The Lions' Pride

Having Powell run back that first kick against ISU was the worst thing that could have happened to our kick return unit. He is AWFUL on kick returns because he's afraid to get hit and just walks to the 20 and then does a few jukes and goes down. The design of a kick returner is to hit the seem full speed. Get your *** in gear and start running.

Totally agree. He is not a good returner.

Also, just thought of another thing... Devon Smith may be fast, but he is not a good WR. He should not be a starter. A throw to him is almost a guaranteed incompletion...

I saw a lot of talented and highly recruited kids in Blue and White, Acutely Undercoached!!!

You can always find fault with the coaching staff, especially during a loss...BUT, THESE GUYS HAVE TO START TO MAKE THE PLAYS!!.. Im tired of hearing the 4 and 5 star system..If that is what we have then its up to them to go to the next level!!.. I agree with some head scratching decisions here and there-ie the qb rotation which should be over BUT, I also saw too many guys not making the play!! 3 or 4 drops -- three turnovers-- a holding call on a screen-- our SLOW safeties late to the ball..

Also that was a pretty good team out there today--it wasn't Indiana--which did none of the above mentioned things you have to do to win these games!!

Eventually I'll go back and watch the tape - but my quick thoughts from seeing it live:

-Indiana State's most successful play was a 20+yarder down the seam between both Astorino and Sukay in the 2nd-qtr. Well, right after the fake punt we had Alabama in 3rd&long and they hit Maze down the seam between both safeties again. Give their coaches credit for seeing a weakness and attacking it.

-Passrush is still a major concern. Extremely disappointed how slow we were (esp our DE's) at getting off the ball. Crowd was deafening on 3rd-downs - and the way our DE's were rushing the passer and the way 'Bama's tackles were setting up - it looked like 'Bama was the home team.

-Alabama's showed how smothering a defense can be when you have corners who can jam receivers at the line. Moye got bumped off his routes numerous times by Kirkpatrick. This is in direct contrast to Penn State playing off of their receivers and giving McCarron the short stuff - which he was more than willing to take.

-Quinn Barham held up alright in Tuscaloosa last year - but he was a disaster today. With Okoli banged up, they also had Pannel out at RT in the 2nd-half but Barham was getting beat almost literally on ever snap. In the 4th-qtr I watched him get beat 2-consecutive plays, then he started trying to cut his man, and pretty much just dove into the turf. Then he committed a holding penalty. I was seriously concerned for Bolden's safety on that final possession.

-Penn State can't make big plays. It's like reading an entire book as opposed to using cliff notes. If you're well-coached and disciplined - you can win that way - but Penn State's far too sloppy to sustain drives without turning it over - or getting behind the chains.

I would summarize both the game and Penn State's performance as "not ready for primetime." Alabama's in a different class in terms of talent, coaching and execution. Penn State has some fine players who bust their tails - but as a whole Alabama is simply a superior team.

I'm glad this thread is here being some four hours removed from the game I can't get some things out of my mind. So pardon my rambling. Obviously I am no football savant so most of these have been touched on.

I don't know how Bolden can't be named the starter. He was far from perfect but he probably showed more of the toolbox today than ever before meanwhile McGloin was horrible. Also the coaches have to know the swapping of the quarterbacks killed any chance for any kind of rhythm. The playcalling can always be criticized in a loss but the qbs deserve some blame. We had open guys at times and the qbs floated some and grounded others. Combined with a poor day by the receivers and bama deciding our passing was going to have to beat them led to a very long day for the play callers.

The receivers have been so dissapointimg thus far. They were suppose to be the strongest part of the offense and I think they have been arguably the weakest. Some of the drops were a little more difficult plays than they have been made out to be, but somebody make a play. Outside of the sensational one handed leaper by Moye the receivers haven't done anything except catch most of the balls thrown right at them.

Devon Smith is really fast. He is not a football player.
The OL was much better than anybody expected today obviously weren't dominant but they weren't dominated either. Very little of today's let down belongs to them.

Despite giving up 27 points today this defense could be the best in the big ten. Obviously the DEs need to be better at getting to the qb but I think they did an adequate job of closing the pocket. McCarron actually did a good job of evading the pass rush. Also the three signature pass plays of the day were all pretty well covered. The seam pass just snuck behind (I think it was) Sukay. The touchdown was squeezed between two defenders and the sideline pass that set up the second fg was a perfect throw over hodges head.

Lastly Alabama is a better team than us period. That said we had more than our handsful with the tide we couldn't overcome big mistakes. How many mistakes did bama make? I can think of one. They shouldve never fielded a punt inside their own 5 but we miss a tackle and they take it out to the 48. We made what seems like a few dozen mistakes starting with that missed tackle. Punted the ball three? Times into the endzone. Dropped balls, poor throws and of course turnovers. Bama was better but we made their job alot easier.

He looks different running the ball this year. I feel like he is running a little lower, which you would think helps with the hits...not so much.

I think if he learned how to not get hit sticked every single time he ran, PSU would utilize him a little more in that respect.