Ladies and Gentlemen, We Got Him…

Kevin Newsome is ours!

Kevin Newsome doesn't do bicep curls, biceps curl in fear at the sight of Kevin Newsome...

Did I also mention he’s enrolling in January? Suddenly, there’s a reason to show up for the Blue-White game besides shaking off the tailgating rust…

Additionally, JoePa has signed himself an 3-year extension, causing Seminoles fans everywhere to cringe and  Oops Pow Surprise to celebrate as if Shonn Greene had won the Heisman Trophy.

I can barely contain my excitement at this point..it’s like Christmas came 9 days early…Time for a drunken “Goo Punch” dance party!

I Got Rose Bowl Tickets And I Ji$$ed In My Pants…

That’s right, thanks to knowing friends who have other friends in high places, Yours Truly has managed to snag himself a ticket to Pasadena.  Not sure yet where I’ll be sitting, but that doesn’t matter so much as just being there, period.  This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I’ll finally be able to scratch off my ‘bucket list.’

Speaking of climaxes:  Kevin Newsome will announce his college decision tomorrow and his final three schools are down to Penn State, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. Additionally, there’s been a lot of jibber-jabber on the message boards and blogs about insider info claiming Newsome is a PSU lean, especially now that Pat Devlin is dearly departed.

Now, I’m not one who prematurely celebrates over rumors on the internets but I found one particular post from a Black Shoe Diaries poster that was quite encouraging:

As I said earlier today, all my VT coworkers came in to work mad at me today. They’ve all heard over the weekend that Newsome has swung our way with Devlin’s transfer. And some of these people are the type with subscription info.

Cross those fingers…Hopefully this time tomorrow evening, the message boards will for once be full of anything but “the sky is falling!” posts.

Two Cents On Pat Devlin

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past 24 hours, you’re well aware by now of Pat Devlin’s decision to transfer.  At this point, it looks like he is headed to Delaware, an FCS school where he will be eligible to play immediately next fall instead of having to sit a year out.

I can’t blame Pat one bit for his decision, Daryll Clark had established himself as “the man” at QB and Pat could see the writing on the wall: that he wouldn’t be the full-time starter until 2010, his final year of eligibility.  This became even more evident when Devlin did not see a single minute of action against Iowa despite the fact Clark showed played as if he was still suffering the after-effects of his concussion.

Rather than go down the path of Mike McQueary (who waited four long years, including two under Wally Richardson who many times frustrated the fans enough to call for his benching in favor of McQueary), Pat decided he’d rather have two years of solid PT in order to impress the NFL scouts and raise his draft stock high enough to become the next Joe Flacco.

Normally, a transfer such as this wouldn’t sting too badly but given our coaching staff’s ineptness as far as recruiting QB’s go (no QBs drafted in the past two years, *cough* JAY *cough*), this is a huge blow unless we land ourselves Kevin Newsome or Tajh Boyd so now is the time to light those candles and say a  few prayers, Nittany Nation.

Thanksgiving Weekend Bullet-Points

So yeah, the blogging has been rather sporadic as of late.  You can blame it on the turkey, blame it on the fact that I was down in Maryland for the past few days with relatives and thus had no time for relevant blogging, blame it on terrorism being back in the front page of the news, whatever.  Bottom line: I need to make some of it up and what better way to do so than to revive an HHV favorite, the “bullet points?”  Here goes nothing…

