SB Nation - Andrew Quarless

If College Football Had a Playoff: #12 Penn State NIttany Lions @ #5 Florida Gators

Jeremy Mauss — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:00:26 -0000

Continuing the new break out hit of the season "What if College Football had a Playoff" returns for game three of the playoff. Before we get to game three the previous matchup of #9 Georgia Tech at #8 Ohio State was a hotly contested matchup with the fan vote going to Georgia Tech upsetting the higher seeded Buckeyes.

This current matchup of Penn State traveling to the swamp against the Florida Gators will be another good game in this bracket (you hear that BCS). After losing the SEC title game we will all see if Tim Tebow can will the Gators through another four games to repeat as national champions.

Penn State will use their defense that gave up only 11.8 points per game to try to stop the Florida Gators which will only hold up for so long.

Penn State on offense will be the problem they will do their typical clam up into a shell and try to run against Florida. The Gator defense is too much, and will be able to stop the Nittany Lion offense. Neither offense will do much in this game as both have been spotty all year, but as mentioned above the Gator defense will be the key.

To give some help to those who are not sure who would win I turned to What if Sports to simulate this game. The outcome was as I expected which was a low scoring affair with Florida coming from behind to win 16-10. Florida scored the last 13 points after being behind 10 - 3 at the half. From the play by play the Gators were able to run the ball a little more effectively to pull out the win.

The What if Sports is not the decider in this game, you yes you! The readers of this site decide who moves onto the next round.

So gather your friends to stuff the ballot and check back daily at 12 PM eastern time to vote for the next matchup, and voting is only open for 24 hours. As they say in Chicago vote early and vote often.

Penn 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
Daryll Clark	12	93.0	214	337	63.5	2787	232.3	8.3	23	10	73	191	15.9	2.6	7	-	-
Matthew McGloin	1	0.0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	-
Kevin Newsome	8	70.0	8	11	72.7	66	8.3	6	0	0	20	95	11.9	4.8	2	-	-

Rushing

		Rushing					Receiving
	G	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD
Brandon Beachum	8	24	113	14.1	4.7	1	3	29	3.6	9.7	0
Brent Carter	5	13	46	9.2	3.5	1	0	0	0	0	0
Daryll Clark	12	73	191	15.9	2.6	7	0	0	0	0	0
Curtis Drake	5	3	27	5.4	9	0	7	86	17.2	12.3	0
Stephfon Green	10	64	284	28.4	4.4	3	5	79	7.9	15.8	0
Derek Moye	11	1	-3	-0.3	-3	0	45	732	66.5	16.3	5
Kevin Newsome	8	20	95	11.9	4.8	2	0	0	0	0	0
Chaz Powell	10	9	76	7.6	8.5	0	27	355	35.5	13.1	3
Evan Royster	12	188	1104	92	5.9	6	16	187	15.6	11.7	2
Devon Smith	6	4	33	5.5	8.3	0	4	30	5	7.5	0
Joe Suhey	12	19	59	4.9	3.1	0	21	186	15.5	8.9	1
Shaine Thompson	2	3	14	7	4.7	0	0	0	0	0	0

Receiving

		Receiving
	G	Rec	Yds	Y/G	AVG	TD
Brandon Beachum	8	3	29	3.6	9.7	0
Brett Brackett	3	3	13	4.3	4.3	1
Justin Brown	3	5	78	26	15.6	0
Curtis Drake	5	7	86	17.2	12.3	0
Stephfon Green	10	5	79	7.9	15.8	0
Derek Moye	11	45	732	66.5	16.3	5
Chaz Powell	10	27	355	35.5	13.1	3
Andrew Quarless	12	33	448	37.3	13.6	3
Evan Royster	12	16	187	15.6	11.7	2
Mickey Shuler	9	11	89	9.9	8.1	2
Devon Smith	6	4	30	5	7.5	0
Joe Suhey	12	21	186	15.5	8.9	1
Andrew Szczerba	1	1	6	6	6	0
Graham Zug	11	42	549	49.9	13.1	7

Kicking

		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts
Collin Wagner	12	-	-	-	-	-	11	18	60.0%	45	45	100.0%	78

Florida 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
John Brantley	6	113.0	36	48	75	410	68.3	8.5	7	0	13	67	11.2	5.2	0	-	-
Tim Tebow	13	103.0	182	279	65.2	2413	185.6	8.6	18	5	203	859	66.1	4.2	13	-	-

Rushing

		Rushing					Receiving
	G	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD
Andrew Blaylock	1	4	6	6	1.5	0	0	0	0	0	0
John Brantley	6	13	67	11.2	5.2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Vincent Brown	2	3	1	.500	.300	0	0	0	0	0	0
Riley Cooper	13	1	14	1.1	14	0	44	780	60	17.7	8
Mike Gillislee	5	26	189	37.8	7.3	1	1	6	1.2	6	1
Aaron Hernandez	12	1	16	1.3	16	0	59	729	60.8	12.4	4
Emmanuel Moody	11	50	364	33.1	7.3	1	4	26	2.4	6.5	0
Chris Rainey	13	85	548	42.2	6.4	4	6	90	6.9	15	1
Christopher Scott	1	9	26	26	2.9	0	0	0	0	0	0
Tim Tebow	13	203	859	66.1	4.2	13	0	0	0	0	0
Deonte Thompson	9	1	-2	-0.2	-2	0	19	280	31.1	14.7	3

