SB Nation - Tony Davis

Inside The Numbers - EWU Edition

TwistNHook — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:00:22 -0000

"Many people think the Cal-EWU game is similar to this, but is that true? Let's take a look at the numbers" via www.funnybeez.com

Let's learn some more about Eastern Washington in the most exciting and approachable manner possible: PORING OVER STATISTICS!

Believe me, nothing screams "living in your mother's basement" mixed with "giant nerd" like reading Eastern Washington University football statistics. That's when you know we are bloggers. And we're gonna take a look at these stats to see if this will be as lopsided a match up as people predict. Further, what can we expect from the EWU offense? Will we see a lot of rushing? Will we see a lot of passing? Will we see a lot of futility? Let's take a moment to dust Pop-Tart crumbs off of our pajamas and get digging!

All numbers from here.




TEAM STATISTICS                         EWU          OPP
--------------------------------------------------------
SCORING.......................          323          295
  Points Per Game.............         29.4         26.8
FIRST DOWNS...................          224          249
  Rushing.....................           61           74
  Passing.....................          145          160
  Penalty.....................           18           15
RUSHING YARDAGE...............         1084         1028
  Yards gained rushing........         1261         1460
  Yards lost rushing..........          177          432
  Rushing Attempts............          305          369
  Average Per Rush............          3.6          2.8
  Average Per Game............         98.5         93.5
  TDs Rushing.................           17           13
PASSING YARDAGE...............         3299         3701
  Att-Comp-Int................   458-277-14   475-305-14
  Average Per Pass............          7.2          7.8
  Average Per Catch...........         11.9         12.1
  Average Per Game............        299.9        336.5
  TDs Passing.................           21           22
TOTAL OFFENSE.................         4383         4729
  Total Plays.................          763          844
  Average Per Play............          5.7          5.6
  Average Per Game............        398.5        429.9
KICK RETURNS: #-Yards.........      46-1055       44-821
PUNT RETURNS: #-Yards.........       25-223       34-282
INT RETURNS: #-Yards..........       14-256       14-191
KICK RETURN AVERAGE...........         22.9         18.7
PUNT RETURN AVERAGE...........          8.9          8.3
INT RETURN AVERAGE............         18.3         13.6
FUMBLES-LOST..................        14-10         17-8
PENALTIES-Yards...............       88-790      104-905
  Average Per Game............         71.8         82.3
PUNTS-Yards...................      56-2296      54-2332
  Average Per Punt............         41.0         43.2
  Net punt average............         34.2         36.1
TIME OF POSSESSION/Game.......        27:31        32:20
3RD-DOWN Conversions..........       62/152       68/172
  3rd-Down Pct................          41%          40%
4TH-DOWN Conversions..........         3/13         7/16
  4th-Down Pct................          23%          44%
SACKS BY-Yards................       34-214       18-117
MISC YARDS....................           22           11
TOUCHDOWNS SCORED.............           43           36
FIELD GOALS-ATTEMPTS..........         8-12        15-27
ON-SIDE KICKS.................          0-3          0-0
RED-ZONE SCORES...............    31-38 82%    36-50 72%
RED-ZONE TOUCHDOWNS...........    25-38 66%    24-50 48%
PAT-ATTEMPTS..................   39-39 100%    30-35 86%
ATTENDANCE....................        33594       129278
  Games/Avg Per Game..........       5/6719      6/21546
  Neutral Site Games..........                       0/0

SCORE BY QUARTERS     1st  2nd  3rd  4th    Total
--------------------  ---  ---  ---  ---      ---
Eastern Washington..   66   89   78   90  -   323
Opponents...........   57   99   69   70  -   295

We've heard a lot about how EWU is a really good team for being FBS or FCS or whichever the lower division is. D45-CC, I dunno what it's called. But looking at these numbers, I didn't see a huge advantage here. They gave up more first downs than they earned in both rushing and passing situations. An item of note here is that they gained over twice as many passing first downs as rushing first downs. Further, they had more passing yards than rushing yards, which generally is standard. However, here it is 3X as many passing yards than rushing yards. They did not even average over a 100 yards a game in rushing.

So, we definitely need to be on the lookout for their passing attack.

They get crushed in the TOP stat by about 5 minutes. But that can be a misleading stat sometimes. If they have a quick strike passing offense as it appears here, then they won't eat up as much clock. Especially compared to a grind it out style offense.

Now, let's look at the rushing attack:

RUSHING              GP-GS  Att Gain Loss  Net   Avg  TD Long Avg/G
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dale Morris          10-10  115  433   15  418   3.6   5   24  41.8
A. Alexander         10-2    39  240    4  236   6.1   3   48  23.6
A.J. Jimerson        11-2    46  193    9  184   4.0   1   17  16.7
Tyler Hart            4-0    10   85    1   84   8.4   2   30  21.0
Matt Nichols         11-10   56  223  140   83   1.5   3   26   7.5
Toke Kefu            10-3    18   35    0   35   1.9   3    6   3.5
D. Beaumonte          9-0     7   25    0   25   3.6   0   10   2.8
Tony Davis           10-7     4   24    1   23   5.8   0   12   2.3

Of course, the #1 guy who jumps out at you here is Dale Morris. I am not a EWU expert, but reviewing the roster, he does not appear to be listed anymore. A. Alexander also does not appear to be listed. Nor does Jimerson.

Matt Nichols, who rushed 56 times for 223 yards still IS listed! As a QB. So, ya. Who is on their team, then? Well, their #1 rusher to date is a gentleman named Taiwan Jones. Not to be confused with Hong Kong McCallister. We only have 1 game to go off of where he had these stats:

RUSHING	GP-GS	Att	Gain	Loss	Net	Avg	TD	Long	Avg/G
Taiwan Jones	1-1	12	123	1	122	10.2	2	87	122.0

Those numbers look good, but 87 of those 122 yards came on 1 run. Take that out and you have 11 attempts for 35 yards. Not quite as good.

