SB Nation - Brent Carter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Penn State Stats

Passing

		Passing									Rushing					Sacks
	G	Rating	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/G	Y/A	TD	INT	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Sack	YdsL
Daryll Clark	12	93.0	214	337	63.5	2787	232.3	8.3	23	10	73	191	15.9	2.6	7	-	-
Matthew McGloin	1	0.0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	-
Kevin Newsome	8	70.0	8	11	72.7	66	8.3	6	0	0	20	95	11.9	4.8	2	-	-

Rushing

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

Receiving

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

Kicking

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

Florida Stats

Passing

		Passing									Rushing					Sacks
	G	Rating	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/G	Y/A	TD	INT	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Sack	YdsL
John Brantley	6	113.0	36	48	75	410	68.3	8.5	7	0	13	67	11.2	5.2	0	-	-
Tim Tebow	13	103.0	182	279	65.2	2413	185.6	8.6	18	5	203	859	66.1	4.2	13	-	-

Rushing

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

Receiving

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

Kicking

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

Poll

Who wins this matchup?

Florida Gators

91 votes

Penn State Nittany Lions

109 votes

200 votes | Poll has closed

Joe Paterno Press Conference Notes

BSD — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:00:40 -0000

More photos » by Carlos Osorio - AP

about 1 month ago: Penn State head coach Joe Paterno watches from the sidelines during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game against Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

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

Joe thinks they are a pretty good football team. He wouldn't say if they're as good as they thought he would be at this point. He's not pleased with the block punts, but considering the things they had to overcome with injuries and inexperience, he thinks they're doing a good job.
Joe called Navorro Bowman "one of the better linebackers in the country". But he also knocked him a bit on his conditioning.
He remembered Pat Fitzgerald when he was a linebacker at Northwestern. Called him "aheckuvaplayer". Also noted that Ron Vanderlinden was his coach at Northwestern. That was when he first noticed Ron and why Joe went after him after he got let go at Maryland.
Joe called the Iowa block a "fluke" because it was a blown assignment by a blocker. But the block against Michigan should not have happened. He called out Boone for being too long in his steps. He's scared about Northwestern because they blocked a punt against Indiana last week. They are going to spend a lot of time on the punting game this week.
Joe doesn't think they will get caught looking past Northwestern.
Joe is impressed with the job Fitzgerald has done at Northwestern considering the circumstances in which he inherited the job.
He had a lot of praise for Odrick saying he's not getting the credit he deserves. In fact, Joe spent a lot of this press conference talking up his players and team. If I didn't know better, I would say Joe is lobbying for a better ranking and recognition.

Some idiot reporter asked Joe if he though Northwestern would focus on defending the run or the pass. He got a predictable, "I haven't got the slightest idea" in response. Way to waste your question, doofus.

Pannell is still not 100%. McCormack is ok, and he will battle Poti for the starting right tackle spot this week. Pannell is now practicing at left tackle as Landolt's backup.

Joe seemed really insulted about Daryll Clark getting snubbed by the media. He pointed out that the focus in the media leading up to the game last week was all about the freshman quarterbacks at Michigan, and Clark had to show how he could compare to them. I'm glad to see Joe sticking up for his players like this. It truly is a rare sight.

Joe said walk ons have always been a big part of the program. He's pleased with Graham Zug, but he wasn't sure in the beginning of his career. Joe thought he was a step slow, but he works hard and he's tough.

Though Joe didn't come out and say it, it sounds like Stephfon Green is out again this week. Brent Carter and Brandon Beachum will back up Royster again.

Joe seemed concerned about Northwesterns pace of the game. He noted they run about 90 plays per game while Penn State only runs about 70. Said they will spread you out and pick you apart with their passing game.

A lot of praise for Brandon Beachum. Said he's a smart and tough football player. Reminds him a lot of Mike Archie. Personally, I don't see that. Mike Archie couldn't play fullback or linebacker.

