Penn State vs. Wisconsin (on paper, of course)

Penn State and Wisconsin have had drastically different seasons so far. Wisconsin entered the year as one of the favorites to win the big ten and a trendy pick to play for the national title. Penn State entered the year as the fourth best team in conference and with no chance of winning a national title. Six weeks later, Penn State is ranked 6th in the nation and the Badgers are the 25th or 26th best team in the country depending on who you ask. The Lions have handled Illinois and Purdue in conference play where as Wisconsin had an embarrassing loss to Michigan and then got Pryoritized the following week. We will find out which team is actually better on saturday night, however, we can content ourselves with comparing the two teams on paper.

Penn State is scoring over 44 points per game and the Lions rank as the ninth best offense in college football. The Lions are a very balanced football team offensively as rushing yards account for 51% of PSU's total offense on 60% of all the play calls. Considering how many large leads Penn State has had this year, this leads me to believe that the nittany Lions are equally ready to run or pass the ball on any given play. This will make Penn State quite the challenge for the Badgers.

PSU's defense is giving up less than 12 points per game and is the eighth best defense in the nation. Penn State benefits from a relatively soft early schedule (though Or.SU and Illinois seem legitimate) to keep the numbers down. While this defense is not invincible it certainly is sturdy. The Lion's are only allowing 2.5 yds/rush this year but the Badgers will press the issue with a fairly potent rushing attack.

The Badgers are scoring 29 points per game but rank 43d in the nation in total offense (right behind Tulane and Baylor). Wisconsin's attack will be run heavy as the Badgers rush for 53% of all their yards and nearly two out of every three plays (64%) from scrimmage are a running play.

The Badgers are giving up 18 points per game and rank 31st in the nation in total defense. I realize Wisconsin just played Ohio State but Penn State will be their biggest test defensively this year.

The key for the Badgers is to get an early lead and then grind it out with the Lions. The doomsday scenario for Wisconsin is if PSU takes an early lead of 14 or more points. This would make the Badgers turn to the air. If PSU can get Wisconsin away from the ground game the day will belong to PSU.

GO STATE! BEAT THE BADGERS!

I got all my stats from cfbstats.com

PSU 12th In AP Poll

The AP poll is out and PSU has hopped up to 12th in the AP Poll (ahead of Tosu) as well as 12th in the Coaches Poll. Apparently, the voters are impressed by dominating your first three opponents (even lesser opponents). I do see their point in this regard, PSU has a history of having a dominating defense and now the offense is clearly much more potent than it has been over the last two years *cough* MORELLI!!! *COUGH*

Now that PSU has an overwhelming offensive attack and a defense that is probably pretty good (not great but pretty good). Will Illinois be a coming out party for a dominant Lions team, a la Minnesota in 2005? Does PSU have enough firepower to compete with elite programs in the Big Ten and beyond?

I think they DO!

Also, BSD has a great post up with a link breaking down the AP voters and how they voted.

GO STATE! BEAT ILLINOIS!

PSU Cruising, Tosu & Troy In Dogfight

Penn State got off to a slow start as the Owls held the lions scoreless for the first quarter. The Lions looked flat and sloppy. The early portions of the game were marred by mistakes and missed opportunities.

The second quarter, however, was markedly different. The Penn State offense remembered that they were allowed to score as they put up 28 31 points in the second quarter. Fuck, 31 points in a quarter? PSU thy name is explosivo!

I am getting the Tosu vs. Troy game on the Big Ten Network.

Pryor is starting and he has looked downright brilliant on a few plays. The Buckeyes have found their QB for the rest of the year. I shudder to think how good this kid will be in two years. Despite Pryor's flashes of brilliance, the Buckeyes are only up by 3 at home to Troy.

Is Beanie Wells the lynch pin to this team? Are they merely average without him? Did the USC game crush the spirit of Ohio State?

Interesting....Very Interesting!

GO STATE!

Penn State By The Numbers

Despite the fact that PSU has only played terrible opponents thus far, the Lions could not look better.

The offense is scoring 55.3 pts./game. Not total, PER GAME! This offensive renaissance has been led by Evan "Rolls" Royster and his insane stats. He barely gets any carries because the offense has been so potent early in games. However, consider that Evan Royster is averaging:

102 yds/game
8.05 yds/carry
TD/6.3 Carries

Yeah, that is 1 TD every 6.3 carries. That is absurd. Royster is only averaging 12.6 carries per game. Like I said, absurd.

The Defense, while I haven't completely bought into, has looked pretty good also giving up only 12.3 pts./game. The defense has been similarly stout against the run giving up 193 yards. No, not per game. 193 yds total. Over three games. That is under 65 yds/game. However, the Lions have trouble against the pass having given up 558 passing yards so far.

I'm not sure if the relatively soft passing defense can be explained away by teams having to pass far more often in an attempt to catch the Lions or if this is a more sinister trend. Could the secondary be horrible? The stats seem to indicate that it is the former not the later. Opposing offenses are averaging only 5.2 yds/attempt and have thrown 4 Ints. to only 2 Tds. So, I'm going to go with the PSU secondary being surprisingly awesome despite the departure of J-King.

There is also the lurking spectre of Evans and Koroma who, I think, will be back in uniform by the Illinois game. This should increase the pass rush, and therefore, PSU efficacy against the pass.

THESE NUMBERS HAVE ME DANGEROUSLY FIRED UP!

GO STATE! BEAT TEMPLE

Jay Paterno Should Not Be Allowed To Speak

He just really should not speak. The CDT has an article on PSU's new offense for next year. Jaypa has dubbed it the "Spread HD." What will this miracle offense look like? Ummm, remember 2005? Yeah, pretty much like that. Except, that it is unlike anything you've ever seen before."It's not a philosophical shift, but more of a personnel shift," he said. Right.

"It's a different system that people have seen the last couple years, but the whole idea is to give us the best chance to win."

So it is the spread. Cool. Sounds a lot like what PSU ran in 2005 but we haven't seen it before. But, whatever you do, don't think that this is a change in philosophy. Just because it is brand new but yet incredibly familiar is no reason to fear it!

But what is the deal with the "HD"?

"It could stand for 'high-definition' or 'highly diverse,'" Jay Paterno said. "As long as it doesn't stand for 'huge dud.'"

So it doesn't actually stand for anything? Really, only "Highly Diverse" makes any sense at all. "High Definition" just stinks. "oooh, your offense is so highly defined. It just blew my mind."

Don't get me wrong, I am excited to see what the offense looks like and what Clarke and Devlin can do. You just shouldn't let Jay Paterno try to tell everybody about it.

GO STATE!

Butler TD Breakdown

Fight On State has a great breakdown of the long TD strike from Morelli to Butler. Find it here. It really is great.

The Play.


The FormationThis is the kind of break down that I wish i was smart enough to do! Great work FOS!

GO STATE! BEAT INDIANA!