Online Now 755

The Lions' Pride

Black shoes, basic blues. No names, all game

On this Board 539
Record: 4947 (7/23/2012)

Online now 751
Record: 7381 (3/13/2012)

Boards ▾

The Lions' Pride

Black shoes, basic blues. No names, all game

Ticket Exchange

Buy, sell and swap tickets

Reply

Penn State vs. Alabama

  • What do you guys think about this game?

    Offense:
    Bama loses major players on offense...mark Ingram, Julio, Greg McElroy, James Carpenter (LT). However, Bama still has Trent and he gave psu fits last year. We bring back all four OL (our LT was the only OL that we lost from the team), led by Barrett Jones. Our offense will be a work in progress but we'll still have a LOAD of talent.

    Defense:
    Our defense loses Marcell Dareus, the #3 overall pick in the draft. Kid was a stud and won't be easily replaced. That being said, our defense is crazy loaded next year. We have about five guys that have first round grades (Upshaw, Kirkpatrick, mark Barron, Hightower, Lester). After spring practice, CB D. Menzie has been getting major props.

    I think the whiteout can give your guys a ton of energy. But in the end, our defense and OL will set the tone. What are your opinions? Tell me more about your team.

    ReasonableDoubt ●

  • To be clear, I don't think Bama has 5 first rounders. But we have five guys that are mocked first rounders in one place or another.
    IMO:
    Upshaw: 1st
    Hightower: late 1st/2nd. Could be a lottery guy though
    Kirkpatrick: 1st/2nd (could blow up and be a lottery guy)
    Barron: late first/2nd
    Lester: 2nd round, maybe late second

    We have a TON of seniors and will lose about 30+ guys to graduation and NFL.

    ReasonableDoubt ●

  • I'd give Alabama 80% odds to win.
    Our defense should be improved from last year, but so far it looks like we still don't have much of a pass rush.
    Our quarterbacks aren't as green as they were last year, and a good wide receiver core. How the O-line turns out could make a huge impact on the game.
    But overall, i think Alabama has more talent. We could have a shot though with a new QB playing for you guys. When Michigan rolled into town last year for the unofficial white out the crowd was insane. Just ask Denard Robinson, we basically put him alone on an island. If Trent has a good day though we are in trouble.

    signature image

    PSUJames

  • I don't think we're going to score much at all in this game. Our best chance of winning is playing a 17-10 type game. I think we'll contain Richardson better than last year, considering the upgrade at linebacker and hopefully we won't lose a player like Hodges on the opening kickoff again. The PSU defense needs to be aggressive against the new QB and try to force turnovers, as PSU probably won't win in a conservative, field position type game.

    PSUfan28 ●

  • Having a new QB in that atmosphere could be trouble. I doubt we'll air the ball a ton for that reason and instead we'll rely on our OL and Trent for offense.

    We aren't even sure who the starter will be. Both guys are great talents, but that means nothing in their first big game in happy valley.

    ReasonableDoubt ●

  • Our big question marks are QB, DE, TE, and OL. Both the OL and DL should be better than last year, and we are very talented at RB, WR , and LB. I think it'll be closer than last year but something tells me you guys will find a way to win a close game. I can't wait to go to this game, the atmosphere will be electric. I'm really glad we're playing you guys this early, cause if we can somehow pull out a victory we'll instantly be right there in the top 10. Playing with house money in this one, and hopefully the team will play nice and loose and realize there is really no pressure on them. Other good thing is that it'll have no effect on the B1G race.

    We Are27731

  • Bama has lost a lot but still has more talent than Penn State at almost every position. This is going to be one of those games that proves stars do matter.

