SB Nation - Bani Gbadyu

Grading the Penn State Defense Against Michigan

BSD — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:15:22 -0000

More photos » by Carlos Osorio - AP

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

Browse more photos »

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

Defensive Line

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

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

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

Final Grade: A

Linebackers

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

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

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

Final Grade: A

Secondary

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

Final Grade: A

Special Teams

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

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

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

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

Final Grade: C

Defensive Coaching

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

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

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

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

Final Grade: A

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

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

More photos » by Carolyn Kaster - AP

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

Browse more photos »

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

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

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

Now the fun starts.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

+1 to TDG.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Minnesota 20 - Penn State 13.

Grading the Penn State Defense Against Eastern Illinois

BSD — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:00:39 -0000

More photos » by Carolyn Kaster - AP

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

Browse more photos »

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

Defensive Line

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

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

Final Grade: A

Linebackers

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

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

Final Grade: B

Secondary

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

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

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

Final Grade: C

Special Teams

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

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

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

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

Final Grade: B

Defensive Coaching

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

Final Grade: A

Grading the Penn State Defense Against Illinois

BSD — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:15:09 -0000

More photos » by Seth Perlman - AP

2 months ago: Illinois' Daniel Dufrene (22) goes against Penn State's D'Anton Lynn during the first half of the NCAA college football game in Champaign, Ill., Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)

Browse more photos »

Well it sure feels good to be back to winning games again. Even though Illinois is a pretty downtrodden team this season, it's a game a lot of people picked us to lose when the year began, and any win on the road in the Big Ten is a good win. It's a little disappointing that the defense gave up 17 points after Ohio State shut out the Illini last week, but Illinois two touchdowns came in the fourth quarter when the game was well in hand and Joe Paterno had called off the dogs. So overall I'm pleased with the performance. Let's grade out the defense.

Defensive Line

When you play a team like Illinois the challenge for the defensive line is to stick with their assignments. The Illini try to trick you and fake you with counters and fake handoffs and zone read options. I thought the defensive line did a fantastic job. Illinois only managed 130 yards and averaged 3.7 yards per carry. Juice was the leading rusher with 81 yards, so every time Dufrene got the ball he didn't get far.

The defensive ends were outstanding. Jack Crawford and Eric Latimore did a fantastic job of containing the outside runs and forcing Juice to keep the ball on the zone reads where he got gobbled up by the defensive tackles and linebackers. Crawford and Latimore each got a sack in the game, and when they got pulled late in the second half the true freshman Sean Stanley came in and made a fantastic play swatting the ball out of Juice's hand for a Penn State fumble recovery. The defensive ends are coming along quite nicely.

The defensive tackles were unnoticeable, but they ate up blockers and allowed the linebackers to roam free and make plays.

Final Grade: A

Linebackers

Navorro Bowman and Josh Hull played well. It looked to me like Illinois didn't want anything to do with Bowman and was running away from his direction most of the day. But he still managed to get seven tackles and a TFL. Josh Hull was great in the running game as usual. But I still think he's a liability in the passing game. Bradley sent him on a lot of blitzes. He got there once or twice, but for the most part they were ineffective and he either got gobbled up by a guard or cut down by a running back. Illinois had success attacking the medium-deep middle over the linebackers and under the safeties just like everyone else has. This part of the defense has to tighten up. But Hull and Bowman were monsters in defending Illinois' wide receiver screen plays.

Both guys did a good job of containing Juice when he decided to run, which was often. It looked like Bowman was assigned as a spy when Illinois was in long distance situations where they had to pass. There were a few times when Juice got flushed out of the pocket and Bowman made a nice open field tackle to bring him down short of the sticks.

The third linebacker spot was a platoon of Bani Gbadyu and Nate Stupar. Neither one played particularly well. In the first quarter Gbadyu was getting shoved out of the way by Arrelious Benn which allowed Illinois to get some nice running plays. So he got pulled in favor of Stupar who did slightly better. But neither guy was great. We're really missing Sean Lee.

Grade: B

Secondary

For the most part the secondary did a good job. Juice managed 263 yards passing and a touchdown, but a lot of that came in garbage time. Benn was relatively contained to 96 yards on five catches.

D'Anton Lynn and Stephon Morris continue to impress me at cornerback. Lynn was fantastic in fighting through blocks to stop a few wide receiver screens. Morris was challenged a few times and came up big each time. He also had the interception just before the half that he nearly ran back 100 yards. Again, Illinois had their success in the passing game by attacking the linebackers and safeties. The corners are doing just fine.

