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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Comfortable at Home

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The title above represents my impression of the Wisconsin game: a comfortable win in comfortable environs, played with a high comfort level among comfortable players. The coaching even seemed more comfortable than usual. I suppose that a blowout win gives the appearance of comfort at all levels, but this Turkey thinks there’s more to it than just its superficial aspect. This team has indeed somehow become more comfortable. And before we leave this ad nauseum abuse of the comfort theme behind, let me just say that the 109,000+ fans no doubt consumed great quantities of liquid comfort on Saturday night in State College.

OK, the facts. State beat #19 Wisconsin 38-7 to bring both schools’ records to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten. Wisconsin’s vaunted running game was effectively curtailed by the Nittany Lions, with P.J. Hill held to a season low 70 yards. Penn State consistently won the battle of the trenches. The PSU Blogosphere’s favorite whipping boy, Anthony Morelli, looked more like a real quarterback, going 16-28 for 216 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions. And Rodney Kinlaw, the mid-season replacement for the deposed Austin Scott, had another fine day, as did his backup, Evan Royster, with 115 and 68 yards, respectively, a touchdown each, and no fumbles.

Morelli kept hitting Terrell Golden—primarily because Terrell Golden was consistently wide open, a forgotten man in Wisconsin’s game plan. With the defense busy covering Butler, Norwood, and Williams, Golden got a bunch of easy throws early in the game until Wisconsin reacted—slowly. Morelli looked much more poised in his stationary pocket presence (which moves about as much as a concrete bunker). ??? ????? He seemed—what’s the word I abused above? ????? ????????? ???????? —comfortable out there.

Of course, the Nittany Lions’ defense seemed to have forgotten about true freshman Kyle Jefferson because, I suppose, they were too worried about Travis Beckum. Jefferson wound up with six receptions for 124 yards, whereas Beckum caught five for 70 yards.

It was good to see both offensive and defensive lines performing well. This Turkey had previously thought that the offensive line was a bust from Day One this year, and that they would never come together. Well, wonder of wonders, they played like men out there against Wisconsin, not like the McCabe Sisters.

The game plan was significantly more wide-open than what we’re accustomed to. The Offensive Brain Trust (OBT) felt that they could throw on Wisconsin’s much-maligned secondary. So that’s what they did. Even on first down. It was refreshing to watch this brand of football, and I hope that it gives the OBT enough confidence to employ it in the future. (Yeah, I know—next week we are on the road in Indiana and we’ll come out running up the gut…)

Both teams had issues that held them back. Wisconsin’s P.J. Hill had a nagging groin injury, and the Badgers’ best wide receiver, Luke Swan, is out for the season. The Nittany Lions had off-field issues too numerous to mention here, but covered well elsewhere. Interestingly enough, Chris Baker and Knowledge Timmons, both rumored by the usual on-line wonks to be suspended, actually played in this game, while Chris Bell and Phil Taylor did not. However, Baker and Timmons usually are starters, and both sat for the first half. Bell and Taylor practiced on Wednesday, but Baker and Timmons were there in street clothes. ??? ?????? ??? ???????? Paterno would only sat that Bell and Taylor were in his doghouse. These four are all rumored to be complicit in the Sunday morning rumble at the HUB following the Iowa game.

All in all, it was a satisfying and refreshing win in the wake of the continual negative publicity the program has received of late. If this is a harbinger of things to come, the Nittany Lions could win all of their remaing games but one, that one being Ohio State the week after next. Still, combined with the well-played Wisconsin game, a successful road trip to Indiana could prove inspirational enough to give the Lions the confidence needed to fight the Buckeyes to the death. After all, undefeated teams are being knocked off right and left this year, so OSU’s number might well be up in a fortnight. But I digress. The road trip to Indiana comes first and if there’s too much looking past it to the Ohio State game, then it will become a trap game. So, cuidado, hombres! I’ll be back with a look at that game on Wednesday.

More Turmoil in the Top 10

Does anyone want to win the Still Somewhat Mythical National Championship (SSMNC) this year? Yesterday saw yet a couple more high-profile losses by heretofore undefeated teams. LSU, formerly #1, went down to #17 Kentucky in triple-overtime. Unranked Oregon State beat #2 Cal. So who’s left undefeated? Ohio State, Boston College, South Florida, and Hawaii. I would expect that the rankings this week will be OSU #1, BC #2, and USF #3, followed by one or more one-loss teams, and then Hawaii (because they’re a more lightly regarded WAC team). However, if Ohio State should happen to lose to either Penn State, Wisconsin, or Michigan, let’s say, and BC loses to Virginia Tech, FSU, or Miami, we might be looking at a SSMNC game involving USF and Hawaii. That would be retarded.

Scott Charged with Rape

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After a couple of weeks of speculation, the Patriot-News is reporting what we were all thinking here. While the impact to the team’s on-field performance might not be significant, the impact to the program and its head coach sure as hell is. Scott and his attorney intend to prove that Scott and his alleged victim had consensual sex. He also faces misdemeanor charges of simple assault and indecent assault. Scott is still listed as #3 running back for Saturday’s Wisconsin game.