    This post was edited by psuproud on 5/15/2011 at 4:31 PM

    “Never trust a government that doesn't trust its own citizens with guns.” Benjamin Franklin

    psuproud

  • Offense

    QB - This is basically a toss up since both teams have not named a starter, but I will take either of our QB's over yours since the game is in happy valley. Would take either of yours if the game was at Bama. Edge PSU

    HB - Trent Richardson is an absolute beast, I don't expect him to go as crazy as last year, but, he is still gonna have a great game unless our line shows up and hits him in the backfield. Edge Bama

    Line - Don't know much about Bama's line, but you said you're returning 4 starters and our line is probably our biggest concern entering the season. Edge Bama

    WR / TE - You lost your best receiver while we only lost Zug and Brackett which won't hurt us much.... Edge PSU

    Defense

    Line - We don't appear to have any DE who will be a consistant threat, but our DT's are gonna be pretty damn good. With that being said I still think you guys are better off.... Edge Bama

    LB- I think we're going to have 1 of the best 2 deep in the country at LB, enough said. Edge PSU

    Secondary- Don't want to talk about our secondary abilities / gameplan. Edge Bama

    Special Teams-

    KO Fera had so many touchbacks last year, edge PSU.

    FG Fera / Ficken could work and you guys only made 1 fg outside of 40 yards last year which is our kickers problem as well. PUSH

    Return- I just checked stats and they were basically the same so PUSH?

    Analysis- Most Likely Bama is gonna win, if we want to win we need our Linebackers to stop Richardson, our line to protect Bolden/McGloin, and our whiteout to get in your quarterbacks head.

    signature image

    'Just to make it clear, I'm not transferring, I like it here too damn much to leave.' Jordan Kerner

    ejb5212

  • psuproud said...

    Bama has lost a lot but still has more talent than Penn State at almost every position. This is going to be one of those games that proves stars do matter.

    Our losses were on the offensive side of the ball, mainly skill positions. We lost four first rounders and our senior QB. But I think we'll be better this year than last because we're loaded with seniors and talent, last year it was mostly young talent. We lost three true juniors to the first round, which sucks.

    I'm happy we get you guys this year instead of next, we won't be as good next year. This year we'll be hungrier after the close losses we has last year.

    Our weakness will be:
    New QB
    Questionable pass rush
    New LT
    losing Julio

    ReasonableDoubt ●

  • ejb5212 said...

    Offense

    QB - This is basically a toss up since both teams have not named a starter, but I will take either of our QB's over yours since the game is in happy valley. Would take either of yours if the game was at Bama. Edge PSU

    HB - Trent Richardson is an absolute beast, I don't expect him to go as crazy as last year, but, he is still gonna have a great game unless our line shows up and hits him in the backfield. Edge Bama

    Line - Don't know much about Bama's line, but you said you're returning 4 starters and our line is probably our biggest concern entering the season. Edge Bama

    WR / TE - You lost your best receiver while we only lost Zug and Brackett which won't hurt us much.... Edge PSU

    Defense

    Line - We don't appear to have any DE who will be a consistant threat, but our DT's are gonna be pretty damn good. With that being said I still think you guys are better off.... Edge Bama

    LB- I think we're going to have 1 of the best 2 deep in the country at LB, enough said. Edge PSU

    Secondary- Don't want to talk about our secondary abilities / gameplan. Edge Bama

    Special Teams-

    KO Fera had so many touchbacks last year, edge PSU.

    FG Fera / Ficken could work and you guys only made 1 fg outside of 40 yards last year which is our kickers problem as well. PUSH

    Return- I just checked stats and they were basically the same so PUSH?

    Analysis- Most Likely Bama is gonna win, if we want to win we need our Linebackers to stop Richardson, our line to protect Bolden/McGloin, and our whiteout to get in your quarterbacks head.

    I agree with everything mostly.

