SB Nation - Josh Gaines

Penn State's Reason For Hope #4 - Larry Johnson Sr.

BSD — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:00:23 -0000

I can remember a few years ago looking ahead to 2009 and thinking Penn State was going to be absolutely loaded on the defensive line. But a funny thing happened between then and now. Phil Taylor and Chris Baker were dismissed from the team. Maurice Evans and Aaron Maybin decided to go pro early. Josh Gaines had the audacity to graduate. And JoePa decided to throw Abe Koroma in the doghouse for a year and throw away the key.

Normally this kind of attrition would be devastating to any average defense. But I'm not worried, and I don't have the sense Nittany Lion fans are worried either. That's because we know that no matter how bad things get with dismissals and injuries, as long as we have Larry Johnson Sr. everything will be okay on the defensive line.

Of course nobody is worried about Jared Odrick, a first team All-BIg Ten selection a year ago who probably could have entered the NFL draft and done quite well for himself last spring. And we know his defensive tackle counterpart Ollie Ogbu is a proven commodity who I think is poised for a breakout season in 2009. With Devon Still, Chima Okoli, and Brandon Ware to back these guys up there's plenty of talent and depth to work with at the defensive tackle position.

But then nobody I read mentionsthe defensive tackles as a concern. The defensive ends are a different story. Penn State has to replace their top three guys on the outside this year. Maybin, Evans, and Gaines accounted for 19 sacks and 31.5 TFL. That's a lot of production to replace, but if there's one area Penn State has proven it can reload, it's on the defensive line.

Jack Crawford is Larry Johnson's latest project this summer. Standing an imposing six-foot-five and 256 lbs. with tremendous explosiveness due to years of playing basketball in England, Crawford has drawn comparisons to Aaron Maybin. I'll go one better than that. I'll go out on a limb and say Crawford will be better than Maybin before it's all said and done. Maybin, as good as he was, was really a one dimensional player. He was an outside pass rushing specialist, but he wasn't really that great against the running game, and he never really developed a bull rush due to the fact he couldn't put on weight. Crawford has explosiveness, but he also has the size Maybin could never obtain which I think will make him an even more dominant player.

On the other side it's going to be interesting to watch Johnson work his magic. It looks like Jerome Hayes is penciled in as the starter at weak side defensive end after two reconstructive knee surgeries in the past two years. It has me a bit concerned that he's our best option, but if he can show the same speed he did before his injuries he'll be a force to wreckon with coming off the edge on third and long.

He'll have to platoon with Kevion Latham on the weak side. Latham saw considerable action last year as a redshirt freshman. He reminds me a lot of Josh Gaines in his physique and his motor. This will be his third year under Johnson's tutelage, so I expect him to be a solid player.

An Early Look: Penn State

Sam @ WWAHT — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:00:16 -0000

Let's excuse our Penn State friends for a moment. I've just given them beaucoup spank bank material.

2009 is going to be a very, very important year for the Penn State program. It may end up being the most important of the decade, outside of 2005's Redemption Tour. The Age of JoePa is coming to an end, and soon. The program has largely put the struggles of the early 2000s behind them, and on the strength of a Big Ten championship and a shocking win in Columbus last year, Penn State is considered by many to be the Big Ten's other program-of-the-now, as Michigan has placed itself firmly in the midst of a massive rebuilding project. What is it exactly that Penn State has to do in 2009 to have a successful season?

Well, first off: the program has its doubters. Despite the lopsided Rose Bowl loss to USC, Penn State is a program that has largely been innocent of the non-conference embarrassments characteristic of other Big Ten programs lately; the Nittany Lions had won two bowl games prior to the Rose Bowl meltdown, one against an okay Texas A+M squad in Texas and another against Tennessee, a game prior to which Tennessee boasted a top-20 ranking and the Lions had been unranked. The program, however, still bears the mark of what its fans call The Dark Years, and up until 2008, the struggles against Ohio State and Michigan had held the program back from rejoining the ranks of the truly elite. 2008 was in many ways a breakthrough year; Penn State beat both Ohio State and (an admittedly down) Michigan, and if the Big Ten's championship-deciding rules weren't so archaic, the Lions would have won the conference outright. Up until the final weeks of the season, Penn State was seen as a national title contender, whose legitimacy was questioned - in my mind, unfairly at times - due to Ohio State's falls-from-grace in the prior two championship games. While the losses to USC and Iowa stung for Nittany fans, 2008 provided renewed confidence in Paterno and the newly-explosive offense.