Receiving

		Receiving
	G	Rec	Yds	Y/G	AVG	TD
Riley Cooper	13	44	780	60	17.7	8
Mike Gillislee	5	1	6	1.2	6	1
Frankie Hammond Jr	5	4	57	11.4	14.3	1
Aaron Hernandez	12	59	729	60.8	12.4	4
Omarius Hines	5	14	172	34.4	12.3	1
Cade Holliday	4	6	102	25.5	17	1
Emmanuel Moody	11	4	26	2.4	6.5	0
David Nelson	10	23	254	25.4	11	2
Chris Rainey	13	6	90	6.9	15	1
Deonte Thompson	9	19	280	31.1	14.7	3
Justin Williams	4	6	50	12.5	8.3	2

Kicking

		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts
Caleb Sturgis	12	-	-	-	-	-	21	28	80.0%	38	40	100.0%	101
Jonathan Phillips	3	-	-	-	-	-	0	1	0	14	16	90.0%	14

Poll

Who wins this matchup?

Florida Gators

91 votes

Penn State Nittany Lions

109 votes

200 votes | Poll has closed

Conversations With the Enemy: Talking Penn State with Run Up The Score

LVS — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:07:03 -0000

More photos » by TONY DING - AP

about 1 month ago: Penn State tight end Andrew Quarless (10) scores a touchdown after a 60-yard reception in the second quarter of an NCAA college football game against Michigan, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)

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Hello again. I traded a few questions about Saturday's EPIC rivalry game with Run Up The Score from Black Shoe Diaries, SBN's leviathan Penn State blog. My answers to his questions should be up at BSD shortly.

Below, I'm in bold.

MSU-PSU: great rivalry or greatest rivalry?

Greatest, of course! How else could you explain two teams fighting over a pre-school arts and crafts monstrosity like the Land Grant Trophy?

Penn State allowed almost 300 yards passing against Indiana last Saturday; that statistic alone gives MSU fans at least some hope, as our offense is essentially pass-or-bust this year. How has PSU's pass defense been this season? Are there any clear vulnerabilities in the secondary?

Keep in mind that Indiana threw the ball 51 times and was playing from behind in the second half last week, but yes, the larger point is that teams know it's better to throw on Penn State than attempt to run. I would not be remotely surprised if MSU attempts close to 50 passes on Saturday, although I doubt they'll reach the 61 passes thrown by Brian Hoyer against PSU back in 2006 -- and that was in a 17-13 game. 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.

[More, after the jump.]

PSU leads the conference in sacks. Does the pressure come primarily from the defensive line, or will the Lions regularly mix in blitz packages?

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.

The book on Darryl Clark seems to be that he's fantastic if given time, but quickly becomes very average if he's subjected to pressure. Is that mostly correct? What are his major strengths and weaknesses?

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.

Can you tell us a bit about PSU's receivers and tight ends? Our pass defense has been atrocious, and Andrew Quarless, in particular, worries me greatly.

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.

As for Quarless, he has all the talent in the world but had squandered it until this season with various off-field issues. He scares a lot of teams, although he's only broken 50 yards receiving once this year, due to a 60 yard touchdown catch against Michigan. 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.

Special teams have seemed to be a major problem all season long for PSU. Have things improved at all in recent weeks? If not, which areas are the most dire? (Happily enough, MSU's special teams have been mostly fantastic all season long.)

Improved? No, no. It's a worsening nightmare by the week. Penn State is 113th in kickoff returns, 107th in punt returns, 114th in net punting, 57th in kickoff coverage, and 117th in punt return yardage allowed. On top of that, our punt returners (Zug and Astorino) went from being Designated Fair Catchers to dropping everything in sight last week. So relatively speaking, we're downright awesome in covering kickoffs. In our two losses, the game turned on a blocked punt for a touchdown against Iowa and a punt return inside the 10 yard line by Ohio State's Ray Small.

Is there anyone on offense or defense for PSU that MSU fans probably haven't heard of, but that we should keep an eye on?

Curtis Drake is a good candidate on offense. He's a true freshman receiver, and is extremely elusive with the ball in his hands. Last week, PSU's offense was jumpstarted by a long gainer on an end-around by Drake. Defensively, freshman Stephon Morris has seen a lot of time in Penn State's nickel package and has played well beyond anyone's expectations. Given Michigan State's propensity to throw the ball, you'll see a lot of him Saturday.

Finally, generally speaking, how are you feeling about the game?

Justifiably nervous. I don't like hearing that Michigan State excels on special teams -- that's a huge point that can't be overlooked. Penn State tends to start slowly, especially on the road, and that seems to be an especially bad idea this week with a possible BCS at-large bid on the line. Michigan State will be plenty motivated, given the beating they received last year at Beaver Stadium and Mark Dantonio's pissy-pants antics of calling two defensive timeouts during the waning seconds of the game in sub-freezing temperatures. And every Penn State fan is expecting a minimum of two special teams disasters.

