The Nittany Turkey

Primarily about Penn State football, this is a tale told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

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Home Archives for Bill O’Brien

Prayers to St. Joe Answered

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At Mike’s Garage, Artificially Sweetened’s prayers to St. Joe, patron saint of State College, were answered and a season was redeemed, as was a successor head coach who had just the previous week caused many to doubt his sanity. Well, he’s still crazy, but this week, balls won over brains. This win was just what the doctor ordered on so many levels.

The Penn State Nittany Lions (4-2, 1-1 B1G) outlasted the #18 Michigan Wolverines (5-1, 1-1 B1G) to hand them their first loss of the year in a four-overtime thriller. The final score was 43-40, on an upset Saturday that saw three ranked teams fall to underdogs.

For a while, it looked as if both teams were trying to give away the game — literally. Michigan committed three turnovers and Penn State, four. Both quarterbacks did their best to solidify their reputations for tossing the ball away. But in the end, the Lions seemed to want the win just a little bit more, and for them, ballsy coaching coupled with some clutch plays saved the season. Back-to-back conference losses would have been devastating.

Clearly, some leadership qualities have emerged on this team. Heads were hanging and bodies were exhausted after PSU blew a 21-10 halftime lead to a 24-point scoring binge by the Wolverines, able to answer with a puny 3-pointer. They seemed to wake up at 34-24. Courage and confidence conspired to commence the tying effort. A spectacular catch by Allen Robinson, who in Keyshawn Johnson fashion had been complaining that he wasn’t getting the damn ball, got the Lions to the two yard-line with 27 seconds on the clock in regulation time. Hackenberg “snuck” it in for the TD and Sam Ficken’s extra point tied it. Michigan still had life, but a 52-yard try by hapless Brendan Gibbons fell short of the mark to send the game into overtime, re-energizing the listless Lions.

It was almost a replay of the 2006 Orange Bowl in overtime, only more so. That one was three extra periods of who could screw up worse, but this one took four to resolve. All seemed lost when Ficken missed his 40 yard field goal attempt in the first OT. However, the aforementioned Gibbons had his own 40 yard try blocked. (Low kicking trajectories’ll kill ya.) Geno Lewis must have a 64″ vertical leap—did you see how high that sumbitch got? So then, in the second OT, conservatively coached Michigan managed to make a 25-yarder, and fortunately, Sam Ficken answered with his own 36-yarder. In the third OT, all seemed lost when “Gimme da damn ball” Allen Robinson fumbled on an end-around. Handing the ball to the enemy in OT usually spells disaster, but do da name Brendan Gibbons ring a bell? Yeah, another miss, this one from 33. It was then Michigan’s turn on offense for the fourth OT period.

Brady Hoke seemed to be playing strictly for field goals, an anal retentive game of attrition. He got what he played for, as his boy Brendan Gibbons came through with a 40-yard field goal. Penn State got the ball and looked like it was headed for disaster or a fifth overtime — anything but a win — when their drive stalled on the Michigan 16. Fourth and one. A Beaver Stadium crowd of 107,884 whited out fans all knew that Ficken was going to come out for better or worse, but one man in the stadium, standing on the Penn State sideline, had a different idea. His was the only one that mattered. He would risk losing the game going for it on fourth down. His players were out of gas; Hoke’s attrition strategy was in danger of working. Bill O’Brien put the game — and the season — on the line right there. Bill Belton made the conversion with a yard to spare.

The gods, assembled by St. Joe, were surely guiding the Nittany Lions at that point. After an incomplete pass and a short run, the officials actually called pass interference on Michigan in the end zone, paving the way for the final scoring play from the two yard-line, in which Bill Belton got a decent block from much maligned fullback Pat Zerbe, getting the edge and a clear shot at the end zone. At Mike’s Garage, we had to replay it for Artificially Sweetened, who could not watch it the first time.

So what do I have to say about the inept defense now? Great performance by Olaniyan, a Michigan lad. The secondary — not so great, but a decent pass rush takes some of the pressure off those dudes. Mike Hull, still not fixed up, played a good game. The predicted mismatches were there, but Gardner was rushed enough that they didn’t do the damage they could have. Funchess was pretty unstoppable, although he screwed up a couple of times, winding up with “only” two touchdowns and 112 yards on four receptions, while Gallon had seven catches for 95 yards and one TD. It could have been lots worse, had the pass rush not been there. Michigan had 389 total yards, one fewer than Penn State. Devin Gardner was 15-28 passing with three TDs and two INTs passing, and 24-121 yards rushing. So, no, not exactly great defense. Just good enough to outlast the Wolverines.

Meanwhile, Penn State’s performance included scoring the first rushing touchdown on Michigan thus far this year. Belton and Hackenberg each had a rushing touchdown. Belton wound up with 27 carries for 85 yards. Zach Zwinak was pulled after just eight carries for 24 yards, fumbling the ball away on his last try. Hackenberg’s passing performance was about on par with Gardner’s, 23-44 with three touchdowns and two interceptions. It was Felder minus Moseby who was getting the ball instead of GMTDB Robinson. Felder had six catches for 97 yards and two TDs, although Robinson was there when it counted, adding five receptions for 84 yards. Jesse James added six for 67 yards.

