Don’t Worry, Mike Yurcich, the Sweet Smell of Victory Masks All

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FTB CHARTING – BOX SCORE

 Going on out a limb here, but if Penn State’s second-half offensive production sextuples (giggity) its first-half offensive production every single week from now until the end of the season…well…hmm…actually, they’ll still probably lose to Ohio State by two touchdowns.

But, hey, 11-1! Not bad, huh?

After making a rather off-putting 43-yard first impression in front of the Penn State faithful, new OC Mike Yurcich went in at halftime, figuratively picked parsley out of his front teeth, popped a couple quarters in the ‘Cologne At A Touch’ vending machine, sat back down and charmed us for the next 30 minutes with a smattering of successful deep shots coupled with a 34-yard outside zone bash that instantly made us forget about our ex, Kirk Ciarrocca.

Yeah, it’s early, but things are already getting pretty serious. Can’t help it. Those 254 second-half yards of offense vs. Wisconsin, enough to eek out a 16-10 heart-pounder on the road, has us feeling some type of way. Maybe he’s THE one. Maybe he’s not. Regardless, we’re moving fast…which is kind of what he’s known for.

And guess what? This weekend, we’re introducing Mike to 107,000 of our friends!

Hopefully, they like him.

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• Please excuse any typos. My fingers won’t stop shaking. And to our neighbors, sorry about the yelling.

• If this isn’t Brent Pry’s finest hour, it’s pretty damn close. Ohio State 2016? Iowa 2017 or 2019? Do those performances top this one? Even factoring in ‘prisoner of the moment’ syndrome, I don’t think they do. For 42 minutes, 51 seconds, Wisconsin’s well-fed maulers slugged Penn State’s defense right in the mouth and like some deranged masochist with cauliflower ear the Nittany Lions smiled and asked for more. I’m sure this exact stat will eventually leak out on Twitter, but until it does, I can’t imagine Wisconsin’s record in games in which they possessed the ball for 40-plus minutes isn’t undefeated….well, until today, obviously. From a technical standpoint, the two glaring issues that we highlighted ad nauseam throughout our 2020 Penn State defense Film Studies – fitting run gaps and communication breakdowns in the secondary – weren’t a problem today.

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A Slate of High-Profile Non-Conference Matchups Could Define the Big Ten Before the Leaves Change

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If there is one lesson to be learned thus far from college football’s playoff era, it is this: Brand matters.

While the number of playoff berths seems destined to expand eventually, it appears we will have several more years with the current model, in which the supply of postseason slots dramatically dwarfs the demand from would-be participants and their fans. It is a system where national perception of your program definitively dictates the reality of its playoff chances, a trend that absolutely extends to your conference at large. So if you aspire to chase an elusive committee selection, a great name is a necessity, but it sure helps to keep the right company. Don’t believe me? Ask our fellow Rebel Alliance partner the PAC-12 about how level the playing field seems from where they sit.

Perversely, one of the more frustrating losses for Penn State fans, a potential home upset of Ohio State in 2014 that hinged on two abjectly terrible blown calls, probably altered the Big Ten’s fate in the selection committee’s brand equity horse race – and therefore the Lions’ own future playoff chances – for the better. In August of 2014, the preseason conventional wisdom tabbed the stodgy Big Ten, clinging to its cable boxes and dusty memories of days gone by, as the most likely “odd man out” of the five-conference race for four newly-minted playoff spots. As it happened, Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes caught lightning in a bottle, and after a demolition of Wisconsin in the B1G Championship vaulted them over TCU and into the inaugural CFP, Ohio State toppled mighty Alabama on its way to a national title win over Oregon. That championship performance, which resuscitated the Big Ten’s flagging reputation and pushed the Big XII and PAC-12 down in the pecking order, never would have happened without the Nittany Lions taking one for the team.

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Welcome to For The Blogy’s Bankroll Challenge presented by PlayAction Pools.

It’s completely FREE to join and, at the end of the college football season, one lucky winner is going to win a signed 16×20 picture  of Saquon Barkley (below) courtesy of our partners at Fanatics.

The contest will operate as a virtual sportsbook throughout the College Football Season.

