College Football Week 9

[Sarge]

Penn State, as they so often do against Ohio State, gave that game away. They played a great game for 52 minutes in spite of giving the Buckeyes 10 points off of turnovers in the first half. Then in the last 8 minutes, Clifford decided to out do himself and give them 14 more points including a horrible pick six.

That 24 points off turnovers was huge. Ohio State is #2 for a reason. You can’t help an explosive offense by giving away 24 points like that.

It’s time to move on from Sean Clifford. Even if they don’t win another game, you make the switch to Allar. Clifford has had 5 plus seasons to prove his mediocrity. Time to see what the future looks like.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

Penn State outplayed OSU for about 48 minutes. That's not an overstatement. They were winning both lines of scrimmage for most of the game and making plays. The problem is in those other 12 minutes, they made huge mistakes that you can't make against a team with as much talent as Ohio State.

Clifford had a good game. All my friends hate him and get mad at me when i point out that everything is not on the QB, similar to when i was sticking up for Mitch. I don;t think any of the 3 INTs were Clifford's fault. The first one was a tipped ball. The second appeared that the freshman RB did not run the right route. The 3rd was the INT by the DE. That is a quick slant. The RT is supposed to cut block the DE specifically so he can't knock down the pass. Not only did he not cut the DE, he got knocked over and the DE was able to leap up and make a play. That's a quick throw. The QB has to trust the block on that and not assume his RT is going to get steamrolled.

Speaking of the RT, he was the 3rd stringer. Their LT went out of the game so they had to move RT to LT and i believe that RT was already the 2nd stringer. Then you have to bring in a 3rd stringer at RT. Plus their best interior OL Tengwell got hurt. Penn State ran the ball really well and that's why that fell off.

Ohio State's defense looks suspect. Penn State ran the ball on them and that secondary wasn't great in coverage. Penn state's OC won the chess match most of the day. OSU has pass rushers but if they don;t get pressure, you can get guys open on them.

Stroud ended up with good stats but he was not impressive. When his first read is open (which is almost always), he's great but if it's not he makes mistakes.
This was Ohio State's first real game and they struggled. They'll probably be better prepared by the time they get Michigan.

People hate Franklin but you can't fault him today. PSU outcoached Ohio State for most of the game.

Most had PSU down for 8 or 9 wins. Now they have a shot at 10-2 and a New Year 6 bowl. The talent level is increasing. Lots of young guys getting experience this year. Allar takes over next year and they have another really good recruiting class coming. Arrow is pointing up and that's all I care about.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

It's easy to say put in Allar, but he's a true freshman and the OL is now suspect with injuries. That's a lot to put on a freshman. If Allar was a redshirt freshman it would be different. I expect we will see Allar playing but Clifford should still start.

Pickett is having his struggles and look at how many games he started in college. If Pickett didn't have so many college starts, he'd still be on the bench. You don't see Tenn starting Willis at QB.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

Tennessee could be better off losing to Georgia next week. They already beat Bama. If they lose to UGA then UGA will play Bama in the SEC Champ game. UGA wins that then Tenn likely gets in as the 2nd SEC team. If Bama wins then Tenn is even more likely to get in because the Bama win looks even better.

Now what if Tenn beats UGA then they go and lose in the SEC Champ game against Bama? Now there is real good shot they take 1 loss UGA over 1 loss Tenn because of recency. Plus do you really want to set up Bama and Tenn to play 3 times in a year?

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

Don't think Harbaugh is a douche? They're up big with under 3 mins. Corum has over 30 carries and they are still feeding him the ball. Then with their starters still in the game they just ran a reverse flea flicker. Yeah, Harbaugh's all class.

 

[TDX27]

Penn State, as they so often do against Ohio State, gave that game away. They played a great game for 52 minutes in spite of giving the Buckeyes 10 points off of turnovers in the first half. Then in the last 8 minutes, Clifford decided to out do himself and give them 14 more points including a horrible pick six.

That 24 points off turnovers was huge. Ohio State is #2 for a reason. You can’t help an explosive offense by giving away 24 points like that.

It’s time to move on from Sean Clifford. Even if they don’t win another game, you make the switch to Allar. Clifford has had 5 plus seasons to prove his mediocrity. Time to see what the future looks like.

Franklin handed the QB1 spot to Clifford this year. Allar could have gotten Penn State to at least this point with 2 losses if he were QB1. Then, he would be in full stride for his sophomore and junior seasons. If he's as good as everyone thinks he is, he will be headed to the NFL after that.

 

[slashsteel]

It's easy to say put in Allar, but he's a true freshman and the OL is now suspect with injuries. That's a lot to put on a freshman. If Allar was a redshirt freshman it would be different. I expect we will see Allar playing but Clifford should still start.

