Other News in College Football:
This weekend was one of the greatest weekends in college football. From Central Michigan's unbelievable luck in the tail ends of their game against Sparty, Tate Forcier's coming out party, and USC pulling one out in Columbus.
As it looks right now, in week 2 of the college football season, no conference has established themselves just yet as the elite conference in the nation. Alabama is struggling against FIU, Buckeyes just lost to USC, however both teams were evenly matched, Sooners have already lost to BYU, and the ACC has lost to two FBS teams already. It seems like every year is a competition to match the mayhem from the year before.
Anyways, the three games I want to touch on from this last weekend are Michigan vs. Notre Dame, Ohio State vs. USC, and Houston vs. Oklahoma State.
Houston vs. Oklahoma State, the game that was not on anyone's radar, but ended up being one of the most exciting games of the weekend. I mean, even if it wasn't, it was still an upgrade from the LSU/Vandy game. This game validates to assumptions that were made at the beginning of the season. The first of which is Houston's QB Case Keenum's ability to play the QB position. This guy has put up amazing number the past couple of years has not gotten his fair share of attention. Look for this to cause a rise in his draft stock and look to hear his name more often as the season progresses. Secondly, the preconceived notion that the Big 12 plays terrible defense. I know Case Keenum is a great QB, but Houston is not a great team. There is no way that they should've put up 45 points on a team that held Georgia to only 10 points.
Notre Dame vs. Michigan, also known as the hot seat game for the coaches of both of these programs. This game was very exciting to watch and both teams delivered. I'm here to tell you that Michigan beat a very good Notre Dame team. Both of these teams at the end of the year should be in the top 25. If they continue to play at the levels that they can, this could be the year that both programs re-establish themselves as elite programs in the nation. I know we all found out that Lou Holtz was wrong once again, but I think we will all find out that he was not too crazy. Look for both of these teams to play the spoiler roles as they play more top ten teams as the season progresses.
USC vs. Ohio State, this was the most exciting game of the weekend. Ohio State came out a little sloppy and it looked as if another rout was on course again. However, Ohio State responded to an early turnover with a TD drive of their own. As a matter of fact, the Buckeyes not only hung in there with the big boys of USC, but they punched them right in the mouth. This Buckeyes controlled every aspect of this game until that very last drive. I want to go ahead and address that last drive by USC because a lot of people are saying that that drive will be the signature drive to the start of Matt Barkley's career. I want to go ahead and point out that Barkley did nothing. 85 yards of that 86 yard drive came from Joe McKnight, and the final yard was from Stafon Johnson. Both QB's in this game looked sloppy, but that's expected from a defensive game, which the PAC-10 doesn't see that often, but I'll tell you what, Pryor looked determined. If there was one thing made known from this game, is that both USC and Ohio are elite programs, but nobody wanted it more than Pryor. I would say to look for both of these teams to possibly meet back up in the Rose Bowl.
WE ARE............
Showing posts with label NCAA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NCAA. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Syracuse
After a long weekend at Penn State, I finally get to update you guys on what's really happening with Penn State football. Yes, we beat Syracuse 28-7, but there is still nothing to worry about.
After talking to a lot of the Nittany Lion faithful this weekend, and an LSU fanatic, there are a list of concerns I would like to address. First on the docket, is the Penn State running game. We need to set a few things straight, the running game is going to be perfectly fine for the coming weeks. You need to realize that Penn State's strength with the running game is running inside and out, then hitting people with a stretch play. That is Royster's strength, his phenomenal vision and decision making at the line of scrimmage. What we didn't see a lot of, was that kind of play calling, and when we did, we got stuffed at the goal line. The reason why you shouldn't worry about it is because Syracuse has a big boy in the middle on their line that has racked up over 30 tackles for loss the past few years. If you don't know what I'm getting at, it means that it is very difficult to run the ball inside on Syracuse's defense.
Second, people are still questioning the real talent of the wide receivers, claiming that they haven't faced top tier competition yet. While this may be true, you have to look at their skill set when they are playing on the field. These receivers have some of the greatest technique in the nation. If you look at how they catch the ball, they possess all the necessary skills to come down with the ball every time. The three things you want to look for in a receiver to be successful are his abilities to use his body to shield defenders as he catches the ball, his instincts to catch the ball at its highest point, and catching the ball with his hands. If you don't believe me, go ahead and take a look at the highlight clips of our games on espn, you'll see that our receivers are go-getters.
Finally, I know we're still having some concerns about our offensive line, but the only thing I can tell you is that time and experience will brings this unit closer together. The more time they spend on the field together, the better they are going to get.
Other Penn State News:
-Zach Zwinak, the nation's top fullback prospect just committed to play his college football at Penn State
-Khairi Fortt, one of the nations top middle linebacker prospects is expected to announce his decision soon, as its looking, its coming down to Penn State and Georgia. I would lean closer to us winning this battle as Fortt has developed a great friendship with two current Penn State commits in Silas Redd and Dakota Royer.
- Nick Sukay changed his number from 10 to 18, relax folks that wasn't Brennan Coakley back there in coverage.
- Justin Brown burned his redshirt in late play against Syracuse, look for them to work him more into the offense in the weeks to come.
WE ARE......
After talking to a lot of the Nittany Lion faithful this weekend, and an LSU fanatic, there are a list of concerns I would like to address. First on the docket, is the Penn State running game. We need to set a few things straight, the running game is going to be perfectly fine for the coming weeks. You need to realize that Penn State's strength with the running game is running inside and out, then hitting people with a stretch play. That is Royster's strength, his phenomenal vision and decision making at the line of scrimmage. What we didn't see a lot of, was that kind of play calling, and when we did, we got stuffed at the goal line. The reason why you shouldn't worry about it is because Syracuse has a big boy in the middle on their line that has racked up over 30 tackles for loss the past few years. If you don't know what I'm getting at, it means that it is very difficult to run the ball inside on Syracuse's defense.
Second, people are still questioning the real talent of the wide receivers, claiming that they haven't faced top tier competition yet. While this may be true, you have to look at their skill set when they are playing on the field. These receivers have some of the greatest technique in the nation. If you look at how they catch the ball, they possess all the necessary skills to come down with the ball every time. The three things you want to look for in a receiver to be successful are his abilities to use his body to shield defenders as he catches the ball, his instincts to catch the ball at its highest point, and catching the ball with his hands. If you don't believe me, go ahead and take a look at the highlight clips of our games on espn, you'll see that our receivers are go-getters.
Finally, I know we're still having some concerns about our offensive line, but the only thing I can tell you is that time and experience will brings this unit closer together. The more time they spend on the field together, the better they are going to get.
Other Penn State News:
-Zach Zwinak, the nation's top fullback prospect just committed to play his college football at Penn State
-Khairi Fortt, one of the nations top middle linebacker prospects is expected to announce his decision soon, as its looking, its coming down to Penn State and Georgia. I would lean closer to us winning this battle as Fortt has developed a great friendship with two current Penn State commits in Silas Redd and Dakota Royer.
- Nick Sukay changed his number from 10 to 18, relax folks that wasn't Brennan Coakley back there in coverage.
- Justin Brown burned his redshirt in late play against Syracuse, look for them to work him more into the offense in the weeks to come.
WE ARE......
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)