SB Nation - Stephon Morris

Conversations With the Enemy: Talking Penn State with Run Up The Score

LVS — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:07:03 -0000

Hello again. I traded a few questions about Saturday's EPIC rivalry game with Run Up The Score from Black Shoe Diaries, SBN's leviathan Penn State blog. My answers to his questions should be up at BSD shortly.

Below, I'm in bold.

MSU-PSU: great rivalry or greatest rivalry?

Greatest, of course! How else could you explain two teams fighting over a pre-school arts and crafts monstrosity like the Land Grant Trophy?

Penn State allowed almost 300 yards passing against Indiana last Saturday; that statistic alone gives MSU fans at least some hope, as our offense is essentially pass-or-bust this year. How has PSU's pass defense been this season? Are there any clear vulnerabilities in the secondary?

Keep in mind that Indiana threw the ball 51 times and was playing from behind in the second half last week, but yes, the larger point is that teams know it's better to throw on Penn State than attempt to run. I would not be remotely surprised if MSU attempts close to 50 passes on Saturday, although I doubt they'll reach the 61 passes thrown by Brian Hoyer against PSU back in 2006 -- and that was in a 17-13 game. Penn State can be thrown on, but they do their best to protect any obvious liabilities in the secondary. Free Safety Nick Sukay has steadily improved throughout the year. Drew Astorino (#28) plays the other safety position, and it's no secret that he's trying to fight through a shoulder injury. CB A.J. Wallace sustained a concussion last week, he's listed as "possible" for Sparty. So there may be opportunities for you in the passing game.

[More, after the jump.]

PSU leads the conference in sacks. Does the pressure come primarily from the defensive line, or will the Lions regularly mix in blitz packages?

Penn State loves to just send the defensive line if they can get away with it. The defensive scheme actually depends on it, but PSU's defensive ends have been several notches below their predecessors. There's no Aaron Maybin, Maurice Evans, or Tamba Hali on this defensive line, so they'll send linebackers on occasion, and maybe mix in a corner blitz once or twice per game, but that's it.

The book on Darryl Clark seems to be that he's fantastic if given time, but quickly becomes very average if he's subjected to pressure. Is that mostly correct? What are his major strengths and weaknesses?

He's like about any other good, but not great, quarterback. If he has a clean pocket and can set his feet, he's as good as anyone in the country. If he gets hit too much, he gets rattled and starts making bad decisions with the ball. In that sense, he can be knocked back into looking like a talented quarterback in his second or third start -- he thinks he can make throws that he can't actually pull off.

Can you tell us a bit about PSU's receivers and tight ends? Our pass defense has been atrocious, and Andrew Quarless, in particular, worries me greatly.

Starting WR Chaz Powell is out for the game with a shoulder injury. In his place, you'll see a rotating group including the very tall Brett Brackett and the very quick Curtis Drake. Maybe true freshman Justin Brown gets in the game, but I doubt it. Graham Zug had a nightmare game against Indiana last week, but that was mostly due to fumbling punts. He runs good routes and gets open against passive zone coverages. Really, that goes for the whole group -- if you can press and bump them, they become ineffective quickly.

As for Quarless, he has all the talent in the world but had squandered it until this season with various off-field issues. He scares a lot of teams, although he's only broken 50 yards receiving once this year, due to a 60 yard touchdown catch against Michigan. Derek Moye is probably our best receiver, but he was totally shut out by Ohio State's press coverage and only had two catches for 28 yards against Indiana. Because of that, I suspect PSU will make an effort to get him involved quickly.

Special teams have seemed to be a major problem all season long for PSU. Have things improved at all in recent weeks? If not, which areas are the most dire? (Happily enough, MSU's special teams have been mostly fantastic all season long.)

Improved? No, no. It's a worsening nightmare by the week. Penn State is 113th in kickoff returns, 107th in punt returns, 114th in net punting, 57th in kickoff coverage, and 117th in punt return yardage allowed. On top of that, our punt returners (Zug and Astorino) went from being Designated Fair Catchers to dropping everything in sight last week. So relatively speaking, we're downright awesome in covering kickoffs. In our two losses, the game turned on a blocked punt for a touchdown against Iowa and a punt return inside the 10 yard line by Ohio State's Ray Small.

Is there anyone on offense or defense for PSU that MSU fans probably haven't heard of, but that we should keep an eye on?

