Would Jim Harbaugh be the best candidate if Rodriguez is fired?
Is Harbaugh a realistic option for Michigan if they give RichRod the heave-ho? I've long assumed that Harbaugh had burned too many bridges with his comments about UM academics with regards to athletes.
I have more than a passing interest in this issue, as it's looking increasingly likely that Penn State's season finale against Michigan State will be JoePa's last home game. (And thankfully the end of our fake season-ending "rivalry" with Little Brother!) Harbaugh has been mentioned as a possible successor.
I'd love to have Harbaugh as Penn State's next coach, but I fear his aspirations are the NFL.
The saving grace here is Kovacs, who sifts through the blockers and makes a mediocre ankle tackle that the RB (Royster, I think) steps through.
You are correct, sir, that was Royster.
I'm looking forward to the UFR. Not in a bragging way, but because I don't have the expertise to break down the game (I'm just a fan) and appreciate those who can.
I remain skeptical about a stack's ability to stop the run against Big Ten lines composed of 320-plus-pounders.
For the record, aside from Wisconsin, there aren't many 320+ O-linemen starting for Big Ten teams. One each for Penn State and Ohio State, none for Little Brother.
Thanks, Brian, nice analysis. I wish a Penn State blogger did game breakdowns like you do on MGoBlog.
The UM-PSU game should be interesting. I have to say, I'm now a believer in Robinson. He showed incredibly quick feet last year, but his passing...did I mention his incredibly quick feet? What a difference a year makes!
The jury is still out on your defense, as noted in your analysis, but we have a true freshman QB. At least the game is at Beaver Stadium.
Again, nice job of breaking down this play. I'm jealous of your skills.
Terrific reporting in interviewing Compliance Guy. Great post, very informative.
Possibly a reduction of around three scholarships for a year or two.
Which means you'll probably be able to recruit the full 25 for a couple consecutive years after that to reload.
Nike calls the new F$U uniforms "Pro Combat." Which is pretty interesting considering they were designed for neither professionals nor combat.
Thank God for Joe Paterno: No names, black shoes, and basic blues. Now and forever. (Amen.)
The refs had a tough game. In addition to the plays Brian mentioned there was the ridiculous holding call on Navorro Bowman (which made up for an uncalled horse collar tackle by Josh Hull on the same play, just before the Robinson pick) and the silly stoppage of the clock late in the first half.
Agree that the bad calls had no impact on the outcome, just like they didn't during a couple of blowouts during your winning streak against us.
I bet Wallace faced some consequence from the coaches, or was at least talked to about this.
"A.J., please don't shove our opponents into their teammates from ten full yards away." LOL!
Wallace has played enough football to know that if he shoved Warren he would fall and collide with Hemmingway, who was defenseless. Wallace intentionally extended his arms and shoved Warren. This play is virtually certain to end in a collision with a defenseless player.
Please stop, you're embarrassing yourself. It was "virtually certain to end in a collision"??? They were ten freaking yards apart! You'd have a case if Warren was ten feet from Hemingway, but ten yards? Absurd.
I showed this to an Aggie (Texas A&M) and his first reaction was much the same as PSU boy - he said "he was 15 yards away!" but then we watched it again and Warren gets shoved at the 20 and hits Hemingway at the 13 - not exactly 15 yards.
You can't look at where they hit, because Hemingway was moving forward to close the gap. Look where they are when Wallace shoved Warren--it was ten yards.
I agree with Brian in that this should be a rule change - under the current rules it's not a penalty but the possibility for injury is obviously very high - hopefully the NCAA rules committee will look at this in the offseason.
Zero chance. The current rulebook will also be used in 2010. The earliest a change can be made is after next season, for the 2011-12 rulebook. How do you propose the rule should read?
As an aside - it's shocking to me that a PSU fan could complain about Special Teams anything after that 15 yard penalty for barely touching the punters toe.
Who's complaining? (Besides RichRod?)
"Even if it wasn't dirty, it was dangerous..."
This is results-oriented thinking. Warren and Hemingway were TEN YARDS APART. It's not like they were on top of each other an contact was inevitable.
On a percentage basis, how many times does a guy get shoved into someone else from ten yards away? One time in a thousand? One time in ten thousand?
"I am wondering if the weather has a greater affect on noobs than experienced teams. Specifically, I wonder if both Forcier's passing and some of the receiving corps (and even Denard, with fumble and interceptions, and the kick/punt returners) were affected greatly by a wet slippery football."
I guess Penn State is getting used to it, as we seem to play in the rain every week. No turnovers against Michigan and Minnesota after a dozen in our first six games.
"The defensive holding was called on a play that was intended on being a pass. The QB ended up running but that doesn't change the intent of the play."
No, way, no how. I just watched it again. The UM receiver was blocking Bowman, it was a designed run. The UM receiver changed course twice to make the block.
Awful call, but like I said, they missed a horse-collar tackle on Hull on the same play, so it was a wash.
The play on which Donovan Warren was shoved into Junior Hemingway needs to be a penalty. As we saw, it's dangerous as hell. Kick catch interference should extend to people you're blocking into the returner."
Are you saying they need to change the rules or that the officials blew the call? You'll have to cite a rule if you want to say they blew the call.
This is the closest I could find, though it really doesn't apply because the gunner wasn't blocking.
Rule 6-4-1-b: "If interference with a potential receiver is the result of a player being blocked by an opponent, it is not a foul."
Mills started most of his career with a bum shoulder after being pile-driven against Wisconsin. It seems like Tate's arm strength is down a bit from his shoulder injury. Could be chronic this year, but hopefully not for his entire career.
