SB Nation User Blog: carolinaeasy

In Defense of Jared Odrick (or Up Yours, Rittenberg)

carolinaeasy — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:08:12 -0000

[Formatted this a little for you. - RUTS]

I can't take it anymore.

Okay, I know it has been awhile, but I have just got done with playoffs, and have really been trying to get 6 months worth of neglections taken care of around the house. I have been wanting to make another post recently but was not sure what to write about. Well thanks to Adam Rittenberg I now have that topic. Like many of you Jared Odrick's DPOY award came as a bit of a surprise to me, not because he did not deserve the award, but because I felt he would be overlooked, and that his value to the Nittany Lion's defense would not be appreciated. I was mistaken and the value #91 brought to the defense was appreciated and rewarded by the coaches vote. The media on the other hand made a "Sexy" pick and choose Greg Jones.

That is fine, the media is free to choose its own selection and there is nothing wrong with that choice. But what bothers me and led me to pick up my electronic quill was the following article by ESPN's Adam Rittenberg. I am not going to get into the pissing match of what is Rittenberg's agenda, that has been discussed ad nauseam on the boards here and at ESPN.com, but I will say that he is totally off base in his assumption that Odrick was a "puzzling pick". The coaches selected Odrick, and that shows a level of understanding about what his value was to the PSU defense. These are men who spend hours and hours in the film room, hours meeting to discuss game planning, and then on top of it all, and this will surprise some readers, ACTUALLY KNOW FOOTBALL BETTER THAN ALL OF US COMBINED.

These guys must have saw something on film that led them to vote for Odrick. These guys watch games on mute, and let the flow of the play and the results on the field dictate their actions. Odrick's play on the field, devoid of senseless commentary (did you know Royster played Lacrosse?), led the coaches to vote him as DPOY. These guys must have felt that in order to win against PSU they would have to start by handling Odrick. That sucked up two of your offensive lineman, which left 4-5 players left to block 6 others. Three of those defenders were linebackers, the great job Josh Hull did this year can be attributed to some degree to the phenomenal play of JO.

Bottom line is JO made everyone around him better, and was a force the coaches felt made a big difference on PSU's defense. I think I will trust career football men, over ball following media members (remember the media's preseason OPOY?). So Adam Rittenberg here is an open message to you (and I know you are a reader here) get off the PSU hate wagon and recognize the great job Odrick did this year.

This was posted today on Rittenberg's Blog you can find the article here.

Scott from Sanibel, Fla., writes: Re your comment about PSU down the stretch: You failed to mention how PSU did against Minnesota, Michigan and Northwestern (all in the second half of the season). I agree that Iowa should go to a BCS bowl, but your bias continues to show. Please try to be more objective. Thanks.

Adam Rittenberg: Penn State certainly took care of business against those teams, and deserves credit for doing so. I realize I'm not very popular among Penn State fans this year -- as opposed to last year, when they loved me for acknowledging the team's obvious success -- but when it comes to the on-field argument, I'm not going to sugarcoat things. Iowa has the edge. It doesn't mean I hate Penn State, just like it doesn't mean I don't think Jared Odrick is a great player even though I disagreed with him being Big Ten Defensive POY. The Lions had a nice season. They also lack a signature win. Those are the objective facts.

Rittenberg, Rittenberg, Rittenberg, you want to throw objective facts around now? Iowa has an edge? If the teams lined up on the last week of the season and played that game who do you feel would win? I doubt it would turn out to be the same score we saw on a wet and raining night in September. We loved you last year for telling us how great we were? No, we loved you because you didn't openly campaign against our team, and take shots at our BCS credibility every time you got a chance. Then on top of it all you imply that you know more about what defensive player was the best in the Big Ten this year than the coaches who gameplan and feel the pulse of their teams. Come on Rittenberg you can do better, you are starting to sound like a younger Dodd.

Get off the ledge!

carolinaeasy — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:55:26 -0000

I know this one hurts. It should hurt, anytime an opponent walks into your house and gets an ugly win it should hurt. But the sky is not falling. The loss looks alot worse than what some out there may make it out to be.