Joe said traveling in back-to-back road games isn't that tiring. He got home by 9:30 on Saturday night (and I'll bet he was in bed by 10). This week he's worried about tiring them out because he wants to do some extra work on the kicking game, but they still have to work on all the normal stuff too.

Joe called the 4th and 3 punt decision a "no-brainer". Michigan had the wind at their back so Joe didn't want to give them the ball at the 30 yard line. Their center got injured earlier in the game and they were playing a guard in his place. Joe thought they might make a mistake down there and they did.

Sukay is doing well, but he needs to turn those breakups into interceptions.

Joe said the team had a nice mix of senior leadership that coached the younger players into a solid football team. He said it has really come together.

Finally, a reporter asked about the Northwestern game in 2005 which gives us our pwnage of the week.

Your last trip to Northwestern, you had the big drive at the end with Smolko on fourth down and the touchdown to Derrick Williams. That was early in that season. How much of a turning point do you think winning the game the way you did late helped turn around that season and maybe, even larger perspective, the 2005 season?

I don't even know what you're talking about.

You had fourth down and Michael Robinson hit Smolko.

Was that at Northwestern?

Yes, then you had the late touchdown.

I'm glad Smolko caught it. I probably didn't know he was in the game.

It was early in the season.

Geez, you guys, when I write my book I'll put all that stuff in it. I don't know. That's 100 years ago to me. I don't go to bed thinking about what we did 20 years ago. I go to bed thinking what we've got to do this Saturday. All right. Hope it doesn't come down to the fourth. But it might. It might come down we're just trying to hang on for our lives.

Joe Paterno Press Conference Notes

BSD — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:00:21 -0000

More photos » by Pat Little - AP

2 months ago: Penn State football coach Joe Paterno laughs with reporters during his weekly news conference on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009 in State College, Pa. Penn State plays at Michigan in an NCAA college football game on Saturday. (AP Photo/Pat Little)

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Here are the quick bullet points from Joe's press conference today.

The presser got off on an odd note today when a reporter asked Joe about his recruitment of Tate Forcier and Joe acted like he didn't know what the reporter was talking about.

Joe, you and your staff recruited Tate Forcier. Can you talk about the adjustment he's made from high school to college football?

Joe Paterno: You said our staff recruited him? Is that right?

Yes.

Joe Paterno: We knew about him; we didn't really recruit him. He really didn't have a lot of interest in us, I don't think. But anyway he's --

I found this a little shocking since Forcier made an UNOFFICIAL VISIT FROM CALIFORNIA. If a kid pays his own way to fly across the country to visit you're school it's safe to say he's interested. Given Joe's ability to run into a guy that played for him but never started in 70's and ask him if his mom still makes that spaghetti he liked so much, I find it hard to believe Joe doesn't remember recruiting Tate Forcier. I hope this doesn't give Tate any bulletin board material.

Ako Poti is going to get the start at right tackle again this week. McCormack still "has an ankle".

Stephfon Green is still uncertain. They considered playing plugging Powell in at running back but decided against it. They'll play Beachum and Royster. They can even play Suhey at running back if they have to. Dukes is going to redshirt.

Brent Carter will probably be okay to play.

Joe insists they are not looking to past disappointments in Ann Arbor for "extra motivation". He also said they were not looking at the Iowa game as revenge for last year.

When asked about the inordinate amount of penalties last week Joe kind of brushed it off. Says they preach no penalties all the time, and then he kind of jabbed the officials saying they were "bang-bang" plays, but two or three of them were "justifiable calls". Then he added, "But they were close."

Joe once again defended Collin Wagner saying he's doing "very well".

Joe compared Rich Rodriguez's situation in his second year to his own second year. Reminded people he went 5-5 his first year and feared for his job.

When asked about his health, Joe says he's holding up well this season. Hasn't missed a minute of practice yet.

Ugh...more bulletin board material for Michigan.

Joe, what's made Michigan stadium such a tough place to play in and win for you guys?

Joe Paterno: I don't think Michigan stadium is a tough place to play.

Do they really need more motivation?

