More Questions Than Points
September 27, 2007 by Run Up The Score!
Wednesday is Question Day around here, with the Blue/White and Big Ten roundtables. This week, it seems that all we have are questions. One loss, a loss that most of us expected prior to the season, has sent most Nittany Lions into a mental state consisting of equal parts disbelief, outrage, madness, and disgust.
Just like you, I’m trying to wade through this mess. I don’t have the answers. I’m not even sure I’m asking the right questions at this point. I’m proposing we try to work through this together, not in a Kumbaya sort of way, more like a cadre of backstabbing generals and CIA operatives in an underground bunker with an unlimited supply of alcohol, mind-opening substances, game film, and of course, wearing appropriate conversation hats.
Yeah, drugs. You gotta have drugs.
What are the chances of Penn State reviving the offense for the remainder of the Big Ten schedule? Are they capable of it? Are they only capable of scoring points at home? Why would things be any different against the rest of the teams on the schedule? Has this weird game at Illinois suddenly become the most important Penn State game in years?
Is it possible that the players on offense just aren’t that talented? As I’ve asked before, how many of our offensive players would Michigan trade us for? Quarless and Shipley? They’re the only two I can think of.
Is it possible that Anthony Morelli isn’t the problem here? So many people expected him to be The Next Kerry Collins, but Collins had four NFL quality linemen, a top 10 pick at tight end, a #1 pick at RB, two NFL fullbacks, and an excellent receiver who is still producing at the pro level. What does Anthony Morelli have, outside of a propensity to get pissed off at newspaper writers and opposing fans? Who has legitimate NFL potential on our offense? Quarless. Maybe one or two of the linemen, none of whom would’ve sniffed the 1994 lineup. I’m not trying to compare 2007 with 1994 — it’s just another way of asking “how talented are we, really?”
How much score can we legitimately heap on Jay Paterno when his father is undermining the game plan that the team prepared for all week? It’s certainly not Jay’s fault that Joe took out the red marker and changed the plan on Saturday morning, is it? It’s becoming clear that we’re not aiming our arrows high enough.
Another question that we’re not asking in the rush to call for a more wide-open attack: what makes you think our players are prepared to employ a 4 and 5WR set? Morelli tends to not find open receivers unless he’s given ample time, and our offensive line simply can’t hold up without help from tight ends and running backs. You saw the play breakdown on Monday — 4WR and 5WR sets spelled instant doom for Penn State against a very average Michigan defense.
As a fan, are you willing to sacrifice this season — meaning, the team ends up 6-6 or 5-7 — if it means Joe Paterno would finally see the writing on the wall and retire? I’ve long maintained that Joe Paterno would come back as long as the team didn’t finish 12-0 or 0-12 — anything else in between wouldn’t do the job. If Penn State lost six games, do you think he’d actually leave? Is there, as many people suggest, a leadership void on the offensive side of the ball from both players and coaches?
What the hell would you do if you were Tom Bradley, Ron Vanderlinden, Brian Norwood, or Larry Johnson, Sr.? At what point do they start preparing your resumes, assuming they’re interested in moving up the coaching ladder?
This will probably be the last post explicitly referencing the Michigan debacle and it’s accompanying fallout, since we’re moving on to a combination of fun stuff (music, You Found Me, Big Televen power rankings) and Illinois related items to finish the week. So if you’d like to address any of the previous 500 questions or just rant incoherently, please take this opportunity to do so. I’m pretty sure we all need this.
Joe’s not going to change. The coaches on the offense seem to be testicle-free, numb-skulled, pig-faced little yes-men who I bet can’t even coach themselves to learn the alphabets now, forget coaching this offense to lead us to a few victories. Like you said, the players on the offense don’t have a real leader. Whining like a little sissy on the sidelines, throwing tantrums , public-crotch-grabbing displays doesn’t make you a leader. You are a leader when you get your ass back up after a huge sack and make the next play, when you inspire others around you to perform better. Morelli doesn’t seem to have it in him. Golden’s a leader who’s warming the bench on most plays.
All of the problems that you mentioned, and some that you haven’t, are systemic. We can try to blame the players, the gameplan, the offensive (and I mean that literally) coaching staff, but they are just facets of the problem.