• I realize I have yet to put up my own post-game analysis on the football team’s beatdown of Michigan State, I’ll try my damndest to get it up either tomorrow or Monday.  Better late than never…
• Being that I was in Maryland and couldn’t find a link to a PSU radio broadcast, I was forced to read in-game threads on message boards in order to follow the Rhode Island game.  I never realized one could feel as much anticipation clicking on the “refresh” button on the web browser, waiting to read whether Pringle or Battle hit a potential game-tying shot as one could by just listening to it on the radio.
• I can’t say that I was shocked that we lost to URI, they’re a pretty solid team and we usually don’t fare favorably against such teams…particularly in neutral/road environments.  Don’t expect much against Georgia Tech this Wednesday.
• What the hell was ED thinking playing only 7 guys against URI?  Woodyard and Babb need to be thrown into the fire in order t get some quality PT before the Big Ten season.  Unless of course, ED plans on playing a 7-man rotation for the Big Ten slate, in which case we’re royally EFF-YOU-SEE-KAYED.
• On a positive note: I’m glad to see the Fighting DeChellises were able to get off the mat and bounce back with a 78-54 shellacking of Towson in the 3rd place game of the Philly Classic.  Just looking at the box score, it’s very encouraging to see AJ III with 13 rebounds (even if its against Towson) and Battle nearly racking up a triple-double (15 pts, 9 assists, 8 rebs).  If we can get that kind of performance on a few nights in the Big Ten, there could be a few upsets in store for us.
• Speaking of the Towson game: John and I conversed by cell phone before tipoff today, and we both picked PSU to cover the 7-point spread in their favor, along with Crispin and Cream.  So, the standings in our contest after two straight days of hoops action currently stand as such:

HHV 3-1

C&C 3-1

John 2-2

• My fingers are crossed that Oregon hangs on to its 20-point lead over Oregon State (currently in the 3rd quarter as I’m typing this entry) and helps secure an almost certain matchup in the Rose Bowl with USC.
• Speaking of USC, they currently lead 24-0 at the half as I’m typing this entry.  If ND can spring a little bit of offense, Charlie Weis has a very legit shot at beating the spread, and thus saving his job for the time being.

Alright, that’s it…Enjoy whatever’s left of your holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

May you all feast upon your turkey like Jack Ham feasted upon opposing quarterbacks.

Also, thanks to Crispin and Cream for providing a quality recap of the PSU-Penn basketball game, so I don’t have to do it.

Kissed By A Rose…

Because it would be a crime against humanity if nobody in the PSU blogging fraternity made a Seal reference…

Big Ten Champs, Rose Bowl bound, what more is there to say?  Time for a Janet Reno dance party!

Better Know An Opponent: Michigan State (aka “The Final Countdown”)

LAST TIME OUT: November 17, 2007 – Michigan State struck first to go up 7-0 but PSU responded swiftly by putting up 24 unanswered points, including a TD run by Kevin Kelly off of a fake field goal at the start of the third quarter.  At the time, such a play seemed to be a back-breaker to Sparty’s confidence and would lead to the Nittany Lions cruising to an easy victory in East Lansing.

But, as a certain former Big Ten football coach once exclaimed: “NOT SO FAST, MY FRIEND!” Sparty came to life as QB Brian Hoyer continually decimated PSU’s “bend but don’t break” defense which resembled something more along the lines of “it’s broke and we can’t do a damn thing to fix it.”  Before anyone realized what had happened, Sparty had regained the lead with just a few minutes to play.

PSU tried desperately to respond, relying on the legs of third-string tailback Brent Carter to carry them down the field all the way to the MSU 24-yard line before JayPa, in all his infinte wisdom, decided to give Anthony Morelli one final shot at getting rid of his “can’t get it done in the clutch” image by allowing Morelli to throw four straight incompletions and seal the worst choke job in the Joe Paterno era (17 point-lead blown). This was shortly followed by Yours Truly screaming obscenities to himself in a local Damon’s parking lot.

OFFENSE: No surprise here folks, Javon Ringer is the heart and soul of Sparty’s offense.  Mark Dantonio’s gameplan will likely involve getting the ball to Ringer at least 30 times in order to try to wear down our D-line while also shortening the game and thus, giving our offense fewer opportunities on the field. However, Ringer has looked rather pedestrian against teams that have a defensive pulse.  Thus far, Cal, Ohio State, and Wisconsin have kept Ringer from reaching the century mark for rushing and two of those three teams ended up delivering Sparty its only defeats this season.  Certainly, a very encouraging sign for our defense which ranks 2nd against the run.

