The Nittany Turkey

Primarily about Penn State football, this is a tale told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

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Well that just plain sucked!

Posted on September 27, 2014 Written by The Nittany Turkey

RD and the Turkey contemplate the pre-game drink creation outside The Cave.

The Penn State Nittany Lions (4-1, 1-1 Big Ten) were roundly defeated by the much maligned Northwestern Wildcats (2-2, 1-0) by the score of 29-6. It wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicates. Northwestern established themselves early, quickly jumping to a 14-0 lead before the Nittany Lions put on their jock straps and scored their first points.

This is the first time since that wonderful 6-4 classic versus Iowa in 2004, also a homecoming game, that Penn State did not score a single touchdown in a game at home in Beaver Stadium. Ten years, man! We’re harkening back to the sucky sounds of [cue foreboding cello in minor key] The Dark Years. This suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks!

Big thanks go to Big Al, who not only forecast the Nittany Lions’ flatness, sort of, but also never swung to the Sanguinarian side when Penn State looked good against the bottom of the barrel of the FBS. He’s consistently called a spade a spade all along.

Thanks also to Joe, who provided the headline for this article with his post-game comment.

Toejam, who watched the game via BTN2GO on his smartphone declared, “It’s been a f*cking waste of bandwidth!” Good thing it didn’t cause him to exceed his limit.

If you were among the Sanguinarians, this turkey included, who had a warm fuzzy feeling about this team after the UMass cupcake crusher, think again, buster! The 2014 Nittany Lions are not yet ready for prime time, and one has to wonder what lies ahead for them.

Big Al had predicted that they would come out flat for 2-1/2 quarters and have to come from behind to win. Specifically, he said, “I’m expecting 2-1/2 quarters of last week’s 1st quarter.” However, he still had PSU winning 19-13. He added the comment, “A slightly better game than the 14-7 loss during the dark years. That game might have been the low point of [St.] Joe’s career.”

On the basis of his apt and prescient pessimism, I’m declaring Big Al this weeks Ace Predictor of the Week.

(Quit yer whining. Yeah, he predicted the wrong winner, but he had the right mindset.)

There were flaws in his prediction, to be sure.  This 29-6 beat-down wasn’t slightly better than that 14-7 loss. It was a helluva lot worse. Penn State was never in the game, now were they? And they never did anything to act like they wanted it.

This is a team in disarray. When your star quarterback is not seeing open receivers and getting into sideline arguments with them, you know there’s trouble in Happy Valley.

Both lines sucked. It seemed as if Northwestern was able to move the ball at will against our vaunted defense, on which it appeared that Mike Hull was the only player flying to the ball at times. They had no fire. Northwestern was able to rush for 104 yards on 38 attempts.

On offense, the O-Line is a total mess, not providing blocking for the run and not providing protection for the passer. Christian Hackenberg was beaten up once again and was visibly limping by the third quarter (although I’m not completely certain that it was hurt pride more than a hurt body). He completed fewer than half his passes, with no touchdowns and one costly pick six interception, although the game was already lost at that point. His final QBR was 12.7. I’m faulting the O-Line for some of that, but Hackenberg’s timing and accuracy was off for most of the day. And so, I think, was his attitude.

He wasn’t seen rallying the troops, as a team captain should. I think that at some point James Franklin should have noticed that Hack — perhaps frustrated by his receivers being continually covered and not having enough time to find open ones — was in need of some motivational ass-kicking. Hack is a sophomore — yeah, he’s a kid — but he was chosen as a team captain and he damn well needs to act like one. No pouting is allowed.

So, what’s this I hear about a “sophomore slump”?

Am I being too hard on Hack? Perhaps, but I’m being hard on Franklin, too.

The word you’re going to hear and read for the next two weeks is “answers”. People are going to want a lot of them.

This Nittany Lions team is frankly not good enough to play in the top tier of the Big Ten. Yeah, I know. One bad beat-down and I’m whining about how bad they are. But five games into the season, we should be seeing an improvement in the offensive line and we’re not. They’re getting worse. Did you see them out there blocking each other? Did you see Mangiro getting pushed back every other play? These guys aren’t going to hold up through the Big Ten schedule.

Meanwhile, Northwestern found some particular softness in the middle of the PSU D-line. That was supposed to be the Lions’ great strength. Harrrrrumph!

