SB Nation - Eric Latimore

Grading The Penn State Defense Against Northwestern

BSD — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:30:23 -0000

about 1 month ago: Penn State's Eric Latimore, right, looks down at sacked Northwestern quarterback Dan Persa during the fourth quarter of an NCAA college football game in Evanston, Ill., Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009. Penn State won 34-13. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

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It was a rocky start, but the defense clamped down and did the job holding the Northwestern Wildcat offense down until the Penn State offense could come to life. Let's grade them out and discuss their performance.

Defensive Line

It's a little disappointing to me that Penn State gave up 119 yards rushing to Northwestern after I said they have a pretty sad running game. But 84 of those yards were gained by the quarterbacks, which should be no surprise considering Mike Kafka came into the game as Northwestern's leading rusher. The Wildcats were running a lot of short crossing and hitch routes which didn't give the defensive line much time to get to the quarterback, but they still managed to record six sacks as a unit.

Jack Crawford had an okay game. He had a sack and recovered Kafka's unforced fumble, but there were a few times where he got sucked inside on a fake handoff and gave up a big gain to the quarterback. I could see his inexperience there. No matter how much it looks like he's handing it off to the running back, you gotta stay home and drill that quarterback, big guy. He made some nice adjustments and played a few option plays really well where he would force the quarterback to make the pitch and then he would slide outside to make the tackle.

Odrick had a slow first half but really turned it on in the second half. He just had to stop being cute and go to the bull rush. He had a sack to go with five tackles, and he blocked a field goal.

I was really impressed with Jerome Hayes and Eric Latimore in this game. Each of them got a sack, but I thought he looked really good in defending the run. The few times Northwestern tried to run the ball to the outside, these guys did a good job of getting up field and forcing the ball carrier to bounce outside. This allowed the pursuit to get there and usually drop the play for a loss.

Final Grade: A

Linebackers

I was not impressed with the linebackers in the early going, but in their defense this had a lot to do with the playcalling. More on that later.

Bowman looked slow to me. He just wasn't jumping the passing routes, and he whiffed terribly on several blocks. This was just not his best game, but he did still manage to record nine tackles.

Sean Lee saw his most extensive action since tweaking his knee against Temple. He led the team with 12 tackles (10 solo). I thought he looked great in playing against the run, but like Bowman I thought he looked just a step slow in covering the Northwestern short passing game. Much more so in the first half than the second half.

Did Josh Hull even play? He was out there in the early going and didn't look good in either defending the crossing routes or in stopping Kafka why he tried to tuck and run. After Northwestern's long scoring drive it looked to me like Penn State switched exclusively to the nickel defense, and Hull was the odd linebacker out.

Final Grade: B

Secondary

Kafka and Persa did most of their damage in attacking the linebackers over the middle. I thought the secondary held up well against Northwestern's highly ranked passing offense.

D'Anton Lynn was fantastic in breaking up the screen passes. He was really aggressive and shed the blocks to either stop the play for no gain or only gave up a few yards.

The rest of the secondary was pretty unmemorable, and frankly, I'm happy with this performance. I'd rather not notice Astorino and Sukay are on the field than to see them trailing the wide receiver on a 50 yard bomb than to see them helpless chasing their man downfield. Much of the credit for the six sacks by the defensive line has to go to the defensive secondary. The Northwestern quarterbacks couldn't find anyone open.

Final Grade: A

Defensive Coaching

I thought Penn State came out with a poor game plan. They tried to sit in their Cover-3 with three linebackers on the field. But the coverage was too soft, and three linebackers trying to cover four or five wide receivers is a mismatch in Northwestern's favor every time. Mike Kafka picked them apart with short crossing routes and hitch patterns designed to attack the linebackers. It was a lot like watching the Michigan game last year. You could tell the Wildcats weren't doing anything special. It was just a matter of making some changes and manning up. Penn State adjusted by going almost exclusively with the nickel defense and bringing the corners up a little tighter.

I also noticed some delayed blitzes by Odrick and Bowman. These worked really well because it gave the defender time to see what's going on and react to it. We saw this against Illinois and Michigan, and I suspect you will see it next week against Terrelle Pryor too.

