• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

Penn State at tOSU, Oct 30th, 7:30 PM, ABC

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
Jaxbuck said:
I keep seeing the rushing total but it was 9 OT's.

What was the total at the end of regulation?

(Not that I think it matters, just curious. Their D is about to feel like they were involved in a vigorous session of horseplay no matter what)
Click to expand...


Does it really matter how much of it was in the 9 OT's? Neither offense did anything in OT and after the 1st 2, they were 2 pt. tries the rest of the way anyways.
 
Upvote 0


Ahead of Saturday's primetime showdown, Buckeye head coach Ryan Day took to his final weekly media availabilities on Thursday afternoon, joining his weekly radio show on 97.1 The Fan and briefly meeting with the media to offer some final updates.

 
Upvote 0


What’s the vibe around the Penn State football program after back-to-back losses? Do you expect the Nittany Lions to be hungrier than ever for a win this week, or are they deflated by the likely end to their College Football Playoff hopes?

Jones: I think any team in college football that has two losses is going to understand the situation they're facing relative to the college football playoffs. At the same time Penn State still has Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State left on the schedule so it's not as though there aren't opportunities to say “We beat the best teams we faced.”

I do think there is some reasonable level of “this sucks” relative to the fact Penn State probably doesn't lose to Iowa or Illinois if Sean Clifford is healthy so things come with a heavy dose of “What if?” If nothing else those games have what feels like a more genuine result if he's healthy. It's one thing to lose straight up, it's a harder pill to swallow when a guy like Clifford either isn't in the game or is playing in it injured. Losing because you're hurt –hurts. But that's also life in college football. Thankfully for all those involved Ohio State offers a self-explanatory reason to get excited.

Penn State currently ranks sixth in the country in points allowed per game. Is this defense as good as it looks on paper, or are there vulnerabilities that Ohio State’s top-ranked offense could expose?

Jones: I think Penn State's defense is as good as advertised but that doesn't mean Ohio State can't do what Ohio State does. Losing PJ Mustipher up front hurt against Illinois so one imagines Ohio State will give Penn State plenty of work between the tackles. The Nittany Lion corner and safety unit as a whole is among the best the program has fielded in recent memory and while the linebackers don't quite have an obvious star, they've been very solid across the board. Ohio State has plenty of good receivers so I'm not going to say Penn State is going to shut them down, but if there is a weakness right now it's on the ground.

The Nittany Lions are averaging just 21.2 points per game against Power 5 opponents this season. What have been the biggest issues offensively?

Jones: Really just balance. Penn State has been pretty decent passing the ball all year long but has been pretty dreadful doing anything on the ground. Why that is the case is a bit of a mystery considering there are plenty of talented runners in the backfield, but that's only half the battle. Also, in fairness, 1.5 games worth of data is either Ta'Quan Roberson in at quarterback or a hurt Clifford.

But there's no doubt this group has not put up as many points as it can. Generally I think this team can pass its way to wins, that's sorta been the Mike Yurcich way outside of his time at Ohio State, but you aren't going to win in the Big Ten – let alone score – without converting short-yardage on the ground, and Penn State generally hasn't.
 
Upvote 0
bukIpower said:
A couple things on PEDs defense.

Best throwing team they faced was Auburn which ranks 49th. They also gave up 250 through the air to Villanova and something I've noticed is teams have a relatively good competition percentage on them as well.

Fulton did a great analysis the last day or two on this which goes over how OSU is now running the ball so well without a QB run threat. In short he said we are mixing up a ton of different kinds of runs and are running pistol a lot which is hard to get a read on which way the play is going. IMO we don't need the QB run to open things up nor do we need to throw it open. We just have to mix up our run looks. CJ did great vs IU with taking a few easy 5 yard runs and really that's all he needs to do.

Oh yeah I agree... I hope we don't go 2019 PED were we ran the ball the entire opening drive but I don't think we will this time. IMO this staff is in a groove with its balance and that will continue.
Click to expand...

