#10 Penn State 17, #17 Iowa 12
The Sanguinarian Day of Reckoning (SDR) produced thrills, chills, boredom, excitement, conspiracy theories, and optimism, as the undefeated Nittany Lions passed their first test of the season at the halfway mark. With many doubters predicting a Hawkeye outright victory, Penn State covered the spread by virtue of a(
As for the Sanguinarians, they’ll live to crow another day. They will enjoy temporary bragging rights when, surely, PSU moves up in the polls. With two Top Ten teams above them having gone down in flames, PSU is liable to be #8 when this
For James Franklin, it’s Michigan, Michigan, Michigan — our next Super Bowl.
Back to the Future
Back to that officiating thing, is the new generation of B10 officials being schooled in the finer points of anti-PSU conspiracy? Are Dave Parry, Dick Honig and Dave Witvoet still around in spirit? None of us will forget St. Joe chasing Witvoet into the tunnel at halftime in an Iowa game of yore or the two seconds added to the clock in the 2005 Michigan game that allowed the Wolverines another chance at a winning TD. ???? ????? Are these PSU-hating clowns back again?
Holy guacamole! How could anyone look at that Pat Freiermuth touchdown (as it was called on the field) from any camera angle and see that he fell short? Stevie Wonder would have called it a TD. What indisputable visual evidence existed that resulted in overturning the field call? I don’t think Iowa fans would admit it, but they knew in their heart of hearts that was a touchdown.
There were other shaky calls, but none as thoroughly examined as the #87 touchdown. Penn State came into the game as one of the least penalized teams in the country; in this game, they were assessed 80 yards on eight penalties. ??? ??? ????? ?? ???? Meanwhile, Iowa had one lousy five-yard penalty. You know something ain’t right. ????? ????? ??? ????
Mission Accomplished
Let me not dwell on the negative. Penn State got the job done, and moreover established once and for all that Noah Cain is the go-to running back in the Committee of Four. This is a guy who can punish defenses and get the job done. He can soften them up early and he can close out tight games late. Do any questions remain?
The Lions were able to perform reasonably on third downs (10-19) while the defense put the clamps on the Iowa running game. When Nate Stanley is forced to throw, two things happen and neither is good. He doesn’t stretch the field and he throws interceptions. On the one occasion when Iowa moved the ball and scored a TD, Stanley hit a deep receiver. Fortunately for Penn State, he and the Ferentzian Brain Trust didn’t catch on until late in the game.
So, anyway, on to the White Out against Big Ten Turnover King Michigan. Let’s get the officiating crew briefed and ready! I’ll be back with my advance take on that spectacle.
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psudrozz says
Just some random thoughts:
-post 1st quarter drives stalled when Franklin became pass happy.
-would still like to see the replay of the alleged defensive holding that nullified a sack on the iowa 1 yd line.
-that wasn’t targeting. more of a “fog of war” type play,
-54 was being held the entire second half.
-when stanley fumbled on the qb sneak it didnt look like a first down, even though one was awarded
-dick honig rushed for over 50 yards against psu in the 2005 game
K. John says
I have the game DVRed on PSVue. I’ll take a look at the holding call and see if I can see anything.
I agree, I don’t think it was targeting but rather surprised they over turned it due to the double whammy of going high and defenseless receiver. If I were a replay official, I would not have overturned it but can’t fault them for calling it or over turning it.
54 was being held but we held their tackles all game as well. Flagging holding against a DT is pretty hard. They are typically obscured from view of the line judges and the referee and umpire (both have obscured views as well) should be looking elsewhere. Unless a hold is of the take down type or happens directly in the flow of the play, almost anything goes. We held their tackles all night as well. We just got called because they happened to be in the path of the play. No complaints on my part.
K. John says
To play devils advocate TNT, we didn’t see a lot of frames from the pylon cam on the overturned TD. Assuming they use the same setup as the NFL, that particular camera runs at 120 hz or 240 hz. They replay showed on the telecast had a pretty sizeable lag between frames from that particular camera. I am thinking 25 to 30 total assuming 240 hz operating frequency. Even the older system that runs at 120 would have between 10 and 15 missing frames. There is plenty of room in their for an image clear enough to overturn the TD. I am not saying he didn’t get in but it is plausible if not likely they got the call correct because the view would not have been obscured. I would say we got lucky they didn’t overturn the Hamler TD.
The Nittany Turkey says
I think the meaning of “undisputable visual evidence needed to overturn a call on the field” comes into play here. I hear what you’re saying, but I believe what I want to believe, just like all homies.
—TNT
Big Al says
Well, this game should have shown the Sanguinarians that Penn State’s offense is not going to score very many points on their own against a decent defense. If it hadn’t been for the two turnovers setting the offense up at the Iowa 19 and 35 yard lines, the Kitties offense would have scored just 7 points and lost this game.
That offensive ineptitude has been overshadowed in all the bitching about the officials. Yes, they screwed State out of 4 points, but it wouldn’t have mattered if the offense had been competent enough to score from the one foot line by running between the tackles. Why wasn’t Cain in the game for rest of that series? Better yet, why does every f***ing snap have to be from the shotgun. Are our centers and quarterbacks too stupid to learn how to perform the direct snap properly?
K. John says
Points will be at a premium the next two weeks. I would expect Michigan to be even lower scoring. They run the same basic offense we run with similar talent. Iowa shut it down using the same exact scheme they used on us. Their coaching has been similarly lackluster as well. Michigan’s defense will have the same advantage ours has having seen it in practice throughout the summer and during the season.
It probably gets worse at Michigan State. The only reason they didn’t shut us out last year was because of two uncharacteristic big plays. Their offensive line is backup up which will help keep the score low hopefully allowing for the turnovers we need to win.
The Nittany Turkey says
Yeah, and I have to agree with both of you about the potential for low offensive output in the next couple of games. In those two, they could score fewer than 20 and still win. Then, they still have to get past Minnesota, who could well be 8-0 at that point. Assuming they do, we’ll be dealing with SDR II on November 23, when the Great Sanguinarian Bubble, if it still exists, will deflate percussively, because they’ll sure as hell need more than 27 points to beat the Schmuckeyes.
Do these Nittany Lions merit a #7 ranking? Only by virtue of the vacuum left behind by Georgia and Florida, not by what they have accomplished on the field. There is a great dividing line just south of tOSU in my mind. For example, the spread on UF-LSU was 14. I’m thinking the spread for tOSU-Wisc should be about that wide on October 26. Likewise, OSU-PSU.
Butbutbut, I know. We always play them tough in da ‘Shoe. We’ll see.
First we have to go 1-0 this week in the Super Bowl with UM.
—TNT