This 2014 Penn State football team will wind up winning more games than Penn State’s miserable 2004 team at the tail end of [cue dark cello] The Dark Years; however, prompted by a couple of comments I received after the Indiana fiasco, I began to think seriously about which offense was really worse. In this connection I dug up some moldy old recollections, peppered them with some stats I researched, and came up with I don’t know what. (Je ne sais quoi? That sounds too fruity.)
I originally wrote this post as a comment in response to another comment about my crappy Indiana game recap, but I decided it was worthy of full post status. “Who’s Worse, 2014 or 2004?”, in my opinion, is a legitimate and interesting topic for debate in a year where nothing much very interesting is going on with Penn State football. And so, game on!
I had written to Big Al:
I’ll stipulate to there being no salvation for an entire offense as crappy as Penn State’s. You’re right. I’ve been following Penn State for over 50 years, too, and have never had such a frustrating experience as I have had this year.
K. John responded:
I would disagree. The 03 and 04 offenses were worse than the current unit. Every defense they play is terrified of Hackenberg hence the blitz every down every game strategy they are employing despite the massive risks. No team would deliberately take a safety giving away good field position with Hack out there.
The above sparked the following response, which I’ve removed from the comments and elevated to a post. [Read more…]