Unfortunately, there’s another person on MSU’s offense to worry about:  Brian Hoyer.  Yes, that same Brian Hoyer who college football analysts have labeled “inconsistent” all season long due to his sub-50% pass completion rate and his paltry 9 TDs/6 INTs.  The same Brian Hoyer who looked like John-fucking-Elway against our secondary during last year’s collapse, going 16-for-21 passing with 257 yards and 4 TDs.

Words cannot emphasize enough how important it is for PSU’s defense to get consistent pressure on Hoyer whenever he tries to make our defense pay for zeroing in on Ringer.  Case in point: Wisconsin held Ringer to a season-low 58 yards rushing but allowed Hoyer to throw for 251 yards through the air which made all the difference as it helped set up MSU’s game-winning field goal.  Aaron Maybin will need to lead the 4-man rushing attack once again, and it wouldn’t hurt to try blitzing linebackers not named Josh Hull.

HHV hopes to see plenty of a different shade of green on Brian Hoyer's jersey

Receiving-wise, Mark Dell and Blair White are consistent big play threats as both have racked up nearly 600 yards receiving each.  Fortunately for our secondary, Dell is questionable due to injuries and may not play.  Tight end Charlie Gantt has also made some noise for Sparty as a great secondary option and in fact, leads the Spartans in receiving TDs with 4 of them.  So, while there may not be a Devin Thomas in this group, MSU still has guys who are more than capable of burning us for a score (or at least setting up one) if we’re caught napping.

DEFENSE: The pass defense is pretty decent, ranking 39th in the nation (191 yards per game).  Otis Wiley is the clear leader of the secondary with 4 INTs, one of them going back for a pick-six.  Wiley will have to come up with a big turnover or two if MSU wants to have a serious shot at winning consecutive games over PSU for the first time since this “rivalry” began in 1993.

Sparty’s greatest concerns though, lie in its rush defense which currently gives up on average about 148.5 yards a game and ranks 73rd in the nation.  PSU’s offensive gameplan had better involve a shitload of handoffs to Evan Royster and Stephfon Green and several instances of Daryll Clark calling his own number.  The key matchup here will be our O-line against their D-line.  If the O-line can regain its swagger from earlier in the year, it could be a very long afternoon for Sparty’s defense.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Brett Swenson is perfect on extra points and is 19 of 24 on field goals with a very impressive 6 for 7 between 40-49 yards.  His long is from 50 yards out.

Bottom line: Don’t let this game come down to a field goal.

PREDICTION: I realize Michigan State is technically still alive for a Rose Bowl bid should they do the unthinkable and win tomorrow.  Unless I’ve interpreted the tiebreaker rules incorrectly though, if PSU loses tomorrow and OSU takes care of Michigan as expected, then the Buckeyes earn the Rose Bowl bid.  Why do I bring this up?  Because OSU-Michigan is a noon game whose outcome will be known before Sparty and PSU kickoff at 3:30.  If the Buckeyes indeed have the win wrapped up, then there will be a little less motivation for Sparty as they wouldn’t have a BCS bowl to play for and are already headed to a January bowl game regardless of the outcome.

This is not to say that PSU has no reason to be motivated:  It’s senior day for the high school class of 2005 that is credited with turning around the fortunes of a fallen program in its darkest hour under the bright lights of Beaver Stadium with a Rose Bowl berth and second Big Ten championship in four years on the line.  If there is ever a time for PSU to regain its early to mid-season swagger, THIS is the game to do it in.

While on paper, PSU has the clear edge talent-wise, one cannot underestimate the coaching brilliancy of Mark Dantonio.  He is the MacGyver of college football coaches, being able to do a lot with very little.  It was less than two years ago that Dantonio accepted the MSU coaching job, taking over a program racking dis-a-prin and toughness and brought an old-school smashmouth style of play to East Lansing.