There must have been four questions trying to get Paterno to comment on Tate Forcier's greatness as a freshman quarterback. Seriously, can't the Michigan reporters come up with anything else? Finally Joe took the bait and said Forcier reminded him of Tim Tebow, so get ready to read those articles the rest of the week.
Joe mentioned he thinks the team has made "decent progress" in recent weeks.
Says the tackles are going to have their hands full with Brandon Graham.
Joe had no comment on Ohio State and Terrelle Pryor losing to Purdue. He claimed he didn't watch the game.
When asked about the kickoff game he mentioned they haven't had many opportunities to return kicks due to the fact other teams haven't scored on them much. Then he added on he thinks their doing a good job.
Joe is not in favor of kids enrolling in January of their senior year in high school. He thinks kids should enjoy their time in high school. But he understands kids want to do that because it gives them a better chance to play their freshman year. It's hard to resist the temptation to bring a kid in early.
Chaz Powell wasn't thrilled with switching from defense last year, but he has adjusted well.
Wallace got the start over Timmons last week because his height matched up better with Eric Decker. This week Joe is not sure who will start. (Interestingly, the possibility of Lynn not getting the start doesn't appear to be on the table. Safe to say that spot is locked down for the next two years.)
They are preparing to see both Robinson and Forcier at quarterback.
Some of you may recall the story of Elijah Robinson. He was an offensive lineman a few years ago who had to give up the game because he had an abnormally narrow spinal cord that left him susceptible to neck injuries. Apparently, Joe offered him a position as one of two Penn State graduate assistant coaches. I wasn't aware of this, but I think it's a great story. Joe says Robinson relates to the players well and has the makings of a fine football coach. Maybe they are grooming a replacement for Dick Anderson who has been rumored to be retiring soon?

Joe Paterno Press Conference Notes

BSD — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:15:09 -0000

More photos » by Pat Little - AP

Browse more photos »

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

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

Grading the Penn State Offense Against Illinois

Kevin HD — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:00:25 -0000

Quarterback - What we've probably learned is that Daryll Clark is a much better quarterback when he's not under heavy fire. Some guys thrive on being able to move out of the pocket, and considering Clark's running ability (which we'll get to in a second) you'd think he would be that kind of guy. The reality is he likes sitting back and finding receivers, and he's also good at it.

It was a slow start, but Clark was eventually finding guys downfield and dumping off to the tight ends when nothin' was doing. The improvement over last week in the passing game obvious, and the confidence helps. He finished with a 68 percent completion percentage, almost double that of last week, and picked up 175 yards through the air with no picks. The average was low, relatively speaking, but I think he scored a 7.0 ypa the right way, with short, accurate passes to safe targets for first downs (the team picked up 25 total and was 8-12 on third).

And the running. The running was great. The turning point in the game was his 52-yard draw where the seas completely opened up in the middle for him. He earned his share of it too, reminding Illinois by the end of the run that he is in fact a 233-pound quarterback. He finished with 7 attempts, 83 yards, and of course two one yarders that make the red zone a lot more manageable. Welcome back Running Clark, it's good to have you.

Final Grade: A

The Line - Probably the most relieving aspect of the afternoon was the development of the o-line in the second half. The team averaged a staggering 8.5, helped by two 50+ yard runs but still amazingly high considering the struggles in the first half. Royster was brick-walled over and over again on short yardage plays early, and there didn't seem to be any push at all into the d-line. But them two things happened: Green was put in for those types of plays, and Clark as a runner was all of the sudden on the table. The result was second-half drives like this:

Reminds me of the days of Tony Hunt. Same play, over and over, they weren't as tough as us.

Grade: First Half C, Second Half A

Running Back - By far the best rushing performance of the season, and more importantly the emergence of Green as a potential every-down back. Royster wasn't converting, and maybe there is something to the hesitation we saw in last week's Still Life, because Green came in, hit the holes quick, and all of the sudden the between-the-tackles game opened right up. Royster was immediately more successful after being shown up by Green at his own game, and by the end of the game moving the ball was seemed somehow too easy.