The safeties definitely have to tighten up. Sukay was slow to rotate on Juice's touchdown pass, and then he finished it off by drawing a personal foul for a helmet to helmet hit. The Big Ten is really frowning on these this year, so we'll see if there is a suspension coming later in the week. Given the opponent next weekend, I bet the conference tries to make a statement while not really hurting Penn State that badly. It was a vicious hit, and I can understand if the conference penalizes him, but I hope they'll also look at the hit Daryll Clark took earlier in the game. After a scramble Clark went down and an Illinois defender came flying in after Clark was on the ground and speared him in the back with his helmet. It was clearly a play designed to injure the opponent. Clark got up in visible pain in either his back or shoulder. If Sukay gets suspended, I hope the Big Ten will look at that play too.</commentary>

Final Grade: B

Special Teams

Some good, some bad this week. The kickoff returns continue to look anemic. A.J. Wallce got a look today with Devon Smith recovering from a concussion. On two kickoff returns he got a total of 21 yards. Neither return got past the 15 yard line. One return was just a boneheaded decision by Wallace who ran it out of the endzone. The other looked to me like the wedge set up and took off way too early allowing the Illinois gunners to run in untouched to make the play.

Jeremy Boone was amazing...again. Average of 49.5 yards with a long of 66 and two kicks pinned inside the 20. Ho hum. There was one close call though where another punt was almost blocked. Boone rushed to get it away and Illinois got a touchback out of it. This has to get fixed. Every team going forward is going to be coming after us considering the past two games.

Wagner didn't get any field goal attempts, but it looks to me like he has changed something on the kickoffs. He just looked like he's getting more hangtime this week and it helped the coverage team tremendously. Benn had one nice return for 33 yards, but four of the other five returns were held under 20 yards.

Nothing special in the punt return game as usual. We're just fair catching everything this year, and Royster almost blew that with a muffed catch that he was fortunate to recover.

Final Grade: B-

Defensive Coaching

It's hard to complain about much here. The Illinois offense was pretty ineffective, but not as ineffective as when they played Ohio State. Like I said before, defending an option team like Illinois is about knowing your assignments, and in that regard the players were very well prepared. Illinois couldn't find any big holes to exploit in the running game.

But in the passing game I will continue to rail against the Cover 3 until things change. I hate it with the passion of a thousand suns. It's not that it's a bad defense, it's just that I get sick of seeing it on every 2nd and 10 or 3rd and 7. I've never played a down of organized football in my life, but I can sit on my couch and see they are in Cover 3 before the snap, so I'm sure the quarterback sees it too, and I'm sure the offensive coordinator has already called a play to exploit it. Illinois did so all day connecting on multiple medium range throws underneath the safeties. Ricky Stanzi picked us apart last week picking up eight or nine yards on every second and long situation.

For the love of God, please mix it up. I understand the bend-don't-break-defense. Make your opponent use eight or nine plays to march down the field. The more plays you can force, the more likely they are to make a mistake. And the more time they consume in moving the ball is less time they have to score. But come on, do we have to just GIVE THEM YARDS?

Like I said last week, Paterno needs to be commended for changing the offense in 2005 into the dynamic Spread HD we see today. He realized that four yards and a cloud of dust just doesn't cut it anymore if you hope to be a champion. But he still hasn't figured out that defenses have changed too. It's no longer about sitting back and reacting to what your opponent does. The nasty defenses today are the ones that attack and force the offense out of what they want to do. I see signs of it here and there with a corner blitz or an occassional man-to-man, but we need more of it. Keep the offense guessing just like our offense does to their opposing defense.

I won't be satisfied until we beat ever opponent 65-0.

Final Grade: B

Poll

Who was the defensive MVP?

Josh Hull - 11 tkl (4 solo), 1 TFL

174 votes

Navorro Bowman - 7 tkl (4 solo), 1 TFL

35 votes

Jack Crawford - 4 tkl, 1 sack, 1.5 TFL

44 votes

Sean Stanley - 2 tkl, 1 sack, 1 FF

14 votes

Eric Latimore - 5 tkl, 1 sack, 2 TFL

92 votes

Stephon Morris - 2 tkl, 1 INT

21 votes

380 votes | Poll has closed

Grading the Penn State Defense Against the Iowa Hawkeyes

BSD — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:00:34 -0000

More photos » by Carolyn Kaster - AP

2 months ago: Iowa running back Brandon Wegher flips over Penn State defenders Drew Anderson, left, and A.J. Wallace during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009, in State College, Pa. Iowa won 21-10. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Browse more photos »

It's hard to evaluate the defense when your offense goes out and lays a turd on national television. When your offense keeps putting you on the field with your back against the wall you can only hold out so long.

