Dispensing Thoughts and Opinions: PSU-Nebraska

FTB’s Rapid Reaction/Stream of Consciousness After Penn State’s Fourth Loss of the Season

• Yeah, Penn State didn’t quit. Congrats, I guess?  Is this really where we’re at as a program? Commending guys for fighting hard after face-planting out of the gate against a winless team with a freshman quarterback making his first start? Appreciate the effort, but it can’t be applauded. 
• James Franklin’s decisions to A) Start Sean Clifford and B) Not pull him after that Nuke LaLoosh INT on the Nittany Lions’ first drive cost Penn State the game. Even pre-LASIK Jameis Winston could clearly see the emotional swing and energy boost when Will Levis entered the game. 

• Speaking of Franklin’s in-game decision making, his choice to kick a 56-yarder down 21 on 4th and 8 – a kick that legit fell 8 to 10 yards short of clearing the crossbar – and his choice to pass on a chip shot down 7 points with 3:30ish left in the game on 4th and 10 didn’t make a lot of sense…to us, anyway. 
• National media types seem to believe James Franklin has built up enough equity at Penn State to withstand a 3-6, 2-7, 1-8, or even 0-9 season. For the sake of argument, let’s say that’s true. OK, then what is the 2021 win threshold he must meet in order to keep his job for 2022? Is 8-4…with a mid-tier bowl win to go 9-4 good enough? 
• At halftime, we tweeted out a “5 Stages of Grief” Chart. Our amazing analytics guy, Nate, took things a further and nailed a 5 Stages of Grief: Penn State fan edition. For those who missed it, here it is:

DENIAL: (36-35 Loss at Indiana) If the refs got it right, we beat IU. We were clearly the better team but made too many mistakes. 

ANGER: (38-25 Loss vs. Ohio State) We’ll never be on the same level as Ohio State and it’s all the staff’s fault! Fire everyone!

BARGAINING: (35-19 Loss vs. Maryland) Let’s play all of the freshmen to give them a spark. We’ll literally try anything.

DEPRESSION (Down 27-6 at halftime at Nebraska) YOU ARE HERE. Maybe cleaning the garage or mowing the yard will cheer me up. Just need to get my mind off of this. 

ACCEPTANCE: (Losing by 35 to a very disciplined and young Iowa team the week before Thanksgiving) Seven days away!

• Is the turnover Hallmark Thank You Card gone? Please say it’s gone. 
• Red Zone play calling – in particular Goal-To-Go play-calling – lacks a lot of the creativity we expected from Kirk Ciarrocca. The third story we posted on the blog (which feels like 12 years ago now) scouted Ciarrocca’s 2016 Western Michigan offense – an offense that had incredibly imaginative under-center goalline packages. Can we knock the dust off those plays, Kirk? 
• If something happens to Levis – injury, poor play – the next move MUST BE to Taquan Roberson. Sean Clifford is broken. Can’t go back. Let Cincinnati or a MAC school fix him next year. Penn State needs to move on. If we lose his brother, Liam, because of it, oh well. 
• In a lot of our HINDSIGHT articles, we’ve dogged Devyn Ford for not moving the pile or gaining additional yards beyond what was blocked for (not sure if that’s worded correctly, but hopefully you get our point.) Well, Ford shut us up today. Bunch of broken tackles, bunch of late lunges to get the first down, or touchdown. Impressive day…especially late. 
• Penn State is the only winless Big Ten team left.