But they still have one more hump to get over. They have to be able to repeat that success to at least some degree, and channel it into another solid (i.e. no more than two loss) conference season. If they don't, the "once-a-recruiting-cycle" nature of Penn State's national relevance will continue to stain the program. The Big Ten will have to suffer through another year of being considered Ohio State, and then everybody else. No pressure or anything, guys.

But if they're relatively successful, Big Ten detractors will have a difficult time deriding the conference as a "one-team league", and it'll only get more difficult if the Rich Rodriguez experiment shows signs of life at Michigan. I frequently find myself reminding my fellow Ohio State fans that if the conference is to truly get better, the Buckeyes will have to take their share lumps in the process.* Personally, as a fan who wants to see his team win every game, I don't think it's worth it, but perhaps that's just me. However, if you're one of the people who really, genuinely cares about "conference strength", you want Penn State to show some sort of staying power. They don't necessarily have to win the conference, but they have to be competitive in every single game, win about ten of them, and ideally, they need to win their bowl game as well.

Penn State players you should care about:

On a schematic level, Jared Odrick had about as much to do with Penn State's win as Aaron Maybin swallowing Bryant Browning whole. Odrick literally tore up the offensive interior for four quarters, and was a big reason why Beanie Wells was held to 55 yards rushing on 22 carries. Of course, Navarro Bowman, he of the 106 freaking tackles in his redshirt freshman year, had a bit to do with that as well. Both will terrorize the offensive line, and if neither can be blocked, Ohio State's offense will be done. Evan Royster didn't quite tear up the Buckeye defense last year, but he provided some consistency on a night where Daryll Clark could provide none, toting the rock 19 times for 77 yards.

Fun with statistics:

Penn State's rushing defense last year was a killer, killer outfit, and given that they return Odrick, Bowman, and Sean Lee (from injury), it might be even better this year. Five teams - Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana and Illinois - went over 100 yards rushing on the Nittany Lion defense, and all of them except Wisconsin had one run that went for 30 yards or more on its own. Oh, and Iowa. But Iowa had Shonn Greene. Basically, if that one run that killed them against Indiana, Illinois and Michigan didn't happen, it would have been in the conversation as one of the most dominant rushing defenses in the Big Ten this decade. USC, a little busy torching the Lions' secondary through the air, managed only 61 yards on 35 carries in the Rose Bowl.

Penn State had nine guys with over 100 yards receiving at the end of the season to Ohio State's five. Fortunately for us, the three most productive of those guys - Deon Butler, Jordan Norwood and Derrick Williams - are gonesie.

How big was Aaron Maybin to Penn State last year? Well, he account for more than 1/3rd of their 33 sacks. Odrick was their next-leading sack artist, but Josh Gaines and Maurice Evans, a due that accounted for seven combined sacks last year, are lost to graduation and the draft. All told, Penn State lost more than half of their sacks off of last year's unit.

As a result, this is where I start salivating: Lydell Sargeant, Tony Davis, and Mark Rubin are no more; they have ceased to be, and the only returning guy of note in the secondary is AJ Wallace. And uh, yeah about AJ Wallace....

My prediction: Alright, you're going to have to bear with me on this. I think Terrelle Pryor is going to do fairly well against the Nittany Lions, and here's why: last year, he had his best passing day of the season, yards-wise, against the Lions. This year, he'll do much of the same. Expect him to get a good amount of time in the pocket and rack up some impressive stats, but the Penn State front seven is going to clog the rushing lanes at critical junctures late in the game. In the end, Penn State will walk away having given Ohio State a tough 17-13 loss, as the Buckeyes end up settling for one too many field goals after multiple promising drives. I should note that I personally do not think this Penn State squad goes undefeated in the Big Ten, losing probably at Illinois. Nevertheless, Penn State's front seven, featuring what might be the best linebacking corps in America , will be simply too good for a Buckeye offense that'll probably still be relying quite heavily on its ground game to overcome.

A Nittany Lion's Thoughts: Kevin from BSD was kind enough to oblige us with his opinions on the game, as well as whether or not this really is a rivalry.

