Dispensing Thoughts and Opinions – Penn State vs. Delaware

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• Hey! HEY! Yeah YOU: conference commissioners, TV execs, athletic directors, and university presidents! If your unquenchable longing to dive head-first in Scrooge McDuck swimmable gold-coin vaults bastardizes everything we used to love about college football, can you at least to put rest these lamb-to-the-slaughter FCS schedule-filling Saturdays while you’re hard at work ruining the sport? Please! We’re begging you! Watching this curb-stomping was a chore, at best. Paying $5.99 for the privilege to do so made me sit and reflect on where my life went so wrong. My dream is that the TV networks/streaming services demand for a better on-field product pressures the Big Ten into upping the conference schedule to 12 games (6 home, 6 away) with each team adding an out-of-conference FBS Week 0 home opponent (UMass, Kent State, Georgia, Louisiana-Monroe, Temple, IDC…just as long as they’re FBS) to ensure schools seven games worth of ticket/chicken basket revenue.

• But what about all these have-not programs like Delaware, Villanova and Indiana State that depend on subjecting their unpaid, undersized, overmatched student-athletes to serious bodily harm in order to pocket a seven-figure check from Penn State? What ever will they do?!?!? Here’s an idea: have them play a 3-game exhibition schedule against FBS opponents in the spring. For example, Delaware could be Rutgers’ spring game opponent on April 10, Penn State’s spring game opponent on April 17, and Boston College’s spring game opponent on April 24 – kinda like those old ‘Athletes In Action’ semi-pro basketball teams used to do versus college squads back in the late 1990s/early 2000s. Require FBS season-ticket holders to buy the new Spring Game exhibition, no opt-outs…just like NFL season-ticket holders have to buy the preseason games even though those contests are an absolute waste of time and money. It’s win-win all around. The FCS poors get as many checks as they can collect in April, and the tired, mundane, decades-old college spring game model gets a shot in the arm.

• Headlining a squad full of superstars that feels like they’re pressing the issue juuust a bit to compile gaudy individual stats and hype video-worthy clips, Drew Allar once again zigged while his teammates zagged and simply took what the defense offered. Facing a punching-bag opponent whose sole goal was to lose by less than 80 points – evidenced by the Blue Hens Charmin-soft coverage and tendency to drop their safeties all the way to the Altoona city limits road sign on every snap – Allar didn’t get frustrated, didn’t try to impress Heisman voters with dangerous thread-the-needle throws, and didn’t mind piecing together a death-by-papercut 22 of 26, 204-yard, 1 TD ho hum afternoon. Maturity.

• Feels nonsensical throwing this bloody chum in the water immediately after Penn State rushed for 315 yards and 6 touchdowns on the ground, but is it time to worry about the dearth of explosive runs generated thus far by Nick and The Fatman? A lot of bunts and infields singles. No home runs or bat flips. In 2022, Singleton posted 18 “breakaway runs” — gains of 15 or more yards. Through  two games this year, he has (checks notes…counts on fingers) zero.  In 2022, Kaytron Allen had 8 breakaway runs. Currently, he’s got 2 – both for less than 20 yards. We’ll explore this disturbing trend further this week in FTB Film Study

• Ryan O’Connor sounds like the name of the generic, computer-generated quarterback you drafted in the 3^rd Round in Year 2052 of your Madden franchise.

• Of all the non-sports programming Peacock could promote during commercial breaks in hopes of avoiding the inbound cancellation tsunami coming from Penn State fans after the clock hit 0:00, they chose re-runs of Walker, Texas Ranger? A show that’s so old it pre-dates memes of its star, Chuck Norris? Questionable decision.

• FYI, the domain www.ktrain.com is still available, M-Rob.