Final Grade: B

Special Teams

It's like a broken record every week, but the special teams are not very special. Unless you mean "special" like the kid who wears head gear all the time to protect him from punching himself. In that case, yeah, the Penn State special teams are special.

Before I rip into them, let's acknowledge the blocked field goal by Odrick. That was a good play.

What's up with 12 men on the field on the Northwestern punt? This is the third or fourth substitution issue in the past two weeks. We're in week 9 now. This stuff shouldn't be happening.

Last year I called Nate Stupar our special teams MVP. Not so much this year. He had the Northwestern punter dead to rights after he fumbled the snap. But he overran the play, and the punter did a chest heave to a short fat guy with stubby legs who ran for a first down. It was a play that could have given Penn State tremendous field position, but instead it allowed the Wildcats to move the ball further. Eventually, they would have to punt again on that drive, but Graham Zug made a fair catch on the six yard line. What the hell is up with that?

Chaz Powell had a big kick return. It's his second big return in two games. Oddly, on both plays he gained his yards by completely disregarding his blockers and going the opposity direction on his own. That should tell you something.

But let's end on a positive note. Collin Wagner had some nice kickoffs where the ball landed around the five yard line, but more importantly the kick was angled to the corner allowing the coverage to use the sideline to stop the play for a short gain.

Final Grade: C

BSD Staff Predictions: Michigan Wolverines

BSD — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:17:31 -0000

More photos » by TONY DING - AP

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

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

RUTS Says...

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

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

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

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

Prediction: Penn State 21, Michigan 20

BSD Mike Says...

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

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

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

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

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

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

Prediction: Penn State 27, Michigan 24

KevinHD Says...

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

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

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

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

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

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

Prediction: Penn State 34, Michigan 24

Joe Paterno Press Conference Notes

BSD — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:15:09 -0000

More photos » by Pat Little - AP

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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 Defense Against Illinois

BSD — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:15:09 -0000

More photos » by Seth Perlman - AP

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

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

Defensive Line

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

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

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

Final Grade: A

Linebackers

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

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

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

Grade: B

Secondary

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

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

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

Final Grade: B

Special Teams

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

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

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

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

Final Grade: B-

Defensive Coaching

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

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

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

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

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

Final Grade: B

Poll

Who was the defensive MVP?

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

174 votes

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

35 votes

Jack Crawford - 4 tkl, 1 sack, 1.5 TFL

44 votes

Sean Stanley - 2 tkl, 1 sack, 1 FF

14 votes

Eric Latimore - 5 tkl, 1 sack, 2 TFL

92 votes

Stephon Morris - 2 tkl, 1 INT

21 votes

380 votes | Poll has closed

Grading the Penn State Defense Against Akron

BSD — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:00:33 -0000

More photos » by Carolyn Kaster - AP

3 months ago: Penn State's Eric Latimore, left, sacks Akron quarterback Chris Jacquemain during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009, in State College, Pa. Penn State won 31-7. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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It was a thoroughly dominating performance by the Nittany Lions for the first 30 minutes of play. Akron failed to register a first down until the third quarter. Penn State held the Zips to 8 total yards in the first half with minus 15 yards rushing. The second half was a different story, but we'll get into that. Let's grade out the defense.

Defensive Line

This was as dominating performance I can ever remember by a Penn State defensive line. Ollie Ogbu set the tone on Akron's first snap when he dropped Zips running back Norman Shuford for a three yard loss. Jack Crawford followed that up on the next play by blowing up a sweep to the right for a four yard loss. And so it was all afternoon for Akron. They couldn't open any holes to run through. and Jacquemain couldn't find any time to throw getting sacked four times.

Odrick and Ogbu were particularly dominating. Ogbu recorded 2.5 TFL while Odrick had 2 TFL and half a sack. There were also numerous times when they flushed Jacquemain into the arms of the outside pass rush.

The defensive ends had solid days. Jack Crawford looked good in his debut with 2 TFL and a sack. Eric Latimore also had a sack. But perhaps the best sight of the day was Jerome Hayes just being on the field and making plays again. He finished the day with 1.5 TFL.

