in fact, allegedly donovan wanted to change some things around with the offense early in the season to better suit hackenburg's game, and franklin put the kibash on it. not loving some of the stuff that's being put out there recently.
i don't like penn state's chances of contending in the B1G east anytime soon...i hope you guys count your blessings that you had a guy like harbaugh available to get the program back on track. unless some kind of miracle happens, i see a long tread through national irrelevancy in penn state's future. maybe the pieces will fall into place in a decade or so.
adam breneman in 2013...he was a top 5 TE kid out of central PA. had a couple good games at the end of his freshman season, but unfortunately has a recurring knee issue that rumor has it has ended his football career.
the other is mike gesicki, who we got out of ohio in 2014. he's been a goddamn drop machine this season. very athletically talented, slowly but surely learning how to act like a TE and block once in a while...but the kid cannot pull the ball in to save his life. very frustrating to watch.
yeah, well, penn state's not terribly good. not as horribad as last year, not as bad in general as the NW film breakdowns i read on here this week, but still not good.
until franklin and co prove otherwise, i can do nothing as a fan but expect to lose these kind of games. plus, frankly, i have too much respect for UM's coaching staff and a lot of your players to think we can realistically overcome. if you guys come in and lay a complete egg, well, maybe we can take advantage. but if you even play at your average level, i just don't see the lions pulling this out.
that said, i'm not sure it's fair to start comparing franklin to hoke JUST YET. trust me, i was as pissed as anybody when they just let the clock run down in the last minute against NW instead of giving themselves at least a chance at another possession, but come on. the coaching staff fucks up from time to time...but i don't think it's any worse than average.
time may prove the comparison apt. or, franklin might actually do what hoke was unable to do and learn from those kind of mistakes. i just think the comparison's premature.
1. We run a lot of Cover/Tampa 2, some cover 4...We've also been known to go single high - man under. Shoop coaches them to be pretty flexible depending on the game situation...contrasts with Bradley, who seemed to be cover 3 or die.
2. DL does stunt quite a bit I feel like, a lot of T-E stunts in pass rushing situations. Don't think i've noticed any T-T stunts over the center, but I might have just missed it.
3. We don't tend to get to the edge a whole lot with our run game, particularly out of the backfield. They love to use a packaged play (like many people do these days) with brandon polk running jet sweep pre-snap motion. The QB can either hand off to the WR, give it off tackle to the back, or keep it to throw. It's been pretty successful (I think Polk is averaging like 10 ypc and this is basically the only play he runs the ball with), but like anything dries up if they go to the well too many times.
To directly answer your question, I don't think we run a lot of stretch zone, but Barkley has shown a fantastic ability to take absolute shit blocking on those inside runs and make magical things happen. The guy's accomplishments this season are pretty damn impressive given the (somewhat better, but still terrible) offensive line he's running behind. It'll be interesting to see what he's doing in, say, 2017, when we ought to have at least a B1G-average OL again. Hopefully he stays healthy.
disappointed we missed out on him (not surprised though)...glad to see the kid have some success though.
it could be interesting, but we'll see. fortunately for us, we have a bye week ahead of time, so we should be relatively rested/healed up by the time we see you guys. plus, the white out factor...somewhat over-rated, but hey, even if it's only worth a couple points, i'll take it.
the secondary has played overall fairly decently i think. it goes back to youth and injury though. lucas hasn't really made too many splash plays this year, grant haley has been dinged up and marcus allen is pretty undisciplined. we have a freshman corner named john reid who's been getting better throughout the season, but i wouldn't call him a stud or anything yet. the pass rush has been a big help here for these guys, but like the LBs they tend to be somewhat undisciplined in run support and over-pursue. also, allen just fucking throws shoulders instead of wrapping up, so he misses more than his fair share of tackles.