Both teams sucked at third down conversions. Michigan was 4-18 and PSU 3-16. Michigan never tried to convert a fourth down. Penn State tried three (including one early WTF??? moment that evoked deja vu memories of the Indiana game) and made two, one with the entire game on the line right then and there. Balls of brass.

Fewer people will be second-guessing O’Brien now, I bet. Funny what a big win can do to silence critics and turn the fan base around from negative to sanguiarialistic.

As for this Turkey, I am heartened by this victory, but not to the extent that I’m going to change my 6-6 prediction, which included winning one game that PSU wasn’t supposed to win and losing one that PSU wasn’t supposed to lose. Those are both now behind us, so I’m looking for it to go as predicted from this point. If they had lost this game, they might well have given up on the season. Sloppy game, but a most excellent win!

The large aggregation of potential recruits attending the game certainly witnessed an impressive display. Who wouldn’t want to play for a brass-balled coach who puts his faith in his players to pull off a magical fourth down conversion with everything on the line? Who wouldn’t?

Meanwhile, in downtown State College, the beer and whiskey flowed well into the night and the mobile puke vacuums were deployed in the wee hours so that the little Happy Valley town would look pristine for its Homecoming visitors once again.

Good show, boys!

 

Are the eyes of Texas upon O’Brien?

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Pete Thamel of SI.com thinks that Penn State’s head coach, Bill O’Brien, would be one of five potential candidates to replace beleaguered Mack Brown at the University of Texas. His reasoning is that O’Brien revived a major brand that was in turmoil, and would be an attractive prospect to do the same where the bloom is off the yellow rose.

Of course, this is the speculation of a sports writer and nothing else at this point. I can look at it from two angles. One is that at Texas, O’Brien would have the unfettered ability to make gross changes for better or worse, undaunted by scandals and alumni clinging to the past. In this case, the alumni wish to depose his predecessor would give him a longer honeymoon. The other is that he’s partway through a rebuilding process at Penn State, so why leave until his job is complete? His brand will be worth much more with such a successful project under his belt.

However, there’s no doubt in this turkey’s birdbrain that Texas has enough money to throw at the job to entice anyone out there. Football in Texas is a religion. It’s life. You throw at it whatever resources it takes to make it healthy.

I have a better idea. Since they’re in the market for an AD, how about spending all that money on “stealing” Dave Joyner from Penn State. That would be a merciful crime.

Read the story here.

Sudden Impact: The Aftermath

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With most of us well into the acceptance phase of dealing with the reality that Penn State’s 2013 football team is mediocre, I thought I would revive Sudden Impact to take a look around the Internet for some decent articles on the Nittany Lions’ current status and future prospects. I have selected a couple of pretty rational assessments, with which you might or might not agree. You’ll also find some very good material in the comments to my previous post, where my six astute readers have posted some very keen observations and opinions.

Tom Bradley
Tom Bradley

The first point I want to hit upon is the idiotic undercurrent being bandied about by the less-than-cognoscenti, the St. Joe loyalists with blinders on: Bring Back Bradley. BBB is the stupidest, most misguided pie in the sky notion I’ve ever caught wind of in the sports world, even eclipsing the desire by desperate, misguided fans exhorting the hapless Jacksonville Jaguars to sign Tim Tebow at QB. They’re thinking with their hearts or other body parts, brains excepted. I enumerated reasons for my assessment that this is insanity in my comments to the previous post, but I’ll reproduce them here. Please curtail this lunacy!

  1. Why the hell would he ever want to return?
  2. Why the hell would O’Brien ever want him to return?
  3. People are, as usual, seeking a quick fix, a panacea — like going to Mexico in desperation for a non-FDA approved snake oil remedy for their terminal cancer. Scrap ain’t going to walk in, wave his staff, and make an awful defense anything better than the pile of offal it is.
  4. He wasn’t all that great a DC, IMHO. Never did produce a decent secondary. Was loaded with talent in the front seven, though, and we can’t say that about this team.
  5. Why bring back pieces of the contentious past? It won’t reincarnate St. Joe.
  6. The Sandusky/Bradley defensive schemes are antiquated in today’s game.
  7. Aside from all that, Scrap is a nice guy, the players love him, the alumni love him, and he deserves a warm spot in all of our hearts — but not on the sidelines.

The people who are seeking this nonsense are probably all conducting séances where they channel St. Joe and receive guidance from Him. “Hire Scrap. He’s a good kid. Good football player, too. Listen to me. You guys don’t know what you’re talking about, fer cryin’ out loud!” These are people who waste many hours fretting over how to get the Paterno statue restored to its former place of glory and his wins restored in the record book, people who would rather live in the past than to accept the penuriously personnelled present and the promise of the future, people who also think the Penn State Board of Trustees should be replaced by single-minded St. Joe loyalists who somehow know how to run a major university but whose major function will be the statue and the record.

