45, Sean Lee. The senior captain returns this year after missing the 2008 season with an ACL injury. He took home the MVP in the 2007 Alamo Bowl and was poised for an All American year last season, but now we're blessed to see him on the field where we have plenty of other questions to address. His leadership and experience will be priceless in leading a defense that is rebuilding in several areas.

Mike Mauti was most likely fill in the third spot in the linebacker group, but an ACL injury brought that to an end. But don't cry for me, Argentina. Penn State has plenty of bodies to fill in. Josh Hull played all 13 games last year in Sean Lee's absence. Though he has been the subject of a lot of criticism here and in other venues, Hull brings tremendous experience, a good work ethic, and a tough attitude.

Backing up these guys is no shortage of talent. Nate Stupar is becoming one of my favorite players. I've mentioned this numerous times, but even though Derrick Williams got all the attention with is electrifying kick and punt returns, Stupar was the MVP on special teams last year. Every time Williams had a big return, No. 34 was there throwing a key block. Every time the kickoff coverage team stopped the opponent before he crossed the 20, it was No. 34 making the initial contact. And it was No. 34 fighting through double-team blocks to block two punts. The man was everywhere, and if he didn't play behind Lavorro he would be everywhere on defense.

As far as the rest of the guys, look for Bani Gbadyuto have a breakthrough year. He's seeing time at middle linebacker, and I have a hunch the coaches have finally figured out how to play him to his strengths. Let's just say if I'm an opposing coach and I see Gbadyu come in the game, I would look for the blitz.

With Mike Zordich and Mike Yancich Penn State probably has the best third string linebackers in the country. This group is so good the decision has already been made to redshirt Chris Colasanti, a former four-star prospect, in his third year.

The Linebacker U tradition is alive and well. And if history is an indicator, when Penn State has good linebackers, the defense is pretty nasty. Consider half the puzzle solved.

Penn State Lift For Life Recap

BSD — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 19:15:30 -0000

More photos » by Carolyn Kaster - AP

FILE - In this Friday, Aug. 8, 2008, file photo Penn State wide receiver Brett Brackett - President of the PSU Chapter for Uplifting Athletes.. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

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Yesterday was the annual Lift for Life at Holuba Hall, and the Penn State players teamed up to set a new record for money raised for kidney cancer treatment and research.

The Seventh Annual Uplifting Athletes "Lift for Life" event held Friday at Holuba Hall was another unprecedented success with large crowds and a record total of more than $81,000 raised for the Kidney Cancer Association. The event has now raised nearly $400,000 in its seven years of existence.

Kudos to Brett Brackett who serves as the president of the Penn State Chapter of Uplifting Athletes for putting together this great event.

"In the past seven years, they've developed three new treatments for kidney cancer, in that time we've raised over $300,000," Brackett said. "We take pride and like to think we've played a little bit of a part in that happening.
"One of the cool things is that we look back and see who's donated in years past and the majority of the people that have donated in years past continue to donate. I think they just have such a great feel for what we do, they know the money's going toward a good thing, and with the economy the way it is, people aren't going to donate to something they're not confident in."

Team LBU consisting of Sean Lee, Navorro Bowman, Josh Hull, and Mickey Shuler won the competition. Behold as Lord Zug explains why Team LBU performed so well.

Still, some players are more cut out for the challenge than others.

"The linebackers," said 178-pound wide receiver Graham Zug, with little hesitation. "They’re big, strong and fast. Being big, strong and fast usually helps you out a lot. Being a receiver, not as much. It’s tough for smaller guys who can’t carry as much."

Zug's team finished third. Regretfully, his teammates were instantly vaporized. Chris Colasanti, James McDonald, and Kevin Newsome will be missed.

The other benefit of the Lift for Life is that it gives the media a chance to interview the players which gives us some good football-related reading material in the middle of July. Here are some of the more interesting articles I've come across.

Nitt Picks Is Running Like Hell

Run Up The Score — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 17:02:55 -0000

More photos » by PAT LITTLE - AP

9 months ago: Penn State linebacker Sean Lee (45) talks with teammate Chris Colasanti during spring football practice on Friday, March 27, 2009 in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Pat Little)

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Okay, back to football.

Penn State recently held its annual Coaches' Clinic -- this year it was indoors at Holuba Hall due to the windy conditions. For the uninitiated, it's an event attended by hundreds of high school coaches from across the state. There are instructional presentations by the PSU coaches, but the big news always comes out of the live scrimmage.

Last year, the highly unusual news was the offense performing quite well against the defense. This year, things seem to have reverted to the defense just mauling its adversaries. Some reports from across the state:

Mark Wogenrich, Allentown Morning Call (which also has a two-deep depth chart):

On the very first play of the scrimmage, tight end Andrew Quarless jumped offsides. Head coach Joe Paterno was all over him.