Third down efficiency continues to suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. Today it was 3-17.

Turnovers, too. Aside from Hack’s errant throw, he coughed up the ball after a hard sack. Adrian Amos had a lucky interception, and Penn State wound up driving its cumulative turnover margin southward by one. Boil out the five gift interceptions of Gary Nova and you’ve got a minus six, caused by the combination of a defense that can’t force turnovers and an offense that can’t protect the ball. Thanks to Mr. Nova, they’re not tied for 110th place along with Vanderbilt for that crappy distinction. (But Michigan is #125 with a -10 hahahahaha).

Northwestern’s defense looked pretty good, but the scary thing is that they were ranked 73rd in total defense coming into this game. Michigan is ranked #8. Ohio State and Michigan State are 13 and 14. Even Purdue is 61st.

Pat Fitzgerald gambled several times on offense. Why not? He had little to lose. His defense was in charge and it really looked like they could move the ball at will against Penn State. Sitting on a 14 point lead, why not go for the bundle? In the end, though, it was more Penn State’s crappy, desperate play that sealed the deal.

As the late Tampa Bay Bucs coach John McCay once responded to a question after a particularly putrid performance by the Bucs about whether he could find anything positive in the loss to Detroit:

“Yes. The parking lot will be a lot emptier next week against Green Bay and people will be able to get in and out easier.”

OK, so who can find anything positive to say? K. John?

Two weeks until the loss to Michigan and there are too many problems to correct to even make a good show of it.

RD and the Turkey contemplate the pre-game drink creation outside The Cave.
RD and the Turkey contemplate the pre-game drink creation outside The Cave.

I think this was my fault. Before the game, I created a specialty libation in order to salute our opponent. It is called the Purple Pussycat Passion, and it is made from Tito’s vodka, Triple Sec, Welch’s grape juice, cranberry juice, and Blue Curação, with a moonshine macerated maraschino cherry. It went over big with the assembled multitude in The Cave.

I’ll be back at some point with a preview of the Michigan game. So help me, I need some encouragement from you readers to redevelop a sense of optimism about the boys. At this point, all I can say is that most of us probably got caught up in post-cupcake euphoria, and we need to temper our expectations accordingly.

 

 

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Filed Under: Penn State Football Tagged With: Northwestern

Northwest Passage

Posted on September 26, 2014 Written by The Nittany Turkey

Quaecumque sunt veraThe mighty (awful) Northwestern Wildcats (1-2, 0-0 Big Ten) bring their sorry act to Beaver Stadium to face the Penn State Nittany Lions (4-0, 1-0) at high noon on Saturday. Penn State is riding high on the virtue of a brilliant 48-7 win over UMass in which they actually showed some semblance of a balanced offense, while the lesser cats are pumped up over beating primo Missouri Valley Conference (Division I-AA) rival Western Illinois, 24-7, for their only win of the young season, snapping a six-game losing streak.

K. John, our intrepid predictor and commentator will be in attendance. He has already checked in, bitching about the inflated prices in State College during football weekends. He dropped off a prediction before he left Dodge, that being PSU 45, NWU 15.

The Wildcats’ losses this season were to Cal (31-24) and Northern Illinois (23-15). Meanwhile, Penn State temporarily leads the Big Ten, as they are the only school with a conference win.

You know, Northwestern used to play Penn State tough, no matter how crappy they looked on paper. There were some epic battles in the past. However, recently, it hasn’t been close. The last outing was 2012, when a Bill O’Brien team depleted by the infamous sanctions prevailed 39-28. One has to look back to 2005 for a close game, which the Lions won 34-29. The all-time series weighs heavily in PSU’s favor, 13-3. OK, I lied about always playing tough. Looking back, 1997, 2001 and 2005 were the only really close games and Penn State won them all. The two most recent losses were during the [cue cello music in foreboding minor key] Dark Years. Northwestern beat the boys in 2003 and 2004, by scores of 17-7 and 14-7, respectively.

Now that I’ve proven that I can do Internet football history look-ups, let’s move on.

