SB Nation User Blog: Run Up The Score

Royster And Bowman To Bolt?

Run Up The Score — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:38:24 -0000

Some Senior Day speculation -- is it also the last home game for Evan Royster and Navorro Bowman?

Bowman and Royster might not be in Maybin's class, but both of them are clearly NFL-caliber players. Both would go very high in next April's draft.

Todd McShay, a well-regarded talent evaluator who works for ESPN and Scouts, Inc., ranks Bowman as the 13th-best player in college football. He has Royster ranked 50th.

Bowman and Royster should at least think about leaving early.

They should think about it, yes. There's something to be said for Penn State's deficient offensive line and Royster's lack of success this season, but Royster can't be totally excused for his performance in 2009. He hasn't been the same cerebral, decisive runner we saw in 2008, even when given solid running lanes. Bob Flounders makes a hell of a point in that column, though -- just wait until you see opposing teams load up against Penn State's running game next year with Kevin Newsome under center.

Royster won't be a combine sensation and if McShay thinks he's the 50th best player on the board, it's further proof that McShay is certifiable. With so many NFL teams going to a by-committee approach to their backfields, only the true superstar running backs are going to be selected in the first two rounds. Royster is a fine player, but isn't in that class. If he projects as a 3rd or 4th round pick, is that enough for him to make the leap?

As for Bowman, he's a guy with a tough background who could be enticed by NFL money, but his play has severely declined this season. Coming into 2009, he seemed to be a sure-fire first or second round draft pick, and most of us had assumed that he'd be elsewhere in 2010. Legal troubles hampered him in the off-season and a groin injury slowed him down this fall. He still looks a few steps slower than in 2008, and was actually a weak link in the defense against Northwestern and Ohio State. Whether that's because of conditioning and other lingering effects from the injury, nobody outside of Lasch really knows. If he decides to declare for the NFL, he'll have to prove to scouts that he's fully recovered and can stay out of trouble.

They're both coin flips at this point. Royster may want to avoid the inevitable beating he'll endure behind a still-developing offensive line. Bowman may decide to get out before another lower body injury takes away his speed, or he runs into legal trouble again in Happy Valley. Both could easily justify going the Justin King route and trying to get a one-year head start on their second NFL contracts, where the big money really is for non-first rounders.

2,710 Calories Of Mediocrity May Have To Wait

Run Up The Score — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:33:43 -0000

Don't call the cardiologist quite yet.

After a few days of OMG WE'RE GOING TO THE ALAMO BOWL, it's time to take a look at reality. And while reality may be a traffic cone or a stop sign that can't block Cam Heyward, it also tells us that Penn State's BCS hopes aren't quite dead yet:

Can’t believe it’s true? Oh, it’s true. With Notre Dame slumped out of the picture by virtue of its home loss to Navy, your Nittany Lions are still very much a candidate for one of the four major bowls that surround the crown of the BCS championship game.

They might need some help. Or they might not. Either way, if the Lions merely take care of business against a pair of pedestrian Big Ten opponents, they are still prime candidates for at-large spots in either the Orange or Fiesta bowls.

Yes, we’re talking about the Lions being chosen over an unbeaten Boise State ranked in the top six in the BCS’ own ratings system. As it stands, nothing behooves a BCS bowl to take the Broncos. And for all the attention their wondrous upset of Oklahoma got three years ago in the Fiesta, the TV ratings for the game stank.

Yes, we mean the Lions would without question be chosen over a 1-loss Cincinnati, a 1-loss TCU and very probably a 2-loss Iowa.

A look at the current BCS standings shows that Penn State is in a decent stalking position:

1. Florida (9-0) .9842
2. Alabama (9-0) .9516
3. Texas (9-0) .9234
4. TCU (9-0) .8620
5. Cincinnati (9-0) .8580
6. Boise State (9-0) .8126
7. Georgia Tech (9-1) .7552
8. LSU (7-2) .6138
9. USC (7-2) .5922
10. Iowa (9-1) .5745
11. Ohio State (8-2) .5733
12. Pittsburgh (8-1) .5628
13. Oregon (7-2) .5318
14. Miami, Fla. (7-2) .4712
15. Houston (9-1) .4691
16. Utah (8-1) .4003
17. Arizona (6-2) .3363
18. Penn State (8-2) .3350
19. Oklahoma State (7-2) .2909

Remember, the key is getting into the top 14. The Iowa-Ohio State loser likely tumbles out after Saturday. Pitt's remaining schedule is Notre Dame, @WVU, and Cincinnati. Utah plays @TCU, SDSU, and the Holy War @BYU. Even Cincy isn't out of the woods yet -- they have games against WVU, oddly resurgent Illinois, and a visit to Pitt. Arizona's remaining schedule is downright murderous (@Cal, Oregon, @ASU, USC). They'll be long gone by Selection Day, but if they happen to win out, Oregon and/or USC may be gone.