This was not a team known for running last year. They lost most of their running attack and are starting a guy who did put up great numbers last week, but might not be as consistent as EWU will need. We were able to handle Maryland's strong running attack, I believe we can handle Taiwan Jones, Cairns Steinberg, Bangkok Zimmerman, and anybody else who comes our way.

Let's look at the passing numbers:

PASSING              GP-GS   Effic Cmp-Att-Int   Pct  Yds  TD Lng Avg/G
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Matt Nichols         11-10  131.47 275-451-14   61.0 3293  21  63 299.4

The offense here starts and stops with this man. The afore-mentioned Matt Nichols. 61% completion rate, good. 131 efficiency, good. 300 yards per game, good. 21 TDs, great. These are all great numbers. This is a great QB. Don't let the Division 98 ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Top aspect fool you, this man will be a difficult player for Cal. Nonetheless, like with the Maryland game, I believe we can handle him. Shutting down the run game and forcing the QB to pass again and again and again, it's a recipe for success. If we can get that killer pass rush that we saw against Maryland again, it could be a long day for this talented signal caller.

This man loves to work out apparently:

Now, let's take a look at the receiving corps:

RECEIVING            GP-GS  No.  Yds   Avg  TD Long Avg/G
---------------------------------------------------------
Aaron Boyce          11-9    63  917  14.6  10   53  83.4
Tony Davis           10-7    53  579  10.9   3   63  57.9
Brynsen Brown         9-9    50  733  14.7   4   61  81.4
Nathan Overbay       11-9    28  364  13.0   2   30  33.1
Dale Morris          10-10   28  167   6.0   0   18  16.7
A.J. Jimerson        11-2    11  130  11.8   0   32  11.8
Matt Martin          11-0    11  118  10.7   0   21  10.7

As is to be expected with any great passing attack, you'll have great receivers. And EWU is no different. Aaron Boyce is the stand out here with nearly a 1,000 yard season. He is back and better than ever. He had these numbers against Western Oregon:

RECEIVING	GP-GS	No.	Yards	Avg	TD	Long	Avg/G
Aaron Boyce	1-1	6	126	21.0	1	53	126.0

Certainly great numbers. But he's not the only returning star. Tony Davis is back and ready to supplement Boyce. His numbers are not as impressive, but as a senior with 3 years experience, he could definitely do some damage. Brynsen Brown is listed on the roster, but did not record a single catch last week against Western Oregon. So, it's unclear what his position is here. Nathan Overbay had a very good game, too. Here are his stats:

RECEIVING

GP-GS

No.

Yards

Avg

Long

Avg/G

Nathan Overbay

1-1

16.5

66.0

Last week, we saw a team with a strong rushing attack and a decent passing attack, beset by youth and inexperience. We were able to handle that well by shutting down the rushing attack and forcing the uneven passing attack to carry the load.

Now, we face a team with a weak, but improving rushing attack and a strong passing attack. Look for our run D to be even better than against Maryland. But the passing attack could prove problematic. Nonetheless, I have faith in SydQuan and Co. that they can handle Matt Nichols and his cadre of talented receivers. No matter how talented a team may be, an imbalanced offense is going to struggle. We saw that last year when our passing attack was very poor. And I think we'll see that this weekend against EWU.

Many people just write off EWU as a lower division school. They look ahead to Minn or Oregon or even USC without a thought for this team. That is imprudent as EWU is a dangerous school and will be looking for a huge upset, AppSt style! Nonetheless, looking at the numbers as we just have, I feel confident that our resurgent D can shut down the running game and put sufficient pressure on the passing attack that we can keep their point total low. Add in healthy doses of Jahvid Best, Kevin Riley, and Marv Jones and you have the recipe for a delicious strudel. Also, victory.

But man am I hungry for strudel now! GO BEARS!

Poll

How do these numbers make you feel about the EWU game?

I feel more confident about this game

31 votes

I feel less confident about this game

18 votes

These numbers do not change my view of the game

91 votes

140 votes | Poll has closed

Potential Penn State Problem #1: Extra Crispy

Run Up The Score — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:00:21 -0000

A quick look at Penn State's team passing defense statistics from 2008 indicates that things may not have actually been so terrible: 19th in pass efficiency defense, 27th in passing yardage allowed, 16 INT, 10 TD, 56.3% completion rate. Combined with an prolific offense and the #8 rushing defense in the nation, it's easy to see why the team was so successful in 2008.

Even if we look at the conference-only stats from 2008, Penn State fared well. They were #3 in both pass efficiency defense (107.8) and passing yardage allowed (186.8 ypg), and #1 in opponents' 3rd down conversions (32.3%). So, what the hell? Why all the concern?

For one thing, all of this is obvious nitpicking. We're talking about the weaknesses in a team that went to the Rose Bowl last year. They only lost twice, remember? Still, it was the secondary that faltered in the waning minutes in Iowa City* and pretty much throughout the entire Rose Bowl against USC:

QB Mark Sanchez ALL PASS ATTEMPTS USC vs PSU 2008 / 2009 Rose Bowl (via DraftParty)

The failures were equal parts personnel and scheme. We know Mark Rubin was essentially a fourth linebacker playing strong safety and sometimes got lost in coverage. But really, how were Lydell Sargeant and Tony Davis supposed stop anybody when they're constantly instructed to line up 8-10 yards off the line of scrimmage? The scheme is the scheme -- something I labeled "Bend But Don't Suck" years ago -- and it's not changing anytime soon. It's great when the front four can get pressure on the quarterback, and especially brilliant if said quarterback (a) isn't that great and (b) doesn't have much receiving talent. That pretty much included 75% of Penn State's schedule last season. But against a hot quarterback (Iowa, second half) or a really good one (USC), Penn State doesn't have much of a prayer stopping an opposing aerial attack as long as the defensive line is adequately blocked.