Defensive Line

The unit wasn't it's dominating self, but then the level of competition was about 1000 times better than the first three games. Jared Odrick and Ollie Ogbu went pretty much unnoticed, but they did a good job in occupying blockers so that Josh Hull and Navorro Bowman could combine for 26 tackles and 5 TFL.

The defensive ends didn't impress me much. I noticed that Jerome Hayes got the start, and Iowa went to work attacking him right away. He was lined up on the side with Bani Gbadyu when Brandon Wegher ripped off his 32 yard run on Iowa's second drive. On the next drive he was replaced with Eric who I thought did a much better job in run defense. Jack Crawford didn't make a big impression on me. He's still a year away from being a monster.

But overall I felt like the line held their own against the powerful Iowa offensive line. The Iowa running game averaged 4.4 yards per carry and gave up two sacks.

Final Grade: B

Linebackers

Navorro Bowman returned, but Penn State is still waiting to see their two All-Big Ten linebackers on the field at the same time as Sean Lee sat out with a sprained knee. So his spot was filled by Bani Gbadyu and Nate Stupar. Stupar came into the game nursing a sprained ankle, and I noticed Gbadyu got a little dinged up himself in the game. It sure would have been nice to have Mike Mauti out there. It seems like the deeper Penn State is at any particular position, the more injuries they tend to get. See defensive tackles.

Bowman and Hull looked fantastic. Both of them had 13 tackles in the game. Bowman tackled three ball carriers behind the line while Hull had two TFL and a sack. After that blocked punt you could tell by the body language on the team that they had given up, but Hull and Bowman kept playing hard to the end.

Personally, I think the bashing Josh Hull sees is no longer justified. He's a tremendous player and a tenacious linebacker that goes hard every play. He's not the best in pass coverage, but then neither was Paul Posluszny.

Final Grade: A

Secondary

I thought the secondary played an excellent game. Ricky Stanzi was held to just 135 yards and completed less than 50% of his passes while throwing two picks. But it should be pointed out that Stanzi wasn't helped by his own guys dropping several passes.

Two guys that really impressed me were Nick Sukay and Stephon Morris. Sukay had nine tackles, broke up four passes, and caught an interception. Unfortunately, it was his missed block that led to the punt block, but that shouldn't completely negate a solid game. Morris has basically solidified himself on the first team nickel package; a truly amazing achievement for a true freshman in only his fourth game. And remember that Morris did not enroll in the spring and just joined the team in July. He's going to be a special player.

I was disappointed in Drew Astorino. Normally he's a pretty sure tackler, but he overran some plays and looked silly in whiffing on some arm tackles. I chalk that up to a wet field where he wasn't able to plant his feet and set himself.

Final Grade: B

Special Teams

I was worried going into this game that special teams were going to liability, and they were. Colin Wagner is not getting it done as the place kicker. His kickoffs aren't going past the five yard line, and I don't think he's made a field goal over 40 yards yet. I'm officially on the Give-Anthony-Fera-A-Chance bandwagon.

Once again Jeremy Boone was the lone star averaging 53 yards on his two punts. But other than that everything was atrocious. Iowa averaged 24 yards per kick return, and they returned a blocked punt for 53 yards. Penn State averaged 17.2 yards on five kick returns, but that was with one good return for 36 yards by Chaz Powell. The Nittany Lions only averaged only 12.5 yards on their other four returns.

Remember everything I said about Nick Sukay's play on defense? Yeah, well, none of that applies to special teams last night. He blew the blocking assignment and also drew the questionable roughing the kicker call on the Iowa punt. But he's still a good player who will get better.

Final Grade: F

Defensive Coaching

I happened to be sitting next to a few Iowa fans in the stands during the game. They were nice guys and very friendly complimenting us profusely on how awesome our stadium was. Anyway, right after Clark hit Powell for the 79 yard touchdown the place was rocking and they were obviously standing there with that "Oh Crap" look on their face. I leaned over to the guy and said, "This probably works to your advantage. With a seven point lead Joe is going to go conservative and let you get back in it." Today it kind of frightens me how accurate that was.