For once, there's an advantage to the Big Ten schedule ending in mid-November. Penn State just has to win their last two games and hope that the BCS field comes back to them. Does Penn State deserve to be in a BCS bowl game? No. Will it result in a horribly lopsided matchup, and bump up the competition for the rest of the Big Ten's bowl matchups? Yeah, probably. Does such a scenario cause ESPN talking heads to explode in outrage due to Penn State's soft schedule and a non-AQ school like Boise getting screwed? Oh, hell yes. But with hundreds of thousands of overzealous and free-spending fans, we remain an attractive choice for Orange and Fiesta bowl officials who need to move tickets and trinkets. For better or worse.

Poll

Do you even want Penn State to make a BCS bowl?

Frank Bodani Nails It, As Usual.

Run Up The Score — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:01:08 -0000

Frank Bodani Nails It, As Usual.

And Here Come The Pretzels

Run Up The Score — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:42:01 -0000

On yesterday's ESPN GameDay show, Chris Fowler and the crew passed along information that Penn State coaches indicated their offensive playbook would be uncharacteristically open against Ohio State. The coaching staff trusted the improved offensive line, and especially trusted Daryll Clark to win the game for Penn State. If such a strategy was ever in place for the Penn State offense, it was scrapped after their first offensive play of the game as defensive end Cameron Heyward bolted through Dennis Landolt and Evan Royster, defensive tackle Todd Denlinger spun around Johnnie Troutman, and defensive end Thaddeus Gibson hopped over a weak chop attempt by Ako Poti. The result, 2nd and 16, and 59 minutes of puckering.

And shame on you for not fighting through your doubleteam, Doug Worthington!

Sifting through the rubble this morning, and nothing has changed. Yesterday's game was an absolute owning of the home team -- coaches, players, fans, offense, defense, special teams -- from beginning to end. Cameron Heyward is an unblockable monster. No matter which Penn State offensive lineman he lined up against, they were quickly and embarrassingly thrown aside. Daryll Clark was hit and hurried, and again unable to carry the team in those circumstances.

Clark will take some justified heat for this loss. Fair or not, his place in Penn State quarterbacking history will be roughly alongside Wally Richardson's 1995-1996 run -- fondly remembered, but nowhere approaching legendary. Daryll will leave Penn State with a shared Big Ten title, love and respect from a vast majority of the fanbase, and gaudy stats against awful teams. People will be happy to see him when he returns to campus in 5, 10, 20 years. But he won't be a Penn State legend or anything close to it.

I suspect the coaching staff feels embarrassed this morning. There's absolutely zero excuse for the ongoing clusterfrick that is Penn State's special teams unit. If Joe Paterno expects to win games with defense and special teams, it's probably a fine idea to actually have good special teams. Given the athletes on this team, are we supposed to believe that Drew Astorino is our best ~~punt returner~~ designated fair catcher? Penn State's punt team practically handed Ohio State their first touchdown and took the life out of the crowd. And it's clearly not a matter of putting bad athletes on the field for kicking plays -- the players chasing Ray Small down the field on his first punt return are A.J. Wallace, Knowledge Timmons, Josh Hull, Chris Colasanti, Navorro Bowman, Brandon Beachum, and Andrew Quarless. And they were put in a bad position by an awful Jeremy Boone punt.

The playcalling was atrocious. If you don't have enough confidence to throw the ball on 3rd and 5, do us all a favor and kneel on the ball three straight plays and punt. Your defense will get the same amount of rest, and there's no risk at all! Beats the hell out of running the same tired crap right at Ohio State's strengths, or letting your quarterback get battered play after play.

Tom Bradley and the defense don't get a pass for this either -- they let the team down repeatedly on some crucial third downs. D'anton Lynn blew a coverage that led to DeVier Posey's long touchdown. On Pryor's rushing touchdown, Bowman had him dead in the backfield and was shaken off. They had their chances to turn the game around, or even just get off the damned field, and failed.

