Rob's Main Blog

September 26, 2009: Iowa - 21, #5 Penn State - 10

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:04:00 GMT

Iowa - 21, #5 Penn State - 10

Well, there goes the season. I should have known after Temple gave us a hard time that Iowa would beat us (again). I was expecting a closer game, though, not a run-away like this. And the worst part of it all was that Penn State tricked us into believing that they would totally man-handle Iowa. The first play of Penn State's possession went for an 80 yard touch down reception. One play - TD! "Alright!" I thought. What transpired the following 50+ football minutes was absolute (but typical) ineffectiveness. 3 picks from Clark and a fumble in the end zone from Royster. The defense had holes in coverage, the offense couldn't move the ball. They should have just not shown up to play, because they obviously didn't.

To top off the weekend, the Steelers go on to lose to Cincinnati (but that's another frustrating story). Penn State fell to 15 (probably should have gone to 18 or 19). I've readjusted my expectations for the team this year to end up 9 and 3, and probably play in the Outback bowl. Next up is Illinois on the road. We'll see if they have what it takes to bounce back and execute well or not.

Needless to say, I give the team - in all areas - an "F". Poor play calling and poor execution.

September 5, 2009: Akron - 7, #9 Penn State - 31

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:09:00 GMT

Akron - 7, #9 Penn State - 31

Opening day of PSU football for 2009 - WOO HOO! Ok, so Penn State gets the opening kick off and the freshman Smith returns it for a nice gain to start off. Then, the offense lines up in typical run formation. Gee, who would have guessed it - a run for the first play (first X plays) right? NO! Play action pass for a huge gain - WOW! The first series was absolutely awesome! Drove right down and nailed a TD. Not sure what happened to the offense after that first series, though. They seemed to have sputtered. The running game (Royster was 14 carries for 61 yards and a TD) seemed a little weak. And the new field goal kicker missed not one, but TWO field goals! On defense, the front 7 was just amaizing, but the secondary didn't get much of a test. So, I'm still waiting to see how a strong pass attack will treat this secondary. Over all, not bad, even if it was lowly Akron. That's why we play the non-conference games, to get ready for the more worthy opponents.

Do I have big expectations for the team this year? Yep, I think so. We'll see how Ohio State, who struggled against Navy (yes, I said NAVY), does against USC next week. In other Big Ten news, Michigan handled Western Michigan by the same score, 31-7. They'll play Notre Dame next week - lol.

So, grades for the week?

Offense: B-

Defense: A+

Special Teams: D

Coaching: C

Up next week: Syracuse

September 27, 2008 - #22 Illinois - 24, #12 Penn State - 38

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:54:00 GMT

#22 Illinois - 24, #12 Penn State - 38

Wow, haven't had a chance to blog in a month, but there is PLENTY to blog about. How about Penn State?!?! 5 - 0 for the first time since 2005 (that magical, just-missed-it year). Well, I'll tell you what. This 08 team is ten times better than the 05 team.

While this game started out a little sluggish, I had little doubt that the offense could not come back. Illinois scored first, Penn State followed. Illinois scored again, PSU countered. It was tit-for-tat like that until the 3rd quarter where we just opened it up. Jordan Norwood was out, so finally Derrick Williams stepped up and played like a superstar - 1 rushing TD, 1 receiving TD and a kickoff return for a TD. And of course Royster contributed greatly on the ground (139 yards on 19 carries). Clark finished the day 14/20 with 2 TDs, as well as 50 yards and a rushing TD on 11 attempts.

To coincide with this win, which propelled them to #6 in the polls, USC lost to Oregon State (whom we blew away 45-14), Florida lost to Ole Miss, Alabama beat Georgia and Michigan beat Wisconsin. So a big shake up in the top 10, and Penn State finds their way to #6. However, no one is really giving them a shot at this point. Very few think they can run the table, but have faith. This offense is the real deal. Coming into this game they scored 221 points in 4 games. NO OTHER PENN STATE OFFENSE has ever done that!!!

For this game, here are the grades:

Offense: A (wow, did I really put an "A"???)

Defense: B

Special Teams: A

Next up: we travel to Purdue, who are 2-2, but played Oregon very tough.