My vitriol over the what Jethro Tull aptly titled Living in the Past notwithstanding (and not abating), I’ll move on.

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I’ve selected two articles from the veritable plethora of post-mortems following the Indiana game. I’m avoiding the obvious jokers, Flounder and Jones, because I wanted some fresh thoughts that truly reflect the state of the 2013 Nittany Lions and the import of this past weekend.

“O’Brien will never say it, but this also leads into how he must make do with questionable skill at center, right tackle, fullback, defensive end, linebacker and cornerback.” —Frank Bodani, York Daily Record

The first is a relatively brief piece entitled “Reality has arrived for undermanned Nittany Lions” by long-time Penn State football beat reporter Frank Bodani of the York Daily Record. Bodani succinctly addresses leadership problems, lack of depth, and an overall shortage of decent talent.

If Bodani’s calm rationality doesn’t bring the Sanguinarians back down to Earth, perhaps they need to change their prescriptions for happy pills. On the other hand, our next author hits us between the eyes with a two-by-four.

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Frequent contributor Joe Z. (who represents himself as just Joe in the comments, but I didn’t want you to think that I was holding séances where I sat around with a crystal ball channeling St. Joe) pointed me to a cogent piece in BSD by Cari Greene called “It’s Not the End of the World.” She offers not only a dose of reality, but also an admonishment to behave like Penn Staters, not assholes. Well, she doesn’t couch it in my profane style, so it is all the more effective. Apparently she sat next to some pro-PSU idiots in Bloomington who were hurling insults at our players and anyone else they could blame for their sorrows.

Green started out wanting to write about her experience at the game but changed her mind, writing a piece that puts the Indiana loss in perspective.

“This loss definitely sucks. But it’s nowhere near the end of the world; nor is it the worst loss in PSU history, of the 2013 season, or even, in my opinion, the worst loss in the still-fledgling Bill O’Brien era at Penn State (all arguments I’ve seen be made, whether hyperbolic or with true intentions).”

She doesn’t sugar coat anything, recognizing that there are lots of problems, but she attempts to reel in those of us at the extremes.

“I’ve heard calls for BOB to step down, for Butler to be fired for perceived ineptitude in defensive play. Two names I haven’t seen on the “FIUR HIM!” list, though, are Larry Johnson Sr and Ron Vanderlinden—and I’d argue that their units on defense have been the most underperforming and surprising (in a bad way) squads on the field—but apparently, they’ve gotten more of a benefit of the doubt. It’s highly unlikely that they’ve forgotten all of a sudden how to coach, after all—but apparently it’s easy for us to say that everyone else has.”

Wow! She said a mouthful and the LJ/Vanderlinden part of it is something I’ve harped on. These guys aren’t necessarily as good as many think they are. Yeah, LJ is loved by the players, and Vanderlinden coached some pretty damn good LBs, but let’s face it — they’re there to appease alumni, to provide a bridge to the past. They have to be a compromise for a DC, even a bad DC, who is stuck with them. It can’t be easy for Butler to be told that two key assistants are untouchables, even if their ideas are not compatible with his. Know what I mean?

Too many St. Joe loyalists do exactly what Greene states — think all the new coaches are idiots but these two vestiges of the good old days (or bad old days) are geniuses. I stated at the beginning of the season that it was time to retire LJ, Sr. Although I didn’t say anything about Vanderlinden, he has served his function and it is probably time for him to get the résumés out there.

Greene exhorts us to face the reality that Hackenberg is a freshman, so he still plays like one, but his future potential is bright.

“I choose to look forward. To see that Christian Hackenberg is learning, to expect the team (and coaching staff) to learn from their mistakes, move past these growing pains and get better, even minutely, week by week and, more importantly, year by year.”

Now, look, guys. Don’t just write this off because Cari Greene is a babe. She happens to be right about much of this stuff. I know that many Sanguinarians are also male Chauvinist pigs. C’mon, guys, make me proud. I want your comments, except those that discredit Greene’s thoughts because she never wore a jockstrap.

While some of this stuff she writes about is pretty obvious, given a couple of days to shake off the humiliation of a blowout loss, it’s still worth reading. I hope that you’re all getting back to normal out there.

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Potpourri: Colin Kaepernick has the top-selling jersey on NFLShop.com. Peyton Manning’s is second.

Also, in the NFL world, the Oakland Raiders have released demoted quarterback Matt Flynn. This solidifies former Nittany Lions Matt McGloin’s position as backup to almost Penn Stater Terrelle Pryor, who had a helluva good night last night against San Diego. Flynn started and bombed out in Week 3, after which he was demoted to third-string and McGloin moved up. I’m thinking that Buffalo, who have lost their starting and backup quarterbacks to injuries, might be a viable destination for Flynn.

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I’ll be back later in the week with my preview and prediction for the big Homecoming game with the Wolverines.