Finally, man up and give credit to Terrelle Pryor and Ohio State. This can't be stressed enough: they dominated every single aspect of the game. As for Penn State, they had their two toughest opponents at home and blew it. While 10-2 is still within reach and sounds great, this season has already been cast upon the disappointment heap. Penn State will end up in some middle-tier bowl with a cheesy sponsor. Don't worry. We'll pretend to care about it.

Talor Battle Scores 16 Points In Worst Game Ever

Run Up The Score — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:05:35 -0000

Talor Battle Scores 16 Points In Worst Game Ever

PSU beats Slippery Rock 82-51 after taking an early 19-0 lead. The Rock shot 21.9% for the entire game.

When You've Lost The Redneck Rocker

Run Up The Score — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:42:58 -0000

You've lost all of central Ohio, my friends.

The Redneck Rocker Returns To Address Ohio State Vs Penn State (via RedneckRockerTV)

BSD Staff Predictions: Ohio State

Run Up The Score — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:45:27 -0000

More photos » by Carolyn Kaster - AP

Browse more photos »

Alas, all hate things must come to an end. Here's how we see tomorrow's game shaking out.

BSD Mike:

Honestly, I can see this game going either way. Both defenses should dominate, and the score should be low. Really low. A big special teams play, or a key turnover could swing the balance.

But having said that, I like Penn State's chances in this game. I've watched a lot of Ohio State football this year, and I just don't see any cohesion on offense. Do they run the spread or a pro-style offense? Is Terrelle Pryor a pocket passer or a spread option quarterback? I can't tell. But I can tell you he's far from being a polished quarterback. And the players around him at running back and offensive line don't exactly make his life any easier. But his receivers are capable of bailing him out when he punts on third down.

When Penn State gets the ball, I'm expecting a lot of frustration. They're not going to move the ball easily, but they won't get dominated. They'll win some battles, but the Ohio State defense will win their share as well.

Both teams are going to struggle offensively. Barring a bunch of turnovers, this game is going to come down to which team can put together one or two good drives and come away with points. Though Penn State will go through a lot of frustration, I think their offense is better suited to put together one or two drives, and I think that will be the difference.

Prediction: Penn State 17, Ohio State 10

Kevin HD:

Why isn’t this game going to play out exactly like last year’s?

The only difference I can come up with is that Pryor lacks a Robiskie to bring down the jump balls. Add in some downgrades on both offensive lines, maybe compensate for the fact that the Buckeyes haven’t really found a true replacement for Wells….and, honestly, most of that seems a wash.

The wildcard is Daryll Clark and the offense. While we like to boast about the Penn State defense around here, Ohio State’s is at least as good. They may lack some of the real standouts up front and at linebacker, but they make up for it with balance.

The offense is going to be kept on a very short leash, which is something you can’t really blame Paterno for considering the situation. Can Clark, with the über-safe playbook, move down the field three or four times? I'll say just barely. Add in a couple of missed Ohio State field goals, and the defense rides this one home.

Penn State 13, Ohio State 6

Run Up The Score:

I expect to see a very similar Penn State offense to what we watched last week at Northwestern, with lots of quick, safe throws to the wide receivers. The Nittany Lion offensive line has slowly improved throughout the season, but Ohio State is too good and too fast at the front of their defense to try repeated five and seven-step drops. If Penn State is going to go deep, expect them to do it like they did against Northwestern -- play-action and rolling Clark away from the rush. If they can get the team around 100-125 rushing yards, that should keep the Buckeye defense sufficiently honest.

Defensively, you're likely to see a repeat of last year's scheme in Columbus. Basically, they'll try to keep Pryor in front of them and force him to win with his brain and arm. In that sense, losing Aaron Maybin to the NFL isn't as big of a deal against Ohio State compared to other opponents. Jack Crawford and the other defensive ends will most often be asked to contain the quarterback, not attack him. And don't forget about the biggest difference between this year's PSU defense and the 2008 version -- Sean Lee is back, which gives the coaching staff additional flexibility. Should be interesting to see if Navorro Bowman acts as a QB spy, like he did at times against Tate Forcier. The place to beat Penn State is between the safeties. If that means Terrelle Pryor is going to throw the ball across the middle, I'm all for it.