Thanks to RUTS, and I wish his team only the absolute worst luck this Saturday.

Senior Day Haiku

BSD — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:00:33 -0000

by Carlos Osorio - AP

View full size photo »

This Saturday will mark the fourth senior day in the history of this fine blog. Tomorrow afternoon 18 seniors will run out of the tunnel for the last time wearing the Blue and White. Some of them will go on to try to earn a roster spot in the NFL. Others will go on to lead successful careers in business and life. Some are stars. Some are little known walk ons. They got up every day at 5 AM for four years to lift weights and run sprints so they could put on a show for us twelve Saturdays a year. They are heroes. They are legends. They are Penn State football.

If you're new to BSD this season, we have a tradition where we honor all of the senior players, from the All Americans to the third string long snapper, with a little ditty we call Senior Day Haiku. Feel free to add your own Haiku in the comments. We'll go in alphabetical order.

P - Jeremy Boone

He must hate the ball
Holy Cow did you see that?
He just hit the moon!

QB - Daryll Clark

Roll out and go deep
Never good enough for some
Just short of legend

TE - Brennan Coakley

You might have been good
Just too many injuries
We will never know

DE - Tom Golarz

Did you notice that
Golarz rhymes with solarz?
That is all I got

DE - Jerome Hayes

I still remember
You sacking Jimmy Clausen
Man, that was awesome

LB - Josh Hull

Went from suck to good
It must have been the mustache
Bow-chicka-bow-bow

OL - Dennis Landolt

Quiet performer
Right or left doesn't matter
I got your back, Clark

LB - Sean Lee

Your torn ACL
Brought you back another year
We're thankful for that

WR - Patrick Mauti

Sorry ‘bout the knee
Wait, you're not the linebacker?
Your brother is good

OL - Nerraw McCormack

You waited your turn
Got your chance but hurt yourself
Wasn't meant to be

CB - Shelton McCullough

Ran out the tunnel
I would kill to do that once
Gradulations, dude

DT - Jared Odrick

You know I own you
Double team? Doesn't matter
Running back is mine

LS - Andrew Pitz

The unheralded
Long snappers are people too
You did a good job

OL - Ako Poti

Please don't let Clark die
Nightmares of Heyward haunt me
Please, God, make it stop

TE - Andrew Quarless

Crossing the middle
Missed a block and dropped a pass
Joe's dog house must suck

TE - Mickey Shuler

Like father like son
All you did was play steady
Paterno likes that

CB - Knowledge Timmons

What was that blue streak?
Knowledge gunning the sideline
Look out return man

CB - A.J. Wallace

High expectations
Joe says too loosey goosey
Cover-3 just blows

Game 10: Indiana Hoosiers at Penn State Nittany Lions.

John M (The Crimson Quarry) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:38:40 -0000

More photos » by Carolyn Kaster - AP

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Penn State Nittany Lions

2009 record: 8-2 (4-2)

2008 record: 11-2 (7-1), Big Ten Champions; lost to USC in Rose Bowl

2008 Sagarin: 8

2009 Sagarin: 19

Coach: Joe Paterno (44th season, 391-129-3)

Series: Penn State leads 12-0.

TV: noon, Big Ten Network

Blogs: Black Shoe Diaries, Zombie Nation, The Nittany Line.

IU must win out to become bowl eligible, and the next obstacle is a team that IU has never defeated. Despite the 0-12 record, IU has been reasonably competitive with Penn State when playing at home. Of the five games played in Bloomington (plus the one game played in Indianapolis), four have been decided by a touchdown or less (although the 1994 game wasn't really that close). Of the six games in State College, only IU's first trip, a 38-31 loss in 1993, was competitive.

Penn State began the season with national championship hopes, but the Nittany Lions have dropped two home games, to Iowa and to Ohio State. The Penn State offense has been respectable, but a dominant defense has been the key to the Lions' 8-2 record. Penn State allows only 262 yards per game and barely ten points per game, both top ten figures. In the 21-10 loss to Iowa and the 24-7 loss to Ohio State, the Penn State offense has failed, not the defense. Quarterback Daryll Clark has been respectable as a passer, completing 61 percent of his passes and throwing for 18 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. He also has run for 168 yards and 6 touchdowns. Evan Royster leads the Lions with 895 yards and an incredible 5.7 yards per carry. Penn State spreads things around with the passing game: wide receivers Graham Zug, Derek Moye, and Chaz Powell, and tight end Andrew Quarless all have between 347 and 648 receiving yards. On defense, as always, there are too many to name for the Nittany Lions, but linebacker Josh Hull averages nearly 10 tackles per game.

The Hoosiers have struggled to run the ball, and despite moving the ball reasonably well in the air, have struggled to score. The Penn State defense has excelled at both stopping the run and keeping opponents out of the end zone. There's really no positive gloss to put on this game. IU is a decided underdog, and a win would be a big surprise. Despite a mostly competitive season, the Hoosiers have no more margin for error.