So, yes. The BBDS defense returns again, but with entirely new personnel. Rubin, Davis, Sargeant, and Anthony Scirrotto are all gone. A.J. Wallace is the one guy with extensive game experience at corner, and he has the dual distinction of being suspended for the first few games in 2009 and not having played terribly well as a cornerback in the past. Your opening day starters appear to be D'Anton Lynn and Knowledge Timmons at corner, Drew Astorino at free safety, and Nick Sukay at strong safety.

It's truly impossible to predict how the secondary will play. Lynn and Sukay were both highly rated players coming out of high school (so was Wallace, but the clock is really running out on him). Astorino showed last year that he's not afraid of the big stage. And Timmons, well...he's fast. That's practically all we know about him to this point, other than he really loves his iPhone. (Hey, me too.)

Maybe we'll look back at this season in five months and laugh at how needlessly concerned we were about this group. But until then, pucker pucker pucker.

* - Sorry. And we can get into the other 20 reasons we lost that game, but let's focus, mmkay?

Arizona Cardinals Pre-Training Camp Roster Projections: Cornerbacks

Hawkwind — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:11:58 -0000

More photos » by Matt York - AP

Arizona Cardinals' Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (29) participates in football drills during the Cardinals minicamp. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Browse more photos »

We took a look as the Arizona Cardinals safety position earlier in the week and today we'll break down the corner back position in what should be a much improved secondary. Both of the starting corner backs from last year's season opener are gone and both new starters should be a significant upgrade. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Bryant McFadden have the size and abilities to be a special duo this season but it's the depth behind them that will be battling for playing time and roster spots. As with safeties the Cardinals will likely carry between four and six corners on the 53 man roster (only four made it last year), depending upon how many safeties are also able to play corner in a pinch. We'll break the guys down into three groups, locks, bubble and no chance. These groups refer to chances of making this year's 53 man roster, not necessarily the practice squad or any team in the future.

Locks

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Bryant McFadden, Ralph Brown

On the Bubble

Greg Toler, Michael Adams

No Chance

Wilrey Fontenot, Tony Banks

Ralph Brown being a 'lock' is probaby debatable but unless the Cardinals plan on using Rolle exclusively as a nickel corner, I can't see Toler or Adams being ready for that much responsibility. It's possible that Toler and Adams could both make the final squad, leaving the team with four corners, but if they decide to roll with just two, it'll most liekly come down to who is better on special teams and how safe the Cardinals feel about sliding Toler through to the practice squad. Here's a quick look at the 'bubble' and 'no chance' guys.

Greg Toler: This year's fourth round pick is a promising player with a ton of athletic ability but his learning curve will be amazingly steep and his overall skills are still raw. Given his draft status, it's unlikely that Toler wouldn't make the team but fourth round picks have been cut before and he'll have to prove that he's an asset on special teams units. He could also help his status if he's able to contribute in the return game.

Michael Adams: Adams, an undrafted free agent entering his third season , spent most of 2008 on the practice squad although he was called up late in the season. He appeared in five regular season games and all four playoff games, although most of his playing time was restricted to special teams. Adams' size (5'8 180) will always be a hinderance but he's the kind of fierce competitor and special teams terror that make him hard to root against. Still though, it'll probably take the Cardinals carrying five corners for Adams to get a roster spot.

Wilrey Fontenot: Fontenot was a seventh round pick of the Falcons in 2008 but he was cut during camp and Cardinals added him to the practice squad shortly thereafter. He was a four year starter at the University of Arizona and has good athleticism but his size (5'9 170) doesn't do him any favors. His dream season this year might very well be following the same path that Michael Adams did in 2008.

Tony Banks: Banks, an undrafted rookie, is an interesting kid with good athleticism and better size than most in his shoes (5'10 195). He's played both corner and safety in the past although his size indicates he's best suited to play corner. He had a reputation for making plays while at Penn State but he still probably needs at least on year on the practice squad.

-----------------------------------------------------

After digging all the way through, the corner position seems pretty clear cut. Toler is almost certainly going to be the fourth corner on the depth chart and Adams fate will likely deped on how many corners the team decides to carry. We all know that where Antrel Rolle lines up on passing downs will also effect this group but who's to say that they still don't keep five for special teams purposes. Any bold predictions? Any surprises in this group?

Arizona Cardinals Assign Numbers to Rookie Draft Class

Hawkwind — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:31:27 -0000

The Arizona Cardinals have assigned numbers to their entire rookie class (eight draft picks and 9 undrafted free agents). I'm not sure if this is common practice for the Cardinals but not a single rookie retained the same number that they wore in college, even if the number was avaliable.

Chris "Beanie" Wells #26 (Keith Lewis currently has #28)
Cody Brown #52 (Donovan Raiola currently has #50)
Rashad Johnson #41 (Alex Shor currently has #49)
Greg Toler #32 (He wore #8 in college but that number is avaliable)
Herman Johnson #67 (Jason Banks currently has #79)
Will Davis #59 (Anquan Boldin currently has #81 but an OLB can't wear a receiver number anyways)
LaRod Stephens-Howling #36 (Tim Hightower currently has #34)
Trevor Canfield #60 (Deuce Lutui currently has #76)

It'll be interesting to see if any of the guys switch their number once some guys are cut during training camp. I'd think that Chris Wells, Cody Brown and Rashad Johnson stand a better chance of making the roster than Keith Lewis (although his chances are fairly good), Donovan Raiola and Alex Shor. Toler couldn't wear his collieagate number because defensive backs aren't allowed to wear single digit numbers in the NFL.