Amazingly, this may be a rare 2009 instance in which Penn State has an advantage on special teams. Collin Wagner has settled in quite nicely. No, he'll never give you a legitimate shot at a 52 yard field goal, but how likely would Joe Paterno be to attempt such a kick in what is going to be a field position battle, anyway? Ohio State is dealing with the loss of their kicker to a knee injury. The replacement, Devin Barclay, is a former MLS player who went 1-for-3 last week with misses from 36 and 47 yards -- and that's in a no-pressure game at home against New Mexico State.

There's a path to victory for Ohio State that includes forcing turnovers from Clark and a big play in the kicking game. In reality, the game should be decided by only two or three big, big plays, so it's not like there's a ton of room for error on either side. Still, in this type of game, give me the better and more mature QB at home, every time. Ohio State doesn't have enough playmakers on offense to take the pressure off Terrelle Pryor, and he's just not good enough -- not yet, hopefully -- to win this kind of game on his own. A fourth quarter touchdown after a Buckeye turnover ices it for the good guys.

Penn State 20, Ohio State 7

GRRHATEKILL.

Run Up The Score — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:16:15 -0000

Penn State vs Ohio State 2009 (via DemCPBoiz)

Poisonous! Nuts!

Run Up The Score — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:39:17 -0000

More photos » by Tony Dejak - AP

Browse more photos »

For a little Hate Week(tm) recon, let's check on the Ohio State blogs.

Eleven Warriors is hoping for a breakout game from You Know Who:

His teammates are saying he’s playing excited in practice this week, and you hope that he’s starting to see what the little things like squaring the shoulders outside the pocket and running with a purpose can do to help dictate the flow of a game.
There’s definite concern given his body of work in what could be considered big games during his tenure: Michigan, Texas and USC, and the Penn State defense will operate at a speed he hasn’t seen since the tilt with the Trojans, but one of these days he’s going to go off. 300/150 off. And wouldn’t that be sweet if that day was Saturday?

Can't blame a guy for optimism, though I recall saying very similar things about QB14. This is the week he'll break out. No, this is the week! 11W is right -- Pryor may very well have one of those monster games eventually, but Ohio State needs him to be smart and composed on Saturday against PSU. I think the chances of that happening are slim, personally. Pryor's a highly emotional guy and not exactly a model of quarterbacking fundamentals when things break down around him. However, if it's a tight, defensive game, he'll still scare the hell out of me with the ball in his hands. In fact, he'll scare fans on both sides of the fence.

Elsewhere, The Buckeye Blog might want to do a few extra seconds of self-scouting:

While the Penn State stats look good on paper, consider that their seven wins come against Akron, Syracuse, Temple, Illinois, Eastern Illinois, Michigan and Northwestern. Not really a powerhouse of college football. Last week Northwestern, who gave Syracuse their only win of the season, gave the Lions something to think about. The Penn State defense that we keep hearing about also allowed 17 points against Illinois — one of the least effective offenses in the Big Ten this year.

New Mexico State. Toledo, Navy, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and OH MY GOD DUDE YOU LOST TO PURDUE DO YOU REALLY WANT TO GET INTO THIS? Come on, man! Didn't Temple just beat Navy, the team Ohio State nearly gagged against earlier this season? I'll have you know that Temple is Philadelphia's second best college football team this season, and Syracuse has three wins, thank you.

Did Penn State give up 17 whole points to Illinois? Yeah, the Illini scored two meaningless fourth quarter touchdowns after Penn State took a 28-3 lead. But he's right about one thing, Illinois is one of the least effective offenses in the Big Ten. In fact, they score the lowest points per game in the league even after the GERGing last weekend. But you know who else kind of sucks in that regard?

10.Purdue 18.2 ppg
11.Illinois 16.2 ppg

Yet they managed to put up 26 against Ohio State.

However, If there was an award for ridiculous analysis and blind faith in Ohio State's offense, BlockONation wins it, Lifetime Achievement style. Nevermind the pilfering of your diligent photoshopping, take a look at this special brand of homerism:

Statistically, PSU has the top defense in the Big Ten but that 'D' will be tested this week as Ohio State might just be a little better than Akron, Temple, Syracuse, Eastern Illinois, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, or Northwestern.