Yes, Auburn ranks 49th in passing yards per game. If you look at FBS-only competition they're even better, at 34th.

But that's only part of the story. If you have to throw 37.7 times per game to get there (that's 19th in the nation in attempts per game), then how effective are you really?

No metric on passing is perfect, but I find passing efficiency to be better than most, and far better than yards per game. In that metric, against FBS-only competition, Auburn is 88th in the country.

That may still be the best throwing team they've faced, because the only FBS opponent they had who ranks higher is Ball State at 86th.
 
Upvote 0
DaddyBigBucks said:
Yes, Auburn ranks 49th in passing yards per game. If you look at FBS-only competition they're even better, at 34th.

But that's only part of the story. If you have to throw 37.7 times per game to get there (that's 19th in the nation in attempts per game), then how effective are you really?

No metric on passing is perfect, but I find passing efficiency to be better than most, and far better than yards per game. In that metric, against FBS-only competition, Auburn is 88th in the country.

That may still be the best throwing team they've faced, because the only FBS opponent they had who ranks higher is Ball State at 86th.
Click to expand...
So you're saying this might be a different animal for PED to deal with?
 
Upvote 0
ScriptOhio said:


What’s the vibe around the Penn State football program after back-to-back losses? Do you expect the Nittany Lions to be hungrier than ever for a win this week, or are they deflated by the likely end to their College Football Playoff hopes?

Jones: I think any team in college football that has two losses is going to understand the situation they're facing relative to the college football playoffs. At the same time Penn State still has Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State left on the schedule so it's not as though there aren't opportunities to say “We beat the best teams we faced.”

I do think there is some reasonable level of “this sucks” relative to the fact Penn State probably doesn't lose to Iowa or Illinois if Sean Clifford is healthy so things come with a heavy dose of “What if?” If nothing else those games have what feels like a more genuine result if he's healthy. It's one thing to lose straight up, it's a harder pill to swallow when a guy like Clifford either isn't in the game or is playing in it injured. Losing because you're hurt –hurts. But that's also life in college football. Thankfully for all those involved Ohio State offers a self-explanatory reason to get excited.

Penn State currently ranks sixth in the country in points allowed per game. Is this defense as good as it looks on paper, or are there vulnerabilities that Ohio State’s top-ranked offense could expose?

Jones: I think Penn State's defense is as good as advertised but that doesn't mean Ohio State can't do what Ohio State does. Losing PJ Mustipher up front hurt against Illinois so one imagines Ohio State will give Penn State plenty of work between the tackles. The Nittany Lion corner and safety unit as a whole is among the best the program has fielded in recent memory and while the linebackers don't quite have an obvious star, they've been very solid across the board. Ohio State has plenty of good receivers so I'm not going to say Penn State is going to shut them down, but if there is a weakness right now it's on the ground.

The Nittany Lions are averaging just 21.2 points per game against Power 5 opponents this season. What have been the biggest issues offensively?

Jones: Really just balance. Penn State has been pretty decent passing the ball all year long but has been pretty dreadful doing anything on the ground. Why that is the case is a bit of a mystery considering there are plenty of talented runners in the backfield, but that's only half the battle. Also, in fairness, 1.5 games worth of data is either Ta'Quan Roberson in at quarterback or a hurt Clifford.

But there's no doubt this group has not put up as many points as it can. Generally I think this team can pass its way to wins, that's sorta been the Mike Yurcich way outside of his time at Ohio State, but you aren't going to win in the Big Ten – let alone score – without converting short-yardage on the ground, and Penn State generally hasn't.
Click to expand...

Even their beat writers are awful... just full of excuses. "Well if Clifford wasn't hurt" and basically making it sound like Clifford had the mobility of Michael Vick if not for that darned injury.

Clifford is a middle of the road QB and always has been. Maybe they beat Iowa but that's not a great team either is it?

I'm just mad Illinois beat them because I was looking forward to the Bucks exposing them as the frauds that they are.
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top