Oh, and Brent Carter scored a touchdown, which is always a good sign.

Grade: A-

WR / TE - When you run for 338 yards that usually means the receivers weren't a big part of the story, and that's pretty much the case here. Moye led the way with 57 yards and Zug was the only other true receiver to pick up more than one catch. The tight ends were a big part of the gameplan: Shular and Quarless combined for eight caches and more yards than Moye. No real game changers -- the longest pass was just 22 yards and Penn State actually averaged fewer yards per catch than Illinois -- but you can't complain about consistency.

Grade: A-

Wha Happened? Week Five

RossWB — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 21:11:24 -0000

There were a few other games involving Big Ten teams while you were wondering when Arkansas State switched uniforms with Arkansas (dirty pool, man!), so Wha Happened?

Be prepared when JoePa leads the inevitable Zombie Revolution.

Penn State 35, Illinois 17
Worried about Daryll Clark after his utterly atrocious game against Iowa last week? Solution: don't let him throw the ball much. Clark went an efficient 17/25 for 175 through the air, but the Nittany Lions really did their damage on the ground: Stephfon Green led the way with 120 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, Evan Royster added 105 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries, and even Clark chipped in with 83 yards and two touchdowns on 7 carries. Shit, even someone named Brent Carter scored a touchdown for PSU. They stomped a mudhole in the Illini's not-so-Fightin' defense. The final score doesn't do justice to the Illini's offensive incompetence for much of the game, either -- it was 28-3 before they were able to tack on two late scores to make the scoreline look more respectable. Meanwhile, it was the third consecutive ugly loss to an FBS team to start the season for Illinois, and while all three losses occurred against ranked (or soon-to-be-ranked) teams, they've barely been competitive in any of the games and the possibility of a bounceback season after last year's 5-7 mess is looking less and less likely. Is the sun setting on the Zooker Era at Illinois? For obvious reasons, BHGP hopes not.

The greatest Tate of them all.

Michigan State 26, Michigan 20 (OT)
Tate Forcier taketh (17/32, 223 yards, and a pair of touchdowns on scoring drives in the final four-plus minutes to tie up the game), but he also giveth (a crucial interception in overtime). In other words, SuperTate the freshman wonder boy may have one hell of a knack for clutch play down the stretch... but he's not infallible either. The real story was the way Sparty's defense completely stifled Michigan's previously unstoppable rushing attack (28 yards on 28 carries yesterday) and completely dominated the game in terms of time of possession (39:46 to 20:14) and total offensive yardage (417 to 251). Mind you, they weren't exactly a paragon of offensive efficiency -- they only mustered 20 points in regulation with those considerable advantages -- but simply keeping Forcier and Michigan's high-powered offense off the field is an effective way of slowing them down, too. Hopefully the Iowa offense can find some semblance of consistency and do the same next week, but if not Adrian Clayborn and the Iowa defense will be salivating at the prospect of rending Forcier in two.

I have this strange feeling like I've seen this before...

justNorthwestern 27, Purdue 21
Hmm. justNorthwestern goes into an opposing team's field on Homecoming, gets outgained, racks up a massive advantage in the turnover department (6 to 1 yesterday), and escapes with a win after the home team failed to score a touchdown after reaching first and goal in the final minute. Now where have I seen that before? Purdue jumped out to a 21-3 lead early in the second quarter and appeared to be cruising to an easy win... then apparently forgot how to hold onto the ball, fumbling six times (and losing five of them) and throwing one interception. Despite the near-constant torrent of giveaways, jNWU couldn't take the lead in the game until two minutes remained in the fourth quarter. The jNWU running game was again a non-entity (87 yards on 43 carries) and Mike Kafka didn't contribute too much, either (28/44, 224 yards, no touchdowns or interceptions). The cliche says that good teams make their own luck... but sometimes you're just fucking lucky.

