Forget the Fireworks. Fundamentals and Simplification of a New Offense That’s Probably a Full Off-Season Away from Complete Functionality Got the Job Done vs. Sheep in Wolverines’ Clothing. 

FTB CHARTING – BOX SCORE

If coffee truly is for closers, then no one should be better caffeinated than Penn State’s offense.

For a program that (justly) received a ton of crap for not slamming the door on opponents late, I feel not enough is being made of Penn State’s 5:38-minute tractor-pull downfield to ice things inside an empty Big House. 

Seven runs. 

Three Knees.

Two 3rd and 2 conversions. 

All against a defense that KNEW what was coming, but still couldn’t stop it.

Continue reading

Introduction

This feels different. Today we don’t write with a feeling of dread but rather mild contentment. I’m still not sure that the Penn State football team is “good” but maybe, at least, they’re recovering from the disaster that was the first five weeks of the season and beginning to figure things out.  

Basic Statistics – Summary

Finally, we can turn the first row green for the Lions who won the most important category of any game – the score. Not only that, but they pretty much dominated the rest of the contest too, racking up 131 more yards, controlling the ball for more than 36 minutes, and not turning the ball over (not even once!). Even the one category that the Wolverines won – rush yards per attempt – is misleading because Penn State still had 80 more total rushing yards.

Look, it wasn’t pretty and there’s still A LOT to be desired, especially in the passing game, but this was an objectively better performance than what we all witnessed in the first five weeks. There was a feeling of competence and decisiveness to the offense. There seemed to be variety in the playcalling. The defense, while still not being able to contain an outside running game, appeared to generally be more aggressive than in weeks gone-by. I want to believe that this is something a team can build upon. There’s an adage in the market: “Stocks take the staircase up and the elevator down, If you consider the 2019 Cotton Bowl as peak Penn State football, the program took a broken, freefalling elevator down through the first five games of 2020. Maybe this is the first stair-step back up towards that peak we used to know, and perhaps took for granted.

Continue reading

Full disclosure: After (rightly, and easily) taking Penn State to task in each of the previous five columns for many things, most of them relating to simply bad, bad football, I came into Saturday planning to use this space to highlight some of the positives for the Nittany Lions as it pertained to both this week’s game and, more importantly, to the future. I had planned to start (and likely finish) with some of the team’s younger players.

The kids made that easy to do.

Yes, Penn State got some important plays from its few remaining veterans during its takedown of hated Michigan — some big third-down grabs from Jahan Dotson, a big fourth-down stop by Ellis Brooks (and, asinine rules be damned, an outstanding heads-up play to help deliver what should have been a game-ending sack and fumble recovery from Shaka Toney) and, all credit where it’s due, a steady, mistake-free game from Sean Clifford, who had been neither of those things since 2019.

Continue reading

FTB’s Rapid Reaction/Stream of Consciousness Following Penn State’s First Win in The Big House Since 2009.

• Permit us one snarky comment before shelving the cynicism and giving Penn State credit…Thank God Google AdSense is paying us fractions of a penny to watch these two teams play, because no one should be subjected to that display of timid, conservative football for free…OK, now that that’s out of our system, let’s get on with it.

• Winning is the ultimate deodorant. And winning against THAT team and THOSE uniforms – as grind-it-out, leather-helmet as it was – smells super freaking sweet. Yeah, Michigan might be a mess, and a lot of their 2020 issues (opt outs, stacks of injuries) mirror ours, but it’s still a win against an iconic program in an iconic, library-loud setting. So don’t discount the W. Even with all the Wolverines’ attrition, that’s still the second-best collection of roster talent Penn State faced this season.

• So, Penn State has to runback Friday night isolation and virtual meetings next week in New Jersey, right? Can’t mess with a streak. Social distancing Heat Check! 

Continue reading

Fresh Off a Fairytale Season with a Forever Unwritten Final Chapter, Penn State Basketball Returns Today (we think) with a Radically Different Storyline and a New Cast of Characters

The clock struck midnight at 10:49 p.m. 

On March 7, 2020, Penn State dropped its third-straight game – this one an inexcusable 80-69 faceplant at Northwestern – but spirits remained high. Sporting a 21-10 record, including road wins at Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue, the Nittany Lions and head coach Pat Chambers entered the Big Ten Tournament with an NCAA at-large bid in the bag.

Then, well…you know. 

Fast forward 266 days, and a whole heckuva lot has changed at Penn State…so let us catch you up to speed on what you might have missed as we embark (maybe) on a “season” where the clock will probably strike midnight at 1:13 a.m., this time. 

Continue reading

Editor’s Note: Each Week During the Football Season Stand-Up Comedian and Co-Host of the Punch Drunk Sports Podcast, Jayson Thibault, picks games against the flips of a John F. Kennedy Half-Dollar. 

The Contestants

Jayson Thibault is a stand-up comedian and original member of the Punch Drunk Sports Podcast  along with Ari Shaffir and Sam Tripoli.  On Nov. 27 –THIS FRIDAY! — Thibault will be recording his new comedy album, “Covidiot” during his performance at The Market Lounge & Comedy Club in Valparaiso, Indiana.  FTB is without question THE No. 1 Penn State football site in Northwest Indiana, so far all our readers in the area (Brian and Phil) be sure to check him out! 

The JFK Half-Dollar Coin was first minted in 1964. This particular 50-cent piece were flipping has been in the cup holder of a 2015 Toyota Camry for some time and is a tad sticky. If it picks winners, we’re not going to wash it. If it doesn’t, we’re spending it.   

Continue reading

If Only Brent Pry’s Squad Could Skip the First Half and Just Play Two Second Halves…Man, That’d be Sweeeeet. 

FTB CHARTING FIRST HALF – BOX SCORE 

Lazy Writer’s Note: We tried not to rehash stuff covered in today’s Film Study, so if you want the full scope of Penn State’s defensive woes read this first then click here.

Same song, different station.

Penn State defensive coordinator Brent Pry further cemented himself as the Master of Second Half Adjustments when he figuratively threw a Dixie cup full of warm water from the Gym Class drinking fountain (always the worst) upon the weekly inferno of ineptitude that ignited once again during the initial 30 minutes of action.

Seriously, how the hell does this keep happening? 

Better question: Why are we still angry and surprised when it does?

Continue reading

Answers and Solutions Continue to Elude Penn State’s Sputtering Ford Edsel Offense as Recurring Negative Trends Pile Up Saturday After Saturday 

FTB CHARTING – BOX SCORE

One play – the successful 2-point conversion to Keyvone Lee that reduced Iowa’s lead to 31-21 during the sliver-of-false-hope phase of Saturday’s depantsing  — gave us pause and made us ponder a Big Picture question:

How under James Franklin’s thumb is new OC Kirk Ciarrocca when it comes to play-calling and system installation?   

What triggered this question was a tweet from Saturday. Credit Matt Bortner of 1450 AM ESPN State College for eyeballing this reuse of a 2019 play call.

Continue reading