it's an interesting matchup to see harbaugh vs. shoop...i follow UM as my second team (got my phd there) and i've been really impressed so far. pretty much what i expected to happen...hoke recruited well (excepting the QB situation) so harbz had plenty to work with, especially in the trenches. i have serious coach envy lol.
your defense is going to destroy our offense though, no doubt. we're improved from last year, but not THAT much lol. still a huge liability against a quality opponent.
penn state's punting is absolutely atrocious. the kickoff coverage is suspect. the return games (both kicking and punting) are not terrible, but haven't been very inspiring. and the placekicker is 5' 11" and weighs 270 (and really, what's more important than that?).
despite the lackluster production, we've done what we need to do to win games. it's fugly to watch, but W/L are the most important stats. hack's completion percentage is awful, but the turnovers are way down, and when he hits downfield we've actually been scoring touchdowns (10 TDs in the last 5 weeks...not bad by our current standards lol/cries into beer). maryland sold out to stop the run, and we were still able to score 31.
defense is not nearly as good as a unit this year...losing wartman-white in the season opener was a big loss to the LBs. our other experienced guy (brandon bell) has been dinged up all year too. young guys are talented, but making young-guy mistakes (hence the issues with mobile QBs..they let themselves get sucked in and can't make up for it).
i think you guys are going to break us into tiny little pieces. but i guess that's why they play the game.
interestingly, franklin's very open about his admiration for analytics etc (and very cagey about talking specifics with respect to how his staff uses them)...he even showed up as a panelist at the sloan conference this past spring.
that said, i wasn't thrilled with a lot of the decisions they made during games last year. so yes, there appears to be some disconnect between what he's preaching and what they're actually doing on the field. i'm willing to give them a pass for last year...but i expect, with a return to a normal depth chart, that those kind of things will improve. but we'll see.
i thought we'd hit 6-6, 7-5 or so last year...which we sort of did, but it was a LOT uglier than i expected. i think the OL will be marginally better (at least, I really hope so lol), and coupled with an atrocious schedule, we ought to be able to get around 8 wins or so. we shall see.
i have serious reservations about us beating anybody with a pulse though...including you guys. but it's way too far in advance for me to even begin prognosticating that one. i will say that, as much as franklin's been a breath of fresh air in many ways, i'm a little jealous of your coach ;-). i think you guys will be back in the hunt sooner than later.
i've never heard such things discussed on our side...the idea of penn state or paterno being granted any favors at all by the B1G is completely foreign.
We're more likely to complain about the conference's conspiracy to fuck us over via officiating against you guys or OSU (cough, two seconds, cough...not that I'm bitter or anything!)
it depends on whether the salmon's been hot smoked (i.e., brought up to temperature during the smoking process) or just cured and cold smoked. in the second case, the fish is never "cooked" in a biochemical sense. most scottish smoked salmon is of the latter variety...it's similar to gravlax (which is also cured and never cooked), but some smoke is applied.
now, i don't know if i'd use the word "raw" to describe cold-smoked salmon. but depending on the fish, you don't necessarily have to cook it when you apply smoke.
i'll go back to lurking on your excellent site now...just can't resist a good smoking/curing discussion.
and you're probably right, the media didn't give play to that side of the story. i can understand why their guys (and edsall) would come in with a chip on their shoulder. well, they got a victory; we'll see where it goes from there.
i'm old school enough to believe that you do your talking through your play on the field. this isn't an excuse, but i think franklin was still acclimating to working in an environment where he doesn't need to make outrageous statements to get the fanbase to care. he hasn't been running his gums so much since then, and he shouldn't. hopefully it stays that way.
i don't see it happening, but i guess that's why they play the game. i thought we'd get absolutely destroyed up at wisconsin to close out last year, but we pulled the upset. I give Dantonio & Co enough credit to think that they'll come in and take care of business though. They're a tough team.
