The Lions' Pride

Liked that as well, but to be fair he transferred from OSU to a JUCO and then to 'Bama.

Thanks for the comments on Alabama. I think your D will be a great measuring stick for our offense to see how far they've come from last year. Even against you guys we were able to move the ball, it was scoring that was an issue.

Our team:
QB - As you said, position in flux. Bolden is the guy who has physical tools but doesn't quite seem to be consistent enough to be a good starter yet. He can move the ball, but has trouble in the red zone. McGloin can also move the ball, and has a tendency to put points on the board but also has tendencies to throw game-breaking INT's (multiple times). As others have said, choosing between Bolden and McGloin is like choosing between losing 24-3 and losing 34-13. Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

WR - Good wide receivers. Moye is tall, lanky guy with long strides and ability to go deep. Does a number of things well, not sure any one thing stands out. Justin Brown is more of a possession guy who has a knack for getting open, but not a speed WR. Shawney Kersey is a bit of an unknown, but should be a 6'2" fast WR. Outside of those guys, not sure if Drake will play and don't feel like commenting on the rest.

RB - Redd, Redd, Redd. Kid is electric. Not a power back, but slippery and can break tackles. Not a dancer, but has moves. Smooth is a word that describes him well. Very, very talented back. Beachum is a power between-the-tackles RB. Mike Zordich is the lead blocker at FB, Joe Suhey is something of an H-back.

TE - Big trouble last year with this position. Had to start a true freshman in Haplea most of the year. Andrew Szczerba is back, who is a good blocker and decent receiver. He may not play this week due to concussion. If not, we may turn to Haplea and Nate Cadogan (OT turned to blocking TE).

OL - More of a cohesive unit than last year and more experienced. Interior is in a bit of flux, but Stankiewitch is the C, Troutman, Pannell and Urschel are three OG's fighting to start. Pannell is not very good IMO, Urschel is young, Troutman is a power guy (senior). Tackles are average, Barham is an OK LT, Okoli is becoming a pretty good RT. Probably will have trouble with blitzes again this year.

DL - May be one of the most important units for PSU going into the Alabama game. Still and Hill were dominant last week at DT and Crawford showed signs of his athletic potential. Sean Stanley, a smaller DE, started opposite Crawford and didn't show much but was OK. The DT's may cause enough havoc to stop your O, but they're inconsistent.

LB - Much improved over last year. Can go two deep and not lose much quality at all. Gerald Hodges is the athletic OLB (injured himself opening kickoff against Bama last year). Glenn Carson is a young MLB, not much known about him right now. Bigger than our usual LB's, though, it seems. Mike Mauti is the relatively known stud at OLB, fierce guy. Nate Stupar may be on to rush the passer. Khairi Fortt is true soph who is backup at MLB, Mike Hull is RS Soph who is reportedly most instinctual LB we have. Great unit.

CB - Actually somewhat deep this year, though the talent remains to be seen. D'Anton Lynn is a big guy who will play in the NFL. Good, solid corner. Stephon Morris is a guy who had a big sophomore slump all last year but will hopefully step it up this year. Chaz Powell is fighting Morris to start, he's a speedy guy, not sure how physical he is though. Backups are decent, Derrick Thomas has talent to start but gets in Joe's doghouse. Adrian Amos, true freshman with an INT last week, showed real promise.

S - Astorino and Nick Sukay have been starting for a while. Sukay showed quite a bit before getting injured last year, Astorino is OK, but not great. May be coming back to form after some injuries last year or two. Malcolm Willis is the physical, good safety behind them.

Overall, I'd say our talent level is a notch below yours at most every position. That being said, I think we've got enough talent to compete with you guys and it will be a good game. I've been predicting Bama by 7 points for a while now.

Game on

In all seriousness, I agree with everything you said. Just an unbelievably stacked team.

I laughed when I read "The punting game is inconsistent, and has some of the fan base concerned". I guess if thats the type of thing that Bama fans get antsy about these days, you know you have an amazing team.

My biggest concern isn't so much the talent differential, but how PSU's o-line deals with the 3-4 defense. Unlike the NFL, most college teams don't see it much if ever. Our staff will surely use last year's film as the basis to go on, but the beauty of the 3-4 is the creativity and versatility it gives to the coaching staffs to confuse the offense. I'm sure Saban and Co. will use completely different blitz packages from what we saw last year...and our o-line will struggle adjusting. We have a new starting center, so he didn't get the experience from last year's game going up against the NT.

