PANIC!! (At the...)

Well, frankly I don’t know where. I have refused to go over to my favorite site for the Penn State fans, in order to have some unadulterated thoughts on where Penn State is going. Currently 0-2, one terrible game that probably turned on just one play, and another game, dominated by the good guys for almost all that I saw, but still no wins to show for it.

My perspective may be slightly off, since I missed most of the fourth quarter due to having to go to a wedding.  I was thus forced to rely on text messages from my dad to track the fourth quarter.  Incidentally, receiving a text message that your team is lining up for a game winning field goal- after being disastrous all game in the kicking game- does not exactly make you feel all warm and fuzzy. When the inevitable text conveyed that the kick was missed came in, you don’t react. You shrug and try to get on with the day. Being at a wedding allows you to avoid TV’s until you’re too intoxicated (not quite the same warm and fuzzy feeling we wished we had early, but it works in pinch) to really watch highlights. So I also have to see the final plays, neither the drive by Virginia to win the game, nor the missed kick that drove the nail in the coffin.  Now let’s focus more on the panic.

I apologize in advance for perhaps stealing the Sports Guy’s shtick, but I am fully jumping all over the panic button. My team is 0-2, and what could be worse than a quirky offense coming in to Happy Valley looking to get their first win? Again, the Lions will be favored, but there is definitely a possibility of a loss on Saturday.  Defending the option requires discipline and patience. It is exactly how Joe Paterno wanted his defenses to play when the option was in vogue so many years ago. Teams that run it now are taking advantage of the general impatience and attacking style of the modern defense- you know, what Ted Roof wants to do.  So if Navy comes in and controls the clock, and is the beneficiary of the same key mistakes that have plagued the Lions this year, Penn State could walk off the field 0-3 and facing a historically bad season. We have seen historically bad before- it is how Penn State entered the millennium. Generally called the dark ages- the period from 2000-2004 had very few bright spots.

So if we have been here before- why panic? Well, I’ll tell you (it’s why you’re here hopefully). When you are trying to keep together a recruiting class that features five star talent, when you are about to begin a time where there will be less scholarships to go around, going 0-3 to start the season is a great way to chase said talent away. It’s generally said that, basically, until 2019, Penn State will have a lot less depth than the teams they will be competing against. With only 15 scholarships to go around each year, BOB is going to need the very best in talent to come play football in Happy Valley, knowing that they can start almost immediately to punch tickets to the NFL.  I feel the first class, the 2013 recruiting class, is the key. Currently, it has verbal commits from some very talented individuals. An 0-3 start, one that has featured a five star QB being moved to tight end, would not be the way to inspire more five star talent to come play in Beaver Stadium over the next four years.

Panic is not about this year alone- it is about the very precarious nature which the future of Penn State football is in.  What doesn’t help to attract the recruits discussed above? Tweeting angry things at a kicker having an atrocious day- also may be seen as a turn off. It’s especially a turn off when said recruits feel compelled to offer encouragement to someone they view as a potential teammate.  So as Penn State fans have spent the past ten months showing some impressive resolve, and players showing the testicular fortitude often reserved for great men, some fans have chosen to be as ugly as possible.  For full disclosure- I may have offered his scholarship to someone else, they apparently will be in short supply in the future.  In my defense, I earned my money to go to college by going to Iraq and Afghanistan. I suggest that if the money for college is earned in a particular way, i.e. kicking field goals, I think actually accomplishing that would go a long way to actually earning what you are being paid to do. (Yeah, I said it, college players are paid)

It would be lazy of me to solely blame an inept kicking game for what is most alarming about Penn State’s start. We have hired an offensive coach- who has yet to produce much offense. A lot has been laid at Ted Roof’s feet so far- but we have all seen the Patriots produce points at a thirty point a game clip. We did not expect to have ONLY thirty points at this juncture.   I have heard BOB claim that he needs to call better plays- well why is that not happening? There are execution issues- mainly a lack of ability to catch the ball on third down, but it seems to be more of the same from Penn State’s offense. I constantly see McGloin holding the ball, waiting for receivers to finish routes. I fully expected the ball to be leaving McGloin’s hands very early and getting into our playmakers hands very quickly.  This doesn’t happen nearly often enough. I’m not the most learned of football minds- but that was exactly what Ohio did when they kicked our ass up and down the field in the second half of the first game. This is the first shot across the bow; the ball is in McGloin’s hands too long. Please get it out quickly- I can’t identify the “Wes Welker” of the offense.

Not to pile on (yeah right, I am all about piling on), but the defense has given up two second half leads in the first two games. Typically, such things are rumored not to have happened in the former regime. That’s an untrue statement actually- if you look at every gut wrenching loss you can remember in the past half-decade- it’s a come from behind victory for the opponent.  However, it is happening at a very rapid rate- as in 2 for 2. It would be nice if the defense held a lead, especially if it’s by multiple possessions.

So panic is forming somewhere- definitely on this blog- and will be spreading from section EJ on Saturday. The offense is not scoring, the defense is not preventing scores, and the special teams have been a dumpster fire. Aside from hanging the “Help Wanted” sign on the kicker position, this team needs to focus on execution.  We fans need to focus on not chewing off finger nails off, putting on a happy face, and pretend that Navy is the first game of season on Saturday.