Making Big Plays?

BSD — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:30:27 -0000

More photos » by Carolyn Kaster - AP

about 1 month ago: Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, right, frowns as he looks at assistant coaches Larry Johnson, center, and Tom Bradley, left, during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Ohio State in State College, Pa., Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009. Ohio State won 24-7(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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We just couldn't make some big plays. -Joe Paterno

When I heard Joe Paterno mutter those words in his post game press conference, I just shook my head. What kind of big play were you hoping for, Joe? Were you hoping Evan Royster could run over right guard for four yards instead of two? Were you hoping tight end Mickey Shuler was going to turn that five yard pass into a seventy yard touchdown? Please don't tell me you were hoping the special teams were going to bail you out sooner or later. You can't return fair catches for touchdowns, you know.

It's not hard to figure out what went wrong on Saturday. Ohio State kept pinning the Penn State offense deep. The special teams couldn't buy them any room. Joe didn't want to take chances, so he played it safe by running right into the teeth of the Buckeye defensive line. Then they kept giving Ohio State the ball at midfield which allowed them to take some chances on offense. Once the Buckeyes got the lead, they shoved the dagger home. Or arm-punted it home. Whatever. Joe Paterno got suckered into playing Tressel Ball, and he lost again.

I felt bad for the players as the boos rained down in the fourth quarter. It's important that they know those boos were not intended for them. Though the players made their share of mistakes, they just ran the plays that were called. It's not their fault that the play calling did not put them in a position to succeed.

Nobody should pin this loss on Daryll Clark. He played well considering his offensive line stood about as stiff as a house of cards in a hurricane. He made some ill-advised throws late in the game, but you could tell he was pressing and trying to make something happen. You can't blame him for that.

Truthfully, the interception was the fault of Andrew Quarless for not paying attention and having his hands up. The ball went right past him to the defender. Quarless had an absolutely terrible game. His blocking was as bad as I've ever seen it. In his defense, there were times he was asked to block a defensive lineman all by himself. That's a mismatch, but truth be told, if you want to play in the NFL, you need to make those blocks, son. And maybe if you catch the ball once in a while that would be good too.

The offensive line is what it is: A decent left tackle, a center that is probably better suited to play guard, and three inexperienced guys out there hoping they don't screw up. I'm sure Ako Poti was a very fine junior college player, but he's clearly not Big Ten material. The right tackle position has been a disappointment all season no matter who plays there. At left guard, Johnnie Troutman was so bad he got pulled in the second half. In fairness to him, he obviously injured his leg somehow in the first half. Matt Stankiewitch wasn't much better, but he's just a redshirt sophomore so I'm not writing him off yet. Next year everyone returns except Poti, McCormack, and Landolt. I have confidence they'll get better, and if not there are some pretty good freshman who should push them. This was just a year where rebuilding the offensive line hurt us, and I think we knew it would going into the season.

The defense played pretty well considering the offense went three-and-out seven times and gave Ohio State a short field to work with all night. But they were far from perfect.

Based on the last two games, Navorro Bowman is nowhere near ready for the NFL. Maybe his leg is bothering him or something and we don't know about it, but all night long he looked slow and his tackling form was terrible. Terrelle Pryor made him look ridiculous on his touchdown run. And I noticed it looked like Bowman was struggling to catch his breath just midway through the first quarter. Remember his 90 yard fumble return against Eastern Illinois where he ran out of gas with 30 yards to go? And remember how Paterno called him out a few weeks ago for lousy conditioning? It showed on Saturday night. Bowman better start getting his butt out of bed at 5 AM and running steps if he wants to play in the league.

It's been pretty obvious to me all year that the weakness of this defense is the safeties. Ohio State was the first team capable of making them pay for it. It was obvious they were picking on Astorino all afternoon. It's been known for some time that Astorino has been nursing a shoulder injury of some kind. He's not his aggressive self and it's obvious he's avoiding contact. Nick Sukay is doing an okay job at the other safety spot, but he doesn't have the athletic ability to make up for a cornerback that blows his coverage. I'm completely disappointed that Gerald Hodges hasn't seen more playing time this year. All we heard about all spring and summer long was how great he looked in practice. Well, why couldn't he see a few series when a game actually meant something? Instead they moved him to linebacker as a knee jerk reaction to Sean Lee getting injured. Way to waste his redshirt.

It sounds like I'm pretty down on the team right now, but really I'm not. I predicted 10-2 with an outside chance at 11-1 or 12-0. We all knew it was going to be a tough year to go undefeated when you have no experience in the offensive line, wide receiver, and secondary. This was a rebuilding year, so to win ten games and go to a New Years Day bowl game should make us feel pretty good about the direction of the program. It sure beats the four loss seasons of 2006 and 2007. And it sure as Hell beats the unmitigated disasters we saw in the early part of this decade. So this loss hurts right now, but we will rise again. Look out for this team down the road.

I'm not going to break down the offense and defense this week as I usually do. I've said everything I want to say right here. And besides, it's my blog and I'll cry if I want to.

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.