Justin Brown #12 (He wore #81 at Hampton)
Chase Bullock #96 (He wore #42 at Maryland but that number is avaliable)
Tony Davis #37 (Larry Fitzgerald currently has #11)
Jameel Dowling #43 (Tyler Palko currently has #3)
Khalil El-Amin #64 (Jason Banks currently has #79)
Shane Morales #10 (Old Grey Beard currently has #13)
Brandon Pearce #65 (He wore #71 at Memphis but that number is avaliable)
Reggie Walker #55 (Clark Haggans currently has #53)
Michael Ray Garvin #18 (DRC currently has #29)

Arizona Cardinals Sign Nine Undrafted Free Agents

Hawkwind — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:13:39 -0000

After much speculatuion the Arizona Cardinals made it official yesterday by signing nine undrafted free agents in what could be the final roster moves prior to the start of mini-camps or even training camp. The current roster is over flowingly full with around 86 players, counting the drafted and undrafted rookies, which means that somewhere around four players will be cut before training camp (until rookies sign their contract, they don't officially count as a roster spot so it won't become an issue until the fifth rookie signs his contract). We'll take a look at some preliminary 53 man rosters sometime in the next couple of weeks but for now here's a quick look at the nine undrafted free agents who signed with the Cardinals yesterday.

Justin Brown (WR), Hampton: Brown is a receiver with decent size (6'1 200) who was a JUCO transfer and spent two seasons at Hampton. He 28 balls for 483 yards and two scores in 2007 and nearly doubled those stats in 2008 with 56 receptions for 887 yards and nine scores. His pro days results generated some buzz when he ran in the 4.49 to 4.5 range in the forty, a broad jump of 10'5.5 and a vertical jump of 37.5 (all of which would have been in the top ten at the combine).

Chase Bullock (LB), Maryland: There isn't much info on Bullock (but we're still looking) because he didn't have much of a college career. He battled injuries during his sophomore and junior seasons but only played in 28 games, mostly as a backup and finished his career with just 58 tackles. from what we've found he was an OLB in the Terps' 4-3 defense. He's got decent size (6'2, 240) but I don't know what else he brings to the table.

Tony Davis (CB/S), Penn State: After checking out SBN's Penn State blog, Black Shoe Diaries, Davis looks like an interesting prospect. He was an on again off again starter who's been labeled as 'under rated' and 'under appreciated' many times. He's played both safety and corner in college although his size (5'10 195) would indicate that he's better suited as a corner. He also ran a 4.40 at his pro day.

Jameel Dowling (CB/S), Hawaii: Dowling is a big (6'2) defensive back who started eight games in his only season at Hawaii. He sat out the 2007 after transferring from Oregon, where he also only played one season after transferring from Butte College in California. He's also an outstanding track athlete where he holds a California Community College record in the 400 (48.02).

Khalil El-Amin (G/T), Cincinnati: El-Amin has experience with several positions but his most extensive playing time has come at right tackle where he started 20 games over the past two seasons. He's struggled with speed rushers and is most likely projected as a guard at the pro level. He also played with the Cards' 7th round pick Trevor Canfield.

Shane Morales (WR), Oregon State: Morales is another receiver with decent size (6'1 209) who started for just one year but put up respectable stats with 54 receptions, 743 yards and 8 touchdowns. He earned a Pac-10 honorable mention for his breakout senior season but a lack great speed over shadowed his other strong attributes like dependable hands and crisply ran routes.

Brandon Pearce (OT), Memphis: Pearce is interesting only because he's an offensive tackle that played in a pass happy system and rarely gave up sacks. He's got good height but needs to add considerable bulk to his frame (6'6, 290), although some reports mentioned that he added 20 pounds of bulk before Memphis' pro day. Either way he'll have to get stronger as he's had very little experience as an in-line blocker.

Reggie Walker (ILB), Kansas State: Walker was a three year starter at Kansas State, although he did lose his job at one point in 2007, but he never really distinguished himself as a play maker. He averaged 49 tackles, four for loss and just under two sacks per season as starter. He's got decent but not great size (6'0, 246) and he's not the best athlete, but he's tough and physical. He had a hard time staying healthy during his time at Kansas State but he's got some versatility and could be a factor on special teams.

Michael Ray Garvin (CB), Florida State: Garvin is without question the most promising name on this list and might be the guy with a shot at making this year's squad. Garvin's listed as a corner back but don't get confused, he's nothing more than a kick off return specialist. He was an All-American at Florida State in football and track and almost qualified for the Olympics in the 200 meters. Garvin averaged over 30 yards per kick return as a senior and during his time at FSU his focus was split between football and track. It'll be interesting to see if his game improves with his focus squarely football. He posted a crazy 4.24 and4.28 at FSU's pro day.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

After last year's crop of undrafted free agents that included some notable names and interesting prospects, this class looks a little underwhelming. It seems surprising that they went after two wide receivers and two more defensive backs considering that wide receiver and the secondary would seem to be the two deepest positions on the roster. It's also at least a little surprising that they didn't got after another running back and some higher rated linebackers, but we'll see how these guys progress during camp. Has anyone seen these guys play and think they've got a shot at sticking around? Do the additions of wide receivers and defensive backs make sense to you?