They looked pretty sluggish in the second half of the game, but then so did the entire defense. A lot of young guys got to play including Devon Still, Chima Okoli, and Sean Stanley, and the coaches called off the dogs and played straight up basic defense. So I'm not going to count the second half against them.

Final Grade: A

Linebackers

It was The Nate Stupar Show on Saturday. The redshirt sophomore was forced into action early when Navorro Bowman was shut down to rest a nagging groin injury and made the most of the opportunity with a game high 12 tackles and a sack to go with them. Stupar had a huge play midway through the third quarter. Akron was attempting to get on the scoreboard by going for it on fourth down at the Penn State two-yard line. Jacquemain hurried the offense to the line and tried to catch the Penn State defense off guard. Jacquemain faked inside and tried to bounce it off tackle. Stupar met him there and shut him down one yard short of the goal line to keep Akron off the scoreboard. His play yesterday makes me feel okay about resting Bowman up for Big Ten play. We'll be just fine with No. 34 in there.

Man, was it great to see Sean Lee back in there. I think he looked faster than I remember him. And he looked as sharp as ever in anticipating the play and reacting. He had seven tackles and two TFL almost recording a safety down on the goal line.

Josh Hull wasn't spectacular, but he wasn't a liability either. As I suggested somewhere in the comments before the game, it's easy to play middle linebacker when you have Odrick and Ogbu lining up in front of you. It was rare that Akron could get a runner past those two, so Hull was never really called upon to make plays.

Final Grade: A

Secondary

It's really hard to judge the secondary in this game. Jacquemain couldn't find any time to throw in the first half, so they were never really tested. In the second half Penn State called off the dogs and sat back in deep zone coverages giving up a lot of yards in the process. But there were some key plays of note.

A.J. Wallace worked himself out of the doghouse a few weeks early and saw considerable playing time. Akron challenged him a few times and he got his hands on a few balls to break them up. But he could have had an interception or two if he had softer hands. I guess that's why he's on defense.

Andrew Dailey was Johnny on the Spot when Jacquemain sailed a first quarter pass deep over the middle and pulled down his first career interception.

Nick Sukay blew a coverage and gave up Akron's lone score on a 40 yard bomb.

Other than those two guys the secondary was pretty invisible all day.

Final Grade: Incomplete

Special Teams

It was a mixed bag on special teams. Everybody wants to focus on Colin Wagner shanking two field goals. One was admittedly bad missing from 28 yards, but in his defense it was a tough angle in close from the left hashmark. The other miss was a perfectly excuseable 49 yarder. Even the pros miss those more often than not.

Jeremy Boone was once again a terrific weapon averaging 43 yards on his two punts.

Nate Stupar absolutely blew up a kick return in the second quarter. He's easily my favorite player to watch on kick return coverage. But the kickoff coverage gave up a big return to open the second half giving Akron the ball at midfield.

Andrew Dailey and the entire punt coverage team executed a perfect fake punt to pick up 37 yards and a first down.

Final Grade: C

Defense Coaching

It's hard to fault anything with what the coaches did in the first half. The results speak for themselves. But they didn't just call off the dogs in the second half. They left them in the lockerroom and came right out in the BBDS defense. Jacquemain picked them apart with a nice drive to start the half. And then he torched them getting behind Sukay. I would have liked to have seen the defense keep the foot on the gas until the fourth quarter. I blame that on the coaches for letting the pressure off.

What was up with the pooch punt on 4th and 1 from the 35 late in the third quarter? Wagner booted it in the endzone for a touchback and a net 15 yard exchange of field position. I would have preferred going for the first down there since the offense was sputtering and Akron was picking up momentum. My next choice would have been trying the long field goal. I understand you are trying to boost the confidence of your new kicker. I'm not sure giving him a bunch of chip shots is the way to do that. Imagine the confidence boost he would get from hitting a 50 yarder. Just seems the reward outweighs the risk there in my opinion. And my third option would have been sending Boone in there to pin it deep. Don't leave it to your place kicker. Read my lips: Some team later on is going to anticipate this move again and have a return man back there waiting. And Penn State is going to pay for it.

