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PSU Playbook - Ohio State Preview
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PSU Playbook
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Oct 29, 2004 04:34 PDT
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Dear Lion Faithful,
ND: The Lions face the Buckeyes in Columbus this
weekend. The Bucks were looking pretty vulnerable
until they soundly defeated Indiana. Granted, we are
talking about Indiana, but who are we kidding? Indiana
is not exactly a “gimme” for the Lions with this
anemic offense. The Lions need to get their tails out
from between their legs and forget about their abysmal
performance against Iowa. We’ll see if the coaches and
this squad can pull together to overcome all the
setbacks from last week. It’s not going to be easy.
MH: Yeah, the term ‘gimme’ is hereby revoked from the
PSU vocabulary when referring to football. Again, this
offense has made a habit of losing and as I have said
all season they have a confidence problem. It is a
tale of two units, with the defense playing
championship caliber ball and the offense playing
midget league caliber ball. As bad as the Buckeye
offense is, the Penn State offense is worse. This game
is going to be interesting to watch to see which
defense manages to score. Personally, I was looking
forward to PSU having a shot at a win finally in
Columbus. That was before the debacle we saw against
Iowa.
Dirty Details:
Who: Penn State at Ohio State
When: Saturday, October 30th at 12:00pm ET and 9:00am
PT
Where: Ohio Stadium
Attendance: 101,000+
Series: Penn State leads 10-9
Line: Buckeyes are favored by 6pts.
TV: ABC Regional Coverage with Brent Musburger, Gary
Danielson, and Jack Arute.
Radio: Penn State Sports Network with Steve Jones and
Jack Ham
Web: http://www.gopsusports.com,
http://psuplaybook.org
Trivia:
Since Penn State joined Big Ten play in 1993 what is
the most total points the Lions have managed to score
when visiting Columbus?
Other Big Games this Week:
ND: Well, the game that I think could be very
interesting is the Oklahoma/Oklahoma State game. For
whatever reason, the Cowboys always seem to get the
Sooners snoozing when they visit Stillwater. We’ll see
what happens this week. This is the week that I think
we will find out which Sooner will be a front-runner
for the Heisman – Jason White or Adrian Peterson. Yes,
I think Peterson (a true freshman) should be
considered for the most coveted trophy in the land.
MH: Not a bad pick. I think the Sun Devils visiting
Cal is an interesting matchup given the success of Cal
and their top ten ranking. The #21 Devils have one
loss to USC, but have played solid football in the
rest of their outings. It should be a dog-fight!
Upset Special:
ND: Mark, I honestly think that the folks in East
Lansing may have found the right combination to win
games. If the Wolverines are not careful, there is a
possibility that the Spartans could come into the Big
House and crush the Wolverines dream of a BCS game.
MH: The Golden Gophers are in a slide with
back-to-back losses against Michigan and Michigan
State. In what was supposed to be a Rose Bowl run year
for them, has turned into a disappointment for Minney
fans. Indiana is licking their wounds from a loss at
the hands of the Buckeyes, but given that this is in
Bloomington, the Gophs better be prepared for the
Hoosiers to come out swinging.
Offense:
ND: Penn State has an offense? Really? All joking
aside, there will be some changes this week, but I’m
not sure how much of an impact they will really have.
It appears that Zack Mills probably will not play on
Saturday, which would give Michael Robinson his first
start at QB this season. Unfortunately, MRob really
has not had enough snaps at QB in practice this season
to be fully ready to lead this offense. Let’s hope
that his athleticism helps him and that he doesn’t try
to force anything in the passing game. Joe was upset
that they didn’t get Rubin involved more so look for
him to get more touches this weekend. OSU’s pass
defense is aggressive and has 16 sacks on the season.
Quinn Pitcock is probably their best pass rusher and
at 295lbs, he’s not lightweight either. But, the kid
that has come on strong as of late is Mike Kudla. Look
for him to pressure MRob from the DE position.
Overall, the Buckeye pass defense is decent and is
ranked 48th in defensive pass efficiency. The
secondary is experienced with guys like Nate Salley
and Dustin Fox, who seem to have been roaming the
Buck’s secondary for the past 10 years. The kid that
is really impressing everyone is Dante Whitner. This
sophomore SS is 3rd on the team in tackles (55), 3
TFLs, and 1 INT. He is going to be another strong
player for the Bucks in years to come. The Bucks have
not done well this year against the run, which is
normally their forte. They are surrendering 129 yards
per game, which is only 44th in the nation. I think
it’s easy to see why the Bucks are not as tough this
year. Normally, they rely on defense and punting to
win games. But, when the total team defense is giving
up almost 325 yards per game, they are not putting
themselves in a position to win. Not to worry
though…Penn State’s rushing attack is a pathetic 86th
in the nation and is averaging 118 yards per game.