I paid particular attention to the secondary since it's hard to tell what they're doing while watching a game on television (I'll save my rant on television coverage as it relates to football strategy for another day.) They pretty much played Cover-3 the entire first half, and just like the fourth quarter last year in Iowa City, Stanzi picked them apart for eight or nine yards on every second down to set up a short yardage situation for third down. In my opinion, this is inexcusable.

Back in 2004 Joe Paterno came to the realization that if he wanted to be competitive he had to change his offense so it wasn't so predictable. Out of this was born the Spread HD with multiple formations, plays, and personnel to keep the opposing defense guessing. The new offense has been a tremendous success (last night notwithstanding), but yet Penn State hasn't changed a thing on defense. I know the defense still manages to do quite well, but why put them at the disadvantage of being so predictable? Why let Iowa march down the field and hope you can tighten up inside the 30 yard line? Would it kill us to play man-to-man once in a while? Or even a Cover-2 where the corners are in man and the safeties are covering deep zones?

I was pleased to see more blitzes in the second half and I thought it worked well to keep Stanzi off balance. I thought that was a nice adjustment. I also liked pulling Hayes in favor of Latimore.

Final Grade: B

You Can't See Nitt Picks Because Of All The Smoke

Kevin HD — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:00:34 -0000

Program-S. Plural, we're not singling anyone out here.

Or are they just confused? Is was a morbid picture of the linebacking corp after Joe's presser, what with comments like this one:

While Bowman is more likely to play, Lee is doubtful.

"I really don't know whether Sean is gonna make it on Saturday," Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. "He's day by day. I really don't know.

"Navorro was out there and practiced for about a third of the practice (Monday). I'm anxious to see how he feels today. You don't want to stick him in there when he's really not 100 percent."

But then what's with this Josh Hull quote?

"If [Bowman's] health continues to be as it is today, I'd expect him to be starting Saturday," Penn State linebacker Josh Hull said.

And then this one printed this morning:

Hull said no one should assume at this point that Lee and Bowman will be sidelined or hindered by game time.

"If they chain him to the bench," Hull responded when asked if he thought Lee, who missed all of the 2008 season while recovering from a torn ACL, would be held out against the Hawkeyes. Of Bowman, Hull was somewhat more optimistic, saying, "It's going to be exciting to see him out there again. He brings some leadership to the huddle. He's a real explosive kid that can make a big play at any time."

It's all very confusing, but either way I'd be surprised if we don't see a lot of Bani Gbadyu and (even more of) Nate Stupar. Both are young, and so both are guys Paterno is "worried" about.

I know Iowa has some injuries of their own, but we're talking about a pretty important part of a defense that hasn't really been tested yet. Here's to hoping the secondary will show improvement this week because the linebackers aren't going to be cleaning up as many messes this Saturday as they did during the pre-season.

Vegas Sez. The line, which opened with Penn State as a 10-point favorite just about everywhere, is starting to drop down to 9.5 at some places. This is not a good sign when you consider Penn State is the one taking all of the action, but then again it's still 9.5 points.

The total is coming out around 40, which is staggeringly low. They haven't predicted a Penn State game this low scoring since the 2007 Ohio State contest.

Times set. Your Illinois game the week after this one will be the ABC 3:30 contest, broadcast on ESPN out of market.

The rest of the Big Ten schedule:
Noon - Arkansas State at Iowa, ESPN Classic (or ESPN2)
Noon - Michigan at Michigan State, Big Ten Network
Noon - Northwestern at Purdue, Big Ten Network
Noon - Wisconsin at Minnesota, ESPN or ESPN2
7 p.m. - Ohio State at Indiana, Big Ten Network

An interesting exercise in incentives. A minor league hockey team spent the season claiming an average attendance of 5,841. Then something funny happened: the league demanded a cut of all playoff tickets. The average attendance during the playoffs? 2,347, or about half.

Why do I bring this up? Mostly because it would be an interesting way to get actual attendance for football games in a world where the numbers have become glorified pissing contests between the biggest stadiums.

Example A:

According to the NCAA, Michigan averaged about 108,500 fans for each of its home football games last season. Penn State ranked second with about 108,200 per contest.