BADGER BADGER BADGER

Wisconsin 31, Minnesota 28
Hopefully Minnesota didn't spend too much on a new trophy case to hold their rivalry trophies at TCF Bank Stadium, because it sure as shit won't be getting much use. The Badgers kept Paul Bunyan's Axe (by far one of the coolest rivalry trophies in college football) for the sixth straight year and they did it with Scott Tolzien (the story of the year so far for the Badgers) having a pretty ho-hum day (16/26, 159 yards, one touchdown, one interception). No, they did it the old-school Wisconsin way: with pure cro-mag football, pounding the ball 49 times for 295 yards, led by John Clay with 184 yards and three touchdowns on 32 carries. Minnesota's own rushing game went back into hibernation (57 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries) one week after a breakthrough performance against jNWU, meaning they were back down to The Eric Decker Show (who contributed 140 yards and a touchdown on eight catches). Up next for the Badgers: their toughest two-game stretch of the season, away to Ohio State and home to Iowa. They passed their first test (win on the road), but we'll soon find out how good their bona fides for being a Big Ten contender truly are. Meanwhile, Minnesota gets a one-week chance to rebound against Purdue before heading on the road to take on Penn State and Ohio State in back-to-back weeks (also known as "getting assraped by the Big Ten computers").

So much more interesting than Indiana football.

Ohio State 33, Indiana 14
Like the residents of Bloomington, Indiana, and the students at the University of Indiana, Wha Happened? cares only about Indiana football out of a sense of obligation, which is why Indiana has returned to its position at the bottom of this feature. Just about the only thing interesting about this game is the fact that Ohio State gave up a touchdown on the last play of the game that allowed this game to hit the over (on one set of lines; it was a push on others), which was TOTALLY NOT COOL AND NOPE WE'RE NOT BITTER ABOUT IT AT ALL. Ahem. Terrelle Pryor threw for three touchdowns but went an otherwise unremarkable 16/27 for 159 yards (and an interception), to go along with 63 yards rushing and a touchdown on 16 carries. Brandon Saine, filling in for "Boom" Herron, added 113 yards on 17 carries for the Buckeyes. On defense, OSU squeezed the life out of the Indiana rushing game (18 yards on 26 carries) and Ben Chappell couldn't do nearly enough in the passing game to compensate (20/34, 210 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions).

BETTER KNOW A NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENT CORNER:

There are obviously no more non-conference games on the slate this year, so why not check in on some of our past vanquished foes? The mighty UNI wrecking machine continued its Sherman-esque march of terror and flaming annihilation through the FCS ranks with a 62-7 bludgeoning over Indiana State. Since falling to Iowa in Week One, UNI has won their next four games 66-7, 30-0, 35-7, and 62-7. The next two months look like a mere prelude to their real season: the FCS playoffs and their hunt for that elusive national championship.

But isn't there some other in-state school? Didn't they have a game on Saturday too? Wha Happened in that little Farmageddon tussle? Oh, nothing much. I mean, anytime you can give up a home game to play in a half-full pro football stadium in a pro sports town on a channel barely anyone gets and suffer a potentially bowl bid-crippling loss... well, shit, how can you say "no" to that? But, hey, on the bright side, thank god they got rid of that loser coach they had, right? Uh, about that... Chizik won yesterday to move to 5-0 on the season. Five wins would also be the grand total that Chizik had in his two years in Ames. And, hey, now he's got one more road win than he ever had at Iowa State, too. As always:

2010 Recruiting - Running Backs

BSD — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:00:10 -0000

Earlier this week we looked at 2010 recruiting as it pertains to quarterbacks. So today we'll look at the running back situation. As before, let's take a look at the roster.