The source of the problems is Joe Paterno. Look, I hate myself for feeling this way but it’s past time for him to hang it up. Remember Star Trek VI? Kirk: “As Captain, I am responsible for the conduct of the crew under my command”. Yes, it’s an insanely nerdy reference, but it seems to fit.
Such is the state of Penn State football that correlations can be made between it and bad Star Trek movies.
Joe needs to go, or step aside. Get rid of Jay and Galen. Promote Bradley to HC or hire someone new. Make changes on offense to give this team a chance and not drive away recruits - a vicious circle if there ever was one.
Taking absolutely nothing away from bradley, I wonder if years and years of serving Joe has conditioned him too. Will he have the cajones to call an agressive game on the road?
I remembered Kerry being terrific, and he definitely has more accuracy than Morelli, but I watched the 94 ILL game last night and I was amazed how much time he had in the pocket.
When PSU got the ball at their own 4 Kerry’s presence and leadership were obvious, but isn’t it easier when you have 5 seconds to throw?
Exactly Chi - I fast forwarded through the first 1.5 hours of the telecast - and then watched the last few drives - he had like 16 minutes in the pocket, in the pocket - on every pass play - the only times when he didn’t were on designed quick release plays - where, as the announcer (vermeil I believe) said, his release was less than 2 seconds after the snap. And then, even after 2 stepping around forever, Collins would “thread the needle” and get the ball to Engram in triple coverage - or Kyle Brady would catch the ball over the head of the defender, smack down that guy, drag another 3 players 5 yards AND hold on to the football. All with just minutes on the clock, on a foreign field with an obnoxious band, after being down 21 to 0 - they rallied - never mind that they had more talent on that one squad than we’ve had since, collectively - but the mindset was different - and Joe’s hair was jet black.
Of course the prevent in the final minute of the game nearly killed me - again.
What would it take to fire jay and bring on Kerry as the QB coach?
Or to fire jay and promote big red to QB coach
Or see what O.J.McDuffie is doing and would like to coach WRs
Or see what Jeff Hartings is doing and see if he’d like to show people how to be a balla
Just askin
While I’d love it if any or all of those guys turned out to be great coaches - I really don’t want PSU to be a training ground, again (and Again, and again).
FJP - You’re assuming that we need to automatically bring in former high profile PSU players to be coaches, though. I mean, Kerry Collins is still playing in the NFL. I’m pretty sure O.J. has business interests (is he one of the KoKoMo’s owners?).
Not sure what Hartings is up to, although now would be a good time to bend his ear because he just retired from the NFL.
I don’t care if any prospective new coaches are “Penn State Guys”. I really don’t, and that also applies to whoever the next head coach will be. I want the best possible recruiters and coaches, not the best possible recruiters and coaches with Penn State backgrounds. Like PissedInWV said above, most of our problems are systemic. They exist because Joe Paterno has been at Penn State for so long — just as big government organizations and corporations become partially inefficient due to bureaucracy.
I have wondered about this for some time now…What happens if Bradley takes over as head coach when Joe leaves? Does the defense-which has been well above average for years now-become complete crap? I am assuming here he is the (main) brains behind the defense. Is there coaching talent waiting in the wings that will be able to keep up the stellar defense we have relied on for all these years?
In that scenario, you have to assume that everyone gets bumped up a spot and Bradley maintains a significant amount of control over the defense. Perhaps Vanderlinden or LJ Sr. become the Defensive Coordinator. Either way, the defense probably doesn’t slip at all.
The interesting part is what would happen to the offense. Would Bradley be bound to keep Jay Paterno as the offensive coordinator? You have to assume that Dick Anderson and Galen Hall would retire approximately five minutes after Joe.
Incidentally, if I was Tom Bradley I’d go elsewhere for head coaching experience as soon as the season’s over. You know there would be plenty of programs ready to take him. Then he could come back to Penn State and assume the role of “the guy who replaced the guy who replaced the legend” that so many media types rave about since they claim nobody wants to be the immediate successor to someone like Paterno, Bryant, etc.
I just thought I’d throw my two cents in:
1 cent: Enough of the playcalling complaints. Oh, I was throwing things in my apartment after some of the calls, but, honestly, it’s NOT the playcalling. There’s always (a lot of) room for improvement, but consider this: If any other top 25 offense had been on the field, running those same plays against Michigan, they score 24 points, easy. Besides, do people really think that our offense could execute an Urban Meyer gameplan? Really? As far as I can tell those plays require timing and blocking and accuracy, too.