While Dantonio’s methods may be as outdated as Betamax, the fans sure as hell aren’t complaining.  Anyone who can take a 4-8 team to 9-2 and January bowl bound in just two seasons deserves the highest of accolades.  The comeback win over PSU last year surely had to have been a major confidence-booster to the program, and undoubtedly Sparty knows they stand a chance tomorrow as well.  Suffice it to say, this is not your older brother’s Michigan State football team.

With that being said however, PSU has rose to the occasion in all of their much-hyped games this season (see: Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio State) and I see absolutely no reason why they can’t do the same tomorrow.  MSU will put up a fight no doubt, especially since they’ve had a bye week to rest up and are a little more fresh than PSU.  However, a bye week is a double-edged sword whose downfall is that it can also take a team that’s on a roll out of its rhythm as they try to shake off the rust(see: PSU at Iowa).

Ergo, PSU will get off to a stronger start, come up with a few more big plays, and will feed off the frenzied Beaver Stadium crowd/student White-Out.  The victory bell win ring one final time for the seniors as Derrick Williams stands in the end zone, clutching a giant red rose with his teeth.

Penn State 27 – Michigan State 17

Oh, and of course.  How could I end a PSU-MSU post without displaying the ginormous abomination that is the “Land Grant Trophy?”

COME TO PAPA BAKER!!!

Jay Paterno: “Rocket Man?”

According to The Sporting News it appears JayPa is their favorite to take over the vacant head coaching position of the Toledo Rockets program:

The fit: Jay Paterno, Penn State assistant coach. He wanted the job in 2000 when Toledo hired Tom Amstutz to replace Gary Pinkel. JayPa isn’t going to get the Penn State job, and he’s ready to lead his own program.

I really hope SN’s “fit” actually comes into fruition. I am not saying this out of my normal disdain for JayPa but rather because it’s time for him to spread his wings, get out from under his father’s shadow, and try his hand at a head coaching gig.

PSU’s unprecedented success this season can be attributed in part to Jay’s Spread HD offense, which would be a fine fit in an offense-happy conference like the MAC. This could be the peaking point for JayPa’s head coaching stock and now is the time for him to strike while the iron’s glowing red hot.

And you know what else? I’d wish Jay the best of luck and hope that he’s successful in such an endeavor so he would make the PSU coaching tree look good for a change…I’m totally serial.

Blue-White Roundtable Is Finishing Strong

The last regular season edition of the B&W Roundtable is upon us and for the 50th time this season, Zombie Nation is providing the questions. ZN deserves nothing but the utmost of “thanks” for picking up the slack that the rest of our lazy asses didn’t bother doing this year.

And, as always, here are the rest of the potential respondents:

Black Shoe Diaries
The Nittany Line
Tangled Up In White and Blue

There is No Name On My Jersey
We Want the Lion
William F. Yurasko

1. So, are you freaking out this week? Did you honestly think Penn State would be in this position, going into the last week of the season? How about Michigan State?

I was rather nervous going into this week, but the more I thought about how much we have to play for and all the other intangibles favoring us, I’m more confident we’ll pull out the “W” this weekend.

Honestly, I expected us to be about 8-3 at this point having lost road games at Wisconsin, Ohio State, plus another team that we normally would beat if we were “playing to win.”  Unfortunately, the latter still held true but handing Wisconsin their worst home loss since the Pre-Barry Alvarez era and ending a 30-year curse at Ohio Stadium are still mighty impressive feats beyond anything I could have ever imagined.

I also anticipated revenge against MSU this year, and I’m still sticking with that notion despite our recent struggles.  I’d still be very happy with a Big Ten championship-clinching win and subsequent Rose Bowl bid with a potential shot at USC.

2. What would you like to see more of/less of this week?

I’d like to see more running the damn ball with Evan Royster.  Daryll Clark should also get several chances to call his own number.  I swear, if I see us coming out throwing on the first play of the game, blood will shoot out my nose.

I’d also like to see less hesitancy out of Clark when it comes to deciding whether to stay in the pocket and find an open receiver or just roll out.

