Ok, so can anyone explain why Curtis Dukes isn't playing? This kid is CLEARLY the #2 RB option on this team right now. I understand that the reason he wasn't seeing time to start the season was that he was struggling with his pass blocking, but from what I could see he has vastly improved on that. He's averaging over 6 yards per carry...as far as I know he hasn't fumbled yet...what gives? I have always thought that Beachum was a mediocre RB at best, so I don't understand why the coaches keep putting him in there...he hasn't shown anything all year. Now that Green is out of the doghouse, he should be getting time in the game, but not at the expense of Dukes.

Is he hurt? Did he piss of JoePa? What gives?

...the 2000 Baltimore Ravens (yes, I'm a Ravens fan, but this is a PSU blog so I really don't want to hear anything from Steelers fans about that on here. Let's keep it about Penn State). The 2000 Ravens are well known for having one of the greatest defenses in NFL history, and they rode that epic defense all the way to a Super Bowl victory. The Ravens offense that year was, shall we say, mediocre at best (they went 5 straight games without scoring an offensive TD at one point). The year started off with mediocre QB play by Tony Banks, but 6 games in a change was made to backup Trent Dilfer. Dilfer wasn't the greatest QB in the league, but he didn't need to be. All he needed to do was be a "game manager". His job was to move the offense well enough to score 2-3 field goals and 1-2 touchdowns per game, then sit back and let the defense do the rest. MOST IMPORTANTLY, his main job was to NOT TURN THE BALL OVER. Dilfer knew his job, and never once asked him to do too much. The 2000 Ravens had PLENTY of playmakers on offense...Shannon Sharpe, Brandon Stokley, Jamal Lewis, and Priest Holmes to name a few. The offense was built around a STRONG RUN GAME, and feeding the ball to their playmakers and letting them do the rest. All the offense had to do was score 13-20 ppg to give the defense some room to breathe and a nice cushion to work with.

This PSU team reminds me A LOT of those 2000 Ravens. Our defense is great. Extraordinary, even. Unless I'm mistaken, we are the ONLY team that Alabama hasn't scored over 30 pts against. Our defense is good enough to win us a Big Ten Championship. Our offense, however, is mediocre AT BEST. BUT, just like the 2000 Ravens, I don't believe that our offense needs to be great. Our offense doesn't even need to be good, it just needs to be average. If our offense can score anywhere between 17-24 points per game, we can play with anybody (except maybe Bama or LSU). Just like the 2000 Ravens, we have two very good RBs in Silas Redd and Curtis Dukes. McGloin reminds me A LOT of Trent Dilfer...he's not going to set the world on fire, but he's adequate enough to get the job done. We most certainly have great playmakers on offense (I already mentioned Redd and Dukes) - Moye is an NFL caliber receiver, Justin Brown is getting better with each game, and Devon Smith is extremely dangerous in the open field. If the coaches can build a gameplan that focuses on running the ball, and letting McGloin get the ball to our playmakers without asking too much from him, then our offense should be able to put up enough points for our defense to win us the game.

Those 2000 Ravens made a living on winning ugly with a suffocating defense. And yes, this isn't the NFL, this is college, where you can't afford to win ugly. But the way I see it...winning ugly is still winning. I don't care if PSU wins every game the rest of the season by one goddamn point, because we would end up 11-1 and we would be playing for the Big Ten title.

This team can learn something from the 2000 Ravens. If we can get the most from our offense by running the ball and utilizing the talents of our playmakers while minimizing mistakes, and let our defense do the rest...we can win A LOT of games. Maybe we can even win em all. But I don't think this team needs to learn anything from those 2000 Ravens because...based on the way they played Saturday against Iowa...it seems like they already have.

 

P.S.  All they need to do now is name McGloin the starter and let the kid play the whole game against Purdue. But that might be wishful thinking.

Having ample free time at work this morning, I took the time to read Adam Collyer's post about Matt McGloin. First, I would like to say that it is a very well written post and as such deserves proper recognition. Well done, Adam. In his post, he makes the argument that we have not been fair enough to McGloin, and that we need to stop "piling on" the guy.

I would like to respectfully disagree, sir, and I provide this article as my counter-argument:

http://onwardstate.com/2011/09/13/mcgloin-losing-battles-on-and-off-the-field/

 

After reading Adam's post, I began trolling the interwebz for some Penn St football related articles. I came across this gem on Onward State, and I felt compelled to bring this article to light. I provide this article as my counter-argument (instead of writing my own post), because frankly it is a more well-written and well-researched article than I could have possibly provided. Additionally, it perfectly sums up my feelings on McGloin and why I believe Rob Bolden should be the starting QB moving forward.

everybody knows that the biggest storyline going into Saturday was the QB derby, blah blah blah. Silas Redd put together a great game rushing, the defense played outstanding and looks sharp. Let's stop discussing the obvious. Which freshman, or 2nd string players/potential future starters impressed you the most?

My pick would have to be Adrian Amos. True freshman looks like he really knows what he's doing at corner. Layed a BIG hit on an ISU receiver running a WR screen, and also had a fantastic interception and 40-something yard return.

Thought this was pretty funny.

Five-star DE Ronald Powell and five-star DT Dominique Easley -- the top two players in Florida's 2010 recruiting class and two of the top three players in the ESPNU 150 -- reportedly skipped practice on Tuesday and, according to at least one report, threatened to transfer. Some message boards even had the two cleaning out their lockers. They supposedly were upset at being upbraided by coaches on Monday during special teams drills.

Their actions may have been the source of senior OL Mike Pouncey's well-publicized, scathing comments about freshmen (video included) on Tuesday.

However, all appears to be well. Both were spotted going to practice on Wednesday, and their high school coaches (Powell's here; Easley's here) told reporters that each was happy.

This appears to be a case of freshmen being frustrated that they are not able to dominate as easily as they did in high school, and having a momentary lapse of judgment. However, the situation does bear watching.

 (from espn.com, college football rumor central)

Outside of our next starting QB, which is obviously going to be an underclassman (Newsome, Jones, Bolden, McGloin), how many underclassmen do you guys think are going to become starters, or at least recieve serious playing time?

 

Is Justin Brown going to be a starter? What about Curtis Drake? Or Adrian Coxson (assuming he stays committed)? Or Alex Kenney?

Does Devon Smith take on a Trindon Holliday-type role next year? (God I freakin hope so...)

Is Silas Redd going to be a return-man? Will he see snaps at RB? Will Curits Dukes see playing time at RB? What about Lattimore if he commits?

Will Zach Zwinak see playing time at FB?

Is Eric Shrive going to be a starter on the Offensive Line?

Will Anthony Fera be kicking at all next year?

Who will join Michael Mauti in the brand-new Linebacking corps? Will Mike Hull and Khairi Fortt see playing time?

Will Brandon Ware be a starter on the Defensive Line next year? Will Dakota Royer see playing time? Or C.J. Olaniyan?

Will Gerald Hodges see playing time at Safety or will he be a starter? Will Stephon Morris take over the starting CB job opposite of D'Anton Lynn? Will it be somebody else?

 

Thoughts?

via i756.photobucket.com

So I totally failed miserably last time I tried to post this picture cuz I didn't know it required more effort than a simple copy and paste in order to post a picture onto this website. At least you got a good laugh out of the red X. Whatever, this is a pic of what I got last week. Should be a pretty familar quote. Personally, it's one of my favorite quotes of all time, which is why I had it carved into my arm.