    QB- home field will be huge!! Edge (could be the difference)
    RB- TRich is beastly but the guys behind him are unproven. Slight edge to Bama
    WR- more unproven talent for Bama. I don't know much about psu here. Slight edge psu
    OL- edge Bama
    DL- we lost out best in Dareus. Our guys are good, but not great. Push
    CB- slight edge Bama
    Safeties- edge Bama
    LB- this is EASILY the strength of our team. Upshaw and Hightower are both top 5/10 LBs nationally. Both are considered first rounders. CJ Mosely is a true soph that many consider the best LB on the team. No homer, but I would pick this unit over any in the nation. Slight edge Bama

    ReasonableDoubt ●

  • ReasonableDoubt said...

    I agree with everything mostly.

    QB- home field will be huge!! Edge (could be the difference) RB- TRich is beastly but the guys behind him are unproven. Slight edge to Bama WR- more unproven talent for Bama. I don't know much about psu here. Slight edge psu OL- edge Bama DL- we lost out best in Dareus. Our guys are good, but not great. Push CB- slight edge Bama Safeties- edge Bama LB- this is EASILY the strength of our team. Upshaw and Hightower are both top 5/10 LBs nationally. Both are considered first rounders. CJ Mosely is a true soph that many consider the best LB on the team. No homer, but I would pick this unit over any in the nation. Slight edge Bama

    I'd agree with this except I'd say you guys have the advantage on the D-line.

    PSUfan28 ●

  • PSUfan28 said...

    I'd agree with this except I'd say you guys have the advantage on the D-line.

    Our DL hasn't proven anything. Sure, they have recruiting stars, but that means nothing. Until proven otherwise, they're just ok.

    They should be Dominant in run coverage, but they haven't shown themselves to be exceptional in pass rushing. We run a 34 defense so our DL doesn't have to be great. If they occupy blockers, our LBs can show out.

    ReasonableDoubt ●

  • ReasonableDoubt said...

    Our DL hasn't proven anything. Sure, they have recruiting stars, but that means nothing. Until proven otherwise, they're just ok.

    They should be Dominant in run coverage, but they haven't shown themselves to be exceptional in pass rushing. We run a 34 defense so our DL doesn't have to be great. If they occupy blockers, our LBs can show out.

    Our DT's are gonna be pretty damn good, but our DE's are a giant question mark.

    This post was edited by ejb5212 on 5/15/2011 at 5:54 PM

    signature image

    'Just to make it clear, I'm not transferring, I like it here too damn much to leave.' Jordan Kerner

    ejb5212

  • ejb5212 said...

    Our DT's are gonna be pretty damn good, but our DE's are a giant question mark.

    I think our DTs will be good, just not great. The loss of Massaro is a dagger to the already questionable end situation. We just have to hope Lattimore and Crawford stay healthy and show improvement.

    PSUfan28 ●

  • 'Bama will have a significant edge on the OL and in the secondary. Without having seen your DE's i'm already going to give 'Bama the advantage here because ours are very suspect and coming off injuries. The difference from last year to this years games *should* be that we don't get the ball ran right over our defense liek last years game. Our LB's will be much improved. The DT's will be a strong point as well but without the pass rush and our soft zone coverage I expect 'Bama's playmakers to do exactly that...make big plays in space. Richardson will get loose a couple times and some of your receivers will find more room underneath than they are used to seeing in the SEC. If your QB can hit the open receivers you should be able to move the ball on us regularly. Overall our 'D should be improved though and put up a better showing than last year. Our offense *should* be improved along the OL since we also return 4 starters from last year but our OL is still a question mark and I expect them to get pushed around by 'Bama's DL. Then we have our QB issues. Everywhere else on our 'O should be able to hold their own. 'Bama still wins this game by double digits.

    PSU12

  • it's clear psu and alabama are in different places right now.. saban reloads that team into national title contenders each year while joe makes a run every 3rd year or so.. that said, a win vs. top 10 alabama would be huge considering we could easily be 9-0 after an upset of the tide... this game will be won in the trenches and bama has a nice edge there currently..