Considering that Penn State's main weakness is against good passing offenses, and Ohio State is 11th in Big Ten passing yardage and 10th in red zone efficiency, are they really better equipped to beat Penn State's defense than Minnesota, Michigan, or Northwestern? Among Buckeye fans, the main complaints about Ohio State's offense are (a) they can't block, (b) their running backs aren't that good, and (c) despite his obvious athleticism, Terrelle Pryor kind of stinks. So forgive some of us for thinking that if Penn State simply takes care of the ball and doesn't get annihilated in the kicking game, we're likely in pretty good shape on Saturday.

Then again, this is the same blog which contended that Terrelle Pryor "barely fumbled" the game away last year in Columbus.

Never change, Block O Nation. Never change.

So, Buckeye Commentary has this theory. Pryor only goes as far as the offensive line takes him.

Terrelle Pryor has been pretty good passing the ball the last two games. I mean good to the tune of 24/48 (50%), 374 yds, 3 TDs, and only 1 INT. While the completion percentage doesn’t look quite like Colt McCoy’s the TD:INT ratio is where I like to see it. Want to hear something more surprising than those numbers? In the past two games, Pryor has only been sacked once. Now, granted, one of these games was against New Mexico State, but that doesn’t mean that the starting 11 doesn’t have to go out there on Saturdays and do their jobs right.

The other game included in that two-game analysis was against Minnesota, which has seven sacks in six Big Ten games. They're not exactly striking fear in any opposing quarterbacks, either. By contrast, Penn State has 17 sacks in five conference games. And with Ohio State's offensive line struggling a bit -- surprising, given their recent recruiting prowess at that position -- the only reason to think that Pryor will have time to throw is if Penn State employs another "mush rush" against the quarterback, hoping to prevent any scrambling runs and daring Pryor to throw downfield.

Finally, Our Honor Defend has a little injury news from Columbus, in addition to the knee injury to K Aaron Pettrey:

Terrelle Pryor was the other injury story to develop from the last game. His loss would be a bigger blow than Pettrey for obvious reasons, but is not the story because I didn’t seem most thought he’d be out for the game. Pryor felt a little dinged up after taking a hit on a scramble in the second quarter. Surprisingly, he didn’t play the second half. It seems implausible at the moment that he’ll miss the Penn State game.

Also, Justin Boren will be back in action as will Dexter Larimore, our very good nose guard. It’ll be worth watching how productive Larimore can be after the extended time on the sideline.

So, this is a guaranteed 17-7 win for Penn State, right? Not quite. Ohio State's defense certainly has the skill and athletes to force offensive and special teams mistakes -- just ask Wisconsin. You know that Paterno wants this to be a controlled, orderly battle of field goals and field position. If Ohio State is able to cause a few turnovers and cash them in for points, Joe Paterno and staff will have to come out of their offensive shell and make a few things happen.

The Wind Blew Me Back Via Chicago

Run Up The Score — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:09:04 -0000

[I was going to post this on the front page earlier in the week, but it's already getting late on Wednesday so we're saving front page stuff for Ohio State. Here's a picture recap of our trip to Chicago.]

Not that we had a lot of extra time to roam around, but Chicago is rather excellent. Great vibe to the city, beautiful scenery, nice people. Cheap public transportation. Really, all of the things that are good about big cities. We drove up to Evanston and tailgated with the PSU-Chicago group, which ran an All You Can Eat/Drink deal.

Eventually, we took the shuttle over to Ryan Field, which was probably 40% Penn State fans. Although nobody had seats quite as good as these two guys:

The stadium is old. Really old. At least it looks really old. The upper deck you see in the picture above couldn't have been more than 5% occupied. The endzone bleachers never got more crowded than what you see in the picture.

Ryan Field wasn't without its charm, though. Concessions were cheap, lines were short, and getting around the place was easy. Northwestern has the names of their All-Americans across the façade of the upper deck, along with their bowl appearances (and yes, they actually posted their 2003 Motor City Bowl appearance up there).

So, yes, lots of Penn State images:

And yay we won.

The next day, we did a little walking around Millenium Park and the Wicker Park neighborhood. And seriously, giant shiny jellybean:

This is "Cloud Gate":

The 110-ton elliptical sculpture is forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect the city's famous skyline and the clouds above. A 12-foot-high arch provides a "gate" to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture, inviting visitors to touch its mirror-like surface and see their image reflected back from a variety of perspectives.

And yeah, it's kind of massive and cool. Half the fun was watching other people be amazed by it.

Would love to check out Madison someday, but it's hard to beat Chicago for a weekend road trip.