Blue White Roundtable: Alabama Week Edition
September 7, 2011 – | 1 Comment

Once again, it’s Adam Collyer over at BlackShoeDiaries providing the questions, and we, your humble bloggers, providing the answers. Mine are below, and you can venture off to the remote areas of the blogosphere that …

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Penn State/Kent State: Postgame Thoughts

Submitted by on September 19, 20102 Comments
Photo credit: AP/ESPN
It wasn’t the prettiest performance, or the guttiest one.  For that matter, today’s 24-0 shutout of Kent State wasn’t particular clean, or inspiring. Those who were expecting this team to make a statement came away disappointed, and those hoping to see signs of breaking out didn’t see much to get excited about.  But those who understand that this is still a young team, one still coming together, and one that’s trying to figure out what works where before two more matchups that will make or break the season coming up–against Iowa and Ohio State–can take a little bit, at least, to heart.

In talking to players and coaches after the game, there was one common thread through all their responses–each player on this team is going to be held accountable. The team practiced in full pads for almost the entire week–not necessarily as punishment for last week’s struggles against Alabama, but to fix the mistakes.  The team played too soft when they needed to be aggressive, and this week’s practice was all about tenacity.  Miss a tackle, and you were taking a seat.  Penn State could do what they wanted to against a middling MAC opponent, but the coaching staff, team, and fanbase alike know that won’t be the case moving forward.

Both the players and coaches said the tackling display against Alabama was inexcusable, and that sense carried through into today’s game. Virtually the entire two-deep defensively got into the game for long stretches, and the coaching staff sent a very strong message.  Nobody on the starting lineup is above seeing the bench.  Some players thrived in the adversity, in an “every-man-for-himself” setting, while others failed to rise to the occasion.  This team is very much a work in progress, on both sides of the ball, but I do feel as though they have the pieces to get there–wherever “there” is.

The Good:

From the first snap of the game, the tone was set. It was Pete Massaro and Sean Stanley starting at defensive end instead of the usual Jack Crawford and Eric Latimore. According to Joe Paterno, Crawford was a little banged up–I was later told it was a hip pointer–but Massaro’s insertion into the lineup was simply to shake things up.  And boy, did White Maybin deliver.  He was getting consistent pressure off the edge, even disrupting running plays in the backfield.  He may be Penn State’s best defensive end right now.  It’s been a long, tough road for Massaro, who’s in his third year on campus but his first on the gridiron, but you can see the fruits of his labor finally paying off.  The other star of Penn State’s defensive line was Devon Still. He’s a little bit inconsistent, but when he’s on, the guy’s a nightmare for any inside lineman, just like Jared Odrick was before him.

Stephfon Green is probably the #1 running back at this point.  In the post-game, Joe Paterno brushed off his increased playing time, explaining that he wanted to get experience for Evan Royster’s replacements since Royster won’t be back next year.  But just seconds later, he admitted that the team was still looking for answers at the running back position, and that Green has a shot to be “the guy.”  He certainly ran like it today–downhill running between the tackles, fighting for extra yards, and even waiting patiently for the right holes to open. In all honesty, he looked like, well, vintage Royster, even if he’s now surpassed the real thing.  He’s not the starter yet–he didn’t take over until Royster had already scored his first touchdown of the year to extend the Lions lead to 14, but this is a battle worth watching next week.

Special teams consider to be–gasp–a strength.  Sure, Collin Wagner missed his first field goal of the year, but you can’t expect him to be perfect.  And the fact that it was surprising that he missed a 43 yarder tells you how far he’s come since last year.  On the other hand, Anthony Fera was pretty awesome–especially on his kickoffs.  Fera kicked away 5 times, thrice into the end zone for a touchback.  The two times Kent State tried to return the ball, they ended up at the 23 and the 14.  With the “bend but don’t break” defense that seems to always give up a few first downs before getting off the field, every yard matters.  And on Penn State’s punt returns worth, Devon Smith scooted for a 16-yard return and Justin Brown nearly broke one, as he turned back across the field for a 15-yard return of his own.

Penn State’s secondary isn’t necessarily the strength I expected it to be, but they’ve got the best pair of corners in recent memory back there.  D’Anton Lynn is probably the best Nittany Lion at the position since, what, Rich Gardner?  Not only is he fast and fluid in coverage–and boy, can he read a pass (like the one he intercepted early on), but he attacks the line of scrimmage on running plays like a safety, and is a sure tackler.  He’s going to make a fine pro.  Stephon Morris isn’t as polished, but he’s got tremendous make-up speed, and, despite his stature, has a nose for the football.  They’ve done a fine job throughout the season, even in a scheme meant to minimize their importance.

