Penn State 33, Indiana 28
Although no lemonade was produced in the Indiana game, what was good about it was that the #18 Penn State Nittany Lions (5-2, 3-2) snapped a two-game losing streak, and that they all but guaranteed Toilet Bowl eligibility, even if Rutgers is their only win in the remaining schedule.
What was not so damn good about it was everything else.
The semi-bottom feeding Indiana Hoosiers (4-4, 1-4) outplayed the Lions, outcoached the Lions, and even while trying to give the game away with penalties and turnovers, kept themselves in competition until the end.
The old sports cliche of “letting them hang around” applied. ???? ???? ???
Just for the Hell of It
The stats don’t tell the whole story, but I’ll mention them just for the hell of it. The Hoosiers outgained the Lions 554 to 417. ????? ??????? (Great defense, Brent Pry!) The Hoosiers had 32 first downs to the Lions’ 20. The Hoosiers converted 43% of third-down situations to the Lions’ 33%. The Hoosiers’ “increasingly irrelevant” Time of Possession was 33:58 to the Lions’ 26:02. It goes on and on.
Indiana threw two different quarterbacks at the Lions, including a slippery freshman named Penix (who, in my puerile humor, I determined was a dick with wings that rose from the ashes). Starter Patrick Ramsey was his usual accurate self, 26-36 with a touchdown and an interception, while Penix went 9 for 19 for 94 yards. Penix added two rushes for 24 yards.
The Hoosiers’ rushing game was supposedly deficient, yet against Penn State’s nonexistent front seven, Freshman RB Stevie Scott had a wonderful day: 26 carries for 138 yards and two touchdowns.
All right, maybe I’m being harsh on the front seven. After all, they recorded six sacks and eight TFLs. However, they were horrible in stopping the run, giving up 224 yards — and the secondary was absolutely crappy in run support. Indiana rushers were able to complete long runs of 18, 30, 26, yards like a hot knife through buttah.
OFFal Offense
Meanwhile, the vaunted Penn State OFFense was just that: OFF.
Trace McSorley finished 19-36 for 220 yards and one interception. He rushed 19 times for 107 yards and two touchdowns. Miles Sanders had 15 carries for 72 yards. Ricky Slade was nowhere to be seen.
Again, we saw some crappy coaching calls. Again, we saw some crappy special teams play.
We Sucked
After the game, James Franklin was not talking about “great” or “elite” teams. Neither was he talking about Super Bowls. Instead, he said, “Every time it seemed like we had the game in control and were able to put them away, they would battle back. ????? ?????? ?????? We’ll take this win, go back and watch the film, make corrections and get better.”
Translation: We sucked. We couldn’t contain a minimal offense of a bottom-half Big Ten team. We blew.
Karma
After this game, though, we all got to enjoy the look on Urbz’ face while his Schmuckeyes were being absolutely dismantled by the Purdue Boilermakers, 49-20.
That game gave us pleasure, no doubt, as did Jim Harbaugh’s pointed accusation that Mark D’Antonio was smilingly walking five yards behind some troublemakers in the pre-game brouhaha, which D’Antonio claimed was BS.
“What was that?”
“You heard me. That was BS.”
Looking Forward
Anyway, it’s on to Iowa and this turkey is cringing. OMG OMG WTF! They just completely shut down our rivalry-game-of-the-year opponent, Maryland, with whom we might be eventually competing for the better of the American Standard Toilet Bowl or the Poulan Weed Eater Bowl invitations. The Terps were held to 115 total yards and were dominated throughout, including in the increasingly irrelevant Time of Possession, 40:55 to 19:05. Oy gevalt!
Maybe we can use Iowa as a tune-up game in advance of our trip to the Big House. Try a few fake punts or something. Maybe a Doug Flutie drop-kick to befuddle the Hawkeye D. If lowly Indiana with its defective run game can outgain Penn State on the ground, what will run happy Iowa do?
But I digress.
The Maryland Terrapins are our peers this year. I’m done.
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K. John says
We are in deep trouble next week. Iowa shut out Maryland and what they did to their RPO game was brutal. I don’t think we’ll top 20 either of the next two games and maybe not the third game because Wisconsin will have a huge TOP advantage.