Where do you guys stand when OSU and MSU play each other? Do you tend to pick a side, or is it more #teammeteor?
and i won't discount the possibility of UMd giving PSU a lot of trouble in the years to come. franklin & staff still have a lot to prove before i'm willing to feel comfortable with the direction of the program going forward. recruiting stars don't mean much if you can't put it together on the field. i'm willing to give them some slack until the depth's back up to the limit. i don't discount the possibility that he busts. and by the way, i was NOT a fan of the shit-talking he did in maryland and jersey during the spring. i'm interested in substance, not flash.
i won't get into the other garbage...suffice it to say that i am not a paterno-worshipper in any regard. i'm embarrassed by the vocal lunatic fringe our fanbase has developed. but such is life, and beyond my control.
UM is my second team (PSU undergrad/MS, UM PhD (soon, anyway)) so I just wanted to come by and root Blue on to victory against the terps. That's all.
you don't know anything about me or my opinions on any of those things. i'd suggest you keep it quiet. michigan fans don't want to watch people bicker about that garbage.
Hey guys, I've been checking out a lot of your coverage of the game this week over here, and I'm really impressed. It's really in-depth and fun to read. So thanks!
I'd say that many PSUers are as pessimistic about this game as you guys are though lol. Personally, I think UM wins somewhere around 25-13 give or take.
My question is thus: it's clear from the coverage on MGoBlog this week and in a lot of the comment section that it seems the UM fanbase has pretty much given up on Brandon/Hoke. I'm curious what your impressions are with respect to whether or not these feelings are shared by the players, too. Do you think the players given up on their overlords the way the fans have?
I haven't gotten a chance to watch too much UM this fall for various reasons, but I did catch most of the RU game, and I didn't see a team that's given up whatsoever. I think there's a real good chance they put it together against the Nittany Lions this week, with it being a prime-time game and really needing a win to keep bowl eligibility in play.
In any event, hopefully it will be a clean, well-officiated game tomorrow night, and not a complete tire fire.
Recent Comments
fuck those guys ;-)
oh well...
in fact, allegedly donovan wanted to change some things around with the offense early in the season to better suit hackenburg's game, and franklin put the kibash on it. not loving some of the stuff that's being put out there recently.
i don't like penn state's chances of contending in the B1G east anytime soon...i hope you guys count your blessings that you had a guy like harbaugh available to get the program back on track. unless some kind of miracle happens, i see a long tread through national irrelevancy in penn state's future. maybe the pieces will fall into place in a decade or so.
adam breneman in 2013...he was a top 5 TE kid out of central PA. had a couple good games at the end of his freshman season, but unfortunately has a recurring knee issue that rumor has it has ended his football career.
the other is mike gesicki, who we got out of ohio in 2014. he's been a goddamn drop machine this season. very athletically talented, slowly but surely learning how to act like a TE and block once in a while...but the kid cannot pull the ball in to save his life. very frustrating to watch.
yeah, well, penn state's not terribly good. not as horribad as last year, not as bad in general as the NW film breakdowns i read on here this week, but still not good.
until franklin and co prove otherwise, i can do nothing as a fan but expect to lose these kind of games. plus, frankly, i have too much respect for UM's coaching staff and a lot of your players to think we can realistically overcome. if you guys come in and lay a complete egg, well, maybe we can take advantage. but if you even play at your average level, i just don't see the lions pulling this out.
that said, i'm not sure it's fair to start comparing franklin to hoke JUST YET. trust me, i was as pissed as anybody when they just let the clock run down in the last minute against NW instead of giving themselves at least a chance at another possession, but come on. the coaching staff fucks up from time to time...but i don't think it's any worse than average.
time may prove the comparison apt. or, franklin might actually do what hoke was unable to do and learn from those kind of mistakes. i just think the comparison's premature.
/praysitspremature
//ohgodnothoke
1. We run a lot of Cover/Tampa 2, some cover 4...We've also been known to go single high - man under. Shoop coaches them to be pretty flexible depending on the game situation...contrasts with Bradley, who seemed to be cover 3 or die.