Most of the details available now come from an AP report, but here are some other places to look:

  • Centre Daily Times report is here.
  • ESPN.com report is here.
  • Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report is here.
  • Pittsburgh Tribune-Review here.

The Saturday morning newspapers should have more details.

I don’t want to get carried away rushing to judgment. ????? ??? ???? In my mind, whether or not the rape charge sticks is immaterial—Scott has already lost his job and if he even had a glimmer of hope about playing in the NFL, he can now forget it. Being out drinking and screwing around at 4 AM during football season as a starter and a senior “leader” when his team had just lost two crucial conference games is enough to get him kicked off the team. 1xbet casino And for those of you who would blame Scott’s transgressions on the coaches: ? — get a life! ??? ???? ?? ??????

Wisconsin Ramblings

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Wisconsin BadgersFirst of all, let’s get this out of the way.

There. Don’t I feel better now?

No, not really. This Turkey has a sinking feeling in the pit of his capacious stomach, having been subjected to the torture of the 2007 what’s gonna happen next Nittany Lions. I need some Prevacid, ferchrissakes. I don’t want to get into speculation about who’s going to jail, who’s in Paterno’s doghouse, who punched whom, or who got wasted on Red Stripe. This post is about the forthcoming Wisconsin game.

It’s Homecoming. Homecoming games are supposed to be against beatable opposition. Is Wisconsin beatable? I think so, but a lot of things will have to go right. This is neither a game for the molasses-in-January offensive start-up that has been characteristic of the past six games, nor a game for the typical fumbles, interceptions, and penalties we’ve seen in the first half of the season. ??????? ??? ??? ????? Play error-free ball and beat Wisconsin. ???? ????? Sounds pretty simple, but with the veritable plethora of off-field distractions, suspensions, etc., it might be a tall order. But I digress again.

The Badgers (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) are coming off a heartbreaking loss to Illinois. Sound familiar? Yeah, well Penn State and Wisconsin are in the same boat in that respect, only the Nittany Lions have an intervening win over Iowa to get them feeling cocky again. Wisconsin has a mediocre defense that is just begging to be beaten deep by Morelli and his talented receivers. They rank #81 in pass efficiency defense. Their front seven is no great shakes against the run, either, ranking #62. Last week, they gave up 289 rushing yards to Illinois. ???? ???? ??? ??? ???? So, it would seem as if our offense, such as it is, will have its opportunities if it can play error free. Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s offense might have been fearsome at one point, but right now their big weapons are Travis Beckum at tight end and a hobbled P.J. Hill. Luke Swan, the talented senior wide receiver is injured and out for the year. Even the personal injury lawyers or the lawyers for disability claims can’t help. Last week against Illinois, Beckum and Hill accounted for much of the offense, even though Hill sat out quite a few snaps. Beckum had 160 yards, while Hill had 105 all-purpose yards and a touchdown.

Beckum worries me, and with Hill semi-healthy, I would expect Beckum to get the ball a lot. Last week, he had 11 receptions and he’s currently tied for 18th in the country in number of receptions. The problem here, in this Turkey’s opinion is that our linebackers are not the greatest at pass defense. I would put my money on them stopping Hill, but I think that they can be consistently beaten by 6’4″, 224 lb Beckum. On the other hand, the Nittany Lions rank #16 in pass efficiency defense and #5 in total defense. So, if they play well, they can keep us in the game, leaving it up to our much maligned offense to somehow manage to score some points.

With respect to special teams, Penn State leads the Big Ten in net punting yards and is #4 in the nation in that category, whereas Wisconsin ranks #88. The Badgers rank #73 and #90 in punt returns and kickoff returns, respectively. Perhaps, for a change, the Nittany Lions won’t be giving up so many yards on kickoff coverage.

And now, for the long awaited Official Turkey Poop Prediction. You’ve waded through all that bull above, so you deserve to be rewarded with a long-winded prediction to throw your rotten tomatoes at. The gamblers have installed Penn State as a 7-point favorite, with an over/under of 44.5. That works out to Penn State winning by the score of 26-19. You know, that looks pretty good to me. I think that if we can’t score 27 on Wisconsin, then we deserve to lose. After all, The Citadel rang up 31 on them. So did Illinois, while Michigan State hit them for 34. The Nittany Lions managed to score 27 on Iowa, but their defense sucks worse than Wisconsin’s. Still, I think that this week might be the week that Morelli manages to put together an error-free game. If he does, the prediction is PSU 27, Wisconsin 20. If he and his teammates do not, then we lose. Simple as that.

We’ve got the opportunity to make a statement here. It’s Homecoming. P.J. Hill has a groin injury and isn’t 100%. Luke Swan is on the injured list. Austin Scott is not playing (thus, fewer fumbles and no dancing behind the LOS). Things are looking good for us here. If we blow this chance, team morale goes completely down the toilet, we probably lose on the road at Indiana, and we most assuredly lose to Ohio State the following week. So, let’s not blow this chance.