1. Do you consider Penn State - Ohio State a rivalry? If so, why?

Yes, and I'll try to keep this concise.

I wrote a bit about this in the magazine, but basically I see the evolution of this thing following the path that the some southern schools have taken. For so long you had OSU and UM as consistent Big Ten winners, with others unable to maintain any lasting stature as a consistent threat.

The way this works is if Penn State is able to put the Dark Years behind them and become that third party threat. Purists on your end will probably claim there can only be one Game, but guess what: Michigan has a pretty solid rivalry with Notre Dame, and that's been able to co-exist for an awful long time with their conference finale.

So how is a school like Florida is able to have multiple rivals and no one gets into pissing contests about which one is best? FSU is an important game for them, but so in Miami, and they have the Cocktail Party with Georgia...it's all gravy and it only makes there season better.

And it's really only discussion about Michigan that makes this a question in the first place. PSU and OSU share a border and recruiting ground and your Best Player Ever is from our state. Only our two schools have won the conference championship in the last four years and we are picked 1-2 again in 2009. Gameday has been to this game four years in a row, they've only been to Ohio State-Michigan twice in that time.

I'm not trying to discount your game with UM, it's great yada yada, but I do find it funny how important it is for Big Ten lovers (from all schools) to put games into very distinct and well defined boxes rather than just looking at the reality of the situation: which is that when teams repeatedly compete for high stakes natural "rivalness" occurs.

I blame it all on the damn trophies.

2. Name a player opposing fans should be aware of; preferably one that don't already know about.

Well you might have heard we lost the three long time, well regarded receivers who dominate Penn State's career receiving records. Even though just about everyone bashed them in their 2008 previews as undersized and over-hyped (or alternatively: underwhelming and unimpressive), we are apparently all going to die and looking at the total abomination of our passing game.

But the team will try to throw anyway, and although I could pick a couple of guys who may or may not break out, I'll name-drop Derek Moye. He'll be the deep threat and at 6-5 has the ability to (in time) be a more imposing Butler-type because of his athletic ability. He can by most accounts fly and should help at the very least open the field up a bit.

3. Taking off the blue and white-colored rec specs, what do you think Penn State's regular-season record will be?

I hate making predictions and so prefer a kind of caveated cop out. We looked at some of the early lines and Penn State isn't a pre-season do g in any game they play. This makes me want to say 12-0 is saying something like below 11-1 is a kind of disappointment.

But I'm not really that optimistic. Ohio State as you know will be very good this year, Iowa is early enough to give a developing team some problems, and Illinois scares the hell out of me because if Williams shows up that offense will be impossible to stop. Basically: 9-3 is a very real possibility.

4. Make an off-the-cuff prediction for the Ohio State game.

Off-the-cuff? Sure: Penn State 16 Ohio State 10 on a cold as hell day where Royster and Green outplay Herron and Saine.

I can personally verify from extensive playing and replaying of this game on NCAA 09 that Derek Moye is indeed a terror to cover. Well, pixellated Derek Moye anyway. Leave your thoughts on the game below.

We're All Growns Up, And Making Bryce Paup References

Kevin HD — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:32:06 -0000

More photos » by Don Heupel - AP

Browse more photos »

I've always found the draft a bit of an odd thing. On one hand fans typically like to see their players to get drafted early and take pride in how many players were taken by teams in The League. But then again, fans dread and seethe scorn when a player jumps for the cash, and also can't feel good about so many talented players not being around for the next college football season.

Anyway, five Penn State players were taken in the seven round draft, second most in the conference to Ohio State, and another nine guys were signed as of the time of this post.

Aaron Maybin - Pick 11, Round 1 (11) - Bills

Project Mayhem, who came out of nowhere in 2008, did The Pass Rush Factory well on Saturday, confirming the jump was indeed a pretty good move.

There were early rumors that Maybin could go as high as five with the Browns looking at so many holes, but most of the recent projections had him in the 10-12 range. The 'experts' can score this one as correct, and Buffalo Rumblings is pleased:

On paper, Buffalo has its most explosive pass rusher since Bryce Paup...What makes this pick better is the fact that they took the right player. No DE displayed a quicker first step in college or at the Combine than Maybin. I had him rated as the top DE on the board the moment he declared for the draft, and the Bills clearly followed suit, if only at the most critical juncture. I think he's the best pass rusher in the draft. The Bills, too, think he's the best pass rusher in the draft, and his upside is tremendous.