Final Grade: B-

Nitt Picks is Smokin' and Streakin'

BSD — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:34:51 -0000

Many of you are probably aware by now, but the apartment that was raided over Blue-White weekend was not Daryll Clark's apartment. It was, however, the apartment of some other guys.

An application for search warrant, signed early April 26, identifies the apartment residents as Stephfon Green, Devon Still, Eric Latimore and Johnnie Troutman. None of the players has been charged, and the results of the seizure are scheduled to be released today.

Obviously this is not good if these players are involved. Green is the backup running back to Evan Royster. It would be a loss, but not huge as we have plenty of bodies at running back. Still and Latimore are looking at backup positions on the defensive line but figure to be steady contributors in the rotation. Troutman appears to have the starting left guard position nailed down coming out of spring practice. So that would be a loss, but from what I'm hearing none of this is going to be a big deal as the marijuana in question has yet to be linked to any of the players.

For your daily incoherent rant we now turn to The Nittany Line.

Oh, so it was a loud party…. With FIRE ALARMS GOING OFF!!!! WTF?!? Who is so Goddamned stupid to sit around smoking pot while fire alarms are going off?!?!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled Nitt Picks.

There are a couple fluff articles out there this morning on Penn State's newest verbal commitment from Luke Graham. First the Tribune points out he is a very good student.

Penn State should not have to worry about Graham's academics -- he carries a 4.15 QPA and has scored 1,750 on his SATs.

Then there is a rather short article in the Post Gazette that features an interesting quote.

"I've always liked Penn State," said Graham. "I looked around a little bit at some other schools. I was thinking about Virginia and Stanford, but I realized Penn State is where I need to be."

In other news, the Mens Volleyball team is just two wins away from defending their 2008 National Championship with a repeat title.

Defending champion Penn State earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA men's volleyball tournament and will face third-seeded Southern California in the semifinals Thursday night in Provo, Utah.

Penn State (27-3) won its 11th consecutive Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association championship Saturday by beating Juniata, 3-0 (30-25, 30-19, 30-21) to advance to the NCAA tournament.

Penn State and Southern California (20-1) will meet at 9 p.m. in the first semifinal match. Top-seeded California-Irvine (25-5), ranked No. 1 in Division I, faces fourth-seeded Ohio State (16-10) at 11 p.m. in the second match.

The winners will meet in the championship match at 7 p.m. Saturday.

I feel bad that we haven't offered the men as much coverage as the women got last fall. I blame the basketball team for diverting our attention. Also the fact that they aren't 6' 3" women with athletic bodies in spandex getting all sweaty and constantly slapping each other on their tight asses. That would probably help their cause. I'm just sayin'.

What I want to know is, how the heck does Ohio State get a #4 seed with ten losses? I mean, they're only six games over 0.500? Is there some kind of crazy BCS computer ranking going on here? I smell a Buckeye conspiracy here. Who did they have to beat? St. Catherine's School for Little People and Midgets?

In Scores of Other Games

The Mifflin Streak went on without a hitch. No arrests this year.
JayPa is now running a blog because his thoughts are too numerous to be limited to 146 characters on twitter. Personally I'm looking forward to reading his views on the role of a fullback in the spread offense and the United State's role in international trade in an ever-changing global economy.
Also, here is a nice article on Silas Redd.

Your BSD Blue-White Game Preview

BSD — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:39:13 -0000

Soak it in tomorrow, Penn State fans. After the Blue-White game it's a long journey through the vast desert of the offseason until we get another taste of Penn State football. We'll have breakdowns and analysis next week, but for now here is what your BSD staff is looking for on Saturday.

RUTS Says...

Here are the three things I'm looking at in the Blue White Game.

Our new stable of wide receivers. Will they run sharp routes, be able to get open, and catch the ball? Seems abundantly simple, but it's a concern after losing Jordan Norwood, Deon Butler, and Derrick Williams. 2009 will bring us a different breed of wide receiver -- taller and slower. Pay special attention to Derek Moye, who appears to be the field-stretcher of the group. And as you already know, don't look Graham Zug directly in the eye.

