Penn State Defeats Auburn 28-20
The SEC officiating crew was incompetent, but Penn State surmounted that to outlast Auburn 28-20. If the game had an extra quarter, the outcome would have been reversed.
Auburn’s rushing game was good, as expected, but they couldn’t get the passing game in sync. They wound up with 182 yards rushing and 185 yards passing. Penn State once again could not get a clock-eating, dominating running game going, gaining only 83 yards on the ground. ???? ???? However, thanks to Jahan Dotson and the passing game, the Nittany Lions could throw the ball downfield, their salvation. Sean Clifford was a terrific 28-32 for 280 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. The other pass, a 22-yard throw by wide receiver Jahan Dotson on a wideout option, netted 22 yards and a first down. 888 ??????
Penn State was 5-10 on third down, while Auburn was 10-17. Turnovers were even at one each.
On defense, the boys were active all night long, and although they allowed 367 yards and 20 points, they were adequate to keep Auburn at bay. They had no sacks and they allowed Tank Bigsby to run for 102 yards and two touchdowns. Auburn’s #2 running back, Jarquez Hunter, had 63.
Yeah, there were bad calls throughout, too many to enumerate here, by the incompetent SEC officiating crew. Most, but not all, went against Penn State. Auburn had to pay the price in the form of a phantom targeting foul. In any case, I’m not arguing one way or the other about poor officiating. Just sayin’.
Jordan Stout continues to display his punting prowess, averaging 50 yards for four punts. He was perfect on extra points, too. ???? ????
IITOP was “not too bad”, with Auburn hanging onto the ball for 31:42.
This will add fuel to the Sanguinarians’ fire, as they’ll be thinking Penn State is invincible will exacerbate their officiating paranoia, because bad calls only go against Penn State. Bring on the Tampa Bay Bucs!
(I’ll be back for a preview of the bye week game with Villanova).
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K. John says
TNT, I am very happy this early afternoon. Without a doubt, there was a fluke factor at Wisconsin. But this game was different. The offense is where I thought it would in November which is a very good thing. The defense is solid but not nearly as good as people think. As predicted, the pass rush did not get home. That will be a constant theme this season as we get into the meat of the Big Ten schedule the lines get better. The officiating was a tad one sided but not as bad as people think. The crew missed a down but the call people complain about the most (Mustipher) was correct. There was or was not an issue with whistle but the ball was spotted where it should have been spotted per A.R. 4-2-1-II. Like it or not, it was correct and the whistle was not important. The biggest call in the day when in our favor though.
Clifford was very good. That was without a doubt, the best performance a Penn State QB has had since November 30, 2013 when Hackenberg shredded the Badgers in Madison. I think I finally sorted out the dualism that is Jahan Dotson. Pretty much any D1 caliber corner can erase him from a game in man coverage, but, he does have an uncanny ability to find and exploit transition areas in zone defenses when coverage is handed off from one player to another. In today’s game, you really can’t play man 100% of the time so opponents are in a pick your poison scenario. Bottom line, Dotson is better than I thought.
It is going to be a great year. I see four teams vying for the Big Ten East right now. Moo U has consistently looked better than anyone else and did it while playing Miami and Northwestern. Michigan has been a juggernaut, even against a better than average UW defense. Eventually, someone will make them throw the football, until then, how the bleep knows. OSU will come around at some point, hopefully not until after we play them however.
The Nittany Turkey says
Uh oh! Hack alert! K.John pleasantly surprised and brings out the heavy guns! I hear that Hack is happily coaching h.s. football now while Allen “Gimme da Damn Ball” Robinson is still catching passes from Andy Dalton.
All kidding aside, thanks for your excellent comments. Clifford had an excellent day against an Auburn defense that their homeboys were touting as better than ours. Heather Dinich of ESPN called the rebirth “Clifford 2.0”. If he can continue to hit Dotson (or approximately hit Dotson, who is a vacuum cleaner around the ball), the offense has what Franklin drones on as “explosive play potential”.
Given sufficient “explosions” coupled with stalwart defense, this TNT could see the hot gases propelling PSU through the B10 schedule with a healthy collections of exploded Ws. However, lest we get too euphoric about one win over an SEC second-fiddle, consider that after Villanova we’re looking at Indiana and Iowa — not pushovers. Give me until mid-season before I become a Sanguinarian. I’m too cynical to believe the #6 ranking is for real right now.
On the other hand, unless there is a total collapse in the B10 East (i.e., all losing to each other), we might see a B10 team other than tOSU in the playoffs.
Right now, it is an exciting time to be a PSU/Big Ten fan. Lots of good football ahead!