    BaltLions24

  • Our DL will mainly bullrush and stunt the whole game, they won't do many great moves to beat your OL. Their job is to put a body on your OL. We blitz our LBs ALL DAY. But they're the size of DEs, both Hightower and Upshaw are in the 260/270 range. Upshaw will look like a DE most of the day. Hightower will play in the middle, so he often blitzes up the gap. Hightower is susceptible to the underneath route in coverage though, since he's a big guy.

    Cj Mosely, the LB I spoke about earlier, is scary good in coverage. He shadowed TRich the entire spring game, running stride for stride down the sidelines on occasion (Trent is a legit 4.4 or better).

    So CJ is our coverage LB, while Hightower and Nico Johnson are salty against the run. But without a doubt, the way to get yards on Bama is:

    -wheel routes. Especially if you catch Nico in coverage. If Nico is on the field, don't bother running because his run instincts are legit. But he suffers in pass coverage.
    -underneath routes. Our LBs are huge and not great against these routes (sans Mosely).

    Our base is a 34, but we run a lot of Nickel. We replace the Sam LB with a strong DB (coverage safety type player). This shores up our coverage deficiencies while not giving in too much for the run.

    ReasonableDoubt ●

  • No disrespect to Bama, but while I appreciate the strength of the LB corp over there. I honestly see our LBs not only being the best unit in the nation this year but perhaps the foundation of our entire defense leadership wise. Last year was not a typical PSU year, and we had 3 LB drafted the year before. Not only are our LBs faster than ever this year, but for you star gazers we have loads of them scattered through our depth. Vandy will have them prepared for Richardson this year, I am very confident in that.

    edit: wow could i say this year one more time?

    This post was edited by ForTheGlory90 on 5/15/2011 at 9:01 PM

    ForTheGlory90

  • ForTheGlory90 said...

    No disrespect to Bama, but while I appreciate the strength of the LB corp over there. I honestly see our LBs not only being the best unit in the nation this year but perhaps the foundation of our entire defense leadership wise. Last year was not a typical PSU year, and we had 3 LB drafted the year before. Not only are our LBs faster than ever this year, but for you star gazers we have loads of them scattered through our depth. Vandy will have them prepared for Richardson this year, I am very confident in that.

    edit: wow could i say this year one more time?

    No offense taken. I feel the same way about our LBs.

    We have a ton of stars, but we will play the best player regardless of ranking and class. Mosely, a 4 star, jumped other five stars as a true freshman. Hightower and Upshaw were 4 stars, nico was a 5. But stars aside, all of these guys are first round NFL types.

    We have an Ohio kid, Trey depriest, that will undoubtedly jump a few upperclassman this fall. Sunseri too, even though he was barely a 2 star.

    But we'll lose most of these guys this year. If we don't strike it this year, it'll be another 2/3 years before we're a championship team.

    ReasonableDoubt ●

  • One thing that can get overlooked from last year's game in Tuscaloosa, is that Penn State could've easily scored on their first three possessions. On their first offensive possession they had the perfect 3rd-down call, a screen pass with Alabama in a blitz-zero but Royster caught the pass and fell w/out receiving any contact. Had he remained upright, sky-cam replays show it very likely Royster could've gone the distance. Second possession PSU was in the redzone and had a pass-protection breakdown where Bolden was hit on a rollout and his pass intercepted. On their third possession, again they drove inside Alabama's 20 and that time Chaz Powell coughed it up.

    I think 'Bama's offense and PSU's defense will be a closer matchup, but the difference will be if Penn State - with more experience at QB, WR and OT this year - can eliminate the critical execution mistakes that prevent them from putting points on the board in big games. At this point, I think 'Bama should be a road favorite but I'd expect a fairly competitive game.

    This post was edited by vslice02 on 5/15/2011 at 9:32 PM

    signature image

    Classic Penn State highlights: http://www.youtube.com/user/vslice02

    vslice02

  • BaltLions24 said...

    it's clear psu and alabama are in different places right now.. saban reloads that team into national title contenders each year while joe makes a run every 3rd year or so.. that said, a win vs. top 10 alabama would be huge considering we could easily be 9-0 after an upset of the tide... this game will be won in the trenches and bama has a nice edge there currently..