Derrick Williams - Pick 18, Round 3 (82) - Lions

No one deserves a little draft luck like Williams, the former #1 rated recruit in the land was taken in the third round and, for the second time in his career, will be tasked with helping to rebuild a program in distraught.

The Pride of Detroit gives the pick a D+, which is, well not even a real grade if I remember right. Regardless, they didn't like the pick, although I think that had a lot to do with Williams not really filling one of their copious amounts of needs like some of the other players who were still on the board.

The Lions have a history of dismissing important needs and picking wide receivers, and as bad as a D+ is, I have to give him credit for his optimism. If I was cursed with being a Lions fan for the past several years, every decision that organization made would get an F- by default until something dramatic happens. I would probably just be that bitter.

The Free Press has a couple of quotes about the pick:

Kiper's response:

"He came into Penn State and he was supposed to wow everybody. He didn't initially, but came on. ... He doesn't have the great 40 time, but he's quick out of his burst, out of his cuts. He has that burst you look for and has the ability to score in a lot of ways -- in the return game, on reverses, catching the football. He's very good after the catch in the open field."

You hear things like this all the time and I gave up a long time ago trying to argue about it. Williams was no Reggie Bush or Tim Tebow, but he was important, in a way that the occasional observer wouldn't recognize. I don't blame anyone for this, I completely understand how his stats can be seen as underwhelming, but let's drop the whole "never lived up to the hype" thing, because to be frank it's a stupid comment.

Mayock's response:

"II thought he had an excellent Senior Bowl, but he followed it up with a poor Combine, running a 4.67 -- very slow for an elite receiver. Great Senior Bowl, but too many drops in his career. ... I watched him catch punts one day (at the Senior Bowl) and this is supposed to be an elite punt returner and that day if the football had been a harpoon, he'd have been dead. It'd have pierced his chest."

He was reportedly pretty sick the week of the combine and told by his agent to sit the thing out. He worked out anyway, which was indeed a bad decision, but as we've talked about before here at BSD looked great in the Senior Bowl.

And I have no idea where he's going with that harpoon analogy.

Deon Butler - Pick 27, Round 3 (91) - Seahawks

About four picks before Butler was drafted by Seattle, a commenter who shall remain nameless set the over/under at pick 114 in the open thread, a fourth round choice. I too was a bit surprised to see him go so early, but his blazing 40 at the combine apparently helped the draft stock of one of the most under-the-radar receivers in the nation last year.

Seattle loves them some record setting Penn State receivers, of course, and so we all saw this coming:

"He has some of the same traits as far as route-running goes," Seahawks offensive coordinator Greg Knapp said when asked to compare Butler to his fellow PSU alumnus. "He's not as polished, obviously, as Bobby is."

Rich Ohrnberger - Pick 23, Round 4 (123) - Patriots

Ohrnberger was probably the biggest surprise from a Penn State perspective, who many thought wouldn't go until after Shipley and Cadogan. Not true, of course. Ohrnberger will be buried on the depth chart this season, but was part of an effort to hedge against an aging line:

Ohrnberger, a player who took a pre-draft visit to Gillette Stadium, adds youth to the interior of the offensive line and provides a fallback, longer-term option with starting guards Logan Mankins (left) and Stephen Neal (right) entering the final year of their contracts.

PatsBlog likes the pick, even if it did cost them a well respected cornerback in Ellis Hobbs:

Ohrnberger is a guy I actually like. Although he is undersized, he plays with a good motor, is quick out of his stance, and is good in pass protection and pulling. Solid pick who could eventually take over for Stephen Neal at right guard.

A.Q. Shipley - Pick 17, Round 7 (226) - Steelers

There was a time when I though A.Q. might not get drafted, and at that time I was thinking it would be the most bewildering event (or non-event?) of the weekend.

He is undersized, and probably slid because of it, but once picked I found it hard to feel bad for a guy who gets to play for his hometown team. The Steelers earned overall "grades" as low as an F and as high as an A+, further lending credibility to the practice of grading drafts.