"From the three with the clock running and no timeouts my instinct is to pass because one way or the other the clock stops afterwards. After fumbling, though, a spike with 13 seconds left is pretty maddening. If you're going to run the ball, you have to have a pass play ready to go that you can just call."
I'd still love to know why the official stopped the clock after the first-and-goal play. I also blew out a lung screaming at them to let it run.
"Not that anyone affiliated with Penn State will notice, but they were the recipient of some questionable calls."
I saw bad calls go both ways. The defensive holding on Bowman was absurd (defensive holding on for fighting off a blocker on a running play???), but on the same play they missed Hull's horse-collar tackle. A couple of plays later they missed our 12 men on the field during Bowman's pick.
"I don't think Forcier was nearly as bad as the numbers. He got crushed by drops, which were legion and extremely important."
Agree on Forcier. I was really impressed by his accuracy and his low throws. He puts the ball in places that minimize the chances of a tip drill for the defense. (You really appreciate throws like this when Anthony Morelli was once your two-year starter.)
It looks like Tate will have to learn to love what we call "football weather." I don't think there are many windy, rainy, 40s days in San Diego.
The more I watch Tate the more he reminds me of former PSU quarterback Zach Mills. Small, tough, mobile, crafty QBs with a high football IQ, good leadership skills, and questionable durability.
"We now have a passing game. I think they're overlooking this one. I think Penn State is just Notre Damey enough still from its pre-Big Ten and early Big Ten years to think Michigan is still the 3-9 team they faced last year, and will keep believing it until 2009 is in the books."
Say what? Michigan is still Michigan and the Big House is still the Big House. When kids sign with Penn State these are the kinds of games they dream of. What, you think we're looking ahead to next week's game at Northwestern???
And who in the world doesn't know about Tate Forcier's passing exploits, especially his late-game heroics? NOBODY at Penn State--players, coaches, or fans--thinks UM is 2008 Redux.
"Why is this successful in getting pressure? Are PSU's DL just so dominant that they can do this?"
Larry Johnson is not only one of college football's top recruiters, he's also one heck of a defensive line coach.
In this decade we've had four first-round, one second-round, and one third-round D-Line draft picks.
"This is a proving ground game for Michigan."
Ditto for Penn State. We are undefeated against the scrubs and we could have traded punts to a 10-5 victory against Iowa if not for the blocked punt in Q4 that changed the game.
We view Michigan as a true test of whether we can run the table and hope Iowa stumbles or whether we're going to lose to Ohio State and at Michigan State.
They're available live if you're not blacked out and available immediately after the game if you are blacked out.
ESPN360 is great if you hear about an unfolding upset and you don't get it on TV. I used it to watch the final quarter of USC at Washington.
"What do we really know about Penn State?"
Really odd to be asking this question seven games into the season, but we're wondering the same thing.
If we win we can start to dream of another Big Ten Championship. If we lose, it's 2002 all over again, when we were 9-0 against teams with 5+ losses and 0-4 against good teams.
"They almost have to double team Graham on nearly every play, don't they?"
Pretty much, the right side of our O-line stinks. PSU fans are excited about the "improvement" over the last three games, but it came against the Big Ten's two worst defenses and a I-AA team.
"Quarless worries the crap out of me."
He should, he's the real deal: big, fast, and athletic. He finally got his head out of ass. Supposedly he's been on the wagon for more than a year and he seems much more mature these days.
You'll be able to watch the game later on ESPN360...if your ISP supports ESPN360. Unfortunately, not all of them do, but if you can get it, the quality is outstanding.
Recent Comments
He was a Rob Bolden's favorite receiver in high school and might have been a two-for-one package.
Now Bolden can't even make the four-deep at LSU!
nine conference games for everyone.
So I didn't get a chance to post before the game.
I worked all day Saturday and didn't even start watching the game until about 10 PM. (Thank you, TiVo!)
Why would I have posted in 2011 or 2012 when Penn State didn't play Michigan?
Penn State has a "vs. LSU" in 2020, I assume it's the same thing, though nothing has been announced.
It has a working link to the Big Ten composite schedule.
There are some interesting games in the out years on the Big Ten schedule...
When will Part 2 be posted?
Is Harbaugh a realistic option for Michigan if they give RichRod the heave-ho? I've long assumed that Harbaugh had burned too many bridges with his comments about UM academics with regards to athletes.
I have more than a passing interest in this issue, as it's looking increasingly likely that Penn State's season finale against Michigan State will be JoePa's last home game. (And thankfully the end of our fake season-ending "rivalry" with Little Brother!) Harbaugh has been mentioned as a possible successor.
I'd love to have Harbaugh as Penn State's next coach, but I fear his aspirations are the NFL.
You are correct, sir, that was Royster.
I'm looking forward to the UFR. Not in a bragging way, but because I don't have the expertise to break down the game (I'm just a fan) and appreciate those who can.
I'm excited about Penn State making the move to varsity hockey. A few questions:
Thanks in advance.
For the record, aside from Wisconsin, there aren't many 320+ O-linemen starting for Big Ten teams. One each for Penn State and Ohio State, none for Little Brother.
Thanks, Brian, nice analysis. I wish a Penn State blogger did game breakdowns like you do on MGoBlog.
The UM-PSU game should be interesting. I have to say, I'm now a believer in Robinson. He showed incredibly quick feet last year, but his passing...did I mention his incredibly quick feet? What a difference a year makes!
The jury is still out on your defense, as noted in your analysis, but we have a true freshman QB. At least the game is at Beaver Stadium.
Again, nice job of breaking down this play. I'm jealous of your skills.