#7 Penn State 27, UCLA 11
With so many people including the gamblers looking for a blowout, James Franklin’s boys once again did not disappoint us naysayers who believe that any point spread greater than two touchdowns is a profit opportunity. Take the opponent and the points. In this case, we were looking at 28.5 points, whereas the margin of victory was only sixteen points.
Sure, a win is a win, but where the hell do these humongous spreads come from? My conjecture is that many people’s inflated expectations for this Penn State team do not match up with reality. If I may further opine, the Lions are overrated at #7 and risk a rude awakening by bursting that inflated expectation bubble next week against USC.
The Nittany Lions did not score until halfway through the second quarter. This is not how a #7 team should perform against an unranked opponent. They turned to the running game early, with the game’s outcome still up in the air. Perhaps Drew Allar’s inaccurate throwing and inability to see open receivers had something to do with that. However, they wound up with only 85 yards rushing versus 237 yards passing. UCLA outrushed Penn State, 93-85.
UCLA dominated what Matt Herb called “increasingly irrelevant time of possession” by close to six minutes. They managed to get fourteen first downs against our vaunted defense and converted two of four fourth down opportunities. Missed tackles at all levels of the PSU defense helped the Bruins hold onto the ball for far too long.
For a while, it seemed as if the officials had bet on Penn State and wanted Franklin’s Boys to cover the spread. A questionable defensive holding call nullified what would have been a game-changing interception in the end zone by UCLA.
To give credit where due, UCLA’s young quarterback, Justyn Martin, was sparkling in his first starting role, necessitated by regular starter Ethan Garber’s leg injury. He went 22-30 for 167 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions. Garber has ten interceptions thus far this season, so this was a welcome change for the Uclans. Martin is their quick, mobile quarterback of the future (if he doesn’t use this performance to showcase himself for some NIL money through the ridiculous transfer portal, or whatever the hell these thinly disguised professionals do these days).
Another positive move was Penn State’s change at kicker. Ryan Barker played this game instead of the beleaguered Sander Sahaydak and had a perfect day, 2-2 for field goals and 3-3 on PATs.
So, no, there wasn’t a four-touchdown difference between these two teams, either theoretically or on the scoreboard. Unless something drastic happens in the Top Ten, Penn State is likely to maintain its #7 ranking. Seems over ranked for a team that does just enough to win. USC will test their mettle next week at the L.A. Memorial Colisseum.
I’ll be back mid-week with some insouciant comments regarding this season’s first game against a ranked (rather than rank) opponent.
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The Nittany Turkey says
Holy Crap!
What a day of college football! #1, #4, #9, #10, and #11 all fell to unranked or lower-ranked opponents. #8 Miami was down 38-10 to Cal in the fourth quarter, but came back to win 39-38! Cam Ward. Now THERE’S a quarterback!
Upset Saturday on Anabolic Steroids will certainly cause a seismic shake-up in the Top 25. My dismissive comment, “Unless anything drastic happens…”, confirms my cluelessness about the state of college football this year. The polls are likely to reflect similar cluelessness. We are at the “any given Saturday” stage in college football.
Now, is it possible that Penn State, already over-ranked at #7 will back into a #5 ranking? We’ll know tomorrow afternoon. So, our next opponent, USC, will not be #11, but by the time we get to Minnesota, the Golden Gophers could be ranked. Perhaps the pollsters look at strength of forthcoming schedule and anticipate that Penn State will cakewalk its way through its remaining opponents, except tOSU.
Hey, you don’t get to be the only team to go 5-0 for the past four seasons without earning your way there by scheduling pussies early in each season.
All I know now is that I witnessed much good football today, but the Penn State game left me cold. At some point, I would be comforted if the boys were to establish a victory early in a game with someone who isn’t Kent State.
—TNT
Big Al says
My four takeaways from this weekend are:
It’s really hard to win a road game. Indiana was the only B1G road team that won this week.