August 30, 2008 - Coastal Carolina - 10, #22 Penn State - 66

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 22:01:00 GMT

Coastal Carolina - 10, #22 Penn State - 66

The long wait of the summer has finally paid off, and the crashing of pads and crunching of helmets for Penn State is now back! And boy did it come back today! Today's first game of the season proved why I have such high expectations of the team this year. 3 awesome senior receivers; 2 super underclassmen running backs; 2 capable QBs; special teams; the only real question was defense. While the defense did okay today, it was the offense that shined. Wow - did I actually say that? It has been a LONG time since I've been able to say that.

The receivers were great (as usual, as long as they have someone who can throw the ball), and Royster and Green were excellent. We racked up 260 passing yards and 334 rushing yards, not to mention D Williams' 82 yard TD kickoff return. 7 rushing TDs - the first since 2003!

And we finally got to see a good quarter and a half of each QB, Clarke and Devlin. While Clark did fair in passing, his running ability was not featured at all. I was a little disappointed. Overall, I think that Devlin performed much better. He was more accurate, more poised, more of a leader. I think the 2 QB scenario should work nicely this year - run Clark when we need to keep an aggressive defense honest, and use Devlin to pick apart strong pass defenses.

The defense started out a little slow, and were succeptible to across-the-middle passing attack. But if the offense is powered like this, it just might be a 1995 repeat, where we didn't need a strong defense because we simply would outscore everyone. I am surprisingly optimistic now, after having seen the team in action. "But Rob, keep in mind - it was a division 1AA school". Yeah, yeah, I know. Next week's test will be much more reflective of how the team handles itself.

So, my grades for the first game of the year:

Offense: B+ (line needs a little more work)

Defense: B

Special teams: A

Up next week: Pass-happy Oregon State. They put up over 400 passing yards in a 28-36 loss to Stanford, so that will test our defense.

August 12th

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:00:00 GMT

Today is my dad's 79th birthday, although I lost him in 2004. I really miss him. Marring this event was nothing less than harassing phone calls from my fugitive brother. Yes, that's right. Everyone who's been following this epic is wondering...

I will be asking York County Sheriffs department for a mug shot so it can be post on this site and around the internet. Anyone with information as to his where abouts will receive a $5000 reward from me personally, so stay tuned for the mug shot. Apparently he has become too comfortable living as a fugitive. He has a job (which I bet lasts no more than 3 months) and supposedly was almost wed. Haha! Poor woman. If only she knew! Anyways, his slack attitude that he has escaped his fate will be his un-doing. He's used his social security number for a job, and we can track him from that.

Anyways, happy birthday dad!

Live in Concert

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:57:00 GMT

This past Friday I went to see my [currently] favorite band in concert at the Giant Center: LIVE. It was the first concert I'd been to since Tim McGraw and Faith Hill a couple of years ago. Not as good seats, either. In fact, I'm not sure if it was where I sat, but they didn't sound that good. But regardless, I think they put on a good show, and the fans were for the most part pretty electric. I was a little disappointed that they didn't sell out the arena. Highlight of the evening: had to be when they did their version - as Eddie said "a good version of a great song" - Johnny Cash's I Walk the Line. I finally realized where Chris Daughtry got his version he performed on Idol. I remember thinking "that was awesome!" Of course his favorite band is none other than Live also - lol.

2 weeks until NFL preseason!

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:46:00 GMT

That's right, it's not too far away now! NFL Football preseason starts the first week of August, and there's a lot to be on the look out for. I joined one fantasy keeper league and inherited Brett Favre. Do I keep him, or cut him loose? He had a great year last year, but where will he be? Green Bay? Carolina? Atlanta? Chicago? Who knows... I may have to cut him loose. I'm very interested to see how Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco do in preseason.

Our draft for the one league is August 24th, so I should have a good idea of who I want for QB if they're available. Also, for RB. I may want to hazzard a pick on Darren McFadden in Oakland, or Felix Jones in Dallas. I may even be tempted to grab Rasard Mendenhall from Pittsburgh, just in case Fast Willie goes down again. Then there's Deasawn Jackson (WR), the kid from Cal who went to Washington. That may prove interesting.

But anyways, football is right around the corner; time to start gearing up and getting psyched!

2008 NFL Draft complete!

Sat, 03 May 2008 20:45:00 GMT

Yes, you know what that means! Speculation abounds about how these rookies will do this year; who will make an impact and who will fall flat on their face. Only 2 PSU players went in the draft: outstanding LB Dan Connor went to Carolina in the 3rd round, and that wanker CB Justin King went to St. Louis in a late round.