Naturally the local papers loved it. Not everyone was sold, though:

Can't say I'm too big a fan of Big 10 football so I can't comment on whether or not Shipley is so adored for his local product status, his ability on the field, or some combination of the two. Probably headed for the practice squad as well, but there's an interesting discussion to be had about the future of our offensive line - especially for those who have an opinion one way or another as to whether or not Shipley legitimately could be a better than average starting center....

I'm not sure if he's upset the Steelers picked a kid from the Big Ten or if he simply doesn't know much about A.Q. It's not like the Big Ten hasn't produced some decent linemen in the last five years. Besides, as far as risk and reward go, there's nothing wrong with picking the conference's best center in the seventh round and hoping it works out.

Quickly: Signed but undrafted...

It's easy to pile on Maurice Evans at this point; he goes undrafted but signs with the Giants. As disappointed as I am in his 2008 production and decision to leave, I can unconditionally say I wish him all the best.

Jordan Norwood will join the Browns, and Facebook Stalking H/T to NittanyWhiteOut, who was all over this one.

Gerald Cadogan was a major surprise as an undrafed free agent. He'll go to Carolina.

Lydell Sargeant will move north to help build Penn State another satellite campus in Buffalo. Front page promotion for the best photoshop of this one in the comments.

Tyrell Sales signs with the Colts.

Josh Gaines stays in-state with the Eagles.

Dan Lawlor signs with the Redskins.

Mark Rubin signed with the Rams.

Anthony Scirrotto signs with the Panthers.

Eagles sign undrafted free agents

JasonB — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:37:05 -0000

When the draft ends, all eligible players who weren't picked in the draft become fair game and teams scramble to snap up guys they may have interest in. The Eagles especially have done a great job with their undrafted free agent signings in the past with guys like Quintin Mikell, Joselio Hanson, & Jamal Jackson.

So far, these are the guys that have agreed to terms with the Eagles.

RB Marcus Thigpen, Indiana - Scouting report - Small, very fast running back. Good return man.

DE Josh Gaines, Penn State - Bio - Big run stopping defensive end.

WR Brandon Robinson, Boston College - Bio - Went from the Eagles to the Eagles!

S Reshard Langford, Vanderbilt - Langford is a strong safety. His coach had this to say Reshard will make a huge impression on the Philadelphia coaches with his talent, effort and desire to help anyway he can,” VU coach Bobby Johnson said. “He was tremendous here, both on and off the field. Reshard Langford is one of those guys you build winning teams around."

OL Dallas Reynolds, Brigham Young - Profile

RB Walter Mendenhall, Illinois State - A "big" back. 6'0 225. Brother of Steelers RB Rashard Mendenhall, who was a 1st round pick last year.

FB Marcus Mailei, Weber State - 248 pound fullback that can catch.

K/P Sam Swank, Wake Forest - Scouting report - Primarily a kicker that has punted... Has 50+ range.

I'll update this when/if any more news comes in.

Nitt Picks Will Not Be Drafted In The First Round

Run Up The Score — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:00:06 -0000

All kinds of good stuff floating around The Internets today, so let's flag a few stories for the people who are stuck at work (hi!) on the Friday after Christmas.

It's been a successful year for the Nittany Lions on the field, but a very quiet year for them elsewhere:

Despite those hurdles, Bowman took over at one starting linebacker spot four games into this season and has remained there.

"I've matured a lot," he said. "I notice a lot of things that I don't do now. I appreciate my family just always being there for me. Just Joe (Paterno) and the Penn State family also just helping me out and leading me on the right path."

Paterno has noticed the growth of Bowman, on and off the field.

"He's become very solid," Paterno said. "And when he lost his dad, I think that was a shock to him and kind of made him think twice about his obligation to his family and some things."

Other Penn State defenders who have benefited from second chances are end Maurice Evans and tackle Abe Koroma. The pair still faces misdemeanor marijuana possession charges from a Sept. 2 incident at their apartment. Each sat out three games, returned for the Illinois game, and contributed to a highly-rated defense.

Evans, a junior who before this season had been promoted for All-America honors based on his 12.5 sacks from last season, started the opener but has been a backup since, registering 31 tackles and 4.5 sacks.

"I tried to come back and be a force like I was before," Evans said. "Things didn't work out that way, but I'm happy with the progress now from the beginning of the season."

