Penn State 33, Indiana 24
An uncharacteristic deep throw late in the game saved y’all’s ass there at Penn State. With 1:46 left in the game, Drew Allar hit Keandre Lambert-Smith for a 57-yard touchdown pass to break a 24-24 tie.
Sanguinarians are scratching their seborrhea, wondering how this travesty of a game that should have been a walkover could even happen. The spread, after all, was 32. WTF??? LMAO.
The Hoosiers had played well up to the end, confuddling a seemingly out of sorts Penn State defense. Maybe they were pining over Chop Robinson’s absence, but they surrendered more points than they have given up to anybody else all season, making Indiana’s offense look competent. Freshman QB Brendan Sorsby certainly looked competent hitting 13-19 for 269 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
No way did Franklin cover the damn spread this week. He would have needed another three touchdowns to even get close. However, in other gambling propositions, thanks to the Hoosiers’ newfound competence, the game blew through the over/under of 46 big time.
Meanwhile, Northwestern was busy beating Maryland 33-27. The Wildcats capitalized on two fumbles and an interception. So, the Turtles will be loaded for bear next week at home in College Park. The Nittany Lions better come to play, and it would behoove them to get Chop Robinson back to harass Taulia Tagavailoa.
Otherwise, the only thing worthy of note was Drew Allar giving up his first interception as a semi-pro, hired college ath-a-lete. He finished 20-31 for a measly 210 yards with three touchdowns and the notable interception. He stuck with safe throws most of the game but did go deep a few times, including the game winner.
The ending of today’s game was not supposed to be exciting, but it was. Penn State sure as hell didn’t look like an AP Top Ten team, but you know what I think of these early rankings. Next week, it should be a barn-burner with the Terps.
I’ll be back between my MRI and my CT scan next week with my thoughts on the big Maryland game.
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Thomas Wilson says
At this point, I’m wondering if Beau should be the starter, or at least get more reps. His ability to take off running gives the defense something more to worry about. We have no receivers that can get any serious separation and even Allar’s good throws are into tight coverage.
The Nittany Turkey says
Has Franklin ever changed QBs due to performance? I can’t think of when he has. Seems like he sticks with the guy he anoints at the beginning of the season and, damn the torpedoes, he’s in there until the end or until he gets injured.
While I agree that Pribula could add a dimension, it is not likely that Franklin will do anything with him for reasons stated above. Furthermore, the problems in this offense run deeper than just one player. The offensive line is, as usual, mediocre. The receiving corps is unusually devoid of superior talent. However, we do have two talented running backs who are frustrated by the abysmal run blocking provided by the offensive line (better known as the Five Traffic Cones). So, why do we think that Pribula can run when Allen and Singleton cannot?
That O-Line doesn’t give Allar the protection he needs. He’s been forced into two intentional grounding situations in the past two weeks. We can fault some of Allar’s decision making, not getting the ball out quickly enough, for sure. But he doesn’t have receivers who can get open, so he’s back there running through progressions and finding no one while the pass blocking is breaking down. So, he can’t settle in back there. We’d be offering the same situation to Pribula, but with more frustrations because he’d try to run and would get pummeled.
It’s a real shame that we don’t have current talent like our receivers of the past. Even Jahan Dotson did well today in the NFL. We have two decent tight ends, but they’re not Gesicki, James, or Freiermuth caliber. And no one on the receiving corps has talent like Chris Godwin, Allen Robinson, or even K.J. Hamler. We have a long history of NFL-caliber receivers, but none are in sight on this team.
My feeling is that #9 is a ranking based on sportswriters and coaches smoking weed. They must not have watched the Indiana game, which showed weaknesses not only on the offense, but also now, on the defense, too. They might beat Maryland with their matador defense, but they will be embarrassed by Michigan on their home turf. We all know it is coming, but it will hurt nonetheless.
Are we saving up our playbook for Michigan? Nahhhhh, three-quarters of the way through the season, we’ve already seen what the Nittany Lions have to offer this year, and it ain’t pretty. Will we see yet another new offensive coordinator during the off-season?
—TNT