Safeties. Keep an eye on their angles and tackling, in addition to the personnel combinations. We know Drew Astorino will be out there. The others? A mish-mash of Andrew Dailey, Nick Sukay, and many others. The strong safety position will be up for grabs throughout the summer.

Back-up quarterbacks. Despite fans' annual urges, the backup to Daryll Clark will not be selected solely on his performance in the Blue/White game. But it'll be fun to watch, anyway. According to most reports (not to mention JayTweet), Matt McGloin and Kevin Newsome have been steadily improving in practice, and chances are that you'll see a lot of them on Saturday. I'll be absolutely shocked if Clark plays more than two or three series.

Kevin Says...

Leadership in the middle. Not under center, but, like, center. There was no Joe Thomas on the line last year, yet they were still the league's best group. I have a sneaking suspicion this was in large part due to their cohesion. And cohesion, as The Grit Theory suggests, requires leadership. With A.Q. now on his way to perhaps the fifth round, who will step up and lead the new group? Wisniewski knows the role; I'll be interested to see if there are signs he might be filling it.

Penn State guard Stefen Wisniewski
Will the ~~real~~ next Derrick Williams please stand up. The offense, good and bad, has always had an element of the predictably unexpected. MRob played the roll during the Mills Years and Williams did it for the four after that. There are good athletes on this team but I'm wondering who the offensive coaches will try to fit into the roll. Perhaps when gametime finally comes they will scrap the whole thing, but I doubt seriously that Jay & Co. are going to just toss out all those plays without giving someone a chance to make them worthwhile.

Sunshine Valley? The weather at the B&W always seems to be either the best of times (the sun burnt game in 2007) or the worst of times (the Woodstock mudslides of 2006). Jaytweet wants the former:

Everyone bring an umbrella. It's always nice when I bring an umbrella somewhere.

Mike Says...

I think Brandon Beachum is going to have a big day. With Stephfon Green still rehabbing his ankle and Evan Royster being protected to avoid injury, we might see Beachum get 15-20 carries. He has seen a lot of reps this spring and program observers have had good things to say. I wouldn't be surprised if he rushes for 100 yards.

Do we have a tight end that can catch the ball? With three new wide receivers trying to find their role in the Spread HD, don't be surprised if Penn State utilizes the tight ends more in the passing game. This is the last chance for Andrew Quarless to make a name for himself if he wants those NFL dollars. But he'll have to beat out a consistent Mickey Shuler and hungry underclassmen in Szczerba and Wedderburn. Remember Szczerba was the leading receiver in the Blue White game a year ago.

Defensive ends. Penn State has to replace their top three defensive ends from last year. A lot of program observers are already calling Jack Crawford the next Aaron Maybin. So I'll be interested to see him in action, but I'll be particularly interested to see who starts opposite him at the other end position. Right now it appears there is no clear leader there. Eric Latimore has a history of shoulder injuries, and there were reports he suffered another stinger this month. Jerome Hayes will be back for the fall, but he's not going to play tomorrow. You have to wonder how effective he'll be after tearing ACLs in both knees the past two years. Could the coaches take one of those stud linebackers we grow on trees and move him down on the line? Don't be surprised to see Nate Stupar or Mike Mauti playing the standup defensive end position Penn State has been using the past few years.

So that's our preview. We're thinking about setting up an account on Flickr or Photobucket where everyone can upload pictures. So take a lot of pictures at the game and have them ready. We'll make an announcement when we get our act together.

Penn State Kicks Off Spring Practice

BSD — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:00:08 -0000

Lost in all the publicity from the basketball team's NIT run, among other, uh, distractions, is the fact that the Penn State football team kicked off spring practice this Wednesday. They'll be be putting on the pads and sorting things out over the next few weeks until spring practice concludes with the Blue-White Game on April 25. So I guess we should probable devote some coverage to that. Here are the top five questions for the football team as I see them this spring.

Wide Receivers

Deon Butler, Derrick Williams, and Jordan Norwood leave Penn State as three of the most prolific receivers in Penn State history. They have been the most consistent part of the offense over the past four years. And now we have to replace all three of them at once.

