Of All the Things That Made Zero Sense Last Season, the Nittany Lions’ Historically Pitiful Turnover Luck Was One of Them 

Sponsor: For The Blogy’s preseason coverage is sponsored by FANATICS. Gear up for College Football season with Nike’s 2021 Penn State sideline collection of polos, t-shirts, hats, pullovers and more right HERE.

*Each FANATICS purchase you make helps support For The Blogy.

HOPE might be the foulest, most dangerous four-letter word in the English language, but even so, there’s an air of optimism wafting over the 2021 Penn State football season for a couple reasons.

I’d waste 300-400 words waxing poetic about those reasons but A) by now, you already know what they are, and B) I really wanna cut corners and crank this blog post out because a pool float with a highly-caloric fruity adult beverage in the cup holder awaits. But, for our seven-month coma patient readership, here’s a quick list:

 Yurcich hire. 

Dotson/Walker/Brisker return. 

Normal-ish spring practice. 

Normal-ish fall practice (no jinx). 

James Franklin’s full Transfer Portal cart.

Home-field advantage is back.

One factor, though, that doesn’t get as much play as those just listed – and one we’ll explore for as long as I can stand being cooped up indoors on this postcard-perfect afternoon — is Penn State’s historically wretched 2020 Turnover Luck and the unlikelihood of lightning striking twice in 2021.

Continue reading

In Tune with Penn State Football’s More-Spit-Than-Polish Tradition, an Underhyped Core of Key Players are Tasked with Turning Things Around

Sponsor: For The Blogy’s preseason coverage is sponsored by FANATICS. Gear up for College Football season with Nike’s 2021 Penn State sideline collection of polos, t-shirts, hats, pullovers and more right HERE.

*Each FANATICS purchase you make helps support For The Blogy.

Black Shoes. Basic Blues. No Names. All Game.

It’s a memorable slogan we all recognize, a sly bit of marketing attributable to Penn State’s former branding guru Guido D’Elia, who understood and cleverly seized on a paradox: The best way of preserving the program’s stoic, old school mentality in an age of disposable glitz was by embracing the sales process, packaging up its essence and proudly advertising it. The resulting catchphrase just might make an especially appropriate rallying cry for this year’s Nittany Lions, a group intent on emerging from the long shadow cast by a lost 2020 season that, however unconventional, nevertheless featured the worst start (0-5, friends, lest you’ve forgotten) in the august 134-year history of Penn State football. 

The team will undertake this task with a roster noticeably short on individual starpower. No Names.

Around this point in the Summer, the first real signs of Autumn’s approach start becoming evident in Happy Valley. The Town&Gown Football Annual joins the national preview mags on newsstands. The latest shipment of replica jerseys hits the racks of local outfitters. So whose face should grace the magazine covers this time around? Whose jersey number should Nike appropriate for one final season in the revenue-hoarding sun?  Recently, luminaries like Saquon Barkley, Trace McSorley, and Micah Parsons have been no-brainers in those roles. Owing to a variety of factors, this year’s team has no such obvious spokesman. 

Continue reading

Mid-July = List Season Across College Football Media, so We’ll Toss Our Sweat-Stained Hat in the Ring and Rattle Off Some Penn State Starters Who Can and Can’t Afford to Miss Many Snap This Season 

Sponsor: For The Blogy’s preseason coverage is sponsored by FANATICS. Gear up for College Football season with Nike’s 2021 Penn State sideline collection of polos, t-shirts, hats, pullovers and more right HERE.

*Each FANATICS purchase you make helps support For The Blogy.

REPLACEABLE

Jahan Dotson

Before you all lift your pitchforks in unison, give us a sentence or two to outline our rationale because we really flip-flopped on whether Dotson belonged in the ‘Replaceable’ or ‘Irreplaceable’ bin. Presumably, those who clicked-off the blog at the mere sight of Dotson’s name probably did so because A) he topped the Big Ten in receiving yards (884) and receiving TDs (8) in 2020 B) that cool catch vs. Ohio State and C) as Sean Clifford learns his 4th new offense in 5 years, the fortified chemistry between he and Dotson should help smooth out early bumps in the learning process.  

True, true, and true. But if Dotson did miss time in 2021, would it really be the end of the universe? Mike Yurcich has proven throughout his college play-calling tenure that his system makes the receiver, not the other way around. Stud pass-catchers like James Washington and Marcell Ateman have been JAGs at best in the NFL. Heck, in 2015, David Glidden racked up 866 receiving yards with Yurcich calling the shots. 

Who the hell is David Glidden, you ask? Precisely.

Continue reading

In Less Than a Decade, James Franklin’s Signature Line Has Gone From Battle Cry to Whisper to Something Worth Shouting Once Again 

On a dreary, rainy, #basic January Pennsylvania afternoon that won’t wind up pictured in any travel brochures shelved up at Denny’s, newly-hired Penn State coach James Franklin literally opened his mouth, figuratively lifted his leg, and definitively marked his territory during his 2014 introductory press conference when he said:

“Our recruiting philosophy: We are going to dominate the state. We’re going to dominate the state. …That is going to be our plan, and I’m calling all the high school coaches, I’m calling all the people in the state, that we need to come together like never before. And I think with everybody pulling the rope in the same direction, there’s no reason why we can’t take this program where everybody wants it to be.”

In retrospect, the genius of that quote (and the reason it stuck) wasn’t the slogan itself – although, hand up, it was catchy as heck – but rather the time at which Franklin spouted it. Though draconian NCAA sanctions were eventually truncated in September 2014, remember when Franklin initially took the job Penn State was still two full seasons away from being permitted to compete for the Big Ten title or even earn a bowl invite. 