2009 Running Backs
Seniors	Larry Federoff (FB) *
Juniors	Evan Royster Brent Carter
Sophomores	Stephfon Green Brandon Beachum Joe Suhey
Redshirt Freshmen	Mike Zordich (FB)
True Freshmen	Curtis Dukes

* - Denotes walk on

Unlike recent years, running backs are not a huge need for us this year. Royster and Carter have two years left while Green and Beachum each have three. Mike Zordich will most likely take over the fullback duties for the departed Dan Lawlor. I suspect that the coaches would like to redshirt Dukes if they can. But Carter is recovering from a torn ACL. Green broke his ankle in the Rose Bowl. Royster tweaked his knee and has suffered from minor bumps and bruises his entire career. If the bodies continue to hit the floor, Dukes may be forced to play.

The rule of thumb for recruiting is you usually want to look two years down the road. Basically, you want to look at your projected depth chart two years from now and plan accordingly. In two years Royster will be gone, and if Carter's knee doesn't force him to take a redshirt he'll be gone too. But we should still have Green, Beachum, and Duke with the first two running out of eligibility. Given the limited number of scholarships I think Penn State will probably only take one running back in this class and one in the next class.

Top Targets

The talk of the message boards is Stamford Connecticut running back Silas Redd. He's a highly sought after recruit that is seeing early interest from Boston College, Connecticut, Rutgers, Virginia, and Texas. That's right, Texas. When Mack Brown is willing to leave the borders of the Lone Star State, you know a kid is special. But Redd will be visiting Penn State in March and there is speculation that we can expect an early verbal from him. According to this site, Penn State is his dream school. (Left sidebar down on the page)

Corey Brown from Springfield, PA is rumored to be another top target. He attends the same high school as Mark Wedderburn and Tom Savage. Penn State is rumored to have offered him, but so far he seems to be giving the Nittany Lions the cold shoulder. He seems set on going to school out of state somewhere. I'm not optimistic about our chances with him.

2010 Scholarship Allocation
Estimated Total	18-20
Quarterbacks	1-2

View links for previous summaries

Grading The Offense: Syracuse

Kevin HD — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:27:22 -0000

The offense rolls. Against Syracuse. As always, performance is relative to competition and the actors in The Express could have probably beaten the Orange this weekend.

Offensive Line

Well after the "oh, come on!" second play from scrimmage, in which Clark was quickly forced outside and proceeded to cough up the ball, the line looked same old. That one play was the only time Syracuse would get near the quarterback as both Clark and Devlin avoided being sacked for the rest of the afternoon. Each QB was given reps with the first team and the offensive line provided the protection that lead to the two passers throwing for over 130 yard each.

The running backs were given support as well. Royster kept his ypc average up around 8 for the year and was tackled in the backfield just one time all day. Green and Carter were given running lanes as well, as both averaged over 4.5 yards per attempt.

This unit is experienced and good, but keep in mind they haven't really been tested yet.

A-

Quarterback

Clark should be given equal blame for the ridiculous opening fumble, doing that against a real team would have be devastating. Besides that, he had a nice run for a first down and was able to find some open receivers, including the early touchdown to Norwood. He was at times erratic, however, and should have been able to keep his completion percentage over the 50% against this type of competition. Devlin looked impressive, 8 for 13 with two touchdowns, and looked confident when playing with the first team. No interceptions were thrown, and so I'll take the TD/Int ration of 4/0 from those two all day.

B+

Wide Receivers

It's good to see these guys in a situation where they can finally be taken advantage of again. Clark and Devlin were often times hitting them in stride, allowing yards after the catch. Eight different players caught passes and five TDs were scored through the air when you include Cianciolo's late completion.

Norwood and Butler were open all day. I'm a little concerned by the lack of passes to Williams (2 for 16 yards). I normally would pass this off as the result of the extra attention he gets, but against Syracuse that shouldn't really matter. Besides that, with the damage the other two guys have been doing this season, I don't know that an attempted shutdown of Williams is really a worthwhile strategy. I don't have the game DVR'd to go back and look at the coverage, but, since we are nitpicking at this point, I would like to have seen Williams with more of a presence in the box score.

As a side, I'm encouraged by their dedication to holding onto the ball. I don't remember any blatant drops and there were no fumbles from the receivers.