Other notables: Rashard Mendenhall (RB, Illinois), who terrorized Penn State last year for a lot of yards, went to Pittsburgh. That should be very interesting to watch - are they going back to pounding the ball on the ground after Big Ben's AWESOME year last year?!? Miami picked up a bunch of possible play makers including Chad Henne (QB, Michigan). I will be eager to see if he turns out to be their QB part way through the season. The Ravens selected a QB out of Deleware (Joe Flacco) - I suppose that means they didn't really care for their prized pick last year of Ohio State QBTroy Smith - very interesting! BC QB Matt Ryan went to Atlanta - good luck to you dude - lol! Also going to Carolina is the speedy Oregon RB (forget his name at the moment). And joining Jamarcus Russel out in Oakland is Arkansas RB Darren McFadden. Now if they only had some receivers there might be a chance for them this year.

And when Big Ben said he wanted a big receiver to throw to? He didn't get one. Go figure... They did bulk up on defense though, which was definitely a need starting the last half of last season. Anyways, the draft is done, and now the research for the fall and fantasy football can begin! Damn, it's still 4 months away!!!

Fantasy football thus far...

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 01:28:32 GMT

Well this year in Fantasy Football is at least treating me well. Up until this past weekend, I was #1 in both of my leagues. Unfortunately, a late TD by the Packers in overtime at Denver hosed me, since my opponent had both Favre and Greg Jennings and those 2 boosted him up over 40 points to beat me by 2 miserable points. So I find myself in 2nd in the Delta league, but still a comfortable 1st in the other league. So I'll be hoping that Ron Mexico drops a game or two, but he's been winning steadily for the last 4 weeks...

Rank	Team	W-L-T	Pct	Pts	Streak
1.	Ron Mexico	7-1-0	.875	781.03	W-4
2.	Not a good strategy	6-2-0	.750	817.70	L-1
3.	EVIL EMPIRE	5-3-0	.625	827.25	W-3
4.	The Blackberry Club	4-4-0	.500	732.67	L-2
5.	TEA-4	4-4-0	.500	693.40	W-1
6.	Mizerak	4-4-0	.500	652.23	W-3
7.	Liberal Redneck	4-4-0	.500	636.58	W-2
8.	Delta's Stepchild	3-5-0	.375	600.58	L-2
9.	Secret Harvest	2-6-0	.250	582.24	L-5
10.	No EZ Pass Allowed	1-7-0	.125	625.84	L-3

October 27, 2007 - #1 Ohio State - 33, #25 Penn State - 17

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 01:08:52 GMT

#1 Ohio State - 37, #25 Penn State - 17

Why do I allow myself to think better of Penn State than what they are?

It's a very simple question, really. Ohio State hadn't "played anyone" yet this year, and I thought the way the offense has been moving the ball the last 2 weeks that things were finally clicking.

Night game at Penn State. 2nd largest crowd EVER. #1 in our sights. The game kicked off, and Ohio State moved the ball down the field and attained a moral victory by scoring a field goal. Ok, fine. Then it was Penn State's turn. We marched right down the field and punched it in for a TD! WOW!!! I had to run outside and howl! That's what I'm talkin' about, right?!

Well, aside from the kickoff return for a TD in the 4th quarter, that early first quarter TD was IT. I don't recall much of the game after Ohio State took a 17 - 7 lead into half time because my alcohol consumption at that point was being fed by the continued ineptitude of both the Penn State offense AND defense. One of the nation's top defenses caughed up yards like they were a high school team that had never played before, and the wheels simply feel off of the offense. I can't explain it. I won't even try. You know how I feel about this situation, but now it's just way too pathetic.

Not to mention that PSU elected to PUNT on the OSU 38 yard line on 4th and 2. That could have gotten them to 17 - 14 at half time, and Penn State could have made their adjustments on defense and come out in the 2nd half and go right down and score and take the lead. But no. Joe has to punt. Asshole. I'm sorry, but the guy has got to go. The inconsistency and ineptitude is a disgrace to the University.

I certainly do hope that the last 3 games prove positive at least. Purdue, Temple and Michigan State. At this point, I think Penn State is suspect against all 3 of those teams! TEMPLE!? Yes, even Temple.

Grades for this week: I'm tempted to hand out Fs, but will refrain for the time being!
Offense: D
Defense: D
Special Teams: B

Next up: Purdue at home. Again, I won't even speculate that we could win this one...

Rank	Team	W-L-T	Pct	Pts	Streak
1.	Gunz Wanks	6-2-0	.750	862.80	W-1
2.	STP! Is A Dick!	5-3-0	.625