TNL got mad about this last season:

It's no mystery, we don't need a team from CSI to painstakingly sift through the remains or Jack Bower's terrorist interrogation methods to find an answer when you schedule absolute [/grandkids] TEAMS for OOC home games people aren't going to come...

Point taken, and I've changed my opinion a bit after these last three sleepers, but we aren't talking about ticket sales here, or even a number under "capacity."

Per the school:

Beaver Stadium attendance figures include the press box, suites, bands, ushers and other stadium personnel.

This is standard language just about everywhere. So: what is the point of counting these guys? If one school claims higher attendance when in fact everyone averaged higher than capacity, aren't they really just saying they have more hot dog venders? So like, gradulations.

In scores of other games. Norwood was cut by the Browns but picked up by the Eagles...the College Football HOF is moving from South Bend to Atlanta, or so the AJ-C is reporting (H/T: SB).

Joe Paterno Press Conference Recap

BSD — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:15:17 -0000

More photos » by Pat Little - AP

Browse more photos »

Here are some nuggets from Joe Paterno's press conference today.

Joe called Sean Lee "Day-to-day" and isn't sure if he will play on Saturday. He was on the field yesterday, but didn't do anything.
Bowman practiced for about 1/3 of Monday's practice. They will evaluate him as the week goes on.
Joe says Daryll Clark is important to the team, and they are not going to run him if they don't have to. But they will do what they have to do to win the football game.
Joe is worried about the linebackers with all the injuries. Mauti, Lee, and Bowman were supposed to be the top three linebackers. Right now all three are injured. Says Stupar can be good, but he is irratic at times. Same with Bani Gbadyu. Josh Hull has to hold the thing all together.
Graham Zug will practice today and Joe thinks he will be ok for Saturday.
A couple guys up front on the kick return team are missing their blocks which is causing the problems on the return game. It's not the timing with the wedge being too close to the return man.
Joe does not like the word "revenge" in reference to this game with Iowa. Iowa licked us last year. "It's not like they sneaked up on us and stabbed us in the back with a knife" They're just approaching this game as they would prepare for a good football team.
Ricky Stanzi is a good football player. He's not flashy. Not one of those kids who calls attention to himself. He's a coach's quarterback. Knows what's going on. Looks a little shaky in the beginning of games, but puts it together in the second half.
Says Iowa has some good running backs. He thought they might be shaky without Shonn Greene, but doesn't look that way.
Dennis Landolt is a solid tackle. Didn't have a great game against Temple which is unusual for him. He's not an emotional kid, but he comes to work every day and pays attention to the little things.
Jared Odrick is a little more of a free spirit that the kids that have played at tackle. Spends a lot of time looking at blocking schemes so he can take advantage. He's a fine football player.
Joe didn't want to get into Kirk Ferentz's 6-1 record against Penn State. Says he's just worried about this year.
Joe doesn't know if the flu is still hanging around the team. Everyone was in practice yesterday. One or two kids are still getting over it. He thinks they're ok this week, but tomorrow they might have five or six kids say they came down with it.
Joe says they haven't run everything in the play book yet. Doesn't know how much they have or haven't run yet. They did hold some stuff back. They went into the Temple game determined to run it more.
The linebackers will be Hull, Stupar, and Gbadyu if Lee and Bowman can't go.
He's not comfortable with the goal line offense yet. But they will get better as the offensive line gets more experience. They probably haven't spent enough time on the goal line yet.
The first team and second team on offense and defense get the same amount of practice reps because you never know when you are going to need a backup player to step in. That may be different from what other schools do.
Joe isn't aware of any problems with Sean Lee's ankle. Says he has a sprained knee.
The kickoff coverage is not very good. He seems to think it's a personnel problem more than anything. They've had to put some guys in there that haven't played a lot of football.
Joe tries to pace the day so the players can rest up for these late games. The toughest part is the kids have friends and family that want to hang out before the game. He has to keep them focused.
Jack Crawford will be good when he gets more confidence in himself.
The Whiteout is a great place to play a football game. To have games here with our crowd has been an advantage for us. It's a bringing together of the whole institution. It's fun, and it's great to be a part of it. The kids look forward to it. They enjoy the rallies the night before. Joe made a little dig at Bobby Bowden and Florida State at the end when he said, "What do you do when you're in college? How many things do you do where you are involved with 110,000 other people on the same page? Unless you're in an English class cheating with 30 other guys."