Curtis Drake is a good candidate on offense. He's a true freshman receiver, and is extremely elusive with the ball in his hands. Last week, PSU's offense was jumpstarted by a long gainer on an end-around by Drake. Defensively, freshman Stephon Morris has seen a lot of time in Penn State's nickel package and has played well beyond anyone's expectations. Given Michigan State's propensity to throw the ball, you'll see a lot of him Saturday.

Finally, generally speaking, how are you feeling about the game?

Justifiably nervous. I don't like hearing that Michigan State excels on special teams -- that's a huge point that can't be overlooked. Penn State tends to start slowly, especially on the road, and that seems to be an especially bad idea this week with a possible BCS at-large bid on the line. Michigan State will be plenty motivated, given the beating they received last year at Beaver Stadium and Mark Dantonio's pissy-pants antics of calling two defensive timeouts during the waning seconds of the game in sub-freezing temperatures. And every Penn State fan is expecting a minimum of two special teams disasters.

Thanks to RUTS, and I wish his team only the absolute worst luck this Saturday.

Malicious Internet Interrogation: The Only Colors

Run Up The Score — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:29:20 -0000

Amy Sancetta - AP

11 months ago: Peanut the dog, dressed in a Michigan State Spartan costume, is seen outside Ford Field before the semifinal game between Michigan State and Connecticut during the men's NCAA Final Four college basketball tournament Saturday, April 4, 2009, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

View full size photo »

Part one of an exchange between myself and LVS of SBNation's fine Michigan State blog, "The Only Colors". His questions, my answers. The other half of Malicious Internet Interrogation will likely be up later today or tomorrow. And don't forget this afternoon's basketball game against UNC-Wilmington. Tip-off is at 4:00 p.m., game to be broadcast on ESPNU (and ~~presumably, ESPN360~~ yeah, apparently not). We'll have an open thread.

1. MSU-PSU: great rivalry or greatest rivalry?

Greatest, of course! How else could you explain two teams fighting over a pre-school arts and crafts monstrosity like the Land Grant Trophy?

2. Penn State allowed almost 300 yards passing against Indiana last Saturday; that statistic alone gives MSU fans at least some hope, as our offense is essentially pass-or-bust this year. How has PSU's pass defense been this season? Are there any clear vulnerabilities in the secondary?

Keep in mind that Indiana threw the ball 51 times and was playing from behind in the second half last week, but yes, the larger point is that teams know it's better to throw on Penn State than attempt to run. I would not be remotely surprised if MSU attempts close to 50 passes on Saturday, although I doubt they'll reach the 61 passes thrown by Brian Hoyer against PSU back in 2006 -- and that was in a 17-13 game. Penn State can be thrown on, but they do their best to protect any obvious liabilities in the secondary. Free Safety Nick Sukay has steadily improved throughout the year. Drew Astorino (#28) plays the other safety position, and it's no secret that he's trying to fight through a shoulder injury. CB A.J. Wallace sustained a concussion last week, he's listed as "possible" for Sparty. So there may be opportunities for you in the passing game.

[For the rest of our Q&A, including discussion of SPECIAL TEAMS FAIL and much more, please head over to The Only Colors.]

Michigan Penn State Question and Answer with Black Shoe Diaries

Maize n Brew Dave — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:39:40 -0000

We're two days away from the Michigan Penn State Game, and dammit, we're excited here at Maize n Brew. In the interest of gaining as much inside information as possible, we tracked down Mike from Black Shoe Diaries at his bunker in northern Siberia and forced him to answer some questions. Well. Not really. Mike tracked me down and roused me from my two week slumber and forced me to talk about Michigan. He also had me sign all sorts of papers, including something in hindsight I'm certain was a power of attorney. I'll deal with that later...

Mike's posted my answers over at Black Shoe Diaries for the Penn State crazies to pick apart. So now's my turn. Here's all you intel on Penn State.

On to the Questioning!!

Maize n Brew Dave: Injuries are going to play a big part in this game. Is Sean Lee actually going to play on Saturday? Who else is banged up for Penn State and who, if anyone, is out for the game?

Black Shoe Diaries: The word is that Sean Lee is going to play. Last week against Minnesota he saw the field for about 15 snaps before he felt a "twinge" in his knee and they shut him down. On Monday he said the knee is sore, but he's practicing this week so that's a good sign.

Stephfon Green is most likely out with an ankle injury. So there will be no repeat of last year's 80 yard screen pass. This probably means more carries for Evan Royster in the game. Penn State likes to limit him to about 15 touches, but now he'll probably get over 20. Durability has been an issue with him in the past, but he has held up pretty good this year.