No postseason. No trophies. No rings. 

Continue reading

On Tuesday, the Highest-Ranked Pennsylvania Prep Ballcarrier Since 2017 Became the Highest-Ranked Member of Penn State’s 2022 Recruiting Class

On a streaming platform 99 percent of us didn’t know was a thing, a comforting storyline we once took for granted played out again in spite of CBS Sports HQ’s primitive production value – Pennsylvania’s premier prep playmaker picked Penn State!

After a fleeting one-weekend flirtation with Notre Dame that had Penn State’s message board mafia chomping their digital fingernails, Nicholas Singleton – a coveted 4-star running back out of Governor Mifflin High School in Reading  – finally took James Franklin up on that scholarship offer doled out back in the summer of 2019 by verbally committing on Tuesday to come play college ball in Happy Valley next season. 

Continue reading

The 11th Hour Addition of the Former Florida State Defender Marks a Break From the Norm Compared To Penn State’s Previous Portal Pickups

All it took was six months for James Franklin to experience his first Mid-Portal Crisis. 

That’s not to say awarding the 84th penultimate scholarship to dismissed Florida State defensive back A.J. Lytton is the equivalent of a purchasing a motorcycle, or a pair of skinny jeans, or an 96-month-financed Corvette, or anything else super desperate or cringey, but it does raise a few eyebrows because the move really clashes with Franklin’s earlier Transfer Portal rescues. 

Harvard OL Eric Wilson. Baylor RB John Lovett. Duke DT Derrick Tangelo. South Carolina DB John(ny) Dixon. Temple DE Arnold Ebiketie. What do all those guys have in common? Well, for the most part, each of them were either middle-of-the-road or under-the-radar recruits out of high school who shone brighter than their Rivals/247 stars once they reached college. For various reasons – coaching changes, the want to play on a bigger stage – all 5 portal players relocated to Penn State as established, high floor, high character, plug-and-play options to start Week 1 or see substantial snaps at positions of need.

Continue reading

MARYLAND – Nov. 6, Maryland Stadium

Feels weird typing ‘Poor Mike Locksley’ when you consider he’s still employed and handsomely compensated despite his 8-43 career record as a head coach, but, man, it’s really hard to not feel a little bit sorry for this guy. 

After pasting Penn State 35-19 and posting that admittedly clever ‘You Were…We Are’ graphic on social media, Maryland’s burgeoning sand castle got washed away when a wave of COVID infections spread throughout the program. More than half of the Terrapins’ remaining schedule vanished – along with any and all 2020 momentum — because of positive tests/mandatory quarantine rules, as Locksley’s crew participated in a Big Ten-worst five total games.  

Then, Locksley’s entire coaching staff (or close to it) peace’d out for what seem like demotions elsewhere. 

Defensive coordinator Jon Hoke left to take the DBs coaching job with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. 

Offensive coordinator Scottie Montgomery felt becoming the RBs coach for the Indianapolis Colts was the best career move for him. 

Continue reading

INDIANA – Oct. 2, Beaver Stadium

Indiana’s quarterback situation makes Penn State’s quarterback situation look like (insert something clever here). 

Michael Penix Jr. – 10-2* as a starter, Davey O’Brien Award semifinalist, 2nd Team All-Big Ten quarterback – remains on the shelf this spring after tearing his ACL during the Hoosiers’ win vs. Maryland in late November 2020. 

When asked on March 1 about his post-surgery progress, Penix Jr. told the IU media he’s “on schedule.” That’s it. Just “on schedule.” Whether that means “on schedule” to fully participate in all aspects of fall camp and then breeze right back under center Week 1 at Iowa, well, Penix Jr. didn’t elaborate…so who knows? According to the first search result on Google – the typical depths of our research here at FTB — ACL rehab/recovery ranges from 7 to 9 months in length. 

To make matters worse for Tom Allen, Indiana 3rd String quarterback Dexter Williams also tore his ACL during a non-contact  spring practice drill – an injury that leaves the Hoosiers with one (1!) healthy scholarship quarterback: Jack Tuttle. In two forgettable starts last year, Tuttle threw for 331 yards while directing an offense that failed to surpass 20 points in either contest. Currently, Zack Merrill, Grant Gremel, and Will Jontz – three walk-ons with the most walk-on-sounding names ever – are sharing backup reps at practice.   

Continue reading

WISCONSIN – Sept. 4, Camp Randall Stadium

Neanderball has a new (old) sheriff in Madtown.

After bequeathing play-calling responsibilities to offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph for seven forgettable games last year, sweatshirt enthusiast/Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst told the media in February that he’s snatching those duties back so that he – and only he – can make those tough choices of whether to run left, run right, or run up the middle. 

In fairness to Rudolph, he was pretty much doomed to fail. 

COVID clobbered Wisconsin’s continuity throughout the abnormal 2020 season as an early-season outbreak canceled several games and left the Badgers scrambling to assemble a patchwork 2-deep during weeks they actually took the field.  That disjointed flow probably stunted QB Graham Mertz’s development in his first season as a starter…and if it didn’t, it’s a helluva excuse for his up-and-down performance.  Following a near-perfect debut vs. Illinois – 20-21, 248 yards, 5 TD – Mertz threw more interceptions than touchdowns the rest of the way and only completed above 60 percent of his passes in one of his six remaining starts. 

Up front, 4 of 5 starting slots on the offensive line are up for grabs, which would be worrisome if this was any other team besides Wisconsin. History hints they’ll be fine in the trenches. In fact, expect more in-game rotation/substitution along the offensive line compared to previous seasons because of the surplus of 4- and 5-star beefeaters on the Badgers roster. 

Continue reading