But, don’t believe the numbers, Mark. If you pull the
UCF and Akron numbers out, the Lions don’t even come
close to breaking 100 yards per game. It’s not pretty.
The Lion offensive line has been offensive and they
need to step it up. I think the Lions will move the
ball against the Bucks, but I think their red zone
woes will continue
MH: Nirav, your opening statement on the offense was
no joke. We have no offense. The play-calling is so
predictable that the Iowa bench was calling out the
plays (correctly) simply based on personnel changes in
the game. That is pathetic! What may be more pathetic
is that Coach Paterno fails to acknowledge the issues
at hand. He is simply throwing his hands up and seems
helpless – as we all are. If Penn State wants to win
they have to come out swinging on offense. The
predictable, conservative play-calling will give Ohio
State a colossal edge. The staff has stripped down the
playbook to such incredible simplicity the other team
can figure it out, yet Paterno feels that it is too
complicated for Anthony Morelli. Go Figure! The bottom
line is that I have no faith in this offense. They
can’t run the ball and passing isn’t exactly a
strength. The biggest issue is I don’t believe that
they have faith in themselves. They go into this game
with a negative attitude and they are halfway to
defeat. They are one-dimensional at best. The defense
has put them in the position to win time and again and
they simply lack the ability to do their jobs. As bad
as Ohio State is, Penn State has shown the Nittany
Nation nothing on the offensive side of the ball to
suggest we can put points on the board in order to
compete in this game. This in itself baffles most
since it seems as if the offense had a collapse
between the Purdue and Iowa games. You would think
Michael Robinson would give them an edge at
quarterback, but with the over/under on draw plays
being upwards of 30 with MRob at QB, this team is as
predictable as tax day. Nirav, we are not even getting
the ball to the few playmakers we have. Take Mark
Rubin, they guy barely even got a look against Iowa. I
believe Zack’s issues last week were simply that he
cannot read a zone coverage. He has displayed an
inability to do this all year. With him out of the
game thought that is not a factor. However, Robinson
has barely tossed the ball this year, throwing it 17
times during games. I doubt he is able to come in and
make an impressive enough impact to get this horrid
offense to compete against even a lackluster Buckeye
team.
Defense:
ND: Mark, the defense has been the sole bright spot
for this squad and is the only reason that the Penn
State faithful haven’t stopped watching the games all
together. They are the type of defense that we all
consider typical at Penn State – aggressive, play
makers, and dominant. They are in the top 20 in every
defensive category. In fact, they are the only team in
the top 25 in scoring defense to have a losing record.
The problem is that the offense is 107th in scoring so
even though the defense can hold teams under 20 points
a game, the offense can’t muster 20 points. Anyway,
the defensive line has done a terrific job of getting
pressure on the QB and stopping runs at the line of
scrimmage, which has taken considerable pressure off
of the LBs and the secondary, who were making most of
the tackles a year ago. The Bucks offensive line is
not very good this and has struggled protecting their
QB. Justin Zwick is going to be out this week, which
means that Troy Smith will get another start. Smith
was solid last week against Indiana. He didn’t make
mistakes, he was able to get the ball to his play
makers, and his biggest asset was that he was able to
scramble away from pressure. In a sense, Smith is very
similar in nature to Iowa’s QB, Tate. But, he has not
faced a pass rush like Penn State’s before. The Lions
will need to bring pressure from every angle and force
Smith to throw the ball out of rhythm. Smith’s main
targets are Santana Holmes and Bam Childress.
Combined, they have 53 catches for over 650 yards and
5 TDs. Both are fast and both are very talented WRs.
Look for Zemaitis to match up with Holmes, who the
Bucks throw the most to. For the rushing attack, the
Bucks have been at a real loss. They are averaging
only 8 yards more per game than Penn State. Lydell
Ross has suffered running behind a young and
inexperienced offensive line. Plus, with Ross in
possible trouble for his activity at a “non-family”
establishment, there is a chance that he will not play
again this week. If that’s the case, Pittman and Mo
Hall will get a majority of the carries. Pittman had a
good week running last week, but as I mentioned
earlier, this Lion defense is not comparable to the
Hoosiers. The Bucks will have to throw the ball to
have any real success and then use the running game to
keep the Lions LBs honest. In the end, I think the
running ability of Taylor and the big play capability
of Holmes will be all the difference. Plus, I’m sure
that the Bucks defense will give them pretty good
field position by creating turnovers and pinning the
Lions deep in their own territory.