Grading The Defense Against the Indiana Hoosiers

BSD — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:00:06 -0000

The first rule of Project Mayhem is you do not ask questions.

After giving up 24 points and getting beat up on the final drive in Iowa, the defense was looking to regain some of that swagger before going into the Big Ten Championship game next week. Let's see how they graded out.

Defensive Line

If there is a single word to describe the play of Aaron Maybin, it's mayhem. In fact that should be his name. Aaron Mayhem. No...Project Mayhem. Indiana tried everything to contain him including double teams, but his speed was too much to handle. I watched one play where Indiana called a running play to go between the right guard and tackle. They had a tight end lined up next to the tackle across from Project Mayhem. They snapped the ball and Project Mayhem ran outside the tight end, so the tackle released to the second level thinking Project Mayhem had run himself out of the play, but Project Mayhem just ran around the tight end like his shoes were stuck in quick sand and tackled the running from behind just as he was hitting the hole. Mayhem was wreaking havoc like that all day long and even managed to get a sack on the elusive Lewis.

Jared Odrick and Ollie Ogbu dominated the middle of the line of scrimmage. Odrick in particular had an outstanding game disrupting everything Indiana was trying to do. Josh Gaines tried to go on his injured ankle but had to shut it down after the first series. Eric Latimore and Jack Crawford platooned during the game at his vacated spot. They each held their ground but weren't very spectacular.

Maurice Evans showed signs of returning to his 2007 form, but he was practically invisible outside of a play or two. I may be wrong, but it's an observation of mine that he doesn't seem very interested this year. There is no bounce in his step, and when someone makes a big play like Rubin's interception or Hull's sack he doesn't celebrate or congratulate his teammates. Maybe it's nothing, but his uninspired play is undeniable.

In all the defensive line played a great game getting two sacks and holding Indiana to 123 yards rushing on the day (with 57 of those coming on one play.)

Final Grade: A

Linebackers

Outside of one play they were very good. You can blame that one play on Bani Gbadyu who blew containment by running inside and then completely whiffing on the tackle. This is why Bani Gbadyu doesn't play much.

Every week we wonder if the good Josh Hull or bad Josh Hull is going to show up. Bad Josh Hull showed up in the first half. He blitzed up the middle and disappeared somewhere in the mush of 300 lb. men never to be seen until the next play. He was futily diving at the ankles of Kellen Lewis as he ran past him up the sideline. He was hitting Thigpen five yards down field, and then getting dragged another three yards. But the good Josh Hull showed up in the second half. The coaches sent him on some delayed blitzes with success. I think this is good for him because he can pick a hole and attack it rather than hitting a gap that isn't there and getting swallowed up. Hull still wasn't getting to Lewis, but he rushed a few throws and forced Lewis to throw the ball away on a few occassions. He did get there once for, believe it or not, his first career sack.

Bowman was his usual stellar self always around the ball. I watched one play where he blitzed around the right tackle, but the play was a designed sweep to the left. Bowman ran across the field and tackled Thigpen along the sideline for a short gain. He along with Project Mayhem give the defense two disruptive players unlike any I've seen since the LaVar Arrington/Courtney Brown days.

Final Grade: B

Defensive Backs

It's hard to argue with the stats. Indiana only completed nine passes on 23 attempts for 57 yards and one interception. But in fairness, Indiana is struggling with injuries and doesn't really have many weapons on offense.

Mark Rubin may be our best defensive back. How many people thought you would read that on this blog before the season started? Time and again this year he has come up with big plays on defense, and Saturday he stepped up again. He made a great read and jump on the intereception. And later in the game on a crucial third down play he made an outstanding open field tackle on Kellen Lewis. Honestly, he tackles better than most of our linebackers, which is awesome and sad at the same time.

Tony Davis also played an excellent game making a few crucial open field tackles. I didn't notice anyone else, which is usually a good thing when you are a defensive back.

Final Grade: A

Special Teams

If there is an unsung hero on this team it's Nate Stupar. He's a one-man special teams wrecking crew. He got another blocked punt this week. And at the end of every kickoff you saw #34 getting off the bottom of the pile along with #42 Mike Mauti. It's going to be a fun spring watching these two guys fight it out for the outside linebacker spot vacated by Ty Sales after this season.

Go for the ball? Protect the junk? Go for the ball? Protect the junk?
F&%k it. This is going to hurt.

Jeremy Boone averaged 51.5 yards on his two punts. Kelly missed a field goal but had a nice pooch punt down to the Indiana two-yard line. The kick return game was meh, but admittedly only got two attempts, and one of those went to Dan Lawlor.

Final Grade: B+

Defensive Coaching

There was a little feeling of "Oh crap, here we go again" in the early going, but they settled in nicely. Indiana only recorded nine pass completions and six first downs. The defensive line was very effective in their mush-rush to contain Lewis. Once he realized Indiana wasn't much of a passing threat, Bradley let the defensive backs play some man-to-man and cut the linebackers loose to blitz. Say it with me now, WHERE WAS THAT LAST WEEK? The stat sheet speaks for itself.

But there were still situations in third and long where they trotteed out the nickel back and backed the corners eight yards off the line of scrimmage. Like smoking in public and clubbing baby seals, this should be banned by the international community. But the end result was just seven points on a fluke play, and outside of that Indiana never really threatened to score. But considering the opponent, that isn't saying much.

Final Grade: B

What does all this mean for Michigan State?

Unfortunately not much. The Spartans are much more talented and physical than the Hoosiers. You can expect a steady diet of Javon Ringer left, Javon Ringer right, Javon Ringer up the middle next week. They're not quite one dimensional though. If Brian Hoyer is on his game you can call them one-and-a-half dimensional. If I had to compare them to a team we've played so far, it's Iowa. So, yeah.