Consider this:

The defense looked great, they stood tall, they clung to a lead as best as they could but in the end they still only gave up 13 points against a decent offense.
The offense sucked, but it isn't as bad as it looks. The Spread HD is a pass first offense this year. In the rain you cannot expect to complete every single pass. Two of Clark's interceptions were off his reciever's hands. And do not take anything away from Iowa's defense, that is a superb unit.
Maybe Iowa is underratted, and we were overrated. I said to some buddies back in August that PSU was a 2 loss team this year. I still believe that. I didn't think they would lose to Iowa at home, but then again Iowa is easily a top 3 Big Ten team this year. I also didn't expect a monsoon to attack Beaver Stadium at game time (honestly the past two Iowa games, if played in a dome are PSU wins).

Bottom line in my opinion is this, they stunk it up, but then again maybe this was a much needed wake up call. The sky is not falling and the Rose Bowl is still attainable.

The Still Life: Blow up the Outside

carolinaeasy — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:39:21 -0000

Welcome Back to another installment of the Still Life where we take strategy to new levels for the average BSD reader. This week we are going to examine the biggest blunder of Temple game, where defensively the Lions allowed a 36 yard completion just after the half.

Pre Snap Read: Here we can see the Lions in a pretty standard Nickel (4-2) alignment. The only twist to this is that the linebacker Sean Lee (circled) has to kick out into the slot to guard against being out numbered at a possible point of attack. Otherwise this is standard Nickel alignment.

Now looking at Temple’s formation we have a rather normal situation. Temple has lined up in an ace formation with 3 receivers wide to the defenses right, and a TE to the opposite side. This is a pretty mundane formation in college football. Now if I am the Temple QB I am reading zone coverage all the way, look at the feet of D’Anton Lynn and Knowledge Timmons. They are "sitting" at a 45° angle; this is usually a good indicator that the defense is running zone coverage.

Hull is blitzing up the middle meaning there are 6 players dropping into coverage. Already we can see the Cover 3 defense taking shape. Look at how D’Anton Lynn bails deep on the play to cover his deep 3rd.

Now we actually see what is happening with the play. Penn State is clearly in a Cover 3 defense. The safety Nick Sukay comes into the picture. Here we can see the PSU defense in the concepts of the cover three. The free safety and two corner backs are going to divide up the field into three parts; the underneath will be covered by the strong safety, and the two linebackers. This defense will help prevent any deep balls or one on one matchups.

From Temples point of view the way to defeat this cover three is to "stretch" the zones of the defense, or in layman’s terms, get the defense spread out to the point that there are small areas in that zone that are wide open for the completion. Here we can see that these routes do just that. The Split End (the widest man out) runs a 10 yard post pattern. This will occupy both deep third defenders on his side. The next receiver in runs a slant pattern to suck Andrew Dailey and Sean Lee into the middle of the field. The slot back, Joe Adams runs a wheel route along the sidelines hoping to either be open, or suck a deep third defender down thus leaving the post open.

Now we know what each team is looking to do so lets see why Temple is successful here and PSU fails miserably. The three deep third defenders Lynn, Sukay, and Timmons all cover their respective areas. If Lynn jumps the wheel route the ball is thrown immediately to the post. Sukay is playing center field just like he is supposed to do, and Lee and Timmons are occupied by the slant route. This leaves Andrew Dailey to cover the underneath pattern along the sideline which is the wheel route. He does not get there in time.

In this illustration we can see just how far Dailey gets himself out of position. Look at the size of the bubble in the zone the QB has to throw the ball. A high school QB can make that throw.

Final Analysis: Bottom line here is the defense was caught in what RUTS calls the "bend but don’t suck defense. They recover to make the tackle and prevent a touchdown but they have just given up big chunk of yardage in the process. The only way this play is defended properly is if Dailey reads the wheel route and bails accordingly. However, in this particular instance loses his man by looking at the slant route too long and leaves a gaping hole in the zone that just about any D1 quarterback can throw to properly. This was not really an issue versus Temple because they did not have the skill to takes this to the endzone. But when playing against some of the better teams in the Big Ten this bend but don’t suck defense could be a TD and a back breaker.

Jerome Hayes Story

carolinaeasy — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:55:23 -0000

I know the show is usually Guido directed propaganda, that is basically a polish on a turd.

But I wanted to ask you guys if any of you watched this weeks Penn State football story? For me the feature on Jerome Hayes was the highlight of the show. Not only did it highlight one of the heart and soul guys on the team, but it also featured my kid brother's artwork. The painting that Jerome shows is one of several my brother has done for Jerome. It was really cool to see that get on the tube. Here is to Jerome Hayes! Welcome back and have a good year!