My big concern is at right tackle where Penn State is basically down to the ham sandwich. DeOn'tae "Insert Random Punctuation and Capitalization Wherever You Want" Pannell and Nerraw McCormack are both trying to recover from ankle injuries. Last week Penn State had to start junior college transfer Ako Poti in their place. I'm sure Poti was just thrilled to see Evan Royster getting Brandon Graham fired up in the media this week.

MnB Dave: How good a feel do you have for this year's Nittany Lion Squad? We all knew there'd be turnover this year, but I've seen so many different things out of PSU (good and bad) that I really don't know how to gauge them. At 6-1, Penn State has only one marquee game on the resume and that was a loss at home. Minnesota and Temple are arguably your best wins (both at 4-2). Are you satisfied that you know what to expect game in, game out from this squad?

BSD: So far the season has pretty much gone like I expected. I knew there were going to be games where the offensive line didn't look so good. That's just part of replacing four starters. I was hoping they would use this soft schedule in the beginning of the year to come together, and for the most part they have done that. They're playing well now and Evan Royster has averaged 112 yards his last three games. He only managed 102 yards against Akron and Syracuse combined.

I did not expect the receivers and secondary to perform as well as they have. Derek Moye has been a pleasant surprise. He's fifth in the conference in receiving yardage and he has become Daryll Clark's favorite target. The secondary is leading the conference in pass defense and held Eric Decker to just one catch last week. D'Anton Lynn and Stephon Morris have played really well at cornerback which was the position I most worried about on this team before the season.

Penn State has used the soft schedule to play themselves into a good team, but unfortunately they weren't ready in time to play Iowa.

MnB Dave: I have to do this. Why do Penn State fans call one win a "streak"?

BSD: I agree with you. That's ridiculous. That's why I prefer to call it 761 days since Michigan last beat Penn State.

(more questioning after the jump....)

MnB Dave: As much as I fear Royster, Clark seems to consistently be the PSU player most responsible for Penn State's wins and losses. Whether this premise is right or wrong, give us a brief look at Clark's positives and negatives. Where does he excel and where does he come up short?

BSD: First and foremost, I love Clark's leadership. The team really responds to him and believes in him. It's completely evident in their play. He's tough. He'll lower his shoulder and fight for that extra yard, or he'll run down field and throw a block if the play comes back his way. Players love that in their quarterback. On top of that, he's just a good quarterback. His mechanics are sound and for the most part he makes the right decisions.

But he does have some flaws. He's a really emotional player. In big games he tends to come out a little too amped up and he'll overthrow some guys until he gets settled down. And sometimes he will have a mental breakdown if you can get him frustrated. Teams that can get pressure on him can force him into making some unadvised throws. Iowa did this very well as did USC and Ohio State last year. The manual for defensing Daryll Clark should say "GET TO THE QUARTERBACK" in big bold letters at the top.

MnB Dave: What game this season is most representative of this PSU team, good and bad? Why?

BSD: That's a tough question to answer because this team is so different than they were at the beginning of the season. They're playing much more like a unit than they did against Akron and Syracuse. But at the same time, their best games have come against Illinois and Minnesota...not exactly World beaters, so I'm a bit hesitant to get too excited. So I'll cop out and answer in cliche. You're only as good as your last game, which happens to be a 20-0 shutout over Minnesota.

MnB Dave: I'm gonna turn the tables on you, what part of the Michigan offense and defense do you think you can take advantage of?

BSD: On offense I think Penn State should be able to pass the ball against the Michigan secondary. Clark is good at spreading the ball around and finding the open man. If Evan Royster can get going in the running game, Penn State could get some big plays off of play action.

On defense, I think Penn State should be able to get to Tate Forcier and pressure him into making some quick decisions. They have a good pass rush, and the linebackers are always active in their blitzing. Penn State has even been mixing in some corner blitzes here and there which is new for a Tom Bradley defense. If they can fluster Forcier, I think the defense can come away with a few turnovers.

MnB Dave: Let's go the other way, what part of the Michigan offense and defense causes you consternation and heart palpitations?

BSD: I'm worried about the Michigan running game. I must admit I did not realize how good they were until I looked at the stats this week. The zone read options are going to test the linebackers and defensive ends. If Sean Lee is healthy, I'm not one bit worried about he and Navorro Bowman defending the edges. But our defensive ends are still pretty green and haven't seen a lot of zone read option offenses. They did a good job against Juice Williams and Illinois, but Michigan is more athletic with their running backs.

