The Nittany Turkey

Primarily about Penn State football, this is a tale told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

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Home Archives for 2004

Archives for 2004

Complete Breakdown

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Any essence of confidence gained in the opening day victory against Akron was lost at Chestnut Hill on Saturday night, as the Nittany Lions just plain blew against the Eagles of Boston College, losing 21-7.

I missed the first quarter due to the combined effect of a late return from Cedar Key and a major ESPN GamePlan/Tivo wardrobe malfunction. I came home from Cedar Key, which was under a full evacuation order due to the predicted arrival of Hurrican Ivan, to find that Tivo was happily recording the Georgia-South Carolina game, which incidentally was not available in my area. ????? ???? ???? ??? ESPN had evacuated the PSU-BC game to an adjacent channel. I guess I didn’t miss much, other than a disputed roughing the kicker call, which must have caused the boys to pout, or something. Actually, there were two roughing the kicker penalties in the first quarter. Apparently, the other one was non-controversial. For a team without a LaVar Arrington, I would expect to see perhaps two roughing the kicker penalties in a season, not in a single game.
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Hurricane Observations (not football)

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I have survived two hurricanes in less than a month, as have many other Floridians. We have a third one on the way, which nobody wants to talk about. This experience has traumatized most of us in one way or another. I want to share some of my feelings with my vast readership (both of you).

It has been over 10 years since Florida bore the brunt of a major hurricane—Andrew, in 1992. Andrew, although powerful, wreaked its devastation over a small area. Thus, Floridians in parts of the state that were not affected by Andrew—which means all but Miami-Dade, Broward, Collier, and Monroe Counties in the very southern tip of Florida—have not seen a major hurricane in a long, long time. Couple this with the great influx of new people to Florida and you have a collective citizenry that doesn’t understand the implications of a major hurricane.

So, as it became clear that Hurricane Charley would hit Florida, the typical reaction was complacency. This was confirmed by man on the street interviews on radio and TV. Those people just didn’t understand what they were dealing with. People like that stay at home, even if they live in a mobile home that could not possibly stay together in a minimal hurricane, let alone a Category 4 with 145 mph winds.

Alas, people who did understand the implications of a Category 4 storm bearing down on Florida learned about the inherent inaccuracy of weather forecasts. Forecasters had Charley aimed at Tampa Bay. Scads of residents of low-lying areas around Tampa headed for Orlando, an inland destination with lots of hotel rooms. Charley wound up missing Tampa; he scored a direct hit on Orlando. So much for forecasting.

One Orlando TV station’s chief meteorologist made the correct call on the day Charley hit Florida, saying that the big storm would hit Ft. Myers, considerably south of Tampa, and then cut a diagonal across the state through Orlando and Daytona Beach. The National Hurricane Center discounted his analysis. Needless to say, that TV station used its I-told-you-so for self-promotion. This Turkey feels that natural disasters should inspire teamwork and generosity, not pissing contests and commercialism.
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Mills a Triple Threat Made Good in Laugher Opener

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Zack Mills was apparently ready to play on Saturday, as he led the Lions to a 48-10 victory over the ineffectual Akron Zips. In the process, Mills ran for one touchdown, threw two touchdown passes, and caught a touchdown pass. This is the first time the elusive triple has been accomplished during Joe Paterno’s lengthy reign as head coach.

The touchdown reception came with 42 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Michael Robinson took the snap and threw a fade to the corner of the end zone to Mills, who had lined up at wide receiver. It was Mills’ first career catch.

Their roles were reversed at 14:04 of the second quarter, as Mills hit Robinson over the middle for a score.

Notably absent in last year’s half-assed 3-9 so-called effort, the offense now appears to have returned. The receiving corps has returned this year with a new feature—they can catch! Tony Hunt and Austin Scott demonstrated the potential for a solid running game behind a newly energized offensive line (whose performance last year merited both definitions of the word offensive). Penn State rolled up 545 total yards, 353 of them on the ground and 193 in the air. It was a non-offensive offensive performance, at long last.

Robbie Gould’s kicking leg impressed this reporter, as his kickoffs sailed into the back of the end zone. Heyhey! I can’t tell you much about the punting game, as the Lions only had to punt once in the entire game and by that time, I was inebriated. It turned out to be a 37 yarder in the fourth quarter. We’ll need to see more from Kapinos before pronouncing this component of special teams play alive and well.

“It would have been better if we had went against the No. 1 team in the country and did what we did,” said junior cornerback Alan Zemaitis, who led Penn State with nine tackles. “But we did what we had to do out there against Akron and I feel like we made a statement.”

Let’s not be delirious, Alan. Akron is no USC, Oklahoma, or LSU. If we “had went” against the number one team in the country, we definitely wouldn’t have did what we done did. (I did my English courses at Penn State, too.) But it was a great way to start the season, nonetheless. In JoePa’s words, spoken at the post-game press conference, “A win is a win.”

It was an entertaining game with a few unusual Paterno twists, most notably his decision to play true freshman quarterback Anthony Morelli. Noted for his penuriousness in playing freshmen, JoePa believes that Morelli will have a role with the team this year because the depleted receiving corps will necessitate using backup QB Michael Robinson as a wide receiver. “I think Morelli is a really good prospect, and I think that playing Zack and Robinson the way we’re playing them — I think he needs to play so that if we got in some kind of a jam,” Paterno said. “Now, if the wideouts come along and they continue to get better, then the move with Morelli may not have been the smart thing to do, because then we can move Robinson back to quarterback. Right now, Robinson and Mills have to be on the field. If something happened to Zack, I’m not sure what route I’d go.”

If Joe doesn’t know, The Turkey sure as hell doesn’t know, either. But to this large fowl, Morelli looks to have the right stuff. Don’t expect any immediate contributions, but watching him develop should be fun. Where does this leave Chris Ganter? He got into the game briefly in the fourth quarter, completing both of his passes for 20 yards.

Another notable freshman performance was that of Rodney Kinlaw, the red-shirt running back, who looked impressive in racking up 50 yards on seven carries.

All in all, this was a good, positive start for the season. Regardless of the opposition or lack of same, it provided an important psychological boost for a team that ended last season at such a low ebb. A win is a win.

Next week, the opposition will probably show up, as the mighty Lions travel to Bean Town. Another flawless game resulting in a victory over Boston College would seriously impress this turkey, who is not easily impressed. How great would a 2-0 start be!