—TNT
K. John says
I am more thrilled about the progress being made than the actual outcome of the game. Personally, I think Auburn is going to finish 7 and 5 based on what I saw Saturday and see no reason why we shouldn’t expect Wisconsin to lose at least four games by the time all is said and done. This of course means we are not a top ten team and the results down the road will probably put us down between 15 and 25. I have us losing to Iowa and losing two between Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State. Regardless, if you are not getting better you are getting worse. One of my biggest knocks on Franklin is that we have spent more seasons getting worse than getting better under his watch. Thankfully we are getting better this year and things look good for 2022.
The Nittany Turkey says
I, too, expect a comeuppance at the behest of any/most/all of those teams you mentioned. I do not expect to end the season in the top ten, but then everyone says I’m the consummate pessimist.
I am encouraged by many aspects of their performance thus far, and they’re farther along than I expected them to be after three games.
The Franklin First Quarter Fourth Down Gamble is now becoming a regular feature.
—TNT
Big Al says
I’ve seen the light and found Nittany Jesus. 15-0 or GTFO.
Just kidding. Penn State has demonstrated that they are capable of beating any B1G team. But State is also capable of losing to several of them if they don’t execute well, Franklin continues lose his 4th down gambles, and the zebras continue to screw them over.
Yurcich has figured out how to get the most out of Clifford and the offense is executing it about as well as it can. The OL is really, really good at pass blocking and opposing teams will have to use some creative blitzes if they want to pressure Clifford. And Clifford isn’t going to screw up unless/until somebody pressures him. On the other hand, the OL isn’t knocking anybody on their butts and running between the tackles will continue to be a challenge. The running backs will need to have good vision and make route adjustments to hit the seams that appear. Because of that vision thing, I expect Cain and Lovett to be the primary backs (and Ford to hit the transfer portal.)
Defensively, Penn State proved that their run defense is for real. Auburn’s two backs are better than anybody they’ll see the rest of the regular season. To beat State, a team will need to have a competent passing attack. I still think any team with an accurate quarterback and two good receivers can scorch the defense. At this moment, Indiana and Maryland are the only schools that have both good receivers and a qb – although tOSU might by the time PS plays them.
Both teams executed at a really high level for the 3rd game of the season and that was the most entertaining game I’ve seen since the 2016 Ohio State game. My viewing pleasure was greatly increased by watching the entire game on ESPN3’s skyview and I didn’t have to listen to ESPN’s talking heads. Although State’s PA announcer was rather annoying with his sugary and Michael Bufferesque announcing style.
The Nittany Turkey says
I have been bitching about that PA announcer for a while now. I guess sugary and exaggerated like Michael Buffer is what people want now, but I could do without it. That’s one reason I gave up my season tickets to the local losing NBA team. (Then that announcer turned up being hired by the NHL team, so that pissed me off). It’s not only the announcing style but the contrived need to play loud, trite music at every time out, including the copious media timeouts. It’s bulllllllllllshit. They don’t make ’em like Bob Shepard anymore. I’d go to Yankee Stadium just to hear him again if he were still around. My fear is that they’ve gone the way of all flesh there, too, by now and there is no avoiding it. See what you started? I’m a raving lunatic on that subject. But I digress…
Now what of that #6 ranking with Iowa right above us. Indiana would love to knock us off so they can lay claim to that position. After them. the Nits face Iowa. Then, if they get past the two of them, we have tOSU on the distant horizon. What are the chances of surviving that Murderer’s Row? (Must continue the Yankee Stadium references…I wanted to get out… but they keep pulling me back in!).
Why am I looking past ‘Nova when I should only care about going 1-0 this week (because Franklin said so)? There’s no line on the game, so betting is out. What will keep my interest up and the team’s for this noon start against the FCS Wildcats. Is it the cat vs. cat thing? Maybe? I’m happy PSU isn’t playing basketball against them. I’m going to find it hard to write anything about Villanova.
Next thing we need to do is condemn the rampant use of the targeting ejection. Man, that Auburn linebacker was just doing his job. Like many other targeting calls, he had to get down low and unless someone has figured out how to have their head going a different direction than the rest of them, the head’s going to go low, too. What are they going to do — smash into someone with the front of their face? That’s just not a natural thing. Fortunately, Auburn is playing Georgia State next week, so they won’t lose the kid for the first half of an SEC game. I know what the intent is here — protecting players is an admirable goal — but I think this has gone way too far, as has all the replay crap.
Let ’em play football. All the calls on the field made by the human officiating crew are better off being debatable than proved wrong by the unblinking eye of the replay camera and excruciatingly lengthy review and analysis. Buncha bullllllllllllshit. So they get one wrong occasionally. Is it worth the disruption of flow of the game to ensure that everything is correct beyond a reasonable doubt? Another pent-up frustration rant here. If they don’t have all those delays, they won’t get enough time for commercials, so I’m pissing in the wind.
—TNT