Koroma, a redshirt sophomore, also was a first-game starter but has been a backup since. He finished the regular season with 24 tackles and 1.5 sacks.

"I'm happy where I'm at right now, where the team's at right now," Koroma said. "I'm blessed."

It would be a bit foolish to say that the 11-1 record is directly due to the improved citizenry of the Penn State players, but it certainly could not have hurt. And hey, we know Maurice Evans will be back, right? As for Aaron Maybin, well...

When you go from having 12 tackles - total - in 2007 to 12 sacks, 19 tackles for losses and three forced fumbles the following season, maybe the worst thing you can do is wonder why and how it all happened.

"I don't know. I try not to think about it," the serendipitous Maybin said when asked about his dizzying ascent from a possible rotation-type guy on Penn State's defensive line to its most acclaimed star. "In any case, that's really not something I can control now. Things happen for a reason."

As is the case with run-stuffing junior defensive tackle Jared Odrick, Maybin, a 6-4, 247-pounder from Ellicott City, Md., is contemplating an early jump to the NFL. Each has filed paperwork with the league to assess his draft prospects, although Maybin said his only focus for now is on fifth-ranked Southern California (11-1), which takes on No. 6 Penn State (11-1) in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day.

"I'm really not concerned about it," Maybin said of the NFL evaluation of his potential for going high in the draft, should he choose to come out. "I probably won't get the report until after the Rose Bowl, anyway."

Okay, nothing set in stone there. I think we all agree that Maybin would be foolish to come back if he was truly projected as a top ten pick. Whether he would actually be drafted that soon is still open for debate.

ESPN.com recently ran a nationwide poll about who would win the Rose Bowl. You likely know the results by now -- 49 48 states picked USC. The Penn State players were bemused:

"I'm glad we got one state," [A.Q.] Shipley said. "It's obviously disappointing that 49 other states don't think we've got a shot."

Defensive end Josh Gaines, watching on the Penn State campus, ordinarily doesn't worry about such things. He made an exception this time.

"I immediately jumped up," he said. "I got a little excited."

Then he called teammate Jared Odrick.

"I was actually writing a paper, and I didn't see it," Odrick said. "I think it kind of caught me off-guard during the conversation. I was eight pages deep in a paper."

...

"We've developed a black eye for the past couple years," Shipley said. "I was talking to James Laurinaitis from Ohio State, and if we win both of our games, [The Big Ten conference is] back on the map. It's going to be a challenge, but we both think we can do it."

I'm sure we'll get into recruiting once the Rose Bowl is in the books, but the Pocono Record has a nice rundown (they're highly underrated for PSU coverage, in my opinion), including news of a possible second quarterback, the ongoing saga of five-star LB Jelani Jenkins, and wide receiver Justin Brown of Delaware.

Finally, we know that athletes from every bowl-eligible team receive an armful of goodies. The Rose Bowl swag:

The Rose Bowl ranked among the middle of the pack, giving each player a Sony DVD camcorder, a Fossil watch, an Ogio backpack, a New Era 59Fifty fitted cap, a plaque, an autographed football and a one-year subscription to ESPN the Magazine.

Not too bad. Who autographs the football, anyway?

Elsewhere: USC Offensive Coordinator Steve Sarkisian says Aaron Maybin is "the best [pass] rusher we've ever seen." Joe Paterno still isn't sure whether he'll coach from the sideline or the press box. David Jones takes a fun look at the first USC-Penn State Rose Bowl in 1922. The apparent star of the Rose Bowl Parade? A 49-foot tall robot from Japan. Oh, and miniature donkeys from Indiana. Both terrifying in their own ways.

Grading the Defense Against Michigan

BSD — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:00:06 -0000

C'mon, people. Give me something to work with here.

It was a little sketchy in the beginning, but the defense finally clamped down and stopped the bleeding. I watched the tape again last night so I'll try to describe what happened and the adjustments that were made during the game. Let's start right off with the defensive coaching.