2. DL does stunt quite a bit I feel like, a lot of T-E stunts in pass rushing situations. Don't think i've noticed any T-T stunts over the center, but I might have just missed it.
3. We don't tend to get to the edge a whole lot with our run game, particularly out of the backfield. They love to use a packaged play (like many people do these days) with brandon polk running jet sweep pre-snap motion. The QB can either hand off to the WR, give it off tackle to the back, or keep it to throw. It's been pretty successful (I think Polk is averaging like 10 ypc and this is basically the only play he runs the ball with), but like anything dries up if they go to the well too many times.
To directly answer your question, I don't think we run a lot of stretch zone, but Barkley has shown a fantastic ability to take absolute shit blocking on those inside runs and make magical things happen. The guy's accomplishments this season are pretty damn impressive given the (somewhat better, but still terrible) offensive line he's running behind. It'll be interesting to see what he's doing in, say, 2017, when we ought to have at least a B1G-average OL again. Hopefully he stays healthy.
disappointed we missed out on him (not surprised though)...glad to see the kid have some success though.
it could be interesting, but we'll see. fortunately for us, we have a bye week ahead of time, so we should be relatively rested/healed up by the time we see you guys. plus, the white out factor...somewhat over-rated, but hey, even if it's only worth a couple points, i'll take it.
the secondary has played overall fairly decently i think. it goes back to youth and injury though. lucas hasn't really made too many splash plays this year, grant haley has been dinged up and marcus allen is pretty undisciplined. we have a freshman corner named john reid who's been getting better throughout the season, but i wouldn't call him a stud or anything yet. the pass rush has been a big help here for these guys, but like the LBs they tend to be somewhat undisciplined in run support and over-pursue. also, allen just fucking throws shoulders instead of wrapping up, so he misses more than his fair share of tackles.
it's an interesting matchup to see harbaugh vs. shoop...i follow UM as my second team (got my phd there) and i've been really impressed so far. pretty much what i expected to happen...hoke recruited well (excepting the QB situation) so harbz had plenty to work with, especially in the trenches. i have serious coach envy lol.
your defense is going to destroy our offense though, no doubt. we're improved from last year, but not THAT much lol. still a huge liability against a quality opponent.
penn state's punting is absolutely atrocious. the kickoff coverage is suspect. the return games (both kicking and punting) are not terrible, but haven't been very inspiring. and the placekicker is 5' 11" and weighs 270 (and really, what's more important than that?).
despite the lackluster production, we've done what we need to do to win games. it's fugly to watch, but W/L are the most important stats. hack's completion percentage is awful, but the turnovers are way down, and when he hits downfield we've actually been scoring touchdowns (10 TDs in the last 5 weeks...not bad by our current standards lol/cries into beer). maryland sold out to stop the run, and we were still able to score 31.
defense is not nearly as good as a unit this year...losing wartman-white in the season opener was a big loss to the LBs. our other experienced guy (brandon bell) has been dinged up all year too. young guys are talented, but making young-guy mistakes (hence the issues with mobile QBs..they let themselves get sucked in and can't make up for it).
i think you guys are going to break us into tiny little pieces. but i guess that's why they play the game.
interestingly, franklin's very open about his admiration for analytics etc (and very cagey about talking specifics with respect to how his staff uses them)...he even showed up as a panelist at the sloan conference this past spring.
that said, i wasn't thrilled with a lot of the decisions they made during games last year. so yes, there appears to be some disconnect between what he's preaching and what they're actually doing on the field. i'm willing to give them a pass for last year...but i expect, with a return to a normal depth chart, that those kind of things will improve. but we'll see.
i thought we'd hit 6-6, 7-5 or so last year...which we sort of did, but it was a LOT uglier than i expected. i think the OL will be marginally better (at least, I really hope so lol), and coupled with an atrocious schedule, we ought to be able to get around 8 wins or so. we shall see.
i have serious reservations about us beating anybody with a pulse though...including you guys. but it's way too far in advance for me to even begin prognosticating that one. i will say that, as much as franklin's been a breath of fresh air in many ways, i'm a little jealous of your coach ;-). i think you guys will be back in the hunt sooner than later.
i've never heard such things discussed on our side...the idea of penn state or paterno being granted any favors at all by the B1G is completely foreign.