Zing!

Depth Chartin': Last Clan Standing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Update: Lee has a possible ankle injury, too?

Grading the Penn State Defense Against Temple

BSD — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:00:21 -0000

More photos » by Carolyn Kaster - AP

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

Browse more photos »

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

Defensive Line

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

Final Grade: B+

Linebackers

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

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

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

FInal Grade: B

Secondary

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

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

Final Grade: B+

Special Teams

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

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

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

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

Final Grade: D

Defensive Coaching

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

Final Grade: B

Penn State Downs The Orange 28-7

BSD — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:24:24 -0000

More photos » by Carolyn Kaster - AP

3 months ago: Penn State running back Evan Royster runs for a touchdown as Syracuse defenders Max Suter, left, and Lonnie Johnson, right, give chase during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009, in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Browse more photos »

Coaches will tell you you don't want your team to peek too early. Joe Paterno should have nothing to worry about in that regard as Penn State obviously has a lot of work to do to become a great football team.

Just like they did against Akron a week ago, Penn State opened the game with a precise drive capped off by a 49 yard touchdown pass from Daryll Clark to Evan Royster. After that the road got a little muddy and Penn State got bogged down.

Their second drive was a methodical march down the field that ate the final nine minutes of the first quarter. But with first and goal at the two yard line the offense hit a wall. Royster and Suhey were stuffed on first and second down. Then Clark couldn't get in on a quarterback keeper. Then on fourth down Clark fumbled the snap and Syracuse took over on downs.

It was a theme that would be seen all day. Time and again Penn State struggled to run the ball between the tackles. Royster was contained for just 41 yards on 12 carries. Stephfon Green only managed 26 yards on 8 carries. A tell-tale sign of the offensive frustrations came in the fourth quarter. With 11 minutes to go and Penn State holding a solid 20-plus point lead, the Nittany Lions came out throwing the ball on first downs. Do you think the coaches have lost confidence already?

Fortunately the Penn State defense gave the offense the cushion they needed to work out the kinks. The Orange were held to just 200 yards total offense and seven points. They struggled to move the ball on the ground with only 69 yards rushing, but the passing game picked up in the second half and Penn State was aided by a lot of dropped passes by the Orange receivers.

Penn State took control of the game in the second quarter. Following a defensive stop that had Syracuse pinned deep in the endzone, the Nittany Lions got favorable field position after the punt. After some short passes to Quarless, Zug, and Suhey, Evan Royster took a sweep to the left and cut it upfield for an easy 12 yard touchdown.

Penn State then opened the second half holding Syracuse to a three and out. On the ensuing Penn State drive Daryll Clark hit Graham Zug for a 20 yard touchdown on a pretty post pattern over the middle.

Syracuse responded with a steady drive all the way down to the Penn State redzone. With a first and goal it looked like they were going to get on the board. But successive stops by Bani Gbadyu, Sean Lee, and Jack Crawford brought up fourth down. Greg Paulus found Mike Williams wide open in the endzone, but Williams dropped the pass and Penn State took over on downs.

The teams traded possessions until midway through the fourth quarter when Nate Stupar picked off a tipped ball and returned it to the Syracuse three yard line. Penn State once again struggled to run the ball as Stephfon Green was stuffed on first and second down. On third down Clark faked a handoff to Green and rolled to his right. Then he found Mickey Shuler running open in the back of the endzone and hit him for the score.

Syracuse took the ball and began to drive once again into Penn State territory, but their drive was stopped when a pass bounced off a Syracuse receiver's helmet and right into the hands of Josh Hull. It looked like the shutout was going to stay in tact, but three plays later Kevin Newsome fumbled the ball and gave the Orange possession on the Penn State 16 yard line. Their first offensive play was a post pattern to Donte Davis for a touchdown.

It was an easy win for Penn State, but they have to be disappointed in the running game. Syracuse jammed up the middle all day and Penn State struggled to get the running game going for the second week in a row. The passing game wasn't quite as crisp this week as it was last week, but Penn State was able to create some big plays to set up some scores. There is still a lot of stuff to clean up, but there's no need to panic yet. This team reminds me a lot of the 2005 team. That team had a lot of new players on offense, and it wasn't until week five or six against Minnesota when things started to click and the offense found its identity.

So now let's all just sit back and enjoy the late games. Right now I'm watching Wisconsin fight for their season in an overtime battle with Fresno State.