Recap of Week 9 in the Big 10: Bob Davie is the New Pam Ward, Stanziballs, Purdue Drops

grahamfiller10 — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:15:25 -0000

Iowa 42, Indiana 24

Bob Davie is the new Pam Ward, an announcer whose voice and comments make me want to implode. Bob was at his best Saturday, playing up the old "aw shucks, I don't have any idea what's going on" persona. Some lowlights:

Referring to Adrian Clayborn as "Adam Clayborn" about 5 times.
Davie flipped his lid after the late Stanzi touchdowns. "Some quarterbacks would have literally, literally gone back in the lockerrom, but Stanzi came out here and made plays," Davie commented incorrectly, as I have never ever seen a quarterback go sit in the lockerrom out of pure frustration.
"3-3, 177 yards is an unbelievable 4th quarter, that's 41 yards per reception!" Wrong.
"Who would have believed that Ricky Stanzi would be 3-3 for 177 yards in the fourth quarter? Who?" Davie's partner is silent, confused, probably embarrassed.

Terrelle Pryor had a tremendously bad third quarter against Purdue, throwing two picks and leading the Bucks to -7 yards. Ricky Stanzi had a much worst third quarter, whipping one unbelievably bad pick after another into the confused Indiana secondary. People at my gym were watching the game in disbelief, pointing at Stanzi and whispering excitedly like schoolgirls. Weird, weird times.

I love scoring clutch TD's, I love scoring clutch TD's...

The Hoosiers refuse to finish games after starting out like a house of fire against Michigan, NW, and Iowa. What gives? Two main reasons are behind this. First, the Hoosiers offense is built on clever misdirection passes from the Pistol formation, which allows them to succeed even with a little less talent on the offensive side of the ball. Once defenses get accustomed to the fakes and short passes, Indiana's offensive options become limited. Second, the Hoosiers secondary isn't very talented. When teams have to throw, this unit tends to break down.

Here's a fun Hoosier statistic:

First Half Points v. Michigan: 23...Second Half Points v. Michigan: 10

First Half Points v. NW: 28...Second Half Points v. NW: 0

First Half Points v. Iowa: 21...Second Half Points v. Iowa: 3

Minnesota 42, Michigan State 34

I still think I was right in calling for Weber to be benched in favor of Gray. Wait, what's that? 416 passing yards and 5 touchdowns?

Michigan State's 4-5 record serves as a constant reminder that 1) you should never ever gamble using my advice and 2) Pat Narduzzi's secondary is probably the most embattled unit in the entire Big Ten.

McKnight, Tow-Arnett, and Green stepped up with big time catches at a time when no one expected them to. Odd how the loss of Decker brought out the best in that young group. There's going to be a pitched battle between Andrew Quarless and Tow-Arnett for 2nd team All-Big 10 tight end.

Wisconsin 37, Purdue 0

Worst game of Hope's year, worse than the 7 turnover performance against Northwestern. There was no creativity, no run game, no toughness.

Worst case of the drops I have ever seen and I mean that. I'm guessing 8 drops by the receivers. Carlos, Smith, Valentin...Elliot's 5-23 performance probably could have been 15-23 or so.

Apparently the key to stopping Wisconsin...is exactly the same as it was the last 10 years. Slow the run game early and force the quarterback to throw into coverage. In Big Ten play, Clay has averaged 150 ypg rushing in wins, 67 ypg in losses. Purdue couldn't budge the Wisconsin line, averaging 320 lbs, and the Badgers picked up 266 yards on the ground.

Lance Kendricks: 4 carries, 91 yards, mostly on end arounds that kept Purdue off balance.

Illinois 38, Michigan 13

Big plays all day baby. I predicted Illinois didn't have the firepower to gash Michigan like everyone else has this year. I was wrong. The Illini has plays of 79, 70, 36, 35, 28, 27, 26, 22, 23 on their way to 500 total yards. The UM secondary was out of place on most of the zone reads and lacked the quickness to at least mitigate damage.

Michigan is a year away, just as we predicted at the start of this season. The biggest issue for RichRod and the coaches to work with Tate this offseason? Getting rid of the ball and taking care of the ball. Tate fumbled three times, and not even while taking big hits.

I am off the opinion that Denard Robinson and top recruit Devin Gardner are the future of this spread.

It was 31-13 with 9 minutes left in the fourth quarter - Michigan had the ball inside the Illinois 20, 4th and 6. Instead of kicking the field goal to turn it into a 2 possession game, RichRod decided to go for it. The pass failed and the game was over. Just some bad game management.

Gettin' Familiar With: Penn State.

Rodger Sherman — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:52:47 -0000

Alternate title: Gettin' Familiar With: The people about to murder us and ransack our houses and probably also hurt our friends.

At some point in your life, you've probably wondered, "what exactly a nittany lion, anyway?" Well, it's like a regular lion, but it doesn't have a mane, enjoys thrusting, and wears boots.