2 cents: Because of that, I say this: I propose that Penn State quit playing offense. Just stop. When the other team gives the ball up, we’ll just agree that Penn State runs no offensive plays — they’ll merely run 2:45 from the game clock before punting, so the defense gets a chance to rest. Penn State can only attempt to score on defensive and special teams returns; or, if the “offense” takes over at the 35 or closer, they are allowed to center the ball and then immediately try a field goal attempt.
Honestly, if those were the rules, Penn State might be 4-0.
+ 1 RUTS - I think TB would be better off going to somewhere else then coming back to save the program.
I think PSU is one of the best jobs in the nation (great fans, tons of money from alumni, top notch facilities, etc.) but you want to be the guy after the guy.
They need to clean house on the Offensive side (I like Big Red though) and the D coaches are good to go. I would be happy with any of those guys getting a shot, Vanderline is the only one with HC experience.
TB could probably land a very good mid level D1 job, I could see him taking over @ UVA or Rutgers (when GS leaves).
Tuscaloosa, that’s the best idea EVER. However, with our special teams woes in recent years, we may want to try three running plays into the line to advance to the 26 to give us a better shot on the field goal.
In the Very Dark Years, I seriously wished the defense would get to play the offense in a game. No pads, played in the paved lot in the south end zone parking lot. No refs. Offense gets to run plays, the defense gets to smash them.
That would be some small measure of payback for having the offense completely, totally, 100% cost us all of our losses over the past 7 years. I mean, seriously, how many losses can you really blame on poor defense? MSU ‘03? Iowa ‘02? Maybe?
“If any other top 25 offense had been on the field, running those same plays against Michigan, they score 24 points, easy”
No. No, they couldn’t. A few would, but seriously - when they know you’re going to run up the middle on 1st and 2nd down no matter what and then throw a shitty out pattern on 3rd down, there’s quite a few top-25 offenses who could be stopped by Michigan.
It was a combination of playcalling, poor preparation, and simple lack of development of Morelli and Scott. Period. For those who doubt, I basically called the game beforehand (although I predicted a Morelli pick 6 instead of a Morelli fumble at the 10 and a Michigan turnover to help us out that didn’t happen).
M1EK,
It’s not that I loved the playcalling, so I don’t want to start a pissing match when we basically agree, but consider this: with all the screw-ups, botched blocking assignments and inaccurate throws, that offense still got into the red zone 4 times against Michigan.
I’m not going to sit here and try to b.s. and say that our gameplan was offensive wizadry, but I look down that top 25, and I see teams that, given those exact same plays, would move the sticks more often, keep their defense off the field, and put the ball in the end zone.
Name a top 25 team you don’t think would have been able to score 24 points against that Michigan defense with those plays. Georgia, I’ll give you. They have offensive problems. And the potent offenses at Kentucky, Hawaii and Purdue would look rather pedestrian in a button-down style. After that, though, who?
Again — I don’t submit our Saturday playcalling as an example of coaching acumen. But I think griping over that merely masks other, more fundamental problems. Just competence in the offensive line and backfield would have been enough. Sadly, such competence was lacking.
Which is why I think Penn State should just stop playing offense altogether. Hell, if we have to, just take three knees and then kick.
M1EK,
Maybe this is another way of looking at it:
I see a team like Oregon, and I agree that their playcalling is better. Part of their offensive success is that they play to their strengths.
But here’s the bigger problem: They have strengths to play to; Penn State doesn’t.
Tusc,
Obviously I agree that we don’t have strengths to play to at this point on offense - except the rocket-arm. Throw it on every down from here on out, I guess, would be the only superior play-calling to what we had. Just wing it. Deep every play. One of those times Morelli’s bound to hit the open man. Keep it up until concussion-time.
It’s so crazy, it might just work.
As for the top-25 point, I’d say that any team without a very good quarterback would have had trouble with those play-calls. Michigan’s front was very good. And plenty of those top-25 teams (granted, the ones near the bottom) have trouble at QB.
In other words, we decided to attack their strength rather than their weakness. Plenty of offenses out there would have failed in that ‘plan’, too, although maybe not quite as futilely as ours did.