Videofication: Wisconsin

Kevin HD — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:41:37 -0000

Back by popular demand...some video and screenshots of the Wisconsin game. The episode in which we explore illegal picks, easy touchdowns and phantom reversals.

Act I: How the bend-but-don't-break broke.

In an otherwise great performance, the defense gave up a very uncharacteristic big play on what appeared to be a sell-out rush combined with bad coverage. Upon further inspection, however, there was something a little fishy about the way a receiver running a five yard slant pattern was able to get six yards of separation from his cornerback.

The first thing to look at here are the two Wisconsin receivers, running toward each other about three yards in front of the LoS. Notice that, to the right, Tony Davis is all over Travis Beckum.

Ah, the old "turn-around-tail-out" route, in which non-option from the left plants himself firmly in front of his teammate's cover man.

Davis, at this point, is pretty much knocked off his feet as the ball is being released. Not really relevant to the story, but the defensive line is all over Evridge just a nano-second after he gets rid of the ball.

Alas, the Wisconsin receiver is in open space with little in the way of a safety valve in his way. This was the risk Bradley took when he decided to send seven after the quarterback, and it was the appropriate call for Wisconsin. The thing is, though, without that move over the middle this is probably a six to seven yard gain.

On 3rd and 3 it works, but considering the way the Badgers had been moving the ball up to that point, a score was highly unlikely even with a seven yard first down. Now, these types of things happen all the time, and it wasn't as blatant as I've seen before, but it helps explain the one anomaly in Saturday night's almost perfect performance.

Here it is in full speed:

Act II: In which Williams takes a leisurely stroll though the middle of the field, and why he decided he might as well turn it into six.

Ladies and gentlemen, the real Derrick Williams.

Act III: In which instant replay does the opposite of what it was designed to do.

Mark Rubin made a great jump on the ball and appeared to bring it in for the interception. The officials on the field thought so, anyway.

Instead, the instant replay official apparently spotted him some "indisputable evidence" and overturned the call. From the first angle they show it does look a bit like the ball bounced off of something, but it's clear from the second angle that his arm was under the ball the whole time.

They say over and over again that a call cannot be overturned unless there is, in so many words, no question that the call on the field was wrong. Not only is there not even close to enough evidence from the video to conclude that, but if anything the angles in the replay confirm that it was in fact an interception.

I'm not really worried about this particular call, it would have been meaningless and it was almost worth it to see Rubin kind of laugh it off and start making sure everyone knew he did actually catch it. I guess I'm just a little confused as to why this keeps happening. If a replay official can't be sure of the call, he is supposed to let the one on the field stand; it doesn't seem like that is happening. It's almost like the closer the call the more random the outcome of the review process.

Grading the Defense Against Purdue

BSD — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 03:07:20 -0000

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are intercepting in space
(Photo via PennLive.com)

It was a gritty win on the road against an opponent that admittedly has more questions than answers. Let's go through the defense and see how they did.

Defensive Line

Once again it was a solid performance by everyone in the trenches. Kory Sheets was held to half his season average and pretty well contained all day with one or two exceptions. Jared Odrick was a monster in the middle clogging the inside running lanes all day. Abe Koroma was also very impressive.

In the passing game I felt like the line wasn't consistently getting good pressure on Painter. But they had a few moments here and there and Maybin got another sack while Gaines and Odrick split another. But Maybin pretty much disappeared after that early sack and we didn't really hear for him the rest of the day.

Final Grade: B+

Linebackers

Josh Hull easily had his best game of the season recording 11 tackles, all solo. He looked much more decisive than he did against Illinois and had two tackles for loss to show for it. But then, last week you had to guess whether the option was going to Juice Williams, Daniel Dufrene, or Arrelious Benn. This week the option was between Curtis Painter or Kory Sheets. It's a safe bet to assume Sheets was getting the ball 90% of the time. But regardless, Hull played a great game.

The coaches rested Navorro Bowman a few days during the week leading up to the game to allow him to heal up some bumps and bruises. Maybe he was a bit rusty because of it since he didn't seem his explosive self. But he did manage a few big tackles.

Bani Gbadyu was flying all over the field like a pinball...fast and out of control. He ran by a few plays and missed a few tackles. But every once in a while he hits his target and it's pretty impressive when he does.

Final Grade: B

Secondary

I was really afraid that Curtis Painter was going to torch us for 350 yards in this game. I'm pleasantly surprised to admit I was wrong. The secondary looked a lot more like the group we saw in 2006 rather than 2007. They held the highly efficient Purdue passing attack to just 158 yards. It's great to see Tony Davis out on the wing making plays again. We really missed him last year. His counterpart, A.J. Wallace, is coming together nicely in pass coverage, but when asked to tackle someone he misses more than he hits. After dropping an interception in the third quarter he was yanked in favor of Lydell Sargeant. But I think it's safe to say Wallace has a firm grasp on the starting job going forward.

Anthony Scirrotto looked like his old self laying out people crossing the middle and crashing the line hard in run support. And while we're on the topic of crashing run support, how about Drew Astorino. The redshirt freshman was flying all over the field sacrificing his body and making hits that could be heard from Nebraska. He also forced the only turnover of the game in reading Painter perfectly to make an interception. He did get a little too aggressive in drawing a pass interference penalty, but personally I didn't think the ball was catchable.

Final Grade: A

Special Teams

Kevin Kelly was solid, even if a hobbled Joe Paterno could have made those chip shots from 20 and 25 yards. His kickoffs, however, are completely unpredictable. You never know if they are going to go out the back of the endzone, land on the 20, or go out of bounds. This week he had one go in the endzone for a touchback while the others landed at the 9, 8, and the 5. Not bad.