Running Back

Royster continues to be as good as they come, running behind a solid offensive line for close to eight ypc and gaining large chucks of yardage of several carries. Not much else to say.

Green looks okay, but either because of the plays being called or because he is often behind the second string line, the explosiveness we talked about all offseason hasn't surfaced. I'm sure once the playbook opens up a little Green will be running in lanes more suited for his style, but so far he's looked good, not great.

A-

Offensive Coaching

It's hard to really grade these guys when the game is essentially over before it begins. You aren't expecting fireworks or trick plays, and frankly Penn State is probably good enough to beat Syracuse with only the most basic of playbooks.

The head scratcher of the day goes to Norwood's sweep and eventual pass downfield. We've seen that several times with former high school quarterback Derrick Williams, so I'm not sure if this was simply a test run with Norwood or a curveball JayPa & Co. wanted included in the game tapes for future Big Ten opponents. Either way, there is no denying the production power of this new Spread HD thing, and with that I have no criticisms of Saturday's play calling worth typing out here.

Progressing Successfully

Syracuse Preview: Upstate, Down Times

Run Up The Score — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:57:59 -0000

Who Shot Who In The What, Now? Penn State (2-0) at Syracuse (0-2). The Orange lost to Akron last week by two touchdowns. That followed a 20-point loss at Northwestern. Penn State, as you may have heard, obliterated Oregon State last week, 45-14. Kickoff at 3:30 p.m. The teams have not played since 1990. Penn State leads the all-time series 40-23-5. They met every year between 1922 and 1990.

Dubious Statistical Achievements. The Syracuse Athletics page notes that RB Curtis Brinkley led Syracuse last year in rushing with 371 yards on 111 carries. He's a good player, however, and clearly Syracuse's best offensive weapon. He also majors in communications and rhetorical studies. Does an Orange rot if it's not properly handled for six years?

So, You Enjoy Weird Sports Trivia? Syracuse will start Cameron Dantley at quarterback against Penn State. He's the son of former NBA star Adrian Dantley, which leads us to the following trivia. The rookies of the year in 1977 in the NBA, MLB, and NFL all had initials of A.D. Adrian Dantley is one of them. Who are the others? Answers to be provided whenever you Google them.

Before Donovan, Don. Some Syracuse relevance from the late 80's:

Encouraging! Through two games in 2008, Syracuse ranks 112th nationally (out of 118 teams) in rushing defense. This should work well for them on Saturday, because Penn State never runs the ball. And yes, Syracuse's first game was against traditionally pass-happy Northwestern.

The Disembowlment Will Be Televised. ABC for most of you in the northeast. Coverage map may be found herrrre.

A Fool And His Money. Penn State is roughly a 27-point favorite.

While You Wait. Not that this item is automatically going to be a Black Heart Gold Pants link every week, but you could bring the JoePa Chronicles to your own PSU tailgate with this lovely shirt. Then again, it being 9/11 and all, you could always go with The Leman.

No, But Seriously, This Game Is Going To Suck. Let's not kid ourselves. This game is essentially target practice, but could conceivably reap mild benefits for Penn State. It's a road game. Penn State doesn't play well in road games, a trend which generally persists regardless of the opponent. So putting on those obnoxiously plain white uniforms and stomping a team in their own building isn't necessarily a bad thing. You'll probably see plenty of Pat Devlin handing the ball off to Brent Carter in the second half. On a more intriguing note, take particular notice of the defensive substitutions once the game is out of hand. How much action will Nate Stupar, Mike Mauti, and Chris Colasanti get at linebacker? Will James Terry or Brandon Ware get reps at defensive tackle? They're both a bit too, uh, puffy for Joe Paterno's liking right now, but given the attrition along the defensive line, Paterno's hand may be forced into giving them a little playing time. We shall see.

Grading The Offense - Coastal Carolina

Kevin HD — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:57:49 -0000

The hard part here is to remember the context, it was Coastal Carolina. Penn State was charged with replacing a two year QB and 1300 yard rusher, it looks like they did a good job.