3. What are your feelings towards Derrick Williams’ career as a Nittany Lion? Has he lived up to the hype? How? If not, who’s to blame?

Honestly, the kid had way too much hype for ANYBODY to live up to.  With that being said, he’s easily one of the best speedsters we’ve ever had here at PSU and was part of the nucleus of the youth invasion of 2005 that helped bring a program in despair back to its winning ways.  Anyone who tells you otherwise is probably one of those douchebags who finds the tiniest things to complain about on the scout.com boards.

4. The national media is back-pedaling on their summertime pro-SEC propaganda, now saying that conference in overrated. What gives? Haven’t we (basically, everyone outside the SEC) been saying that the whole time? How would Penn State stack up against the top few SEC teams, like Alabama, Florida and Georgia, on a neutral field?

Seriously?  I had no idea the media was backtracking.  It’s about time they saw the light on how overrated the SEC is.

Outside of Florida (who I can definitely say looks like a team possessed and would likely destroy us), I say “bring ‘em on!”  Georgia I never felt was a #1 team, and it showed when they got rattled by Bama and Florida.  Bama’s offense has been pedestrian-looking at times and more credit should go to their amazing defense led by man-child Terrence Cody than their offense.

Bonus/Lightening/Whatever you want to call it, Round…

-Daryll Clark throws a pick?

I’m gonna say “no” but he will probably fumble the ball once.

-Royster scores? How many times?

Yes, I foresee 2 TD’s for the Rolls Royster.

-Did you go to any games this year? How many?

I’ve been to all the home games this year except for Indiana (for obvious reasons).

Well, It Was Fun While It Lasted…

Game shot of Andrew Quarless dropping yet another easy pass

Alright, now that I’ve calmed down enough to the point where I’m not going to smash my laptop out of anger, it’s time to plow through the shit pile and offer my thoughts on another game that will go down in infamy with Michigan in ‘05 and Minnesota in ‘99.

• Where the hell was the pass protection?  Granted, Clark made some bad throws today and it didn’t help with Hurricane Katrina wind-levels blowing around Kinnick Stadium, but I lost count how many times Clark was hurried or hit into making a lousy pass.  Iowa’s D-line could’ve very well set up camp in the backfield on pass plays because the protection was non-existent
• What was up with the coaching?  Calling 3 straight pass plays into the wind on your opening drive?  Failing to use any of our 3 REMAINING TIMEOUTS with a minute to go in the ball game and Iowa setting up for a sure-fire field goal?  Did our staff trust D-Will to break a kickoff return for a TD more than they trusted Daryll Clark to lead a drive downfield?  And what about the “bend but don’t break” defense that worked wonders on Iowa’s final drive?  How many fucking 3rd and long passes did we give up in the second half?  Heads need to roll on the coaching staff…
• Additionally, what was up with the execution?  Not being able to pound the ball into the end zone on Iowa’s 2-yard line in 4 tries?  Dropping easy catches?  Clark looking Morell-ian with his passing game?  Settling for field goals when all year long we’ve been picking up TDs in the red zone?  THAT’s how we lost the fucking game folks, if just one, JUST ONE of those 3 FG’s ends up being a TD, we win this game.  In the long run, FIELD GOALS DON’T DO JACK SHIT…Ask Wisconsin about their trip to Michigan earlier this year if you don’t believe me on that one.
• We had TWO FUCKING WEEKS to prepare for this game, and we came out looking flat and uninspired in what was our final road game before returning to the friendly confines of Beaver Stadium.  Obviously, the coaching staff did not do a good enough job of reminding the players of the 1999 disaster and how you can’t waltz into a game this late in the year and NOT expect an opponent’s best shot.
• These next two games will tell a lot about our team.  I still expect a win over Indiana, and it better not be close at all.  Michigan State though, worries the living shit out of me.  They have two weeks to get ready for us and they will be playing for a Big Ten championship when they come to Happy Valley. Did I also mention the fact last year’s meltdown in East Lansing is still fresh in my mind?  No lead will feel safe against MSU, I tell you.