This spring the most likely candidates to fill in the first team receiver roles are a walk on, a converted quarterback, a converted safety, and a sophomore that hasn't shown much to date. Graham Zug and Brett Bracket have shown good hands, but neither one of them possess elite speed. Chaz Powell has shown a good burst, but we haven't seen enough catches to determine if he has hands good enough to play receiver. Last year he mostly got the ball on end arounds, and you have to think he started as a safety for a reason.

Derek Moye has the most potential to be a play maker. He was a high school track star so you know he's fast. And he's got good size. This is a golden opportunity for him.

Of course later this summer when the freshmen come on board everything changes and guys like Justin Brown and Shawney Kersey may prove to be the next freshmen sensations.

Defensive Backs

All four starters from the Rose Bowl are gone leaving Penn State with huge questions in the last line of defense. A.J. Wallace gets one more shot to prove he was worthy of all those stars coming out of high school and will most likely lock up one of the starting cornerback spots. Drew Astorino looked impressive as the nickel back last season and has the inside track toward landing the free safety spot. After that it's anyone's guess. D'Anton Lynn, Knowledge Timmons, Andrew Dailey, Cedric Jefferies, Devin Fentress, and Nick Sukay are going to battle it out for the other two spots. Outside of Lynn who saw playing time last year as a true freshman, none of these guys have looked impressive during their Penn State careers. Many of the incoming freshmen like Stephon Morris, Gerald Hodges, and Malcolm Willis will have an excellent opportunity to see immediate playing time.

Offensive Line

Though losing three All-Big Ten selections on the offensive line to graduation is normally a huge concern, I'm not overly concerned about Penn State's situation. Dennis Landolt should have the right tackle spot nailed down. Wisniewski is moving over to center and I fully expect him to make an outstanding field general. Deon'tae Pannell moved up to #2 on the depth chart behind Cadogen last year as a true freshman. That is highly impressive, so he should have the inside track at left tackle.

The two guard positions will be a battle between Jonnie Troutman, Matt Stankiewitch, Lou Eliades, J.B. Walton, and James Terry. I've heard good things abotu some of these guys and there is enough bodies to promote healthy competition. I think the offensive line will be ok this season, but it may take them some time to play well as a unit. Nailing down the starting five as soon as possible will be key so they can work on building that cohesion.

Defensive Ends

Penn State has to replace their top three defensive ends from last year. I'm sure the coaches expected to have Maybin and probably Evans back when they started recruiting last spring, so we got caught a bit behind the eight ball in recruiting without a ton of bodies to fill in.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Jack Crawford will be the starting strong side defensive end. He's a freak of an athlete and saw playing time last season as a true freshman. His main competition will come from Eric Latimore, a lanky sophomore that has trouble staying healthy in his career.

The weakside end is the huge question. Right now there is Kevion Latham and a bunch of guys you never have and never will hear of. Look for Penn State to once again pluck someone from the overcrowded linebacker group and go with the standup defensive end like we ran with Tim Shaw back in 2006. Jerome Hayes is coming back but probably won't get much work this spring. Maybe Stupar and Mauti get bulked up and moved down.

Weakside Linebacker

This position has kind of been vacant for two years now since we had Poz, Connor, and Lee roaming the field all at the same time. Since 2006 the position has been a rotation of Ty Sales, Josh Hull, Mike Mauti, and Bani Gbadyu. This year it should be a fantastic battle to keep an eye on as Mauti, Stupar, and Mike Yancich will all fight it out to claim the spot. As I said before, look for whoever comes in second to hit the training table hard and get slid down to defensive end this fall due to the lack of depth there.

Other Position Battles of Note

Kevin Newsome and Matt McGloin will compete to be Daryll Clark's backup. McGloin is going to have to really shine to beat him out though. Newsome has the higher flexibility and potential in the Spread HD offense, so the coaches are going to give him the nod if it's close just to give him more reps.

The place kicking job is also up for grabs. Anthony Fera, David Soldner and Colin Wagner will compete there.

Grading The Defense - Coastal Carolina

BSD — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:06:10 -0000

We were all pleased with the results on Saturday I'm sure, but there were definitely some things to work on. Let's take a look at the defense and see how each unit did.