And on offense, like I said before, as long as the offensive line keeps Daryll Clark upright and gives him time to throw, they'll be fine. The offense is balanced enough that they can take advantage of whatever the defense is trying to do.

MnB Dave: I've made my prediction, now it's your turn. Make your prediction.

BSD: Well, I have to go with Penn State. On paper they have more talent, more depth, and more experience than Michigan. I feel good about this game, but then I felt good going into Ann Arbor in 2005 and 2007. Something about Maize and Blue makes Joe Paterno pucker up. I think this game will be close, but like I said, I have to go with the good guys. Penn State wins 27-24.

Special thanks to Mike at Black Shoe Diaries for putting this together and for his great answers. I hope his whole team comes down with swine flu prior to the game.

Penn State Freezes Minnesota 20-0

BSD — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 04:00:19 -0000

It was a cold and wet day for mid October with several inches of snow on the ground from the day before. The homecoming crowd was subdued from the cold drizzle falling on their faces, but their hearts were warmed by a dominating performance by the Nittany Lions as Penn State turned in a rare shutout over the Golden Gophers of Minnesota.

The Penn State defense set the tone for the day on the opening series when Josh Hull intercepted an Adam Weber pass, giving the Lions excellent field position at the Minnesota 34 yard line. Though the offense sputtered and couldn't advance the ball, the Gophers were put on notice that every yard would have to be earned.

Evan Royster ignited Penn State's second drive with a 35 yard gain down the right sideline out of a Power I formation. But a few erratic throws by Clark and a sack on third down stalled the drive. Collin Wagner salvaged the effort with a career long 47 yard field goal that looked like it wouldn't have been good from 47.5 yards.

Starting from their own 20 on their next drive, Penn State methodically drove down the field in 13 plays, but the drive stalled at the Minnesota 10 yard line where Wagner punched in his second field goal in as many drives. Though Penn State was dominating, it was a nervous feeling to only be up by six points.

But six points would prove to be all the defense needed. Minnesota failed to find success in the running game or the passing attack. As a team they rushed for only 37 yards and a 2.1 yard per carry average. Adam Weber only threw for 101 yards with his star receiver Eric Decker only catching one pass for 42 yards late in the third quarter when the game was comfortably in hand. For the day the Gophers only ran 40 offensive plays and managed only seven first downs.

Penn State's fourth possession was killed by a holding penalty on Lou Eliades and an offsides call on Chaz Powell. Collin Wagners 49 yard field goal attempt fell short by two yards, so it's safe to say his range has been officially established at 47 yards.

Penn State's final drive of the half started at their own nine yard line. Ten plays, later they found themselves facing a 3rd at 2 play at the Minnesota 13 yard line. Clark dropped back to pass and faced heavy pressure. He dumped the ball off to Graham Zug who had to go low to make the catch. The play was originally called incomplete, but video replay showed that Zug managed to get his arm under the ball and make the catch, so Penn State was awarded a first a goal. Even still, it looked like a holding penalty on Wisniewski was going to stall another drive. But on 2nd and goal from the 13 Clark threw to Moye in the endzone. The officials ruled the catch out of bounds, but again the play was reviewed, and again the call on the field was overturned. Replays showed Moye indeed caught the ball and dragged his right foot inbounds for the touchdown. Penn State would take a 13-0 lead into the half.

Both teams traded insignificant possessions to start the third quarter. Then the Penn State offense got in gear again. Starting from their own 15 yard line they marched on a 13 play drive that consumed nearly eight minutes off the clock. Daryll Clark punched the ball in the endzone on a quarterback sneak to give the Nittany Lions a 20 point lead to end the scoring.

But there was still work to be done to protect the shutout. Minnesota responded with a drive of their own, highlighted by the 42 yard pass to Decker over the middle. A few plays later the Gophers had a 1st and goal at the PSU 8 yard line. But some stellar play by the cornerbacks would prevent Minnesota from scoring. On first down, D'Anton Lynn blanketed Brandon Green in the endzone forcing an incomplete pass from Weber. On second down Stephon Morris showed good aggressiveness in breaking up a wide receiver screen for little gain. An Adam Weber scramble on third down came up short setting up a fourth and goal play from the half yard line. Weber handed off to Kevin Whaley who raced toward the right pylon. Jerome Hayes got up field taking on two blockers and forcing the play to the outside. Then Navorro Bowman and A.J. Wallace converged on the play and stopped Whaley for no gain. The shutout was safe, and the celebration began. Minnesota never threatened to score again.

