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October 19, 2007
Offensive Report Card
By Apparao Prattipati
The Penn State season has been a strange concoction of confidence, dominance, futility, and inconsistency. While the Lions started out of the gates strong, they stumbled at the first sign of adversity. Namely, the Michigan Wolverines. What can you say? You have a senior QB being outplayed by a true freshman (Ryan Mallet), a team that had been beaten by a DII school out coaching Joe Paterno, all adding up to possibly the most embarrassing loss to Michigan in Penn State history.
The Lions followed that up with a beat-your-head-against-a-wall-till-the-pain-goes-away loss to Illinois - a game where Morelli and the offense received the ball five times in Illinois territory only to get three points out of it in a 27 - 20 loss. And oh yea, Morelli finished the game by turning the ball over on the final four possessions. After stumbling back out of the midwest like a drunk coming home off a bender, the Lions opened a two game home stand by blasting hapless Iowa, a team that managed the impressive feat of having an offense in even more disarray than Penn State’s. While fans resolved that the losing streak was over, many did not give much credence to the win, or the improvement shown by the running game and Morelli because of how poor Iowa had been all year.
The one bright spot that came out of the game was the introduction of Evan Royster, who gained a spot in the two-deep after Austin Scott was dumped off the team for a violation of team rules. While the Lion faithful dismissed the Iowa win, many of those faithful were delighted by a homecoming shelling of the once mighty Wisconsin Badgers. In a 38 - 7 beat down, the Lions were dominant offensively, stout defensively, and a joy to behold for the happy Beaver stadium crowd. That puts us just past the midway point in the season, so now it’s time for the dreaded midterms. We’ll run down the offense first, and tackle the defense next week.
The Quarterbacks
Statistically, Morelli is the middle of the pack in the Big Ten in yards, touchdowns, and quarterback rating. He’s also one of the worst quarterbacks in America when it comes to turning the ball over. While he started the season strong connecting with his receivers for multiple touchdowns and hardly throwing any interceptions, his Big Ten play is where he started to turn the ball over….and over….and over some more. If he wasn’t throwing Interceptions, he was fumbling, if he wasn’t fumbling, he was missing open receivers. For a while the senior just couldn’t catch a break. Eventually Morelli played himself out of the slump with a positive performance against Illinois and an excellent game against the Badgers. As it stands - he can really make this season great for himself by playing a good game against the Buckeyes on October 27th. No other quarterback played any significant snaps for the Lions.
Midterm Grade: C
The Runningbacks
While the Lions had good rushing numbers during the first quarter of the year, Penn State was anything but dominant on the ground. Generally the run game would start slow and finish strong (though against Michigan the ground game started slow and finished even slower). How much of the blame falls on Austin Scott’s legs is something that many will eventually discuss after the season ends, but it’s interesting to note that the running only ever reached vintage Penn State strength when he was off the team - against Iowa. In that game Rodney Kinlaw and Evan Royster combined for over 200 yards rushing. They never really slowed down as they ran over Wisconsin the week after. Kinlaw is 5th in the Big Ten in rushing with 662 yards and has a good shot of breaking 1000 yards for the season. Royster has shown flashes of big time talent, and might be the best pure runner on the squad. Combine those two and you have what looks like one of the better rushing tandems in the Big Ten moving into the second half of the season.
Midterm Grade: B-
The Receivers
Coming into the season, the Lions plethora of receivers were billed as the best in the Big Ten. For the most part, they have lived up to that billing. Three Lions are in the op 25 for the Big Ten in receiving yards behind pass happy Purdue. Four Lions have caught multiple touchdowns, and three Lions are in the top 25 for receptions. Penn State has done an excellent job of spreading the ball to Deon Butler, Jordan Norwood, Derrick Williams, Terrell Golden, and Andrew Quarless. From the opening game all of them have been able to get open, make catches, and yardage. The negatives have been slight cases of the dropsies, the disappointing season of sophomore Chris Bell, and the inconsistency of Quarless. But make no mistake, the triumvirate of Norwood, Butler and Williams is among the best in America, and Quarless and Golden make the receiving corps even more dangerous.