Defensive Line

You would be hard pressed to ask for a better game from the defensive line. The Chanticleers were held to just 52 yards on 32 attempts for a puny 1.6 yards per carry. The defensive tackles were stuffing the middle and the ends were getting good pressure off the edge. Aaron Maybin was a beast coming around the left tackle all day like the kid was standing in a foot of mud. He recorded 2 sacks and five tackles. Not bad for a guy that wasn't even listed on the depth chart earlier in the week. Jared Odrick was credited with a sack, though I could have sworn he had two by my count. Redshirt freshman Eric Latimore also got a sack on the day.

The only knock I have on them is they were a little too aggressive at times. The Chants were letting them go on the jailbreak screen and we were still falling for it late in the game. The quarterback sucked them in and dunked the ball over their heads for a 15 yard gain. They have to learn to read that and adjust. That guy in front of you isn't putting up a fight for a reason.

Final Grade: B+

Linebackers

I didn't come away from this game feeling any better about our linebacker situation. Coastal Carolina was killing us on screens and dump passes throughout the first half. But I don't blame the linebackers for this entirely. The coaches were calling a lot of blitzes early in the game and the Chanticleers were making us pay for it. That tells me we're not very good at disguising and timing our blitzes which is partly a coaching issue and partly a player ability issue.

Josh Hull looks like a serviceable run stopper, but he's not a blitzer. He was a step late in getting to the quarterback every time. Sales and Gbadyu have tons of athletic ability but don't seem to have the anticipation we're used to seeing in Sean Lee or Paul Posluszny, though Bani did snag the only interception on the day. The only linebacker that appeared to have any play making ability was Navarro Bowman. He was probably the most disruptive of the linebackers and was also a major factor on special teams when he wasn't trying to pick up fumbles instead of falling on them.

Final Grade: B-

Defensive Backs

I was really expecting a better showing from our secondary. We should never give up 198 yards passing against a team like Coastal Carolina. There were just too many blown coverages. Rubin and Scirrotto completely blew it on the touchdown pass. Looking at the tape it appeared the defense was in man-to-man and they both covered the same guy. Clearly one of them was wrong. Couple it with the fact Hull was blitzing on the play and you have a guy running down the field all by himself.

And all day long it just seemed like they weren't getting a good jump on the ball. Scirrotto had the best chance at an interception and he just plain dropped it. But in their defense the coaches were calling just two very basic coverages so as not to give too much away on film.

Final Grade: C

Defensive Coaching

Tough to say in a game like this. The coverages were very basic throughout the game. They were very aggressive early and Coastal Carolina made them pay. But after giving up long drives in the first half they adjusted and toned it down keeping the linebackers at home. From there the Chanticleers didn't do much. When the game was well in hand they did a good job of getting younger players in the game. Jack Crawford and Mike Mauti both played meaning they will not be redshirted this year.

The Chants ran a lot of no huddle and the players didn't look like they were ready for it. We get a few teams in the coming weeks like Oregon State, Illinois, and Indiana who like to go no huddle so we'll have to tighten that up.

Final Grade: B

Special Teams

I can't say I have any complaints here. Boone only had one punt but he boomed it 46 yards witha one yard return. Kelly only had one chip shot field goal attempt from 21 yards. I would have liked to see him get a no pressure attempt from 45 or 50 yards to build some confidence but it didn't work out that way.

The kick return game was outstanding with Wallace getting a 35 yard return and of course Williams taking one the distance. Several people commented in the open thread that Williams looks a step faster this year and I have to agree. Last year he would catch a ball and studder step his way to a 15 yard return. This year he appears to make an effort to just get up field first and then find a hole to shoot through. If he can keep doing this he could have a big year. He also had a nice 14-yard punt return he almost broke open.

The kickoff coverage team looked much improved, but I'm not getting too excited. It's just Coastal Carolina. But I feel better seeing players out there like Bowman, Timmons, Stupar, and Mauti. We're putting some good athletes out there unlike last year so I'm confident we'll be alright.

Final Grade: A