Dispensing Thoughts and Opinions: PSU-Michigan State

FTB’s Rapid Reaction/Stream of Consciousness Following Penn State’s Final Home Game of the Season…Maybe. 

• This better have been Senior Day for the Cardboard Cutouts, too. #107kStrong next September. Make it happen, Pfizer.  Stick that goo right in my arm, doc.

• Kinda glad Penn State trailed by double digits at halftime so that James Franklin/Kirk Ciarrocca had no choice but let the offense bowl without the bumpers during the 3rd quarter and competitive moments of the 4th quarter. (We’ve used water wings and training wheels before, so bowling bumpers is all we got left). On this unseasonably pleasant day — the opposite of last week’s Rutgers weather — it was maddening to watch Penn State play restrictor-plate football in the first half.

• Credit where credit is due: Penn State is 1 of 3 Big Ten to play a full 8-game schedule. In our post-Maryland DISPENSING, we hinted the Nittany Lions’ disappointing 0-3 start could be the catalyst for game cancellations. But that didn’t happen. Shows maturity. So kudos to the players, coaches and staff who gave us 8 Saturday distractions from reality.

• At this point, the clunker Land Grant Trophy might be worth more if Penn State just scrapped it for parts.

• Penn State Twitter needs to chill out a bit…there’s NO WAY Jahan Dotson is leaving early. Chris Godwin was a 3rd round pick.  DaeSean Hamilton (who didn’t leave early) was a 4th round pick. KJ Hamler was a 2nd round pick. At this stage, he’s not a better pro prospect than any of those three, so why would he leave? Jahan, let your game bake in the oven another season before you pull it out.

• The leaping catches and RAC are vintage Parker Washington — if aspects of a true freshman’s game can be tagged “vintage” — but what impressed us today was the young Texan’s downfield blocking. A year in the weight room might do wonders for No. 3 next season.

• No helmet sticker this season for the Beaver Stadium grounds crew. Sorry. No huge chunks of turf popping up or anything, but I’ve never seen so many players slipping and sliding on what’s usually some of the tightest and best turf in college football. I’m not a grassologist (I believe that’s the technical term) but I wonder if the start-stop-start nature of the 2020 Big Ten season threw the grounds crew off schedule?

• What’s with TV’s obsession reminding us that Beaver Stadium is empty? Penn State played road games at two college football cathedrals this season — Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium and Michigan’s Big House — and I don’t recall them showing blimp porn of sellout crowds from yesteryear then flash to the sad and depressing present of empty bleachers. Knock it off, ABC.

• Shane Simmons, welcome to the party, bud! Wanna hang out a little bit longer…say another season?

• If backflips are how Keyvone Lee punctuates 3-5 seasons, here’s hoping next season’s finale causes him to go full Cirque du Soleil.

• Good teams win. Great Teams cover. Clutch 4th quarter stop, boys.