It'll be tough...

Thanks for the write-up.

Question for Bama fans: and let me preface it with the fact that I've thought since last September that TR is THE best back in the country. Ok question - how did he only manage 37 yds on 13 carries last week? Even if the 3 TDs were on goal line totes, which i know they werent, that would mean he gained 34 yds on the other 10 carries.

The coaches had a different offensive line out there on almost every single drive. Not many holes to be found found running up the middle until around the third quarter when Kent State had given up and Bama's backups were in. To be fair, Bama did not try to do anything in the running game other than run right up the middle and Kent State was selling out on stopping that.

There is concern about the offensive line, specifically the guards behind Barrett Jones (who will probably be back at guard this week), but the rushing stats against Kent State were a little misleading. Saban said Richardson is capable of playing a better game, but as a regular fan I do not know what that means - whether he missed a read or what. Hope that helps.

Judge, to add to your point about the run game and last years defense, before Trent Richardson put 100+ on the ground against us last year we hadnt had a running back go for over a hundred against us since Shonn Green in 08.. Last years run defense IMO was an anomaly, dont expect Trent to put over a hundred on us on saturday, that embarrassed us.. Turnovers will be a huge factor in this game.. If Bamas D forces our offense into a ton of mistakes and thye get points out of it, Bama will role.. If our offense plays mistake free its anyones game..

JTNITTANY hit it on the head. It's going to be about limiting mistakes.

He mentioned it in regard to PSU, but Bama's worries lie there as well. If Bama can play mistake free ball, we feel pretty good. But the young QB's and their INTs from last week scare me. The heavy rain this week, and possible rain on Saturday, mean that this could be an old school mudder. If that's the case, passing gets tougher, turnovers become an even bigger issue and the playing field gets even more level.

The ability of the crowd to keep the pressure on our Oline and QBs will be a big deal as well. If Bama can score early and take the crowd out of it, we like our chances. But if PSU can score off of a pick-6 or something similar early, it could be a long, tense day for those of us wearing red in Happy Valley.

Was Redd the guy the came on strong late in last year's game?

Regardless, looking forward to drinking a beer or twelve with you guys before kickoff. Can't f-ing wait.

If you ask me, our refusal to commit to the run last week is one reason the stats were modest at best. I think run-blocking and running is something that requires a rhythm. With a weak opponent, our coaches used the game to let our young QBs throw and never got into a rhythm as far as our ground game goes. I expect that to change this week and I expect Richardson and Lacy to both get a lot of carries very early in the game. I don't see any way we call 42 passing plays this week. McElroy threw 24 times against you guys last year. I don't know that we'll throw it 20 this year.

Good luck, no injuries, and I'm looking forward to the game.

Glad you posted this answer, and I'll add another observation. It seemed to me that the backup RB's had more success than Trent because the defense changed its focus when TR was in the game. They sold out to stop Richardson and the OL just seemed lost. What concerns me about this Saturday is that if PSU sells out to stop the run, there's a good chance that they will be successful. The Bama offense would then have to rely on an inexperienced QB, playing in his first road game in an extremely tough environment, to make plays downfield to open up the running game. I think this game will turn on the ability of Bama's QB to complete passes against man-to-man coverage. If we can't do that, it could be a long day for my guys in Crimson.

PSU I come in peace and respect...my grandparents and mother were all born and raised in Pittsburg, PA...grew up as a kid spending summers watching the Pirates play at Forbes Field and rooting for the Steelers in the winter...so even though a Southern Red Neck, I've got Yankee blood too...Richardson and Lacy will bring the wood trust me their one two punch is as good as anyone. This game should continue being played after this year. The respect these two fan bases display is amazing and the teams play with class...the Bear and Joe Pa liked one another and set the behavior pattern years ago and we always appreciated you sending Joe Namath South...we adopted him long ago and consider him one of us...this will be buckle your chin strap old school smash
mouth football...we are all honored to be in Happy Valley with the salt of the earth PA
folk...

PS sure miss those high black top shoes your guys use to wear...

He barely played. Out of his 13 rushes, 3 were short yard tds. If he had 26 carries, I think he would've broken one. But he played early and left, we need his energy this week a lot more.

His backups are good too. Lacy may have been a 5 star if his grades were better in high school.