Paterno also worked over cornerback Knowledge Timmons, who seemed physical but uncertain when to turn it on and off. He looked like a perpetual pass-interference flag waiting to happen.

Running back Evan Royster is effortlessly smooth. He scored on a 40-yard run that didn’t seem to require much energy expenditure.

Bit of a surprise to see Andrew Dailey at strong safety. Dailey, a 6-2 redshirt sophomore, spent last season at receiver and linebacker. True freshman Gerald Hodges was at third-team safety.

Sophomore receiver A.J. Price is listed at 173 pounds.That has to include pads.

[More from Wogenrich here.]

Bob Flounders, Harrisburg Patriot-News:

Penn State is rebuilding an offensive line that lost three first-team All-Big Ten choices to graduation. By the time the Big Ten season rolls around next falll, the unit might be solid enough to hold its own. ... There were few surprises. Senior Knowledge Timmons started at the one cornerback spot opposite A.J. Wallace and sophomore Andrew Dailey -- listed as a linebacker on the roster -- worked at one of the safety spots along with Drew Astorino.

[And from a different Flounders PennLive.com link: Harrisburg High redshirt freshman defensive tackle Brandon Ware, who is rumored to be down to 341 pounds after spending much of 2008 in the 360s, worked with the third-team defense and was a handful when an O-lineman tried to engage him one-on-one. ... Shuler caught a touchdown pass from Clark, one of the rare shining moments for the offense. ... Sophomore Jon Ditto, listed as a wideout on the roster, is working at outside linebacker. ... Other notables who were held out of practice were defensive end Jerome Hayes (knee) and tailbacks Stephfon Green (ankle) and Brent Carter (knee)]

Eric Thomas, Carlisle Sentinel:

Judging by one scrimmage in limited work against the first team defense, it appears redshirt freshman walk-on Matt McGloin may have the edge over Kevin Newsome. Newsome looked tentative under center, had a pass batted down at the line and was mugged by defensive end Kevion Latham and was off on deep balls during the scrimmage. The true freshman from Virginia who enrolled in January also had trouble handling some snaps both with the first and second string offensive line and appeared to be off on his timing when under center. On one play Newsome appeared to have trouble with a three-step drop. At first glance he appeared to throw the ball a lot of like Michael Robinson did, a side-armed somewhat inaccurate style.

The first team offensive line had DeOn’Tae Pannell at left tackle, Matt Stankiewitch at left guard, Stefen Wisniewski at center, Lou Eliades at right guard and Dennis Landolt at right tackle.

First team defense was Latham and Jack Crawford at the ends, Jared Odrick and Ollie Ogbu inside. Mike Mauti, Josh Hull and Navarro Bowman were the linebackers.

Sean Lee was held out of contact during the scrimmage and will do so all spring.

The secondary had A.J. Wallace and Knowledge Timmons at the corners with Andrew Dailey at free safety and Drew Astorino at strong safety.

The second team defensive line had Pete Massaro and Eric Latimore at the ends with Devon Still and Abe Koroma inside. Bani Gbadyu, Chris Colasanti and Nate Stupar at the linebackers and a secondary of D’Anton Lynn and Devin Fentress at the corners and Cedric Jeffries and Nick Sukay at the safety spots.

Jon Ditto, a one-time tight end, worked out with the linebackers.

On the first play the first team offense ran, tight end Andrew Quarless jumped. It appears the starting tight end spot is up for grabs between Quarless and East Pennsboro’s Mickey Shuler. Shuler made a nice grab on a throw from McGloin and later on a beautiful throw from Clark scored. Chaz Powell has inherited the Derrick Williams role, even his No. 2. Powell lined up in the backfield on several snaps.

Harrisburg’s Brandon Ware had a strong showing taking down reserve lineman Jonathan Stewart to pressure the quarterback and later knocking down a pass at the line of scrimmage.

The takeaways? No surprise that the defensive line is going to be amazing, and with the return of Sean Lee, Penn State will probably have the best front seven in the conference. Pray to whatever gods you believe in for the health of Daryll Clark, because Newsome isn't even close to being ready for live action. If Clark goes down, we're officially in "entering a world of pain" territory unless Newsome or McGloin improve greatly. Be afraid, again, about the defensive secondary, although Penn State can (for the second straight year) take comfort in the fact that they won't face many prolific passing attacks in the Big Ten. The coaching staff is quite obviously looking at various defensive back combinations -- let's hope they come up with a winning superfecta by October. Finally, the wide receiver position remains problematic. Zug jokes aside, they're not scaring anybody with a competent pass defense, and that means we're going to need a hell of a lot more from Mickey Shuler and...gulp...Andrew Quarless.