Defensive Coaching

Penn State started the game in nickel defense with Hull and Bowman as the linebackers. When you look at most of the plays on the first drive, Michigan spread them out with four wide receivers and Brandon Minor in the backfield forcing Penn State to pull Hull back into coverage leaving just five guys to defend in the box. This gave Michigan two options in the backfield (Threet and Minor) with five guys to block our five guys. This was clearly a good matchup for Michigan, and due to the fact they were going no-huddle we couldn't get an opportunity to change personnel. Michigan almost exclusively ran left away from Evans and Bowman choosing to attack Gaines and Hull. Obviously this paid off with a touchdown.

On the second drive Penn State moved Hull back into the box, but Michigan still moved the ball well. So midway through the drive they abandoned the nickel and went to the base 4-3 with Ty Sales coming in the game. Michigan continued to attack the left with success, but Penn State managed to hold them to a field goal.

On the third drive Penn State started in the 4-3 again with Hull, Bowman and Sales at linebacker. On this drive Michigan went to the passing game with Threet connecting on two long passes to get into Penn State territory. But then they finished it off with a touchdown by just continuing to smash through the left side of the line. Toward the end of this drive was when Hull and Sales were pulled for Gbadyu and Mauti. They also turned Bowman loose to just start attacking the line of scrimmage since the Wolverines were obviously not running his direction. This was when Bowman and Odrick hit Minor three yards deep in the backfield seemingly stopping him only to have him roll off and fall forward for the first down.

On the fourth drive they went with the 4-3 with Gbadyu and Mauti instead of Hull and Sales. We'll get into the play of these guys later on, but this was when the Michigan defense was effectively shut down. Michigan continued running left into this defense with little effect. In the second half they brought McGuffie in the game to provide a lead blocker as they ran left. Penn State countered by cheating the linebackers in that direction, and they even switched the defensive ends to have Bowman and Evans on opposite sides.

Overall the defensive coaches did a good job of adjusting. But early in the game I think they obviously underestimated Michigan's offensive line. I suspect they were planning on seeing the darting McGuffie to start the game. Seeing the more physical Minor in the backfield may have had them playing back on their heels taking a "wait-and-see" approach. Michigan's no-huddle may have prevented them from making personnel decisions quicker than they would have liked. But ultimately they figured it out and fixed it. They're just lucky because last year spotting the opponent 17 points in the first half would have been disasterous. This is an ultra one dimensional offense that should have never had that much success.

Final Grade: B-

Defensive Line

In the early going they were just getting blown off the ball. The Michigan offensive line is pathetic and they were beating us up. They eventually came around and realized Michigan wasn't as easy as they thought it was going to be. In the second half Michigan fell behind and had to start throwing the ball. That allowed the coaches to start doing some stunting and the Michigan offensive line was completely confused. Evans, Odrick, and Maybin all got a sack with Odrick recording the safety and Maybin forcing a fumble that Abe Koroma was quick to fall on. So it ended up being a good day despite the slow uninspired start.

Final Grade: B-

Linebackers

Illinois Josh Hull showed up instead of Purdue Josh Hull. He looked completely confused and was consistently getting wrapped up by blockers. Getting pulled for Gbadyu seemed to get his attention as he played a lot better in the second half.

Bowman had to cover a lot of ground to make his tackles since Michigan was avoiding him like the plague. But he still led the team with 11 tackles. Truly impressive when you watch the film and see how far he had to run to get to the ball carriers.

If Mike Mauti doesn't start every game for the rest of his Penn State career the coaching staff will be the subject of much criticism in this space. This kid can play. I watched one play were Michigan had what looked like a tight end split wide with Mauti lined up one on one with him. Of course it was a running play coming Mike's way. I watched the tight end run down to block Mauti and just get blown up. I mean Mauti hit him head on and put him on his ass. Then he tackled the ball carrier. I think he and Bowman have a competition going to see who can hit the hardest, because every hit he made could be heard from the top of the stadium.

Bani Gbadyu didn't impress me. He's fast in open space but he gets gobbled up in traffic. He has no business playing middle linebacker. His time on the field was short as he was soon replaced with Hull early in the second half. I just don't understand why Colasanti isn't seeing the field at this point. I've very disappointed in that.

Like the defensive line, the unit started slow but eventually came along. Slow starts can't happen against Ohio State.

Final Grade: B

Secondary

The backfield wasn't really tested in this game. Michigan managed to get a mismatch where Odom caught a deep ball against Rubin. Watching the tape it looked like they were supposed to be in zone coverage and Astorino followed his man inside opening up the deep sideline to Odom. After the play Rubin looked at Astorino and stuck his hands out as if to say "WTF?"

