Congrats on the win (the resident PSU fan ...)
I was there, Row 81 Section 8. Wish I had brought my gloves - it was chilly.
Anyway, U-M was clearly better Saturday. And U-M has a CFP-level type team in 2018. Good luck completing that journey: the game in Columbus will be a tough one but U-M is definitely capable of winning it.
November 4th, 2018 at 9:26 AM ^
Yinz come back real soon now
November 4th, 2018 at 2:14 PM ^
Isn't that more of a Pittsburgh thing? I grew up in Eastern PA and we never used that.
November 4th, 2018 at 9:29 AM ^
Just curious how you became a PSU fan. You seem to be fairly objective and level headed.
November 4th, 2018 at 9:31 AM ^
Well when he was 8 he went to this football camp...
November 4th, 2018 at 9:33 AM ^
Dude...
November 4th, 2018 at 9:35 AM ^
Just... damn.
Here's an upvote.
November 4th, 2018 at 9:45 AM ^
Too soon!
November 4th, 2018 at 10:04 AM ^
Ahahahahaaa!
Ouch, yeah, but funny.
November 4th, 2018 at 10:06 AM ^
F U ...I can't laugh this hard, my back hurts
November 4th, 2018 at 11:35 AM ^
Savage burn, man--absolutely savage.
November 4th, 2018 at 12:52 PM ^
"You seem to be fairly objective and level headed."
It's a relief that someone commenting on this board was able to see this. There's so many hicks commenting on here.
I'm just wondering how this Penn St fan hasn't been labeled a troll and gotten run off by the moderators. Amazing he's still here.
November 4th, 2018 at 9:30 AM ^
Hope the Michigan family treated you well.
November 4th, 2018 at 9:33 AM ^
I was there, Row 81 Section 8. Wish I had brought my gloves - it was chilly.
Especially when you’re sitting that high up in one of the end zones; if there’s any wind you’re catching all of it.
November 4th, 2018 at 9:39 AM ^
I thought you slightly overrated PSU’s OL. I was right.
McSorley clearly isn’t the same which is too bad for PSU.
November 4th, 2018 at 10:23 AM ^
McSorley clearly isn’t the same which is too bad for PSU
I keep hearing this and I wonder how much is last week really impacting him? I mean, have we seen a single opposing quarterback this season who's "the same" as their normal selves? This defense is in their head before the first snap. It only gets worse after the first series confirms their next 4 hours will be worse than they imagined.
I want Tagavoiola (or however it's spelled)
November 4th, 2018 at 10:31 AM ^
There was a stat earlier this year before the MSU game that 6 of the 7 Quarterbacks we have faced had their worst performance of the year against us. That was before Lewerke's 5 of 25 performance and McSorley's 5 of 13 performance.
Surely our defense has something to do with it.
November 4th, 2018 at 10:41 AM ^
UM’s defense is clearly part of it. But a leg injury for a guy who uses his legs to maximize his ability is devastating. We saw that Saturday. He couldn’t move quite as effectively which made it easier for UM. UM doesn’t need help.
November 4th, 2018 at 10:49 AM ^
Don’t forget shitty coaching
November 4th, 2018 at 4:19 PM ^
All part of the plan ;)
November 4th, 2018 at 11:12 AM ^
McSorely entered the game 9th in the conference in passer rating and completing 53% of his passes. I don’t think last week has much to do with it. He’s just not as good as everyone thought he was.
November 4th, 2018 at 12:33 PM ^
Passer rating is an incomplete stat and doesn't count what McSorley does best: running the ball. His injury probably impacted that part of his game which makes the passing part more difficult.
I do think M's defense gets most of the credity though. And McSorley wasn't that bad. His WRs had a couple drops on plays that could have been nice chunks. M's defense was really good, but PSU played a bad game too, and made several unforced errors (the drops, the missed guy wide open for the TD, the fumble on the handoff).
November 4th, 2018 at 2:19 PM ^
The slide 6 inches short of the first down with nobody around, and then not taking a time out to try to get it reviewed . . . especially when time outs are spent by Franklin like teenage girl mall money the rest of the time.
November 4th, 2018 at 11:35 AM ^
Tagavaiola is so much better than any QB we have faced. This defense is great but it would give up 20-30 points to Bama just like LSU.
November 4th, 2018 at 1:38 PM ^
One advantage we have over LSU is that we're far better (and deeper) on the DL (OL too for that matter). We'd give ourselves more than a shot by holding Bama to the 20-25 range, especially considering that the Bama defense can be had, as weird as that is to say for a Nick Saban-coached team.
November 4th, 2018 at 2:19 PM ^
LSU wore out at the end. Our defense would/will too if our offense put up a pathetic showing, like LSU did last night.
November 4th, 2018 at 2:35 PM ^
Alabama eats offenses like ours for lunch.
You have to be able to tempo them, make them defend every inch of the field, and score points.
Shea's old offense at Ole Miss was actually better at this than his new offense at Michigan. If we made it that far, we would need to take some notes.
November 4th, 2018 at 2:37 PM ^
Tagovailoa
November 4th, 2018 at 10:30 AM ^
Yeah, the OL needs to be tougher. I sometimes wonder if the RPO induces some of that (RPO being a bit more finesse of an offense).
McSorley needs to be tougher himself. In honesty, this year is the first year he has truly faced adversity in his entire career. Won 4 (!!!) state titles in High School, then a B1G Title his 1st year as the starter, then was on a very very good team last year. He hasn't rallied well since the disappointing 4th-and-5 call against OSU. Franklin lost McSorley to a degree.