We're more likely to complain about the conference's conspiracy to fuck us over via officiating against you guys or OSU (cough, two seconds, cough...not that I'm bitter or anything!)
it depends on whether the salmon's been hot smoked (i.e., brought up to temperature during the smoking process) or just cured and cold smoked. in the second case, the fish is never "cooked" in a biochemical sense. most scottish smoked salmon is of the latter variety...it's similar to gravlax (which is also cured and never cooked), but some smoke is applied.
now, i don't know if i'd use the word "raw" to describe cold-smoked salmon. but depending on the fish, you don't necessarily have to cook it when you apply smoke.
i'll go back to lurking on your excellent site now...just can't resist a good smoking/curing discussion.
and you're probably right, the media didn't give play to that side of the story. i can understand why their guys (and edsall) would come in with a chip on their shoulder. well, they got a victory; we'll see where it goes from there.
i'm old school enough to believe that you do your talking through your play on the field. this isn't an excuse, but i think franklin was still acclimating to working in an environment where he doesn't need to make outrageous statements to get the fanbase to care. he hasn't been running his gums so much since then, and he shouldn't. hopefully it stays that way.
i don't see it happening, but i guess that's why they play the game. i thought we'd get absolutely destroyed up at wisconsin to close out last year, but we pulled the upset. I give Dantonio & Co enough credit to think that they'll come in and take care of business though. They're a tough team.
Where do you guys stand when OSU and MSU play each other? Do you tend to pick a side, or is it more #teammeteor?
and i won't discount the possibility of UMd giving PSU a lot of trouble in the years to come. franklin & staff still have a lot to prove before i'm willing to feel comfortable with the direction of the program going forward. recruiting stars don't mean much if you can't put it together on the field. i'm willing to give them some slack until the depth's back up to the limit. i don't discount the possibility that he busts. and by the way, i was NOT a fan of the shit-talking he did in maryland and jersey during the spring. i'm interested in substance, not flash.
i won't get into the other garbage...suffice it to say that i am not a paterno-worshipper in any regard. i'm embarrassed by the vocal lunatic fringe our fanbase has developed. but such is life, and beyond my control.
UM is my second team (PSU undergrad/MS, UM PhD (soon, anyway)) so I just wanted to come by and root Blue on to victory against the terps. That's all.
you don't know anything about me or my opinions on any of those things. i'd suggest you keep it quiet. michigan fans don't want to watch people bicker about that garbage.
35-2-1. until next year...
i assume as much. just wishful thinking, that's all.
we'd be much obliged.
thanks.
Hey guys, I've been checking out a lot of your coverage of the game this week over here, and I'm really impressed. It's really in-depth and fun to read. So thanks!
I'd say that many PSUers are as pessimistic about this game as you guys are though lol. Personally, I think UM wins somewhere around 25-13 give or take.
My question is thus: it's clear from the coverage on MGoBlog this week and in a lot of the comment section that it seems the UM fanbase has pretty much given up on Brandon/Hoke. I'm curious what your impressions are with respect to whether or not these feelings are shared by the players, too. Do you think the players given up on their overlords the way the fans have?
I haven't gotten a chance to watch too much UM this fall for various reasons, but I did catch most of the RU game, and I didn't see a team that's given up whatsoever. I think there's a real good chance they put it together against the Nittany Lions this week, with it being a prime-time game and really needing a win to keep bowl eligibility in play.
In any event, hopefully it will be a clean, well-officiated game tomorrow night, and not a complete tire fire.