So far this year: The only blemish on PSU's schedule is a 21-10 loss to Iowa in week four, other than that, they've been dominant. In their seven wins, they're outscoring their opponents 232-50, including a current three-week stretch in which they've beaten Eastern Illinois 52-3, Minnesota 20-0, and Michigan 35-10. They've only allowed double digits three times: Iowa, Michigan, and a 35-17 win over Illinois, while putting up at least 20 every game except Iowa. Yup.

Us and them: Our history with PSU is short, and sweet, well, for them. We're 3-9 against the team that made the Big Ten the Big Eleven. As you've probably noticed, we haven't played them in three years. The last meeting was a 33-7 beatdown in Happy Valley that was Pat Fitzgerald's first Big Ten game, and featured a memorable performance by rookie QB, uh, Andrew Brewer in which he went 14-30 for 157 yards and a pick, as well as leading the team with 41 rushing yards in his first start. Brew didn't remain our QB for much longer, as evidenced by the fact that he had 8 catches for 135 yards and a touchdown last week. Also in the game, a freshman QB named Daryll Clark took his first Big Ten snaps, going 1-2 for seven yards. He's still around at PSU.

Offense: Daryll Clark is a monster of some sort. He's a dual-threat quarterback, but with an arm that makes you kind of forget that, as he's got 1884 yards passing with 17 TD's and only seven picks. He's probably the best offensive player in the Big Ten this year, and he could kill any given player on Northwestern's defense in 13 different ways at any given point in the course of play. And with interchangeable wide receiving droids Graham Zug (KNEEL BEFORE ZUG), Derek Moye, Andrew Quarless and Chaz Powell, he has targets. He leads the Big Ten in passer efficiency, and because Penn State also has a great offensive line, and he's a great runner, he has been sacked less than any other Big Ten quarterback. Oh, and they also have the highest third-down conversion percentage.

Be worried.

Penn State's running game often goes unheralded, because Daryll Clark could probably throw a football hard enough to disembowel you while running 15 miles an hour in the opposite direction, but it's pretty good, in part thanks to that o-line, in part because they have great running backs: Evan Royster, who you may remember from his 1236 yards on 6.3 per carry last season, is back at it, with 741 yards on 5.7 per carry. He's had four games of over 100 yards, and four games of under 90 yards. If you enjoy watching safeties make tackles on running backs, saturday's your game. PSU averages 5.0 yards per carry as a team, which puts them 15th in the nation.

So, yeah, be worried.

Defense: Done being worried about the offense? Get worried about the defense!

PSU leads the Big Ten in passing defense (160 yards per game) rushing defense (79.8 yards per game) total defense (do the math) scoring defense (8.9 points per game) opponents third-down conversion percentage (the one they lead offensively, remember that) and sacks (26, putting them fourth in the nation, with DE Jack Crawford and DT Jared Odrick leading the way with 5.5 and 5, respectively.) Yeah.

They have ten picks (AJ Wallace and Josh Hull have two each, a bunch of people have one) and have only allowed three passing touchdowns. They've recovered five fumbles and allowed three rushing touchdowns. They're preposterous.

Basically, don't get too excited for Saturday.

Anyway, fear. I'll get at y'all tomorrow.

Grading the Penn State Offense Against Michigan

BSD — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:17:30 -0000

More photos » by TONY DING - AP

about 1 month ago: Penn State tight end Andrew Quarless (10) catches a 60-yard pass to score a touchdown in the second quarter of an NCAA college football game agianst Michigan, on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)

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Before this game we heard a lot of things about the Penn State offense. They hadn't played anybody. The offensive line was teh suck. The wide receivers weren't as good as last year. Daryll Clark never shows up in a big game. I hope they put a lot of that talk to rest on Saturday. Let's grade out the offense.

Quarterbacks

Some people are saying this was Daryll Clark's most complete game as a starter. I'm not sure about that. He was pretty good against Michigan State last year. But he was damn good on Saturday against Michigan.

vs Michigan / 10.24.09	Passing					Rushing
	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	TD	Rush	Yds	Avg	TD
Daryll Clark	16	27	60.0	230	4	7	13	1.9	0

And there were no interceptions to go with those numbers. It was a performance worthy of Big Ten Player of the Weekhonors. He made good decisions and showed some tremendous touch on fade pass to Zug in the corner of the endzone and on the 60 yard touchdown to Quarless. He was in complete control of the game. Michigan had no answer for the screen passes to Moye. And when they tried to cheat the safeties up to stop the run, Clark made them pay like a good quarterback does with a perfectly thrown ball to Andrew Quarless on the 60 yard touchdown. But he was a bit erratic at times especially in the second half.

Clark now has 17 touchdown passes on the season which ranks him third nationally. He is five touchowns away from tying the single season school record of 22 set by Todd Blackledge in 1982. I know I took some flak for saying this just before the Iowa debacle, but is it time we start mentioning Clark in the Heisman chase again? Here are his season stats.

		Passing									Rushing					Sacks
	G	Rating	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/G	Y/A	TD	INT	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Sack	YdsL
2009 - Daryll Clark	8	93.0	144	223	64.6	1884	235.5	8.4	17	7	42	132	16.5	3.1	4	-	-

In a season lacking any clear Heisman front runners, I would put Clark's numbers up against anyone. I'm not saying he deserves the trophy at this point, because he's not the quarterback on a team ranked in the top five which is apparently etched as a requirement somewhere on the base of the trophy. But right now, barring another Iowa-type meltdown, I think he has earned a seat at the Downtown Athletic Club in December. And I sooooo want to pwn Eleven Warriors for a day.