Penn State’s defense is the strength of this team, so let’s get that out of the way first. They lead the NCAA FBS in rushing defense and rank tenth in total defense, sixth in scoring defense. Yeah, the front seven is to be respected, but we don’t really know how much respect to give them yet, having played a single conference game against one of the weaker teams in the conference. I’m not so sure they’ll be tested this week, but they will soon be into the heart of the Big Ten schedule and then we’ll know a lot more. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and consider them rock solid, at least against the run.

Team passing efficiency defense ranks only 19th in the NCAA, and this stat was inflated by five gift interceptions of Gary “Turn” Nova in the Rutgers game. I’m pronouncing the secondary a very definite “too soon to tell”. The pass rush is sort of “meh”, too, having recorded 12 sacks for 75 yards in four games.

On offense, you know the story. The UMass game was the only game this season with a balanced offensive attack, and it was only because PSU faced a limp dishrag defense. The inexperienced PSU O-line could play with them and make Z/28 (got that right, Mike?) look good. All other games relied on the arm of Christian Hackenberg and a tandem of great receivers, Geno Lewis and DaeSean Hamilton, to seal the deal. Dramatic game saving drives have been necessary to pull Penn State out of the hole  on two occasions, and the Hack Attack has proven itself capable of performing under duress.

However, how did they get into those predicaments requiring the comebacks? Turnovers, man. Although the Lions rank in the middle of the NCAA pack with a zero net turnover margin, the aforementioned Gary Nova giftage is responsible. Otherwise, they’d be down at the bottom of the heap again.

But Northwestern — OY! They rank 103rd in rushing yards. While that is two notches above Penn State, it certainly suuuuuuuuucks! Ranking 75th in passing yards, they don’t seem to have a fine selection of offensive weaponry. Defensively, they’re middle of the pack or lower, and just look at their quality of opposition for a clue as to how that might play out.

One thing to watch out for, though, is superstud defensive lineman Ifeadi Odenigbo, who will be gunning for Hack on every passing down. Given that Northwestern allows 136 yards per game in rushing, this might be a good time to continue to develop the Penn State running game and take some pressure off the Hackeroo.

The weather for the game should be beautiful fall football weather, 76 and sunny. This should not affect any aspect of anyone’s game. However, it’s a noon start, which used to spell disaster for Penn State. Fortunately, the game is at home, but it was also at home last week when PSU played UMass with its thumbs up its collective ass in the first quarter.

So, now, let’s get down to brass tacks, already. It is time for the Official Turkey Poop Prediction. At season’s outset, I asked our distinguished panel of predictors to forecast each game, and they were unanimous in their selection of Penn State for this game. Who is this turkey to buck that esteemed consensus? The present gambling line favors the Nittany Lions by 9.5, with an over/under of 47. This suggests a final score in the neighborhood of 28-19. Given that the running game is not “there” yet and the noon start doldrums might crop up, I’m tempted to go with the “under”. But I won’t. I’m going to be optimistic, for a change. Penn State 38, Northwestern 10. Take the over.

 

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Filed Under: Penn State Football Tagged With: Northwestern

Fiftieth Anniversary: Photos of Beaver Stadium

Posted on September 22, 2014 Written by The Nittany Turkey

Blue Band Prepares to March

I was feeling kind of down today, so I thought I should do something that would cheer me up. I hope you will be the beneficiary of my efforts.

About seven years ago, I posted a link to some photos I took while I was a freshman at Penn State in 1864 (oops, typo) 1964. On the fiftieth anniversary of taking these glorious pictures of Beaver Stadium, I felt that it would be fun to re-post them for people who didn’t get a chance to see them way back when.

Actually, Todd Sponsler (The Lion’s Den, Living the Eye Life) had posted a link to the original site of the pictures when he had a blog on PennLive.com at the time I first published them, so they got a lot of views, but maybe you missed them back then.

The scoreboard is particularly appropriate in view of the recent brouhaha about our new scoreboards concentrating on scores instead of advertising.

Please enjoy da photos and remember, they were taken by a 17 year-old freshman with illegal access to alcohol! If you wish to see larger pictures, just click on any of the photos below.

Beaver Stadium from East Halls
Beaver Stadium from East Halls, 1964

I had a brand-new 35 mm camera and a brand new 70-270 mm telephoto lens, but I obviously had no tripod with which to steady that rig for this shot. Nevertheless, in addition to the Beaver Stadium as it was back then, you can find some vintage automotive machinery parked in the fields between my dorm (East Hall E, now McKean) and the stadium. Many were parked on the fields on which the Blue Band used to practice. As it was Band Day, the stadium was filling up with multi-colored high school bands, undoubtedly conveyed to the stadium by those vintage school buses. I’m glad I was a profligate spender back then, buying unaffordable color film for my photographic exploits that would live on for a half-century.