MH: As I said before, the defense are the only reason
why Penn State is not getting blown out on the
scoreboard. They have shut down top ten offenses in
Minnesota and Purdue and did not allow Iowa to score a
touchdown. If we had even a so-so offense we could
have pulled out some victories. Our best shot at
offense is the defense running back a turnover for a
touchdown. This defense should be able to shut down
the Buckeye offense, which is about as exciting and
effective as Penn State’s. Watch for Ohio State to go
to the air and test the secondary. The one area that
concerns me is our ‘cushion coverage’ and allowing
Smith to get some completions and hence build up his
confidence. If the OSU passing me gets going this game
is all over. If Phillips and Zemaitis can shut down
the routes and maybe even get a pick or two, this
could be another close one. The problem is we are
going into Columbus, where we haven’t won since 1978.
The other problem is the habit of PSU’s offense to go
three and out. If the defense has to carry the offense
again they will run out of gas. The offense has to
show some pride and get some drives going or this will
be yet another long day for the Lions. I expect Tom
Bradley to throw out some blitzing packages to set
Smith on edge. If he tosses our a corner blitz or two
it could really apply the pressure and play well into
the hands of the defense. Again though, the defense
can only take so much time out on the field.
Special Teams:
ND: Mark, we both thought that Robbie Gould would be a
critical component in last week’s game and we were
right. Unfortunately, the senior kicker is only 3 for
8 this year with a long kick of 38 yards. Gould needs
to get his head back in the game if the Lions have any
hope of salvaging this season. On a positive note,
Lowry has been doing a pretty decent job of returning
punts and has made some good decisions this year.
Special Teams will need to come up big against the
Bucks if the Lions have a prayer of winning this week.
Ohio State has a great kicker in Nugent. Mo Hall is
about to become the best kick returner in Ohio State
history with just 5 return yards.
MH: The kicking game needs a good kick in the pants!
Robbie is mentally scared right now. An interesting
point though, he has made every attempt from the left
hash mark and missed every attempt from the right hash
mark. You’d think the coaches would have recognized
this somewhere along the way. Lowry will be key in
getting a short field for the offense. The PSU staff
has to realize that if they are expecting to kick,
they need to run the ball left so Robbie has a shot.
Matchup to Kick Back and Enjoy
ND: It’s hard to pick any matchup on the offensive
side of the ball that I will admittedly “enjoy”. So,
I’m going to go with defensive line against a pretty
weak OSU offensive line. The Lions should dominate
this battle, but it’ll be fun to watch.
MH: Here, here. This game may have me wanting to go
watch my neighbor’s pee-wee football game. I guess I
will have to say the young OSU QB Smith against the
pass rush of PSU. PSU’s chances are hinged on how
effective the pass defense is.
Keys to the Game:
ND: There is only 1 key to this game and that is Penn
State pride. This group of seniors is destined to be
the only class in Joe Paterno’s history to leave with
a losing record. Their only hope is to win the rest of
the games this year and at least go out with a bowl
game. The Lions need to play like Lions. Not to sound
too much like Yogi Berra, but they can win this game
if they don’t lose it.
MH: It all comes down to the offense. If they can move
the ball and exploit OSU’s defensive weaknesses they
have a shot. If this is another outing like Iowa then
we may see the Bucks pitch a shutout, assuming they
don’t take any safeties this week.
Predictions:
ND: Mark, I made the mistake of thinking that Penn
State had turned the proverbial corner against Purdue.
Clearly, I was wrong. This Lion team is looking eerily
similar to last year’s squad. Even with Michael
Robinson at QB, I just can’t see them pulling it all
together…especially on the road, which has been an
issue for the last couple of years.
OSU: 20 PSU: 7
MH: Given that ten years after PSU boasted the best
offense in college football history we are seeing one
of the worst offensive performances in PSU history, my
faith is shaken. I just don’t see how the offense can
possibly move the ball as long as the playbook is bare
and the play-calling is horrid. Nirav, you got duped
last week and I think we are dealing with the same
team. Thank God for the defense, but they can’t do it
alone:
OSU: 12 PSU: 3
Trivia Answer:
The most points the Lions have managed to put on the
board at Ohio State since Big Ten play resumed for
them in 1993 is nine in 1998. In every other game
against OSU they have scored a touchdown or less.
Until Next Time…..
GO STATE……BEAT SOMEONE!!!
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