Final Grade: B+

Running Backs

Another solid day for Evan Royster.

vs Michigan / 10.24.09	Rushing				Receiving
	Rush	Yards	Avg	TD	Rec	Yards	Avg	TD
Evan Royster	20	100	5	0	2	24	12	0

It didn't look he did much after that 40 yard gain on the opening drive, but he earned every yard he got. The offensive line didn't do him a ton of favors often getting beat at the point of attack, but Royster used his vision and cutback ability to turn no gains into four or five yard gains. But this is the third game in a row he hasn't found the endzone. He only has four touchdowns on the year with only one in Big Ten play. That's a bit disappointing.

Brandon Beachum got in the game and carried the ball seven times for 23 yards. He had some nice carries and gained 24 yards on Penn State's marathon 10 minute drive in the fourth quarter.

Final Grade: A

Receivers

I suspected Michigan might pay extra attention to Derek Moye after his performance against Minnesota, and that they did blanketing him with their best cover corner. Still, he managed to gain 53 yards on 6 catches. He could have had more if not for some slips and poorly thrown balls by Clark. He was pretty much open all day.

I figured the attention on Moye would open up opportunities for some other guys, and Zug and Quarless took advantage. The tiny white possession receiver torched the Michigan secondary for 5 catches, 59 yards, and 3 touchdowns.

And of course Andrew Quarless is making that late push to be a high NFL draft pick. Besides 60 yard touchdown, Quarless also had that 31 yard catch that set up the touchdown right after the half. He was a key factor in taking a 12-7 game and breaking it open into a 25-10 game.

Final Grade: B+

Offensive Line

Here's where things turn ugly in this review. I was not at all impressed with the offensive line. Ako Poti looked terrible at right tackle. Brandon Grahampretty much owned him whenever he lined up on that side. Actually, it didn't matter who lined up over there, Poti got abused. I hope McCormack can come back next week.

Johnnie Troutmandidn't impress me much either. He had a few nice blocks, but he had equally as many not-so-great one. He single handedly killed the drive right before the half with two offsides penalties and two missed blocks.

And can someone explain to me our ineptitude at running a screen pass? There were three white shirts out there against one Michigan linebacker, and they let the guy make the tackle. How does that happen? This isn't the first time either. It's been like this all season. Our down field blocking leaves much to be desired.

Final Grade: D

Offensive Coaching

I have a few bones to pick this week. What was up with punting the ball from the Michigan 33 yard line on fourth and three? Boone managed to pin them inside the ten, and Joe later looked like a genius when Michigan snapped the ball out the back of the endzone. But I think you have to go for it there. Your offense is having a lot of success in moving the ball there. The sooner you can break the game open and force Michigan's offense to abandon the running game the better off you will be. It was classic Joe pucking up on the road, and I didn't agree with the call.

My second beef came after Penn State scored the first touchdown after the half to take a 25-10 lead. I did not agree with going for two points there. I know they were thinking a 17 point lead meant Michigan needed two touchdowns and a field goal to tie, but the extra point forces them to score two touchdowns and two two-point conversions to tie. Put the onus on them to make the two point conversions. It was too early in the game to be playing that kind of numbers game. On the road, just take the extra point.

Finally, after the final touchdown I thought the offense went too conservative. You could just tell that Joe told them to run between the tackles and that's it. The first drive got stopped in three plays, and then Boone had the punt blocked. So do you think they would come out on the next drive and be a little more aggressive? Nope. In fact, let's just feature a bigger running back this time. Up the middle to Royster. Up the middle to Suhey for a two yard loss. Short pass to Suhey short of the sticks. Let's give them another shot to block a punt.

That blocked punt scared me to death. It was just the kind of play Michigan needed to get a spark. The next time we got the ball I would have done everything I could to gain some big chunks of yards. Especially with Michigan stacking the box looking for the run. But Penn State was undeterred and even came out on the next drive in conservative mode. They pounded away for 10 minutes to kill the clock, but needed a roughing the kicker penalty to keep the drive going. Thankfully Michigan got a little too aggressive in trying to block another one.

Final Grade: C

BSD Staff Predictions: Michigan Wolverines

BSD — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:17:31 -0000

More photos » by TONY DING - AP

3 months ago: Michigan offensive lineman Mark Ortmann (71) watches as quarterback Tate Forcier (5) is hit by Eastern Michigan linebacker Neal Howey (40) and defensive tackle Javon Reese (90) during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009, in Ann Arbor, Mich. Forcier was helped off the field but returned to the game in No. 25 Michigan's 45-17 win. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)

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It's Michigan week. It's your BSD staff predictions. You know the drill.

RUTS Says...