    You guys are still psu. It is a very real possibility that you guys can beat us. If our players think they can't lose and don't come to play, we deserve the loss.

    ReasonableDoubt ●

  • vslice02 said...

    One thing that can get overlooked from last year's game in Tuscaloosa, is that Penn State could've easily scored on their first three possessions. On their first offensive possession they had the perfect 3rd-down call, a screen pass with Alabama in a blitz-zero but Royster caught the pass and fell w/out receiving any contact. Had he remained upright, sky-cam replays show it very likely Royster could've gone the distance. Second possession PSU was in the redzone and had a pass-protection breakdown where Bolden was hit on a rollout and his pass intercepted. On their third possession, again they drove inside Alabama's 20 and that time Chaz Powell coughed it up.

    I think 'Bama's offense and PSU's defense will be a closer matchup, but the difference will be if Penn State - with more experienced QB, WR and OT play - can eliminate the critical execution mistakes that prevent them from putting points on the board in big games. At this point, I think 'Bama should be a road favorite but I'd expect a fairly competitive game.

    I agree, it could've been a close game with a few plays going differently. That being said, I think Bama shut it down pretty early last year. Psu had no answer for the 5 wide set, and we quit using it early in the 2nd quarter. Last part of the game was basically a long Kneel down. No offense.

    How are things with Paterno anyways? Do you guys have any hopes for a replacement? You guys should look at coach sunseri at Bama. He's a Pennsylvania guy (although it's Pitt).

    ReasonableDoubt ●

  • ReasonableDoubt said...

    I agree, it could've been a close game with a few plays going differently. That being said, I think Bama shut it down pretty early last year. Psu had no answer for the 5 wide set, and we quit using it early in the 2nd quarter. Last part of the game was basically a long Kneel down. No offense.

    How are things with Paterno anyways? Do you guys have any hopes for a replacement? You guys should look at coach sunseri at Bama. He's a Pennsylvania guy (although it's Pitt).

    Agree, 'Bama definitely took their foot off the gas pedal once they got a 3-score lead. I guess my point was that with such a young PSU team last year - if they got a couple of scores on the board and maybe it's a little different game in the 2nd-half (rather than the extended kneel-down like you said).

    JoePa is obviously in better health this year than last. As far as the replacement/successor goes that discussion could easily high-jack the original premise of this thread; I'll just say nothing definite has been determined and I think the majority of PSU fans' hopes are split among several canidates.

    signature image

    Classic Penn State highlights: http://www.youtube.com/user/vslice02

    vslice02

  • I think it will be a low scoring game, just because of the atmosphere and our LBs are awesome again. TRich will be the best player on the field that day, but hopefully our DTs and LBscan keep him under control.

    If we can stay healthy it should be a game, but I don't think Penn State is going to be good enough to pull it off. I'm excited for the game though.

    signature image signature image signature image

    ‏@Cordale10 Why should we have to go to class if we came here to play FOOTBALL, we ain't come to play SCHOOL, classes are POINTLESS

    Texas Lion

  • You lost Dareus, but he didn't play against us last year. Nor did your fine halfback. But considering that they were the top players picked at their respective positions in the draft, you ARE losing a lot. People are too glib in thinking a genuine star is going to be approximated by his replacement. We all thought someone was going to step into Jared Odrick's shoes. Wrong! True stars aren't easily replaced.

    I think AL has better overall talent. if PSU plays to win like it did at OSU last November against a much better team we can definitely put a scar into you. If we play not to lose we won't scare you and the result will be the same. I think AL figures out a way to win.

    vflion

Penn State
247Sports
Features
Resources
Connect

247Sports In partnership with CBS Sports