Is it me or does Jeremy Boone not look as good as last year. Granted he's not getting as many chances, but his kicks seem to be noticeably shorter. And he's been terrible at landing kicks inside the 20 all season. This week he had two kicks land in the endzone. Remember a few weeks ago they had Kelly pooch punting when they had a short field? I'm starting to wonder if something is up with Boone.

The return game was awful. Chaz Powell replaced Wallace on kickoffs and returned his one chance just eight yards to the 22 yard line. Derrick Williams wasn't much better. He returned his kickoff chance just ten yards to the 14 yard line. He also fair caught a punt he probably could have gained some yardage on. Annoying, but after the recent mishaps I think it's smart to just catch the ball and let this high powered offense do their thing.

Final Grade: C

Defensive Coaching

To all those who claim the coaches are loyal to their seniors to a fault, take note that A.J. Wallace (junior) started ahead of Lydell Sargeant (senior) and Drew Astorino (redshirt freshman) played the entire game. They are getting their best talent on the field and for this they deserve credit.

The coaches played nickel defense almost exclusively on first down with Bowman and Hull as the linebackers, Astorino at Hero, and Rubin in the nickel. They rarely blitzed and asked the front four to provide all the pressure. Sometimes they did, and sometimes they didn't. Painter had some success here and there finding the holes in the zone between the linebackers for seven or eight yards. This led to some frustrating moments in the first half when the defense kept finding itself in 2nd and 3 and 3rd and 1 situations. But they came in with the classic Penn State "Bend-Don't-Break" philosophy hoping Purdue would make mistakes. A good bet against Purdue. Their biggest mistake was trying to run the ball on first down. When they did, they often got stuffed for little or no gain forcing long yardage on second down. When Painter is asked to gain five or six yards through the air he can be an effective quarterback. Ask him to gain you 15 yards on third and 10 and he's awful. The coaches realized this and formed the perfect gameplan to beat them.

As for the long drive surrendered to Elliot, Penn State switched to their base 4-3 defense when he came in the game. Perhaps thinking they could rattle the new kid they called a few blitzes and he made them pay with short passes over the middle that gained yards after the catch. It was like Purdue was waiting for us to blitz all day and finally got their chance when Painter came out of the game. We should probably not do this anymore. But I'm willing to give the coaches a break here since the game was in hand and I'm always in favor of pressuring young quarterbacks.

Final Grade: A

Poll

Who was the defensive MVP of the Purdue Game?

Josh Hull

216 votes

Jared Odrick

60 votes

Navorro Bowman

29 votes

Anthony Scirrotto

15 votes

Drew Astorino

161 votes

481 votes | Poll has closed

Grading the Defense Against Temple

BSD — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 03:13:09 -0000

Lions always run in packs

Defensive Line

Everyone keeps harping on how thin the defensive line is. You could have fooled me. Penn State used ten different guys on the defensive line on Saturday. But it didn't matter who Larry Johnson sent in because the results were always the same. The Temple offensive line could not open any holes for the running backs to slip through. I suspect Temple knew this was going to be the case coming into the game since the runningbacks Jones and Liverpool only had eight running attempts. And once they fell behind the Owls had to abandon the running game. Quarterback Chester Stewart was the leading rusher for the Owls with 15 yards on 18 attempts. As a team the Owls only recorded 16 rushing yards on 28 attempts. That is domination.

Aaron Maybin came ready to play getting two sacks in the opening quarter including a vicious hit on DiMichele knocking him out of the game and ending any slim hope Temple may have had of being competitive. Looking at the picture of the hit below you can kind of see how Maybin had his arm tucked under DiMichele's armpit as he drove his shoulder into the ground. Then leverage took over.

Pop! Goes the Shoulder Socket

Josh Gaines had another all around great day. He was highly effective in stopping the run and also recorded two sacks. All-in-all it was a great performance for a defensive line supposedly short on bodies. The front four got good pressure on Stewart allowing the linebacker to just focus on their pass coverages.

Final Grade: A

Linebackers

Temple came out determined to test our linebackers with short passes and screens. A wise strategy in my opinion, and it worked early as Temple got a few first downs in the first quarter to shift the field position in their favor. But once the Penn State scoring machine got going in the second quarter Temple was forced to open things up and test the secondary by throwing deeper. That's when the interceptions started coming.

Hull and Gbadyu were ok, but not great. Gbadyu flies to the ball, but often misses the tackle or gets run over by the ball carrier. Hull is a sure tackler, but he always seems a bit slow in getting to the ball and often got dragged a few yards before bringing the ball carrier down.

But the good news is we have a young linebacker elevating his game and standing on the verge of becoming great. Navorro Bowman got his first career start and made the most of it. He was flying all over the field on defense and special teams seemingly always around the ball. Check out this stat line.

vs Temple / 9.20.08	Tackles						Sacks		Interceptions
	Solo	Ast	Total	TFL	TFL Yds	FF	Sacks	Yds	Int	Yds	IntTD
Navarro Bowman	8	3	11	5	17	1	3	13	1	29	0

If he doesn't win Big Ten Player of the Week honors it will be a travesty.

Navorro Bowman's Grade: A+
Everyone Else: C

Secondary

Overall I thought it was a good performance by the secondary. Last season Temple threw for 238 yards against Penn State. This year the same secondary, minus Justin King, held the same group of receivers to just 122 yards.