Note the pennants flying from atop the east and west stands representing each of our opponents.

 

Block S Does Its Thing
Block S Does Its Thing, 1964

Beaver Stadium photo above taken from what was then the freshman/sophomore section, at what was called “the closed end of the horseshoe” and is now referred to as the north stands. Now, both ends are closed and there is no view of Mt. Nittany from inside the stadium. The Block S card section salutes the mighty Nittany Lions and the University, 1964-style, on Band Day.

 

Homecoming Day, 1964
Homecoming Day, 1964

Syracuse vs. Penn State. Guess who won? You’re right, it was Syracuse, 21-14. Syracuse beat us three years in a row from 1964 to 1966. Under head coach Rip Engle, the Nittany Lions went on to finish 6-4 that year and were ranked #14 in the final AP poll. (Syracuse was ranked #12, doggone it!) Floyd Little #44 was the stud runner for Syracuse that day, and it was only his sophomore year. Big Jim Nance wore number 32. Both were unstoppable. The following year, a converted linebacker named Larry Csonka would take over for Nance. Syracuse was a running powerhouse in the 1950s and 1960s! Nevertheless, the sun shone brightly upon Mt. Nittany, visible behind the east stands, on that glorious fall day.

In the Friday night/Saturday morning darkness the night before the game, a bunch of us students held an all-night vigil to guard the Nittany Lion shrine, as it was rumored that a contingent from Syracuse had loaded up a trunk with orange paint they were going to use to deface the holy shrine. The girls served coffee outside the Pattee Library and a few of us got lucky that night just by hanging around exuding team spirit — but not this freshman.

Note the wider goal posts, which were 23′ 4″ wide until 1991, when the present width of 18′ 6″ was adopted. Only three FBS schools still use the twin posts instead of a single stanchion for supporting the goal posts. Those are FSU, LSU, and Washington State.

 

Blue Band Prepares to March
Blue Band Prepares to March, 1964

There is no longer such a glorious view of Mt. Nittany from inside the stadium, as there was on this day in 1964. The Blue Band would always line up the same way under the direction of director James W. Dunlop, who served from 1947 through 1975. It was pretty ordinary, but the Floating Lions Drill jazzed it up beginning in 1965.

 

The Old Scoreboard
The Old Scoreboard, 1964

In this age of JumboTrons and lots and lots of advertisements, it is tempting to want to simplify stuff to the way it was back in the day–at least for us geezers. With Mt. Nittany and the ridges surrounding Happy Valley as a backdrop, the old scoreboard was a beautiful sight. It showed only game status, although the modest sign below asked for support for the alumni fund. This scoreboard, along with the stadium timer and a bronze plaque for the scoreboard, was a gift from the Class of 1926. The clock on the scoreboard was a gift of the recently graduated Class of 1964.

The guys who helped with parking were given seats in the south stands under the scoreboard behind the south end zone.

 

Class of '68
Class of ’68 – saluted in a 1964 game at Beaver Stadium

The incoming freshmen got their own salute from Block S in 1964.

 

I’ve published other pictures during the 10 years the Nittany Turkey has been in existence as a blog. A couple of cool ones can be found in “A Time-Trip with the Lions“, published in 2009. That one was also Band Day in 1964, but it dissected the loss to Oregon on that day. How things were at Penn State in 1964 can be found in “Footballistic Confessions of a Geezer“, published in 2007. Finally, for a picture of Beaver Stadium in 1959 (before it was physically moved piece-by-piece to its current location), check out “Beaver Stadium, Wayyyy Back“, also published in 2007.

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Filed Under: Penn State Football Tagged With: 1964, Beaver Stadium, nostalgia

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The Nittany Turkey is a retired techno-geek who thinks he knows something about Penn State football and everything else in the world. If there's a topic, we have an opinion on it, and you know what "they" say about opinions! Most of what is posted here involves a heavy dose of hip-shooting conjecture, but unlike some other blogs, we don't represent it as fact. Read More…

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