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In the Trenches

  • Just throwing this out there, would love to hear what Nittany Nation thinks

    As I was shaking my head looking reviewing the TD that wasn't, I started asking myself what the hell happened to another first half lead, what was negatively impacting this team's ability to win these 'big' games? I consider the 'big' games against the likes of Nebraska, Wisconsin, tOSu, Mishitagain, Mishitagain St, etc...

    As much as I admire Larry Johnson for recruiting and ability to put his proteges into the NFL, the defensive lines of the past 5-10 years have not been able to shut down offenses that feature big, physical, power running offensive lines. The more I thought about it, that seems to be a common denominator in games that get away from us. Not discounting inept QB play, or conservative offenses of past years, but the Penn State defensive front has not been able to take control of a game when it matters most in the second half of games. Far too many times the opposing backs are able to get to the second level with out any push from our defensive fronts.

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    "Leadership is to be both a speaker of words and a doer of deeds" WE ARE and ALWAYS will be...... RIP JVP

    NitneeNut

  • i actually though the ends did a nice job getting upfield, we had a lot of TFL's. But i do agree that we have been getting gashed a bit, then again, these modern spread offenses (nebraska and osu) are hard to defend. Maybe I'm wrong, but i have a feeling we scheme to protect our razor thin secondary sometimes as opposed to just stacking the box

    TheBleedingLion

  • Problem is we don't have the depth this year and it is killing us in the second half of games when the starters are tired.

    PSUfan28

  • PSUfan28 said...

    Problem is we don't have the depth this year and it is killing us in the second half of games when the starters are tired.

    Many more years to come of this too. blank

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    PSUjosh11

  • To win with these sanctions IMO.... We need to score, sack the QB, and create turnovers.... We are going to get worn down we need stopper plays...

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    PENN STATE FOREVER

    philafan

  • philafan said...

    To win with these sanctions IMO.... We need to score, sack the QB, and create turnovers.... We are going to get worn down we need stopper plays...

    yup, atleast we have Fitz - couldn't imagine these sanctions with the old strength program - it took o-linemen 3 years to get ready to compete

    Nittny65

  • DE: Deion Barnes, Fr., or Pete Massaro, Sr., Anthony Zettel, Fr.
    DT: DaQuan Jones, Jr., or James Terry, Sr., Austin Johnson, Fr.
    DT: Jordan Hill, Sr., Kyle Baublitz, So.
    DE: Sean Stanley, Sr., C.J. Olaniyan, So.

    Depth, as it has been pointed out, is our issue and will be for awhile. Hill went into the game banged up, played sparingly and way more then he was supposed to because Terry went down. Remove Terry in the 2nd half, cut back Hill's reps, and you are going to have issues in the middle. Jones played a ton of snaps. NE's offense didn't hold much in the first half; they held a ton in the 2nd half which helped wear us down faster, especially while chasing that sweep play over and over.

    helpdesk

  • Yeah, we were really rolled once Terry went down. His size alone was doing the job inside. When Baublitz went in, they were abusing him. I even wondered if they would put someone like Zettel inside and give up a fresher body that could chase the sweeps. But they probably just go inside and it'd be Baublitz part 2.

    Losing out on some DT prospects has put a hurt on depth, obviously. We can only hope that Dowery and Johnson can contribute next year. Hell, contribute, one of them needs to start next year. We lose Terry and Hill. We'll even need some progress on Brian Gaia (if he even ends up at DT) or other redshirt linemen.

    Its almost as scary as DB. But we're recruiting DBs. DTs are a glaring need now.

    MDAlum

  • MDAlum said...

    Yeah, we were really rolled once Terry went down. His size alone was doing the job inside. When Baublitz went in, they were abusing him. I even wondered if they would put someone like Zettel inside and give up a fresher body that could chase the sweeps. But they probably just go inside and it'd be Baublitz part 2.

    Losing out on some DT prospects has put a hurt on depth, obviously. We can only hope that Dowery and Johnson can contribute next year. Hell, contribute, one of them needs to start next year. We lose Terry and Hill. We'll even need some progress on Brian Gaia (if he even ends up at DT) or other redshirt linemen.

    Its almost as scary as DB. But we're recruiting DBs. DTs are a glaring need now.

    I didn't even see Baublitz get in the game, could not have been for long.

    yup, which is why we may need to go JUCO route..........a guy like Crayton may be physically ready to provide depth as a freshman

    This post was edited by Nittny65 on 11/12/2012 at 2:50 PM

    Nittny65

  • Nittny65 said...

    I didn't even see Baublitz get in the game, could not have been for long.

    yup, which is why we may need to go JUCO route..........a guy like Crayton may be physically ready to provide depth as a freshman

    Well, the staff is recruiting to unprecedented circumstances, so I won't pretend to know better than they do. Certainly they see Gaia, Johnson and Dowery every day in practice. They see the future. I can only cross my fingers and hope they can play. If they were duds, I am sure the staff wouldn't be so quiet and would be highly visible on the recruiting trail.

    Even if they all play out, we're dangerously thin and inexperienced up front. If they don't ...

    In the hands of Fitz and LJ to maximize their talents. Gotta trust in them.

    MDAlum

  • I think another key is getting the offense to sustain drives and give the D a rest. 3 and out's, and even 2-3 first downs in the NASCAR offense is not much rest for the D. I think clock management will be key during these reduced scholarship years.

    DW66

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