This will be a much quicker note, but I’m a shameless Derek Moye fanboy.  He is big, strong, fast, and he’s got great hands and an even better drive.  On that deep ball down the seam, not only did he burst past the single coverage with the ball in the air, but after bringing it in, he dragged the defender for another 10, 15 yards.  The moment I remember most from last week’s Alabama game was Moye running the length of the field to chase down the Alabama defender after Chaz Powell’s fumble–and stripping the ball loose, too.  He has stepped it up this season to the point where you openly wonder whether he’ll consider leaving for the pros.  For Penn State’s sake, I sure hope not.

The Bad:

Evan Royster continues to be, what’s the expression, an enigma wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in mystery?  Coming into the season, he was supposed to carry this team.  With a new starter, Penn State was going to rely on their two-time returning all conference running back, who chose to return for his senior season. This year was supposed to be a celebration for Royster, and now we’re wondering whether, with 9 games to go, he’ll even manage to pick up the 371 yards necessary to pass Curt Warner as the all-time rusher in program history.  I’m not going to trash the kid, as others have done, but he’s a better player than he’s shown thusfar.  I don’t know what’s going on with him, but he just doesn’t look like the same back we’ve seen the last three years.  Hopefully, today was a lesson to him–if you don’t get it into gear, you’re not starting anymore.

Drew Astorino was simply awful today. There were plenty of poor performances in today’s game, but Astorino was conspicuous in his struggles. That’s what happens when you play right at the line, and you’re in on most plays.  Drew’s come a long way since his freshman year, but it’s in the wrong direction.  When he was playing in the nickel there, he was tremendous, flying around the field and making plays.  I was excited to see what he could do in a bigger role, and last year, he was expected to be the anchor of the defense.  Now, he’s failing to wrap up, taking awful angles, and looking terribly slow against MAC opponents.  The point of Penn State’s “hero” is to have something of an extra linebacker in the box, one who can cover the middle of the field.  But at this point, Astorino can do neither, and he’s just getting blown off the ball.  When Andrew Dailey got in for a few series at the end of the first half, he was measurably better than the entrenched starter.  We were told that he re-injured his shoulder and missed practice, but if that injury is hindering him that much, he shouldn’t be seeing the field.

Changing gears for a second, the crowd was the worst I’ve ever seen at Penn State.  Granted, I wasn’t here for the dark years, but the announced crowd was just 100,610, and that’s a severe overestimation.  The upper decks in the North and South end zones were both about 50% full.  It was a stunningly beautiful day, so there’s no excuses.  The student section was even worse–sure, we’re usually slow to show up, but they never did today.  The junior and senior sections were maybe 2/3 full at capacity.  It was hideous, and shameful.

The Mixed:

Rob Bolden is still growing as a passer, and today’s game showed the positives and the negatives of having a young stud at QB.  There were three beautiful plays that stand out in my mind–the 55 yarder down the seam to Derek Moye, the roll-out throw to Devon Smith (sure, it was underthrown, but you try tossing the ball 50 yards with a defender in your face), and the negated TD to Justin Brown on a beautiful fade pass.  All three were thrown as well as a pass could possibly be, with tremendous touch on the latter.  For the first time, we saw Bolden take off running, and though he needs to learn to get down or out of bounds, he’s exactly what you would’ve expected–a smooth, quick open field runner who gets to top speed pretty quick.  But he threw two interceptions, and, after a quick start, really struggled to find a groove.  His biggest problem is that he’ll stare down receivers–on the second pick, he never looked away from Moye on the slant.  Going through progressions is the toughest thing for a young QB to learn, but he’ll get there.  It his heartening to see, though, that he doesn’t lock in to a single receiver, at least, spreading his tosses around–10 different Lions caught passes today.

The linebacking corps continues to be very up-and-down.  On runs straight ahead, they did a much better job–attacking the line rather than waiting for the runner to come to them, sealing holes, and wrapping up nicely.  But Chris Colasanti is consistently finding himself out of position on counter runs, and Bani Gbadyu did not do a good job getting off blocks on runs to his side.  When Khairi Fortt took over for Gbadyu for a couple series, I’m sure Bani thought back to 2008, when he was usurped by Navorro  Bowman.  The biggest problem, though, is that from this unit, we’re really not seeing any big plays or difference makers.  They were solid today, but nobody just wanted Mike Mauti to be a pretty good linebacker.  He and Nate Stupar, especially, came in to this season with high expectations heaped upon them, and though they’ve been okay, they’ve failed to live up to the hype.

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  • Aaron

    About the “shameful” attendance: I think that might have something to do with the game being played on Yom Kippur, a day when me and my fellow Jews were stuck in synagouge all day not being able to eat. Yes, the noon kick and the inferior opponent had something to do with it too, but I think the holiday was a factor.

  • Anonymous

    I hedged my bets–I went for Kol Nidre and the morning service, but left in time to go to the game. I think you may be overestimating a) the number of Jews in central PA, and b) their observancy.

    [though not eating the free press box food was a killer]