O-Line
Watching the USC game def makes you realize how important both the O-line and D-line are. Sanchez had a lot of time to throw and anytime Clark dropped back he was scrambling for his life. USC dominated both lines of the ball and it showed up in the score. I def think its important for us to get another dominant d-lineman in the otter as well as picking up another solid O-lineman. Chris Freeman is a mammoth and with our 6 redshirt freshman I feel like he would def have the time needed to develop.
January 1st, 2009 at 10:36 PM ^
Another big thing is that Penn State' strength and conditioning program is like the one UM had before Barwis - they need to fix that ASAP
January 1st, 2009 at 10:41 PM ^
No, they shouldn't fix it. Let them leave it and let us beat the crap out of them.
January 1st, 2009 at 10:43 PM ^
i was thinking the same thing...
January 1st, 2009 at 10:37 PM ^
No doubt, that was one of the surprising things about the Rose Bowl. Doesn't PSU have a good o-line? They sure didn't play like it. It reminded me of the 2006 Rose Bowl with Michigan and USC where Henne was getting his ass kicked all day.
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:33 AM ^
Really? It actually reminded me of the 2004 Rose Bowl when Navarre was getting his ass kicked all day. Oh wait, same story, different year! sigh.
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:03 AM ^
Exactly. And it would have been the same deal against Florida if we hadn't realized that it may be a better idea to operate out of the shot gun.
Random but, does anyone remember the interception off of Braylon's shoe?
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:30 AM ^
yeah i remember that. after it happened i remember thinking that all odds were against us.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:02 PM ^
*sigh*
January 1st, 2009 at 10:56 PM ^
being the fact that we belonged in that game for more than fifteen minutes.
-It was thirty three minutes to be exact.
January 1st, 2009 at 11:34 PM ^
rather than hating on USC let's discuss how they can be BEATEN. I tend to think that a team like the mid-90's Nebraska teams could have success against USC. Have a dominant OL, a great FB who can destroy the filling LB, have explosive power RBs, have a QB who can burn the D with keeper draws and consistently hit play-action passes to keep USC from putting 10 in the box. That's the one area where Nebraska would've failed against USC: they would'nt have been able to keep USC's defense honest.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:45 AM ^
Apparently, the key to beating USC is to have the talent and coaching that produced one of the greatest 3 year runs in history.
January 1st, 2009 at 11:35 PM ^
Forgetting that USC just has some GREAT talent and coaching, USC playing at the Rose Bowl is like a HOME game setting for them. PSU was just out of their element. Besides, they lost the BEEF BOWL. That was a bad sign to begin with.
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:51 PM ^
Actually, the winner of the beef bowl usually ends up losing the game.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:58 AM ^
There are few things in football that can equal the devastation of a killer pass rush. This more than any other aspect of the game is where USC killed us in the Rose Bowls. Up front we just could not handle them. How many times was Navarre sacked in '03? And Henne in '07?
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:23 AM ^
Living on the west coast I remember reading in the newspaper after USC blitzed Michigan and Henne into submission two years ago- and again after this years USC- Ohio St. game. USC maintained that the blocking schemes of big ten teams are pretty basic and cannot handle the complex NFL style blitz packages that Pete Carroll implemented. Of course it helps to have monster talent across the D-line to allow the blitz to work.
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:34 AM ^
Georgia also did the same to MSU today. I hope our Oline becomes athletic enough to handle that kind of pressure.
January 2nd, 2009 at 7:59 AM ^
Just do what Texas did. Oh yeah, and there is that Vince Young thing.
I have no idea of how to beat them guys.
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:20 AM ^
Be an Oregon State Beaver.
That was easy.
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:58 AM ^
This may be a dumb comment/question but...
With our new S&C philosophy, particularly with the O-Line, does anyone foresee instances where our OL is more mobile and agile, but not as strong and able to stop fast, powerful Defensive linemen (much like USCs?)
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:50 AM ^
lol no
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:01 PM ^
Fair enough- Especially since we haven't really been able to stop those DLine types anyway.