The BBC, since joining the Big Ten Bloggers, has found some friendships where rivalries once existed. Oh, they’re still rivals, but we’ve got some good friends at Purdue and Penn State blogs. Purdue’s main blog, Boiled Sports still hasn’t apologized to us for beating our Buckeyes last month, so we’re not sitting next to them in study hall anymore.
But we still have our boys over at two outstanding PSU blogs, Zombie Nation and Nittany White Out.
With the big game coming up on Saturday, we are sharing blog space with ZN and NWO. Today’s questions go to Nittany White Out. Here’s what came of our discussion;
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The BBC – At the beginning of the season, PSU was faced with a potentially weaker offensive line as compared to previous seasons. Compared to what your expectations were before the season, how has your offensive line performed in your opinion?
Nittany White Out – To be honest, I really didn’t think the offensive line was going to be much of a problem. We knew Dennis Landolt would be a solid, if unspectacular, left tackle, and we figured moving All-American in the making Stefen Wisniewski from guard to center would help bolster the interior of the line. Sure, there were three openings, but they were to be filled by some very high-profile recruits, especially DeOn’tae Pannell, who originally had been slotted in at left tackle during the spring. Even with three question marks, I figured we had three gimme games to mix and match and fight out what worked so that by the time the Big Ten schedule came about, we’d have a fully meshed offensive line. Obviously, I was wrong.
There should’ve been a warning light coming on when Akron held us to under 100 yards on the ground (if you don’t count a fake punt that picked up big yardage), but we were told that it was their unusual defensive alignment–they run the 3-3-5–that gave a young line trouble. It got worse when Syracuse dominated the line of scrimmage, holding the Lions to 78 yards rushing on 35 carries, but still, we were told not to worry. They had Arthur Jones–a dominating nosetackle in his own right–and were selling out against the rush. Then against Temple, the running game finally got going, with 186 yards in the romp, and we figured all the kinks had been ironed out. Again, wrong, wrong, wrong. Though the pieces had been mixing and matching over the first three weeks, Iowa presented this team with a wake up call. Pannell hasn’t seen the field since, and a pair of seniors, Nerraw McCormack and Ako Poti have been doing a much better job. The line has definitely progressed since the Iowa game, and as a Penn State fan, I can argue that if we’d played at least a decent opponent in the out-of-conference schedule that we’d have been able to make those changes sooner.
BBC – Outside of PA, all we ever hear about is “clark and Royster, Clark and Royster”. We all know about Daryll Clark and Evan Royster, tell us about who else we should be scared of?
NWO – Well, Daryll Clark has an entirely new stable of receivers, but I’ll get into that a little later. Some of the best players on Penn State that you might not know about play on the defensive side of the ball. First, Jack Crawford is a true sophomore, and he’s a great story–he was born in England never played football until his junior year of high school. He’s an absolute athletic freak, and has been a disruptive force, both in stuffing the run and getting after the quarterback. Lining up next to him is Jared Odrick, who’s got to be on one of those All-America teams by the end of the year. He’s a defensive tackle whose specialty is penetration; he’s in on the quarterback right off the snap, and is a good enough athlete to chase down most QBs, though running down Terrelle Pryor might be a little tougher than getting after Tate Forcier. I assume you guys know about our potential All-America linebackers Navorro Bowman and Sean Lee, so I won’t go into too much detail except to say that they’re as healthy as they’ve been all year. Expect Bowman to spy Pryor this game, Penn State tried a similar strategy against Michigan and Forcier was completely ineffective running the ball. Penn State will usually rush just four, though with their Cover-2 defense it doesn’t create too many running lanes for a scrambling QB. If Pryor wants to pick up big yards on the ground, he’ll need to do it himself.
BBC – Similar to your offensive line, your WRs took a hit when your top three receivers left. How has this changed the Penn State passing game so far?
NWO – As promised, I’ll talk about our receiving corps now. Losing the Big Three like we did was tough, as Jordan Norwood, Deon Butler, and Derrick Williams were all superb wide receivers, and had started for the past four seasons. I mean, they’re all on NFL rosters right now. How many schools can graduate three NFL wideouts in a single year and not miss a beat in the passing game? Apparently, the answer is Penn State, though a great deal of that has been due to the stability of Daryll Clark, who’s done a great job building a rapport with the new receiving corps. The passing game has become much more crisp since the beginning of the season, when the receivers were out of sync often with Clark.
Penn State’s passing game has been a little less dynamic than it was a year ago, and there’s a little bit of a loss of trust. Rather than throw over the middle because you know Jordan Norwood is a warrior and will take the hit, the Penn State game has been a lot of quick hits and throws to the sidelines. However, it’s been working, and that’s due to the emergence of a couple young players. First, Derek Moye is 6’5, and to go along with that height, he’s a former Pennsylvania state champion sprinter. Graham Zug is more of a possession-type receiver, though at 6’3 he’s got good height and runs very crisp routes. Chaz Powell is dynamic with the ball in his hands, but still has a long way to go as a receiver. However, I’d be remiss if I failed to mention Andrew Quarless. Quarless had a big freshman year but has been in and out of Joe Paterno’s doghouse ever since. This year, he’s stayed clean and has come up big on the field. He’s a major matchup problem for most teams, with good size and the speed to absolutely burn Michigan’s Obi Ezeh en route to a 60-yard touchdown catch.
BBC – How much longer do you believe Joe Pa is going to remain at Penn State? Assuming Bobby Bowden gets canned in the next year or two, do you think Joe Pa retires as soon as he’s gone, or does the FSU situation have no bearing on what happens in Happy Valley?
NWO – You know, it seems like for the last 10 years, if not for even longer than that, everyone’s been trying to figure out just when Joe Paterno will leave Penn State. Well, he’s been mum on the situation (he was prepared to coach the 2009 season without a contract, if the university wouldn’t offer him one) and before this season, signed a three-year contract extension that will take him through, at least, the 2011 season.
My best guess would be he steps down after 2011, especially because that year sets up very nicely for Penn State, and could give Joe Paterno one last run at a Rose Bowl or Title Game. But Joe does, I’d say, a lot more than Bobby Bowden at this point in their careers. Sure, he doesn’t go on recruiting visits, but he has a big say in player personnel, and if you watch Joe at practice, he’s a taskmaster. He gets on the guys almost as much, if not more than, their position coaches. I mean, if you remember how he hurt his hip last year, it was demonstrating proper form on an onside kick to Kevin Kelly. Sure, he might be a little brittle, but inside he’s the same JoePa we’ve had for 45 years here at Penn State. So when will he step down? Whenever the hell he wants to.
On Friday, we’ll see a little further insight from Mike over at Zombie Nation.
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