Flash: Penn State 33, Kent State 13
The bated anticipation of a new offense and a revamped defense had us on pins and needles awaiting this anticlimactic effort, but we learned a few things from it. The Nittany Lions (1-0) beat the Golden Flashes (0-1) in a sloppy effort that gave us a flash of Joe Moorhead’s offense for the first time in a real game situation for Penn State.
I typically write sooner after the game, but this one left me rather uninspired. It was more flash than dash and that’s no trash.
Our closest prediction this week emanated from Artificially Sweetened, whose 35-10 prognostication edged out Big Al’s 30-10. The Golden Flashes covered the spread by the slimmest of margins, as Al said they would, but the total of 46 points made the “over” the winning bet by one measly point.
You all saw the game and I’m writing this too late to provide a blow-by-blow recap (and in my mind, it did blow), but I’ll give you some observations.
Temperate Tempo
First, let me say that I was disappointed with what was purported to be an up-tempo no huddle offense. When you have a bunch of guys standing around looking at the sidelines where two stoners are break-dancing signals to the offense, what’s the difference whether there is a huddle or not? To me, up-tempo means something like Texas put on Notre Dame all night Sunday night. When the ball is set and blown live, they’re ready and can snap it right away to catch the defense napping. What good is standing there gazing at a pair of monkeys on the sideline? The only way that will catch the defense napping is when they all fall asleep from boredom. ???? ?????? ???? ?????? Maybe that’s the idea.
Second, when the highlight reel play of the game is a novelty tackle by 380 lb kicker Joey “Big Toe” Julius, then you know there ain’t much to say.
Playing Down to the Competition? ???? ?????? I Think Not.
OK, so were these guys (coaches included) taking Kent State too lightly, or are they just not too great? It looks as if they were “finding themselves” in the first half. Of course, that’s nothing new.
On offense, our old friends on the O-Line might have looked a little better in protecting McSorley than they did protecting Hack last year, but remember, this is Kent State. Also, they weren’t really getting a push on running plays. S-Bark had to get many of his sneaky 105 yards on his own. The offensive line is still a weak point. Yeah, I’ll grant you that the Flashless Flashes stacked the box to key on the Barkeroo, but still…
Receivers are solid, and even Mike Gesicki caught a TD pass. That counts for something. However, as has been the knock for time immemorial, PSU receivers just ain’t capable of getting separation from D-backs. That was even a knock on Allen “Gimme da Damn Ball” Robinson, who now can do it all in the pros. These guys have the talent, but do they have the coaching?
Slow Developing Plays
But what’s the deal running the option with Trace McSorley hanging onto the ball, looking indecisive? Maybe not so much indecisive, but just slow. ????? ????? ??? ???? By the time Barkley gets it, the defense is in the backfield. Or Mack keeps it, gets a few yards, and gets beat up in the process. I know, I know, Morehead and Franklin know more about football in the tips of their dicks than I’ll ever know, but I reserve the right to criticize their asses.
Third down performance blew — 5-14. Opening day jitters, you say. Yeah, we’ll see.
Missed Tackles
And on defense, what’s with all the missed tackles? I see that the D-Line woke up in the second half and rang up a bunch of sacks against a notably deficient Kent State O-Line. Big deal. Color me unimpressed.
What’s the Deal?
Oh, yeah, you can go for two on the first TD of the game if you want to break the other guy’s spirit early, but when you shoot yourself in the foot while doing it, it has the opposite effect. This is Trace McSorley behind Brian Gaia and the PSU line we’re talking about, not Ben Roethlisberger behind Maurkice Pouncey and the Steelers.
So, Moorhen— this ain’t Fordham and you won’t be playing Patriot League I-AA opponents. Your signature win over Army doesn’t mean squat here in Happy Valley. What am I bitching about? After all, you put 33 on the board against what is purportedly a good defense. Good in the MAC, anyway.
A Real Punter, for a Change!
Penn State punting has improved with Blake Gillikan doing the legwork. He averaged 47 yards with a long of 59. That is a good thing.
A Win Is a Win Is a Win
So, a win is a win. Yep. Sure. I contend that these guys are not yet ready for prime time. What good, positive indications did you glean from this game?
I’ll be back like really really soon with an overview and prediction for the Pitt game.