Offensive Line

The one thing people weren't worried much about was this unit. They are starting four seniors and played like it.

None of the three players who lined up behind center were sacked, despite what seemed like a relatively high number of passing plays that were run in our new wishbone offense. No false starts from the starters, and just one on the day (fourth quarter). They also were flagged for just one holding call, on a goaline play in the second quarter.

I'd love to dive into some of the negatives here but there is nothing really worth reporting. The quarterbacks looked strong and had time to pass. Royster, Green and Carter all averaged over 7.4 ypc.

Final Grade: A

Quarterbacks

Clark opened the game and didn't show any of the jitters you might expect from a first time starter. He threw to six different players in his first four series and didn't record an incompletion until 2:50 in the first quarter. Devlin came in relief in the second quarter and immediately throws a 40 yard beauty to Norwood. He would finish 5/8 for 83 yards. Even Cianciolo was an impressive 3/4 for 31. No interceptions were thrown. Everyone looked confident.

The offensive coaches decided to focus on the pass last Saturday, neither Clark nor Devlin recorded a rushing attempt, and one of the biggest question marks surrounding this team was answered in an assuring way. Both players absolutely can pass.

We still have some questions about how effective both can be on the ground, and so with that I'm withholding an absolute OMG conclusion. I don't remember Clark being in a blocking situation, so this may not be fair, but I did find myself thinking Devlin wasn't really committing to his blocks. It could be nothing, and he is a quarterback after all, but when your passers go 19/26 for 260, these are the types of things we have to talk about.

Final Grade: A

Running Backs

Probably the highlight of the day was the play of the running backs. While most teams are happy to see one guy emerge as a solid back, Penn State appears to have (at least) four solid guys who are all capable of contributing on the ground.

Royster, Carter, Green and Beachum combined for six touchdowns and all bolstered a ridiculous YPC averages. The offensive line was given partial credit above, but all four of these guys are great runners. They were moving down field both between the tackles and on the outside.

Before we move on, the "who is this guy?" award goes to Chaz Powell, who was given the ball on a sweep, took a couple steps away from the line of scrimmage, and then absolutely burned it down the sideline for a 55 yard touchdown. There are five guys on this team that could probably get it done at running back.

Final Grade: A+

Receivers

Probably the least exciting part of the offense was the play of the receivers, although I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way. There were no notable dropped passes, that's worth pointing out, and just about everyone was able to get open (there were thirteen different players who caught passes on Saturday).

The three 9th year starters, Williams, Butler and Norwood, all looked good. Clark was able to get Butler a couple passes in stride, and so seeing him run after the catch was a bit of a different look compared to the Morelli era. Norwood and Williams both were able to turn in a couple of long receptions.

The one fear we had with Clark as the starter is that he won't be able to spread the field lengthwise enough to open up the ground game. With six different receivers turning in 15 yard+ receptions, and two 20 yard+ passes to Norwood and Williams, we gained a little more assurance about the diversity of this offense. The receivers didn't skip a beat when Devlin came in, with Norwood part of that impressive 40 yard pass and Derek Moye stretching it out for 27. While a two QB system may not be what we end up with, it was nice to see no noticeable loss of momentum when the QB switch was made in the second quarter.

The one less exciting thing is probably the lack of after the catch yards. Most were able to add a little extra room to their catches, but it was rare to see a guy make a catch and then shed his defender for the break-a-way. I'll take a no-drops, no-fumbles kind of receiving core all day, but there are always things to work on.

Final Grade: B+

Offensive Coaching

This is just worth barely touching on simply because creative play calling is not something we would expect, or really want, in this cupcake opener. I liked that the coaches were able to get production out of so many different players, and was happy to see that the day would be spend working on pass plays rather than QB keepers. Although relatively insignificant, I thought the red zone TD pass to Norwood was encouraging; the team had a horrible time getting TDs in the red zone in 2007, and I like that they have a couple pass plays available to keep opposing defenses honest.

Final Grade: Satisfactory