Brain says Penn State, heart says Michigan. Looking at the Wolverines, their defense seems poorly equipped to handle Penn State's attack. You know, other than the fact that Brandon Graham is lining up against our 3rd team offensive right tackle. There's that. Still, their linebackers are prone to jumping on play-action fakes and the secondary isn't great. If Penn State can move the ball on the ground with any sort of competence, Clark could conceivably turn that into a big day (in fact, both teams have significant issues at both safety positions). It'll be up to the interior group of Eliades, Wisniewski, and Troutman to open up holes. Eliades looked downright menacing pulling around the line and leading Royster against Minnesota.

Defensively for Penn State, there's bad news. Tate Forcier may be a mistake-prone freshman, but he's still not Nick Sheridan. He played poorly against Iowa and became rather skittish under pressure. If Penn State can get to him, he'll turn it over. Odrick and Ogbu will be their usual disruptive selves, but what will PSU get from the edge? Denard Robinson is a concern, naturally, but Penn State tends to be rather disciplined on defense. Dynamic and surprising? No, but disciplined.

But it's Michigan, and Michigan Means Puckering from the coaching staff. Even when Penn State has a clearly superior team, like last year, it's a horrific struggle. This is not a clearly superior Penn State team, but it's good enough to be a 4 1/2 point favorite on the road. They're a bad matchup for Michigan, save the obvious Graham v. Poti battle. Insert kicking game caveat (I'll be shocked if Michigan doesn't score or set up an easy touchdown on a kick return) and crackpot officiating conspiracy theory here (however, if I see Dave Witvoet's face, all bets really are off and I'll spend Saturday afternoon in the fetal position if Penn State leads by any less than 20 points).

Like it or not, this game goes down to the wire. I will not be remotely surprised if Penn State loses.

Prediction: Penn State 21, Michigan 20

BSD Mike Says...

If you've been paying attention around the interwebs, this preview shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.

On paper, I don't see any reason why Penn State should lose this game. They have better talent, more depth, more experience, and I would even say better coaching. But, it's Michigan, where officials don't seem to give us any calls. It's Ann Arbor, where Nittany Lion dreams go to die. So that has me scared.

I think the Penn State front seven should be able to contain the Michigan running game. On his podcast, Brian asked me how confident I was in this and I mentioned this isn't the first zone read option team Penn State has played and I pointed to Illinois as an example. Brian, perhaps rightfully so, kind of scoffed at the remark suggesting Illinois is not a true test. This is true since I think Michigan has more athleticism at running back and Forcier is a better passer than Juice Williams. But I should have expanded my statement to say this is a very experienced front seven for Penn State. Guys like Navorro Bowman, Josh Hull, Sean Lee, Jared Odrick, and Ollie Ogbu have been the anchor of the defense for three years now. These guys have been around the block. They know the drill by now. They will not be fooled.

But the defensive ends are another story. Jack Crawford, Jerome Hayes, and Eric Latimore do not have a lot of experience. How well they keep up with Rich Rodriguez's cat-and-mouse game will determine how well Penn State contains the Michigan offense.

When Penn State is on offense I believe they have the balance to take advantage of what Michigan gives them. I think the Wolverines will try to take away the running game by stacking the box and hope they can force Daryll Clark into making some turnovers. This could open up some big plays to Chaz Powell and Derek Moye off of play action. And after our discussion with Maize-n-Brew this week where he mentioned their weakness in covering tight ends, I'm interested to see if Andrew Quarless can have a big day.

The wildcard in all of this will be Joe Paterno. Will he allow the offense to open up the playbook? Will he let the Tom Bradley defense attack the freshman quarterback? Or will he pucker up at the first sign of trouble and hope to hang on for a 13-10 win like he did in 2007? I have a good feeling about this game, but I think it will be closer than we all care for it to be.

Prediction: Penn State 27, Michigan 24

KevinHD Says...

The general feeling is uneasiness, and I’ve been trying to figure out all week if that is the reality of the situation or just the annual lead up to the Michigan game. The 2002 and 2005 games will die hard.

But it’s important to be levelheaded here. The defense has been playing lights out, seven games in and not a single first half touchdown. Yeah? Well Rittenberg has your Debbie Downer right here:

We've seen Penn State rise to No. 2 nationally in scoring defense (8.7 ppg) despite facing no FBS offense ranked higher than 79th.

Michigan, on the other hand, is second in both rushing and passing yards per attempt in the Big Ten, although helped by 700-something total yards against one of the worst teams they are eligible to play against. But it wasn’t just Delaware State that showed up to play Michigan with a sub-part defense. The average rank of the D1-A defenses they’ve faced is 68; that includes two teams at 100+.

Basically, something has to give. Either Penn State can’t continue to dominate on defense or Michigan’s two thousand percent year over year increase (rounding) in offense will come to a halt. Vegas (47.5 o/u, PSU -4.5) is effectively predicting Michigan to hit around 21 points, which would be a season low for them.

So to run with this scientifically questionable analysis: can Penn State score more than 21 points? I suspect a slow start but persistent ground game will get them there. Super-soft cover-3 keeps Michigan in it in the 4th, but I remain cautiously optimistic.

Prediction: Penn State 34, Michigan 24