Midterm Grade: A-
The Offensive Line
They don’t get into limelight very much, so we’ll name the big guys here. At left tackle, Gerald Cadogen. The left guard is Rich Ohgrenberger with A.Q Shipley in the center. The right guard is Mike Lucian (when healthy), and the right tackle is Dennis Landolt. Together, this is probably the best offensive line that Penn State has had since Larry Johnson was running wild for the Blue & White. Protecting Morelli is something of a priority for the line since he goes straight into a panic when he’s under pressure. That’s been true right from the beginning of the year. The running game, however, took a little time to get hammered out. The line struggled to get on the same sheet as their backs at the beginning of the year. Once they finally started to gain an understanding of the what the backs wanted, they started to clear a highway for Kinlaw and Royster. Together this line has done a pretty good job with the exception of the Michigan debacle.
Midterm Grade: B
9 in a row to Michigan. Paterno is nothing but Michigan’s bitch. 9 IN A ROW!! Most coaches would be fired after 3 or 4 losses. Next year I wouldn’t blame the players if they refuse to board the plane to Ann Arbor. That would be news!
Posted on October 20, 2007I am a very patient man, but my patients has run out far as Joe P. Prima donna Paterno, is concerned. Don’t like his arrogant attitude, which gets worse every year, everything is not ok. I used to defend him for years and years to all my friends, saying it will get better, he will figure it out.
Well , he has not figured it out, he never will, PSU has suffered long enough, he can no longer be allowed to remain at the helm.
Any other college, he would be gone by now. He has not beaten Ohio State for years or any other good big ten team of note. What is his excuse? There isn’t any. The people who interview him are just as bad, asking the same hack knee questions week after week. Giving him a pass, when he gets upset with their questions and intimidates them with his vile temper.
He has worn out his welcome and still is treated like a king at Penn State. He has become a worn out hack and it is time he gives up his mantle to a younger more aggressive, progressive coaches. Penn State is too big a University with too many assets to accept less than stellar performances from any of it’s employees, Joe is just an employee, He has become a petulant ill tempered, peevish mannered, prima dona. That should not be tolerated by his bosses, or fans, unless they could care less like Joe has displayed in his arrogant attitudes. If Penn State football were a business, they would be filing for Chapter 11. Wake up Penn State, you have become a second class football program, recruiting is now going to suffer, we have gotten only a handful of five star recruits in the last several years and that is bitting us in the butt too. What is it going to take for the chancellors to call him on the carpet? If he were like other working stiffs, his job reviews would be enough to get him canned. Know who I really feel sorry for? The players who give it their all each week and are poorly coached and poorly motivated. They are the ones who are being made to suffer. They deserve better treatment. Don’t blame any of the players, hey they were recruited to play at Penn State by lousy recruiters, not their fault. There is a big core of Penn State players who are potential champions and they are being thrown in the mix with mediocre players who are not even wanted by the power houses like Ohio State. Do I remain an loyal Penn State fan? Yes, till the day I am PS paws up. Just think it is time we all woke up to the reality, nothing is going to change, until there is a change at the top of the coaching chain. Hey, what do I know?
I am just a old retired MO guy living on a small farm, wishing the best for Penn State fans everywhere.
TO John R Garland:
Get your facts straight with wins and losses between the Nits and the Bucks. You sound like a novice when it comes to PSU football. I’ve been a fan for over 30 years and yousound like an amateur fan. Grow up!
The difference between tough games and their outcome is leadership and confidence and ability in a quarterback. While Morelli is good, his abilities are limited. You can see the difference on the field with the Big Ten’s best. It’s that simple. Jopa, I adore you! But its time to retire and enjoy the Nits on TV.
I grew up a Penn State Fan in New Mexico and am still a Penn State Fan now living in Ohio.
JoPa is the man and with all he has done for the university he deserves to stay until he is ready to go. Morelli is an ify QB so that is all I have to say about that.
Remember, I like to win as much as anyone else (I have to hear Buckeye this and that all the time) but it is just a game played by kids. Enjoy the games and be happy you are able to watch them.
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