November 4th, 2018 at 10:51 AM ^
Have PSU fans jumped off the Franklin train yet? He lucked out big time to win that championship. He's looking like the 4th best coach in the B1G East.
November 4th, 2018 at 12:03 PM ^
The few PSU fans that I know have entered the "maybe he isn't a good coach but let's give him more time in part because he seems like a nice guy". I guess this the first stage of grief (denial)? Unfortunately we've been there too.
November 4th, 2018 at 12:21 PM ^
Sounds like phase 2 of the Hoke-ian journey. Hoke started good and then went downhill. Franklin seems to have managed to delay his inevitable suckage due to a mid-cycle up year. I wonder if that allows him to suck longer before getting canned?
November 4th, 2018 at 10:52 AM ^
Franklin lost McSorley to a degree.
I think that’s it right there. McSorely seems like a bright kid, and Franklin’s nonsense sideline calls have to affect the morale of a player who can think for himself.
November 4th, 2018 at 11:06 AM ^
Upvoting just because you had the backbone to come in and be present today when everything went wrong yesterday.
November 4th, 2018 at 11:38 AM ^
He did it with class too. Definitely deserves a win right now.
November 4th, 2018 at 2:37 PM ^
He can have it over an SEC team in a bowl game.
November 4th, 2018 at 11:37 AM ^
So do Penn State fans like Franklin? I'm sure you are aware of what this blog thinks of him....
November 4th, 2018 at 12:13 PM ^
Thanks for the kind words/observations. I hope our fans were decent to you. Also, I agree with the RPO/toughness point. RPO teamstend to struggle most (at least this was my RichRod observation) when they go against really physical lines. And because of that - D Lines of teams that run Heavy option seem a little softer too because that’s what they face in practice. I could be wrong and my observations could be more from a “RichRod just always has sucky defenses” situation but on balance is much rather have the physicality of UMs lines on both sides of the ball than most option teams. The again - I grew up during Bo so that’s my mental blueprint.
Good luck the rest of the way out and I hope McSorley heals to help you the rest of the way.
November 4th, 2018 at 12:46 PM ^
Saw the title of the thread and knew it was you that made the post. I just wanted to come on here and tell you that I always appreciate your input on this blog. I believe you are the most unbiased of any person from a competitor fan base and provide good insight on all your posts.
Good luck the rest of the season!
November 4th, 2018 at 2:21 PM ^
That 4th-and-5 call against OSU would make me lose faith too. WTF??
November 4th, 2018 at 9:41 AM ^
Section 9. I would have waived bye to you when you left early, but I'm way lower than row 81.
November 4th, 2018 at 9:44 AM ^
I hope people didn't give you too much of a hard time, man. I'm sure watching the game was punishment enough.
November 4th, 2018 at 10:25 AM ^
Fans were fine. I've never had problems w/ fans anywhere, outside of one fat drunk Purdue fan back in 2012 who decided to go all-in on the child abuser stuff (I complemented her on her moustache).
Besides .... I was driving to the Denver airport on Friday and realized I was wearing my Cincinnati Reds ballcap instead of my PSU ballcap. Too late to go back. So I was basically disguised as "a Cincinnati Reds fan wearing a black windbreaker who for some reason decided to go to a game at the Big House." :-)
November 4th, 2018 at 10:49 AM ^
Ahh you're a Reds fan too? At least we can share in our baseball fandom (and misery) together.
November 4th, 2018 at 11:05 AM ^
Yep, I'm a Reds fan. Did you know the Brewers won only 4 games more than the Reds in 2015? Ugh!
And there are certainly some commonalities between James Franklin and Dusty Baker! A post I made on BWI in 2017 below. This post actually got onto SBNation's "this week in Schadenfreude" weekly summary.
https://bwi.forums.rivals.com/threads/as-a-reds-fan-and-a-psu-fb-fan-a-…
November 4th, 2018 at 11:39 AM ^
You know, I can absolutely agree with that comparison. Someone who knows how to get their team this close in some big games, but just can't seem to close it out. Sometimes just completely whiffing mentally.
Despite Baker's shortcomings, I absolutely liked him more than Price. BP was pretty much the major league version of Brady Hoke. Good character guy, great positional coach, just not built for the head job.
That and Walt Jocketty doesn't help.
I also had a post I made here make it on SB Nation, but we wont talk about that lol
November 4th, 2018 at 12:07 PM ^
Brilliant disguise for Halloween, I would have definitely thought you were one of the many Toledo/Cinci anti-OSU pro-UM natives of Ohio...
November 4th, 2018 at 9:46 AM ^
Classy post, NF. I've always enjoyed your reasonable take on what things look like through different-colored glasses.
November 4th, 2018 at 9:51 AM ^
thank you. i expect nothing less from you.
question: your team having played both ohio and sparty, how do you think that game will go this coming weekend, in EL?
November 4th, 2018 at 10:20 AM ^
I didn't see OSU yesterday --- but from reading things that team seems to be missing that "je nes sais quoi" in 2018. Might be too late for them to put it all together.
And I respect Dantonio --- when you think about it, that team could be 8-1 right now. Just a few plays away. Which is remarkable given they have, IMO, the 4th highest amount of raw talent in the B1G East. They're tough.
And they tend to always be tough. In 2016, MSU was 3-9 but they really should have beaten OSU on that cloudy snowy day in East Lansing. S&P+ put MSU's odds at winning that day at 90%!
I like MSU's chances. Admittedly, I'm reading things from the "emotional side" vs. the "pure Xs and Os football side" here.
November 4th, 2018 at 9:54 AM ^
Maybe it was Penn State fans in blue but I have never seen the upper part of the south end zone so light with always fans.