What part of Saturday are you looking foward to the most?

carolinaeasy — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:54:28 -0000

After all this time the season is nearly upon us!

I know for myself it will be taking it all in after 9 long months on no PSU football. I also will love to get the sour taste of the Rose Bowl out of my mouth. Watching Jerome Hayes, and Sean Lee retake the field will be breathtaking, because of the passion they have for the game and their teammates. Seeing Happy Valley full of revelers will be a treat. But most of all seeing Joe on the field giving an official an earful will be the moment that I am going to savor the most. What about you? What are you looking forward to the most?

via blog.pennlive.com

Hey Nascar Country!

carolinaeasy — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:57:36 -0000

What you guys do not like being refered to as Nascar country? I remember a few Caniacs jumping all over Pittsburgh fans for calling Canes fans "Nascar fans". But it now appears that the perception is not exclusive to Steel town devotees.

"It was, you can hit, but you're not allowed to ... like we say in NASCAR country, there's no rubbing allowed," Maurice said.

The full article can be found here.

Tough to shed a stigma when your own folks are presenting that image to the northern media. I guess you guys need to write a "This is how you get back at a Canadian" post.

Pens Fan Coming to Game 3

carolinaeasy — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:02:24 -0000

I am a Pens fan living in South Carolina (I am PA transplant) and I have never been to a game in Raliegh. Are there any tips you regulars could give me about my trip?

I am looking to know several things.

How is traffic coming into the game? Is it easy access to the arena, or should I arrive four hours early?
Is the arena tailgate friendly, I am a Steelers and PSU fan so I have a pedigree to maintain.
If it is not a tailgate friendly zone, what resturants, pubs, or bars are located with in a block or so that are hockey friendly?

Thank you for answering ahead of time, and I really anticipate a great series.

Explosive Words From JoePa

carolinaeasy — Fri, 01 May 2009 12:39:06 -0000

Explosive Words From JoePa

You can read the article, I am not going to insult your intelligence by rehashing the whole thing here. But Joe may have fired a few shots at a deserving Big Ten oligarchy. I think it is great Joe is calling people out on the issue of expansion. It needs to be done and until it is done we will always be looked upon as a mid tier conference by the SEC and Big 12. Take a moment and read the article then post your thoughts, this could shake up the status quo if the media really pushes the issue.

Edit: Rittenberg has jumped on the story and essentially points out that this is more evidence that the Big Ten does not embrace Penn State.
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/bigten/0-3-336/Paterno-alone-in-crusade-for-Big-Ten-expansion.html

Has Penn State found a new Southern Pipeline?

carolinaeasy — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:42:01 -0000

I live in the deep south. This is a land of SEC football, and Baptist Churches. Throw in an occasional gator or snake, a few trips a week to the golf course (year round mind you) and you pretty much understand my life. I have lived here in the deep south for neary 4 years. When I moved here 4 years ago PSU football was a joke to these people. They would scoff and say about how slow the Big Ten is and chant something about southern speed, blah, blah, blah. But thanks to a couple of good seasons on the gridiron, the success of the white out, and the Rose Bowl people know who PSU is again. That seems to be a big help because recently PSU has started actively recruiting my local area. Three athletes from two local schools have been recruited and offered by PSU. CB Bashaud Breeland of Allendale-Fairfax, and a pair of lineman recruits out of Bamberg Erhardt high school, AJ Cann and Justin Henderson. This is the same school that has produced Ricky Sapp and Daquan Bowers, both of whom have produced at the D1 level. Although Henderson is now a Kentucky commitment it is still exciting to see PSU recruit here.

In the four years I have been here I have seen or heard little about PSU recruiting in this area. All of a sudden the local media is making a big deal about PSU recruiting here and people are asking me all sorts of questions. Breeland's team will play the team I coach for in the second game of the season, I hope to speak to him there and maybe run into him at a few summer passing league deals. But the Lions are definetly interested in the deep south again, and not just the cities either.

D. Givens reaffirms his commitment...

carolinaeasy — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:04:28 -0000

I just saw this in today's copy of The State newspaper from Columbia, SC. . You can find the information towards the bottom of the page, but in summary it says Darrel Givens will skip his scheduled trip to the University of South Carolina, because he is staying with his commitment to Penn State. I know that there has been alot of concern over this in the past few weeks, so this article should come as a relief to many. I was never really concerned with him leaving, but then again Spurrier is a slickster so who knows what could have happened if he had actually went on that trip.