O$U is the only B1G team that has a chance of making this year’s final four. The rest of the league consists of mediocre teams with various flaws.
3, Pann States games against Bucky, the Goofers, and Washington aren’t going to be the easy wins that the Sanguinarians expect.
The Kitties are in deep shit next Saturday if Singleton can’t play.
The Nittany Turkey says
Watching those upsets yesterday, I cringed about the rankings today, thinking about how big a letdown it will be when now #4 Penn State drops some of those games you mentioned, in addition to the guaranteed loss to the Schmuckeyes.
I sure as hell didn’t expect #4. I thought the dumbass sportswriters would have more sense. I should never underestimate their stupidity. IS PSU better than Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama?
They’ve played five games. Are they going to improve? I’m not seeing anything I can hang that hat on. Against one of the worst teams in the Big Ten, absent its starting quarterback, they played with what Urban Meyer used to call “that dullard look.”
Next weekend should show us whether Oregon is worthy of #3. But I still think the Nittany Lions belong somewhere in the teens.
—TNT
K. John says
Very interesting season indeed. I apologize to the flock as my schedule is ten kinds of dumb right now. The red flags are there just as they were in 2021. The O-line is losing individual battles at a shocking rate. The defensive line can’t hold up against bad teams when they are run at. Allar is what he is. His footwork and release are fine which means his ball placement issues likely can’t be fixed. With that said, the schedule is shaping up to be even softer than the previous two years which were the easiest in at least 30 years, if not 40.
Overall, the game was not in doubt but good lord did we get the calls. The officiating provided a 12 to 14 point swing on the scoreboard in my estimation. This is not good considering that UCLA is the second worst team we have played and the others aren’t great either. I had ULCA at 2 and 10 preseason and see no reason to change the prediction. To date, Bowling Green is the best team we played. WVU and Illinois are headed towards .500 pretty fast and Kent State is looking at 0 and 12.
At least we have upgraded both coordinators. Coach K has been great. If you want to know how important a competent coordinator is, look at his old team with minimal talent loss from last year. 1 and 5 against a weak schedule. The offense isn’t humming yet and may not this year due to lack of talent at receiver but the line looks positively average. It is amazing what a coherent blocking scheme the players on hand can actually execute at a minimal level will do. But, we have major issues. Receiver is one. The line is another. Drew Allar is more than adequate but is really a poor man’s Ben Rothlisbergermeistermeisterberger. AKA, Blaine Gabbert. He is a big pro-style QB that can move a little but his accuracy problems are inherent.
Expecting dog fights the next few weeks. We have benefited from the loss of divisions more than just about every team this year. No Michigan. No Indiana. No Rutgers. Still thinking 9-3 or 10-2 given what we have seen.
The Nittany Turkey says
Well, you know, they’re now #4, so who can ever beat them? That’s the way some idiots think. As for me, I cannot see what I have continued to see on the field yet delude myself into believing that the ranking is anything more than a cruel joke by the AP pollsters. They will enjoy writing about PSU always being a bridesmaid when the Lions are left out of the playoffs again this year. Number thirteen in a field of twelve is their fate.
Put an offensive line in front of Allar and give him some receivers. Then, we might be looking at a decent offense. Alas, the current mess is a walking disappointment. The Sanguinarians have a litany of excuses for the underperformance, but they are in denial about where these guys top out.
They’ll go to L.A. thinking that if the lowly Gophers could beat the Prophylactics, then the mighty Nittany Lions sure as hell can — in a walkover. Then, they’ll screw around for an uninspiring first half while USC puts them in a 21-7 hole that they might not get out of.
The fact that PSU is favored by 2.5 will only add fuel to that fire. It will go to their heads. It’ll be a 12:30 start plus or minus jet lag, which will guarantee a lugubrious first half.
They need some deep play threats other than Liam Clifford. In the coming stretch of five games, I see only Purdue as a Kent State or UCLA-type mismatch. The rest will be interesting, as in the Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.”
—TNT