Overall it was a solid performance by Penn State. They dominated the Gophers on offense and defense. The final score may look disappointing to those just cruising the headlines, but considering the weather conditions and the fact that Penn State started most of their drives deep in their own territory I think Joe Paterno will be pretty happy with this performance.

Grading the Penn State Defense Against Eastern Illinois

BSD — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:00:39 -0000

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

Defensive Line

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

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

Final Grade: A

Linebackers

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

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

Final Grade: B

Secondary

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

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

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

Final Grade: C

Special Teams

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

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

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

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

Final Grade: B

Defensive Coaching

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

Final Grade: A

Joe Paterno Press Conference Notes

BSD — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:15:09 -0000

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

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

Joe Paterno Press Conference Recap

BSD — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:54:54 -0000

Here are the bullets from Joe Paterno's press conference today.

Obviously, Joe was disappointed with the results on Saturday. He blamed turnovers and field position as the major contributors, but didn't want to take anything away from Iowa who played a good football game. He really liked the effort by the team.
When asked about the blocked punt Joe said he warned the kids all week it was going to come down to a kicking play. Joe reminded the team that the 1982 team lost to Alabama on a blocked punt and came back to win the national championship. Nice story, but I don't think this team has the umph in the schedule to climb that high in the polls.
Joe stressed the blocked punt was not Jeremy Boone's fault.
Obviously he was disappointed with the turnovers. Pointed out they came from some of their most dependable kids. Can't do much to fix it other than just work through it.
Sean Lee is still day-to-day. Lee says he can go, but it's up to the medical staff.
Joe thinks Collin Wagner is doing a good job on the kickoffs. Earlier in the year the coverage was bad and let a few opponents get back to the 40 yard line. The coverage was better on Saturday and he's pleased with the kickoff coverage game now.
Joe says when you get knocked down you have to get up angry and fight. Says we'll find out if this team has some fighters. He thinks they'll be alright.
Joe thinks the defensive line did an excellent job.
Some reporter asked Paterno if Joe Suhey was excited to be playing in his home state of Illinois this weekend which prompted this major piece of pwnage.

Really, you guys (laughing). You know we’ve got a football team that just got licked. If you think I’m going around saying are you happy? Are you happy? Are you happy? What would you like to do? Would you like to — me to come over and brush your teeth for you tomorrow morning because you’re going to be going home. No, come on, knock it off, will you.

When asked about Juice WIlliams, Paterno gave the canned "He's a heck-uf-a athlete" response.
Joe is pleased with the performance of Andrew Quarless
Joe sidestepped a question about Wisniewski's low shotgun snaps just saying Wiz is doing fine.
The conservative playcalling on Saturday night was more a function of the poor field position than wet conditions. Joe hinted that the Iowa defensive backs were doing some things that hindered the receivers, and the officials were letting them get away with it.
Brandon Ware is still a "couple weeks" away from being healed from his broken foot.
Stephon Morris is playing really well. The coaches are "anxious" to get him more playing time.
Joe appreciates the expectations of the fans, but he's more worried about the psyche of his team right now. Says a loss like this is harder because he thought they were pretty even with Iowa in talent and coaching. It's not like they got blown out by a superior opponent. He mentioned how he got in trouble years ago after a loss to a superior Texas team he made a comment in the press conference about how he was going to go home and beat his wife over it. Some people still won't let him live that down so he's more careful in how he responds to losses now.
Nerraw McCormack would be the starter at right tackle if they played today. He has earned the right to play in front of DeOn'tae Pannell.
Last week Joe mentioned he would like to see the defense force more turnovers. On Saturday they forced two. Joe thinks that's a good number and he's satisfied with it.
Joe thinks Nick Sukay played well on Saturday despite the punt block and roughing penalty. He thinks the loss will end up helping young players like him.
Joe thinks it might be a good time to take the team on a road game to get them away and focused.

Grading the Penn State Defense Against the Iowa Hawkeyes

BSD — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:00:34 -0000

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

Defensive Line

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

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

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

Final Grade: B

Linebackers

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

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

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

Final Grade: A

Secondary

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

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

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

Final Grade: B

Special Teams

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

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

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

Final Grade: F

Defensive Coaching

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

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

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

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

Final Grade: B

Grading the Penn State Defense Against Temple

BSD — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:00:21 -0000

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

Defensive Line

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

Final Grade: B+

Linebackers

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

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

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

FInal Grade: B

Secondary

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

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

Final Grade: B+

Special Teams

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

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

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

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

Final Grade: D

Defensive Coaching

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

Final Grade: B