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Big Al says
This game had zero positive indications for me.. In addition to watching our boring ass game (I can’t remember a game with so little offensive action, take so long to finish), I also saw parts of the Michigan, Alabama, Texas, and Free Shoes U games. And my bottom line conclusion is that the gap between Penn State’s current state and becoming a top 10 tem has actually increased this year.
To be more specific, I reached the following conclusions regarding Dear Old State.
1) The offensive line has not improved very much. The new scheme will mean fewer mental mistakes, but the guys Franklin is playing simply don’t have B1G ability. Given the supposedly 4 star recruits CJF has gotten, I’m starting to wonder whether he is selecting his starters based upon who has the “right” attitude instead of who has the best physical ability.
2) Trace McSoreley is a slightly upscale version of Zach Mills. He can’t accurately throw the ball more than 25 yards downfield. And, as CJF admitted In his post game press conference, opponents will put eight or nine defenders in the box and dare State to throw deep. With Hackenberg that strategy was risky since the deep ball was the only throw that Hack could make accurately (assuming he wasn’t sacked first). With McSoreley, it won’t matter if the receivers get open 30 yards downfield because he can’t throw that far.
3) The defense still can’t handle a mobile quarterback or any running attack that has enough tailback speed to attack the edges. .So you can banish any thought of upsetting tOSU this year. And that will also make beating teams like Minnesota and Maryland more difficult.
So, I think my 7-5 prediction for the season is looking pretty good. In fact, it may be too optimistic.
The Nittany Turkey says
Yeah, Al, I was obviously disappointed in much of what I saw. They’ll have to do better to avoid 7-5 or worse.
And yeah #2, I watched OK vs. Houston, Alabama vs. USC, Texas vs. ND, and FSU vs. Ole Miss. Any hope of competing at that level is at best a pipe dream at this point.
My Pitt pre-game will be entertaining for us old guys because it will bring back some of the raw emotions associated with the names and teams of an earlier era — stuff the current generation will never understand. The veritable depth of the hatred…
—TNT
Joe says
Well I initially followed the Turkey’s logic after the final whistle and kept asking myself if this was the offense I couldn’t wait to see in action?? After continually telling myself after the game that this season was going to be no better than last year even with all this talent, my middle son called. He tends to look at things a little more objectively than I do (he is a PS grad-microbiology no less), reminded me that the strong point of the Kent State team was their defensive line (I believe their defense was ranked 24th last year and he felt they should be pretty good again this year) and they only got one sack, so some kudos to the offensive line, which apparently wasn’t quite as offensive as they’ve been the past two seasons at least from a pass protection standpoint. So when they stuffed the box, they knew what they were doing. So why didn’t we do anything to prevent it and open things up? Ah came the response, and show those curs at Pitt how we’ll beat them when they do the same thing and see PS start throwing screens and using 2 back sets and all those things that John Donovan never knew existed. This offense looked like it had about two dozen plays that were run-the same ones you would see at your neighborhood Sunday afternoon Pee-Wee games.
Now I had some issues with McSorely sticking the ball in Barkley’s gut and pulling it back to gain 2 yards. Somehow, when you have the second coming of Curt Warner in the backfield you GIVE HIM THE BALL! But again I was corrected-do you want Pitt to be able to watch our keys on tape and who reads who as far as who gets the ball; of course not.
So my expectation for the offense is they are going to get a whole lot better and maybe not drop the half dozen balls that should have been caught, not make stupid penalties, eliminate the dumb fumbles and just genuinely look a lot crisper than they did Saturday. I don’t think we have to worry about McSorely throwing the ball 60 yards downfield, so don’t count on Hail Mary’s to win games.
On defense I was happy-except for the lousy tackling. I see this more and more in Div 1 and it must be something with everyone toning down the collisions at practice, but it has been bad for at least 6-8 years. Seven sacks and a couple of interceptions (one score) and I believe a couple of fumble recoverys-not a bad afternoons work. I don’t think there were any injuries to speak of so defensively I had no real complaints and holy shit we also have a real punter!!!!!
So I didn’t get to lay back on the sofa and not worry about this game like I had hoped and I’m not convinced this offense runs at the speed we were led to believe it ran during spring and fall practice, but perhaps they never took it out of 2nd gear, but I will say I do not like the “check with me thing” even though the Pirates “P” was on one of the boxes.
So now I wait for the Pitt game!
The Nittany Turkey says
And the Boston Bruins logo? What up with that?
Ahh, your middle son is a true sanguinarian. I hope he’s correct with his rationale.
—TNT