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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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Editor’s Note: Each week during the season, the FTB Staff will release its scouting report on Penn State’s upcoming opponent. Normally, these blogs will be posted at 11 a.m. EST Thursday and Friday…but we’re a little premature this week. Hey, happens to the best of us. 

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Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard’s life is a John Cougar Mellencamp song waiting to be written.

Reared in Tony, Wisconsin, a ‘town’ of 113 people, Leonhard’s Herculean high school athletic accomplishments – gaining 500 total yards from scrimmage in a single football game, nailing 10 3-pointers in a basketball game, striking out 19 of 21 batters in 7 innings – sound so fantastical even Al Bundy and Uncle Rico call BS. But, apparently, it’s all true…or at least that’s how it reads on the giant wood Jim Leonard sign near the edge of town; you know, the one a guy in a “dusty, dented and scratched red Chevrolet Silverado 4×4 pickup truck” constructed few years back.

When no Division I school offered Leonhard a scholarship, he walked-on at Wisconsin, played four years, and was named All-American three times despite not earning a full-ride until his senior season (according to Wikipedia, anyway. This can’t be right, can it?!?! Dude was paying for his own Meal Plan while an All-American safety??!?!)

When no NFL team bothered drafting Leonhard, the 5-foot-8 Scrappy Doo made the Buffalo Bills roster as an UDFA and stuck around the league for decade, earning $9 million in the process.

And this past winter, when the bigger-than-Jesus (in Wisconsin, anyway) Green Bay Packers wooed and courted Leonhard to fill their vacant DC position, the Badgers’ 38-year-old X’s and O’s prodigy turned them down, explaining to madison.com, “I love being back here at my alma mater and honestly trying to take this program to places it hasn’t been.”

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Editor’s Note: Each week during the season, the FTB Staff will release its scouting report on Penn State’s upcoming opponent. Normally, these blogs will be posted at 11 a.m. EST Thursday and Friday…but we’re a little premature this week. Hey, happens to the best of us. 

 Sponsor: Hey, it’s us! For The Blogy! Join our 2021 FTB Donors Club – the best way for you to show your support and keep this train rolling – and receive an exclusive FTB zipper bottle Koozie as a gift! Sign up HERE.

*Please remember to click the ‘Share My Address With For The Blogy’ box when checking out so we know where to mail your gift!

For 8 months, the 2020 Duke’s Mayo Bowl – a game whose live TV viewership couldn’t match the swarm of clicks the destruction of its trophy received on Instagram – has been the unwanted relative sitting in my DVR.

Countless times my Significant Other has asked, ‘Hey can we get rid of this?’ in order to free up room for episodes of General Hospital or that one show where home renovators are always shocked to find mold. And countless times I’ve replied, “No, we cannot get rid of this. I need it.”  

OK, maybe “countless times” is a tad hyperbolic.  We can all count to two. 

Regardless, the point I’m failing to make is that putting together informative scouts on Penn State’s Week 1 opponents will forever be clunky because you’re using tape that’s collected a lot of digital dust since last season. Guys graduate. Guys transfer. Guys return from injury. Guys move up the depth chart, beating out starters from last season.

And in Wisconsin’s case, guys also can get 2020’d. 

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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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Soon, we will find out exactly what sort of Penn State team we have on our hands. We won’t have to guess or argue about whether the defensive line has enough depth or who will step up as the third wide receiver – we’ll know. College football is back, and by this time next week, the Nittany Lions will be 1-0 or 0-1 and we’ll have five times more questions but we’ll also have 10 times more answers, with more to follow each week as summer becomes fall.

At the same time, what has been pretty much the question of the offseason, if not the last three years, will likely remain, and that is:

Can Sean Clifford get it done?

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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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Introduction

Since 2004, Penn State’s annual Whiteout has grown into one of the biggest spectacles in college football and college sports overall. Two-page Sports Illustrated photo spreads, ESPN spots like this video from 2012, and viral moments like Michigan being forced to call a timeout on the first play from scrimmage in 2019, have all elevated this one-time promotional gimmick and made it the greatest college football tradition of the 21^st century. But, while the hype of the Whiteout is nearly unmatched, does it give Penn State an actual advantage on the field? Are there some quantifiable, statistical signs that emerge because of the Whiteout crowd?

The Opponents & Tidbits

Before we get into the specifics, let’s take a look at the teams who’ve been schedule as Penn State’s Whiteout opponent over the years, starting with Purdue in 2004. Because of the Whiteout’s ‘circle the date’ stature, it’s no surprise that historical Big Ten heavyweights Michigan (6 Whiteout appearances) and Ohio State (5 Whiteout appearances) dominate the table below.

Tidbits:

• Penn State is 8-8 (50%) in Whiteout games but 90-22 (80%) at home since 2004.
• Penn State is 4-2 against Michigan in Whiteouts and 2-3 against Ohio State.
• Only 2 games (2007 Notre Dame and 2011 Alabama) have been out-of-conference games. Penn State is 1-1 in these situations. The 2021 Whiteout is against Auburn.
• Penn State’s Whiteout opponents’ final records were 154-56 combined (73%) and included 9 teams that won 10+ games; only 2 teams (2007 ND and 2008 Illinois) finished with losing records.
• Whiteout Kick-off Times:
  • Noon: 1 (2015 Michigan-Loss)
  • Late Afternoon (3:30-6:00 PM): 5 (2-3; wins 2005 Ohio State and 2013 Michigan)
  • Night (7:30 or 8:00): 10 (record: 6-4)
• Both Alabama (2011) and OSU (2014) won national championships in the years that they were the Whiteout opponents. 2012 OSU was also undefeated but ineligible for postseason play.

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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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It’s often said – usually by football people – that football is the ultimate team sport, that the success or failure of any given play is determined not by performance of the two or three players who actually touched the pigskin but by the performances of all 11 players working in unison, and how well they did against the 11 players working in unison to stop them.

So while the importance of the quarterback position has never been more prominent at all levels of the game, and while college teams typically need at least a few explosive plays from the quote-unquote skill guys each week, the teams who enjoy the most consistent success at the highest levels are the teams who get the most consistently productive performances from the most anonymous players on the field – the offensive and defensive linemen.

As far as Penn State is concerned as the 2021 season rapidly approaches, all eyes are on and all opinions are about No. 14. And yes, Sean Clifford must be more consistent and take better care of the football if the Nittany Lions are to have any kind of season to write home about. But Clifford has plenty of weapons to throw to and just as many behind him to carry the rock, plus a new offensive coordinator and system that promises to take some pressure off him and put it on the opposing defense.

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