Players will start with a fantasy bankroll of 10,000 shares and have the opportunity to build their bankroll with correct picks throughout the season. Players will be able to make picks on the Point Spread, Over/Under and Moneyline.

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How to view a Penn State football program firmly ensconced among the nation’s top title contenders, yet also a leader among that frustrating tier of perpetual playoff bridesmaids; a team widely regarded as the surest threat to Ohio State’s Big Ten dominance, yet coming off a historically-horrendous five-game losing streak to open 2020?

Let’s consider our Dear Old State through fresh eyes, and see it both ways….

MAYBE IT’S ACTUALLY BAD

We can start with the obvious. The team started 0-5, something that had previously occurred exactly ZERO times in Happy Valley, despite two World Wars, a pre-Zoom pandemic, social upheaval, 9/11, lousy recruiting with awful teams, and then an emotionally-devastating scandal resulting in ludicrous sanctions meant to devastate the program’s ability to compete. Zero. So cry me a river about some new coaches and missed practice time.

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In What’s Becoming an Annual Tradition, Fox 8 New Orleans Sports Reporter/AP Poll Voter/Friend of the Blog Garland Gillen Spoke With FTB About His Preseason Rankings on the Eve of Monday’s Release

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FTB: No need to beat around the bush here…did you rank Penn State?

GG: I actually don’t have them ranked, and it’s largely due to their quarterback play. Not that impressed with a lot of the quarterback play in the Big Ten, to be honest. I know Penn State rebounded from an 0-5 start and finished the second half of the season blazing, but that doesn’t erase a preseason Top 10 team starting 0-5. I think a lot of this season falls on Sean Clifford – when he protected the ball, Penn State won; when he turned the ball over, they lost. So you have a guy who was up-and-down last season, and now the backups aren’t experienced after Will Levis transferred to Kentucky, so that security blanket is gone. I know (James) Franklin is killing it in recruiting, so that bodes well for the future, but obviously those guys are a year away from being on the roster.

Now, with all that said, I have Wisconsin ranked No. 13 in my preseason poll. If Penn State goes to Madison and beats Wisconsin, then yeah they’re in the next week. Firmly in. Nothing is written in stone. After Week 1, my preseason poll could be flipped upside-down. We won’t have to wait long to see where Penn State stands.

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To all the men and women sequestered in that sauna/storage container on stilts, also known as the Beaver Stadium press box, thank you for your service.

On Saturday, the college football calendar finally got back on schedule when Penn State held its annual early-August Media Day, even though the alterations to this event’s usual minutiae — Zoom-powered press conferences, 1-on-1 interviews done from a six-foot distance behind a plastic white chain  – reminded us that normalcy hasn’t completely returned to the fold. 

But, for a few hours anyway, it was fun to keep refreshing Twitter like it was a mechanical pencil and make way too much of various reporters’ observational notes from the 25 minutes of practice open to the media.

For those of you with a life, and better things to do on a summer Saturday, the martyrs here at FTB rummaged through the cornucopia of clichés and plucked out every enlightening spoken word/observation for you.  You’re welcome.  

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Former Texas OC Mike Yurcich’s Lone Season in the Lone Star State Resulted in a lot of Points, a Pink Slip, and Perhaps Some Perspective of What to Expect This Season at Penn State. 

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If Mike Yurcich is a man of his word – and thus far, we have no reason to believe he’s not – members of Penn State’s keyboard crew (like us) apparently got carte blanche to wildly speculate, spew half-truths and do it while not wearing pants.

Because Penn State’s new offensive coordinator DGAF about any of that…even though his stern, frustrated tone kinda suggests he does.

Confused? Just watch this Yurcich press conference toward the end of last season when the cyber sharks were circling Texas head coach Tom Herman:

Actually, wait…rewind that. Did Yurcich say he COULD care less??!?!?! Ugh, come on, man. So he DOES give a rip about what we type and how clothed we are while typing it? Sigh…well, great. Give us a second to find another noteworthy anecdote from Yurcich’s 51 weeks on Herman’s coaching staff at Texas. 

Let’s see here…

…noteworthy, noteworthy…

…gosh, there’s not much.

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