But in all Michigan only had 22 passing attempts with most of them coming in the second half when they were behind. The secondary did well holding them to only 89 yards passing, but they were never really tested.

Final Grade: Incomplete

Special Teams

The only miscue I can point to was Kelly clanking the upright from 45 yards out. The kick was straight and just hooked at the end. A lot better than last year when he would have shanked a kick like that 20 yards wide or hit a line drive that landed at the 10 yard line. He's definitely much improved and a slight miss from 45 yards is to be expected from time to time. He did make three shorter field goals on the day, and all time leading scorer and blah blah blah.

It was obvious Michigan didn't want anything to do with Derrick Williams in the return game. Chaz Powell did well with returns of 32 and 43 yards. The kickoff coverage continues to rock with Nate Stupar and Mike Mauti blowing up blockers and ball carreirs left and right. Michigan was actually so concerned about Stupar they were doubling him with two blockers. That's respect.

Jeremy Boone seems to have figured out something in his punting stroke as he's looking like 2007 Jeremy Boone again. He kicked three punts averaging over 44 yards per punt with a long of 53. He greatly outplayed the great Zoltan Mesko - Space Emperor (of Space!) who shanked two kicks (including the free kick off the safety) and had a kick blocked by Nate Stupar.

Final Grade: A+

Grading the Defense Against Temple

BSD — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 03:13:09 -0000

Lions always run in packs

Defensive Line

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

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

Pop! Goes the Shoulder Socket

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

Final Grade: A

Linebackers

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

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

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

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

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

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

Secondary

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

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

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

Final Grade: B+

Special Teams

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

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

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

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

Please no more of this

Final Grade: C-

Defensive Coaching

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

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

Final Grade: B

Poll

Who was the PSU Defensive Player of the Game?

Aaron Maybin

76 votes

Josh Gaines

17 votes

Navorro Bowman

266 votes

Tony Davis

2 votes

Drew Astorino

17 votes

378 votes | Poll has closed

Grading The Defense: Not So Fast, My Friend

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

After a quick review of Saturday's game:

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

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

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

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

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

Oregon State: Initial Post Game Thoughts

Kevin HD — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:20:04 -0000

With all the clowns at ESPN, it was amazingly refreshing to hear Kirk Herbstreit, before the game, give his take on the whole "reefer madness" situation.

He seems legitimately angry about this, and I couldn't agree more with his point. Whether fair or not, the OTL piece was increased scrutiny for a team that has in fact had a lot of legal problems. We didn't need another headline. I think Kirk does a good job here.

It was interesting to see Quarless in pads yesterday.

It sounded to me like Quarless and Wallace were the two who were still actually at the apartment, so for Koroma and Evans to be the two in street close yesterday is curious.

Shout out to the ESPN director who decided to completely pull the game from the air here AT THE END OF THE THIRD QUARTER. I know the game was probably decided, it was 47-7, but they cut to the Oklahoma game. The score there: 42-20. WTF?!? They then cut to the Wake Forest game, but it was already on ESPN2 here, so, again, WTF? I wasn't pleased.

I can't believe Joe Paterno is older than sliced bread. That's hilarious.

The offense, obviously, looked good. We'll get into the stats and go through it unit by unit later, but a couple of things stuck out: (1) they were able to convert long third downs. It got to the point where I was comfortable watching them play third and long; what a difference a year makes. (2) The balance was great. Ten first downs rushing, eleven passing. Yardage was also pretty much split. (3) Royster is the real deal. The best play of the game was probably the third touchdown; he simply turned on two defenders and out ran them to the corner.

Did I really see the wave with eight minutes left in the first quarter?

The defense played about as bland as you will ever see. They almost never rushed more than four guys and, as we all have come to expect, played real soft on the receivers. They gave up a lot passing yardage but seemed to be very focused on preventing the home run play. They gave up several ~20 yard passes, but nothing over 22.

I still haven't quite come to grips with the loss of Jerome Hayes.

Oregon State's punter had a bad game. He really should have just kicked that one in the 2nd quarter.

Josh Gaines had a great game. For those of you who haven't yet read this story, get on it.