It seems like everything at PSU except for the PSU football team and playing style has entered the 21st century. There's no way a program that has the type of turnouts like PSU has for it's home games should settle for what it has accomplished since joining the Big10.
I have a question. Was PSU independent before they joined the Big Ten Conference? I don't remember at all.
OK its great we won, I'm ecstatic, now for some nitpicking observations, not because I'm a glass half full kinda guy, just something I hope and expect the coaches to fix by the next game... 1. What was wrong with the run defense in the 1st half? It seemed like lil animal and Freeman were getting caught up in the wash and you have RB's running free into the secondary, the rushing TD they gave up on PSU's first drive was particularly troubling, not the fact that they scored, but that they did it with relative ease. It was a simple Iso play and no one touched the RB. Freeman was blown up by the leading FB and lil animal was caught up by traffic and was no where near the play. Mind you the FB and RB are their backups since the starters are either hurt or in legal trouble and are both out for the season. The Ohio State defense is designed so that the LBs roam free and make most of the tackles on running plays, but lil animal did not make many plays this past weekend. In comparison Dan Connor, PSU's LB had 18 tackles, I'm not saying he's better than Laurinaitis, but he has to finish the season out with a vengeance esp against the likes of physical running teams Wisky and scUM. Penn State was down big in the 2nd half so they could not keep trying to run the ball, so we don't know if they could've continued running on the defense or if the Buckeyes were successful in adjusting at halftime, I would like to think the latter is the case. 2. Yes, Boeckman was great, but like I said I'm nitpicking, he underthrew Ray Small on that deep throw. Small had beaten the CB silly, much like Ted Ginn against ND, a better throw would be an easy TD with Small running away. And the INT was something he should know better, he locked onto Hartline the whole way and did not see Connor following his eyes. Although with his overall performance and considering the INT did not hurt the Buckeyes, he gets a pass for this week. 3. What the hell is Boone thinking playing leap frog with Brian Hartline? To be fair, I will also post observations that I was overjoyed with, besides the obvious... 1. The OL finally played a very good to great game overall, Boeckman had all day to throw, the RBs had room to get to the line of scrimmage, against a defense that lead the nation in sacks, the OL performed wonderfully. 2. Beanie and that 2x4 he uses to stiff arm would be tacklers to the ground is a joyous sight to behold. 3. OMG the TE's can catch the ball too? That's like cheating. 4. We know the defense is good, but overall the offense performed impressively in a hostile environment, coming back from brief adversity and score on the next drive after PSU's lone TD. And they never punted once during the game. next up: Bucky the Badger GO BUCKS!
I'm glad you brought that up because I noticed this in the game but I forgot about it. I was extremely happy/surprised to see that many balls being thrown to our TE's on Saturday. I'm sure this caught PSU by surprise because we haven't done that a whole lot this season. I also think by spreading the ball out to the TE's it allows for our O-Line to have better pass protection because now their LBs can blitz as much knowing they have to guard our big receivers!
Great post BuckeyeGoon! I agree that Small should have had a td if the pass would have been more "perfect".
Can you imagine if he'd hurt him! OH man! not good! Very athletic of him though - not just the leapfrog but being out there for the block. I think Beanie might be the best RB at OSU since Eddie. Don't want to disrespect Pitt, but Beanie just runs you over and around you too. Absolutely sweet! If only they could have caught back in the '05 Texas game!
I disagree, I am almost 100% positive they were Independent! Trying to confirm online. http://www.fanblogs.com/penn_state/005925.php Second to last paragraph state PSU would not have survivied the last 12 years as a true independent. The big east wanted PSU but they chose the Big 10