The Nittany Turkey says
Yeah, holding Maryland to 115 total yards and dominating throughout does not portend well for this coming Saturday. The only thing PSU has going for it is home field advantage, which was all that kept tOSU and Moo U. from being wider margins.
—TNT
Big Al says
This season is getting a definite 2015 feel to it. And this “win” was sort of like the Army game that year where a 2-10 Army team came within a Jason Cabinda sack of beating the Kitties. Our offense hasn’t sunk to 2015 levels yet, but it’s pretty clear that Morehead’s departure was big loss. He seems to be the only person that can make his version of the Run and Shoot work effectively.
The key play of this game probably occurred when Penix got injured. Ramsey didn’t have a strong enough arm to pass for two touchdowns in 4 minutes, but Penix did. Actually, I’m pretty sure Ramsey would would have passed for a 2nd touchdown if he had had another 45 seconds on the clock.
As you said, Maryland is our peer – assuming we don’t have too many more injuries to the DL and secondary after going through the Iowa, UM, Wisconsin meat grinder. If the injuries get to be too severe, Illinois and Rutgers might be our peers.
Can’t wait to see the lines for Iowa and UM
The Nittany Turkey says
We’d almost be better off playing St. Joe sphincterball. (I said “almost”.)
The line opened with PSU favored by 5. I think you’ll be watching the spread narrow considerably between now and Saturday. Iowa plus that many points against PSU just seems like a no-brainer. Hell, PSU couldn’t cover the spread against Indiana.
I don’t even know if I see one win in the next three games. Jonathan Taylor has been averaging 162 all-purpose yards per game, good enough for fifth in the FBS. But Wisconsin’s defense blows this year — pretty much the equivalent of PSU and tOSU. Our potential redemption is a shoot-out, methinks. The Badgers have underperformed putting points on the board.
As for Iowa and Michigan — at this point, I don’t see wins there.
—TNT
diesel says
Observations: Franklin can recruit but he can’t coach, to be successful he needs good coordinators which he doesn’t have. Don’t know if his ego is too big to admit that he needs help but I’m guessing that it is. McSorley hasn’t impressed with his decision making the last two games so not all should fall on Rahne. Offensive line – just because they are older than last year doesn’t mean they are going to get better. Linebackers need to do a better job with run support as do the DB’s but not much push from the interior either. Maybe in another year they will get better because they’ll be older..
The Nittany Turkey says
Franklin got lucky with Morehead, who was looking for a stepping stone to a head coaching position. (However, I have to add that my Miss St. friends are wondering whether they got the right guy). When left to his own devices, and opportunity doesn’t knock, Franklin either promotes guys from within or brings along a Donovan. Perhaps it is his ego getting in the way, but in that connection ceding the offense to Morehead would be out of character. Morehead is an anomaly any way you view it. The rest of the Franklin assistants have been non-spectacular.
Your raise a good point. Much of the hype about the O-Line has been based on another year of experience. But if the talent isn’t there or the bad habits cannot be coached away, all you’ve got is a group of guys who are a year older.
At the outset, McSorley was a Heisman candidate. After two losses at home, his name is rarely heard in Heisman conversations. Where is the star power on this team? Other than McSorley, can anyone propose a name of a player whose individual ability stands out very far from the rest? On defense, Oruwariye, maybe, but he could have put Moo U. away and didn’t. Stars step up when the going gets tough. They win games. This team as a whole doesn’t know how to close out opponents, how to preserve leads, and how to hang tough in the fourth quarter.
So, on to what I call “Murderer’s Row”, after which we could easily be 5-5.
—TNT
Tom Wilson says
Put me down in the Franklin is an idiot category. From the time you crawl out of the crib you know you play to your strengths. The fake punt on 4th down when the announcers just finished saying how good your punter is was industrial grade stupid; maybe not as stupid as the run up the middle into the teeth of the Ohio State defense but it’s close. When Trace is gone I think Penn State is looking at multiple losing seasons unless Tommy Stevens is the real deal.
The Nittany Turkey says
Got you (among many others) for “Franklin is an idiot”. He sure has committed some boneheaded atrocities — can’t blame them all on Rahne.
Ohio State’s subpar defense is going to look like the Great Wall of China next to Iowa and Michigan. Wonder how Franklin will coach those games. The betting line on the Iowa game is up to PSU – 6. I dunno, I still have to think Penn State won’t cover.
—TNT