Tony Davis came up with a huge interception. After a shakey first quarter the Penn State offense was finally starting to get things going. After scoring a touchdown to take a 14-0 lead, Travis Shelton returned the kickoff 74 yards down to the PSU 26 yard line. But on their first offensive play Stewart badly overthrew a ball and Davis picked it off at the PSU 16 yard line keeping the Penn State momentum going. Temple wouldn't threaten again until the game was well in hand.

Drew Astorino continues to see his playing time increase. He played a solid game with seven tackles and a pass broken up. Knowledge Timmons stepped up with a late interception at the end of the game as well.

Final Grade: B+

Special Teams

The kickoff coverage was awful. It started on the opening kickoff when Kelly shanked the kick and Shelton returned it 33 yards to the PSU 43 yard line. Shelton's next return went 74 yards and nearly scored. They tried kicking away from him after that, but Schulters had returns of 33 and 29 yards, so they kicked it to Shelton one more time and he returned that one 42 yards. Just terrible. We need to put our best athletes on the field in these situations. I know there is a higher risk of injury, but kickoffs and punts are so important to control field position for the defense. We can't keep giving opponents the ball at mid field to start.

I mentioned that Kelly shanked a kickoff. He only had one touchback out of seven kickoffs, but Shelton's big return was four yards deep. He hit his one field goal attempt from 44 yards. It was true down the middle and would have easily been good from over 50. He seems to have made significant strides over the summer which has me feeling a whole lot better.

Jeremy Boone had one sensational punt that stopped dead at the Temple 2 yard line. He did ok on his other punts. Only one was returned, but it seemed like his kicks aren't quite as deep as he was booming them last year. Maybe it's just a lack of attempts. Maybe it's just me.

Derrick Williams fumbled a punt return and was lucky to have Scirrotto back with him to pick it up. Even after that play he ran up under a lot of short punts and had to make some awkward catches. He needs to just let those bounce and let the offense take possession. The important thing for this team is to just get the defense off the field and let the offense do its thing. We don't need a hero taking chances on the punt returns.

Please no more of this

Final Grade: C-

Defensive Coaching

It's hard to complain when you hold your opponent to three points and only 138 yards of total offense. But, it's Temple. They didn't blitz much and mostly just sat back in coverage playing the classic "bend-but-don't-break" defense. It was definitely an improvement over last year when the Owls seemed to move the ball at will just to turn it over in the redzone and shut themselves out. This year Penn State didn't get the shutout, but it was a better defensive performance that the shutout from last year. The defense looked prepared and focused and actually carried the offense in the early going for a change. They struggled a bit with the short passes over the middle, but made adjustments and took them away forcing Temple into throwing three interceptions.

I like that the corners appear to be more aggressive this year. And the defensive line rotation is more than covering for the losses of Evans, Koroma, Hayes, Still, Baker, and Taylor. But I imagine Bradley is pulling his hair out wondering how to cover for his linebackers. He has a slow guy in the middle that can't blitz and will get picked on by Big Ten teams. He has a senior starting outside who can't point to a memorable play in his career. Another linebacker flies all over the place but he lacks instincts and the probability of him making the tackle is slightly better than a coin flip. Bowman appears to have the most star potential of the group when he's able to stay out of Joe's doghouse.

Final Grade: B

Poll

Who was the PSU Defensive Player of the Game?

Aaron Maybin

76 votes

Josh Gaines

17 votes

Navorro Bowman

266 votes

Tony Davis

2 votes

Drew Astorino

17 votes

378 votes | Poll has closed

Grading The Defense: Not So Fast, My Friend

Run Up The Score — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:06:21 -0000

After a quick review of Saturday's game:

Defensive Line: Let's call it a solid B. The rushing numbers looked great (2.9 ypc), but something was just off when watching the game a second time. Josh Gaines was obviously magnificent in every regard, and while Aaron Maybin continues to get into the opponent's backfield, he still struggles quite a bit against the run. The defensive tackles were surprisingly soft, no doubt due to the lack of depth at the position. Ollie Ogbu and Jared Odrick made some plays, but they were completely blown out of the play on multiple occasions. Freshman Jack Crawford is not only attempting to adjust to the college game, he's still trying to learn the game. He's seen action in both games this season, and hasn't performed particularly well. It's just a fact of being an undersized true freshman defensive tackle. Tom McEowen and Eric Latimore were okay in the second half, at best. It may not have been apparent on the scoreboard, but the defensive line desperately needs Maurice Evans and Abe Koroma back when Illinois comes to town.

Linebackers: B+. Navarro Bowman and Tyrell Sales racked up a ton of tackles. Josh Hull played better and made an easy interception, but Tom Bradley isn't helping his defense by sending Hull on blitzes. He's not a good enough athlete to disrupt the play in a blitzing role, not to mention how poorly disguised the blitzes are in the first place. Still, he was better this week than against Coastal Carolina. Bani Gbadyu allegedly played on Saturday. Nathan Stupar looked quite good in his limited action.

Secondary: B+. Mark Rubin, better. Not great, but better. He was caught up in traffic a few times on running plays, but otherwise did a fine job shedding some blocks and making the tackle. Nice interception, too. Tony Davis played very well. Outside of the clusterfrick that was Oregon State's first touchdown, Anthony Scirrotto had a nice game. Good to see Drew Astorino in the game early and breaking up a pass. I don't recall Lydell Sargeant doing anything great or awful.

I already know what many of you are thinking. We held them to 7 meaningful points, and even if you take away the sacks, Oregon State only had 116 yards rushing. I know. I know. But I saw what I saw: many defensive tackles being abused far too often, and average but effective play from the defense as a whole. They'll look great against Syracuse and Temple. After that, we'll probably have Evans and Koroma back in the rotation, which will certainly help against Illinois.

Too harsh? Just right? Your comments are always welcome.