Pickett is having his struggles and look at how many games he started in college. If Pickett didn't have so many college starts, he'd still be on the bench. You don't see Tenn starting Willis at QB.

Tanny is out today, what you talkin bout Willis gets the start.

 

[SteelerFan448]

Franklin handed the QB1 spot to Clifford this year. Allar could have gotten Penn State to at least this point with 2 losses if he were QB1. Then, he would be in full stride for his sophomore and junior seasons. If he's as good as everyone thinks he is, he will be headed to the NFL after that.

That’s what I was thinking as well. True five-star prospects should be instant impact players.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

True freshmen QBs rarely start. Georgia didn't start Justin Fields. OSU didn't start Stroud as a freshman. They had Quinn Ewers too and didn't start him. They got Fields from transfer portal rather than start a freshman. Mich didn't start McCarthy last year and didn't even name him starter this year until like game 3.

It's easy to say they'd have the same record with Allar but i doubt that. I think they would have lost to Purdue week 1. That was a hostile environment road game against a good team. Cliff did have a pick 6 but also made a ton of plays to win that game. Clifford is also involved in protections. I just think it's an awful lot to put on a true freshman. Trevor Lawrence started as a freshman but he was on a loaded Clemson where he didn't have to do much.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

That’s what I was thinking as well. True five-star prospects should be instant impact players.

They are playing several true freshmen. The RBs and the LB Abdul Carter are playing major roles and others are playing as well. QB is different though. They have gotten Allar playing time but having him start the season as a true freshman behind a suspect OL is too much to expect.

 

[stillerfaninfl]

All on Franklin....he must go if PSU wants to play with the big boys.

 

[madinsomniac]

All on Franklin....he must go if PSU wants to play with the big boys.

The issue there is that there is no guarantee that you get an improvement… Franklin is a good recruiter… it may just be worthwhile for you to hold onto him and try to entice hc level coordinators around him…. I don’t understand why teams let the head coach have responsibility where they are deficient at… if a guy cant be a gameday strategist against better teams, have someone else take that responsibility… hc have to do a **** ton and they aren’t great at everything… delegate some

 

[topseed]

Franklin has never beaten a top-10 team and his streak isn't going to end anytime soon. OSU should win this easily even in Happy Valley.

Who was coach the last time PSU beat a top 10 team? I thought it happened over OSU at least once when they were ranked high.

He is 2-14 against top 10 teams with 10 consecutive losses.

Don't know what the absolutely correct answer is, but Fox has been consistent with their graphics: They put up the record as 2-18 during the Michigan game, and 2-19 during the Ohio State game.

So if the stats department at Fox is correct, James Franklin is now 2-20 against top ten opponents.

 

[topseed]

People hate Franklin but you can't fault him today. PSU outcoached Ohio State for most of the game.

So you thought that:

a) going for it on a long 4th-and-2 from the 19 (up 14-13 in the third quarter), then
b) opting for a field goal (the first time) on 4th-and-inches from the 13 in the fourth quarter down 16-14

made good sense?

 

[Badcat]

All on Franklin....he must go if PSU wants to play with the big boys.

playing soft coverage and allowing Harrison Jr free reign of the field was frustrating.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

So you thought that:

a) going for it on a long 4th-and-2 from the 19 (up 14-13 in the third quarter), then
b) opting for a field goal (the first time) on 4th-and-inches from the 13 in the fourth quarter down 16-14

made good sense?

are you saying that it was stupid to to go for for it early and then later it was stupid to not go for it? Doesn’t seem consistent.

I think you could have gone either way on each decision and neither is wrong. We see that they have kicking issues so that’s a factor. Franklin went for it earlier in the game knowing he needed more points to hold on against OSU that can score in a hurry. So, I was OK with going that first time. They had momentum at that point.

I thought the FG was right too. Now it’s 4th quarter. I think you take the lead there.

In any case those decisions didn’t cost the game. Overall Penn STate was well prepared and their gameplan had OSU guessing most of the game. You can blame Franklin for Michigan but not this one.

 

[topseed]

are you saying that it was stupid to to go for for it early and then later it was stupid to not go for it? Doesn’t seem consistent.

I think you could have gone either way on each decision and neither is wrong. We see that they have kicking issues so that’s a factor. Franklin went for it earlier in the game knowing he needed more points to hold on against OSU that can score in a hurry. So, I was OK with going that first time. They had momentum at that point.

I thought the FG was right too. Now it’s 4th quarter. I think you take the lead there.

In any case those decisions didn’t cost the game. Overall Penn STate was well prepared and their gameplan had OSU guessing most of the game. You can blame Franklin for Michigan but not this one.

No. I'm saying if you're going to go for it on 4th down one time but not the other, go when you need 18 inches rather than almost 3 yards. Does that seem consistent?