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.

Turn About

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The Nittany Lions (4-2, 1-2 Big Ten) came out looking like they have looked in every game this year, with the exception being that they were Scott free. However, against a crappy Iowa defense, they figured out that they could win this game, and they woke up midway through the second quarter instead of waiting for the second half. For a while, it looked like the predictions of final scores to rival the notorious 6-4 Iowa win of the 2004 season would come true. (My prediction was 9-6; I saw some others like 3-2 and, hilariously, 1-0). However, Penn State prevailed authoritatively, whipping hapless Iowa 27-7.

Speaking of whips, our favorite whipping boy, Anthony Morelli had an up-and-down game. He was booed coming off the field in the first half, but later he was cheered. Jeered and cheered, cheered and jeered. He throws a screen pass to nowhere. He hits a wide-open Bell in the end zone with a perfect pass and Bell drops the damn thing. He connects with Derrick Williams for a touchdown. He throws two interceptions. All in all, a fair, albeit erratic, day for A-Mo: 18-31 for 233 with one TD and 2 INTs. And, playing in Beaver Stadium denied Morelli the opportunity to flip off hostile fans, though the locals were at times scornful toward Anthony, particularly before the second quarter wake-up call.

The defense was pretty stingy, allowing only 46 rushing yards and under 200 total yards. However, Iowa has no offense. Don’t automatically start thinking that it will be that easy to shut down P.J. Hill next week.

Special teams’ performance was good overall, the highlight being a 53-yard, career best field goal by Kevin Kelly. The low point was a head-up-the-ass fair catch called and executed by Derrick Williams at the 5 yard-line. Call the fair catch and get the hell out of the way, Williams! And how about our special teams coaches doing a little work on kickoff return coverage? Perhaps they de-emphasized that aspect of the game because of the expected dearth of scoring.

Can we talk here? Oy, Austin Scott is so fired. He has been “suspended indefinitely” for “an unspecified violation of team rules,” whatever the hell that means. Most of us will make the connection to the alleged rape that occurred on campus at 4 AM on Friday. That’s just speculation. Details will emerge over time. Obviously, Paterno has always given players the benefit of the doubt when they have been accused of various and sundry crimes; however, he comes down hard on them when it becomes clear that they have actually transgressed. In this case, the “unspecified violation” probably relates more to the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape than the crime itself, with which Scott might or might not be charged. If he was arrested at 4 AM after a night of carousing, that would certainly violate team rules. Scott has cleaned out his locker and we’ve probably seen the last of him. As RUTS posits in his comment to a prior post on the subject, we’ve reduced our fumbling output by about 66%.

From FOS:

FOS has also learned that at a hastily called squad meeting Friday, head coach Joe Paterno informed the rest of the Nittany Lions that Scott is no longer a member of the team. Multiple sources confirmed Paterno’s comments at the squad meeting.

The Scott fiasco in itself would be bad enough, but we’ve seen too much of this kind of crap over the past decade not to conclude that there’s something rotten in the state of Denmark. Arrowgate, Ed Johnson, Chisley, Scirrotto…what’s next? It used to be a big deal when, for example, Bobby Engram stole a stereo from a friend’s apartment, or Rashard Casey got into a fight in a New Jersey bar. Now, we seem to be rather inured to this type of thing—almost accepting. Perhaps now we can see why Scott failed to live up to the promise of his recruitment days. As a player he’s a bust because he lacks the self-discipline to focus on football and academics (ha-ha).

The sad thing brought out by this incident, among others, is that this team has no leadership. If it had, the Scott problem might never have occurred. A sports team is just a collection of individuals without leadership. In this case, good, strong leadership could have reeled in this wayward individual and sent him forward on the path of righteousness for the glory of the team. Alas, no such leadership exists. So, farewell. Austin, we hardly knew ye.

Andrew Quarless did not start in this game. Mickey Shuler did. This was Paterno’s way of telling the talented tight end to get his lazy ass focused. He later entered the game and made some significant contributions.

Meanwhile, around the country, it was another devastating week for top ten teams. In the biggest upset of them all, #2 USC was knocked off by Stanford.

However, for us Big Ten folk, the big deal was Illinois beating #5 Wisconsin, proving that the Illini victory over Penn State was not a flash in the pan. (Yeah, I know—we should have won that game—Morelli, Morelli, Morelli…)

In other Big Ten action, Ohio State made a defensive statement, throwing a wet blanket over Purdue’s aerial fireworks. Joe Tiller’s vaunted offense seemed to be unstoppable. So, Ohio State is the sole surviving undefeated Big Ten team. It appears that they’re for real.

Michigan State is reverting to form. Kind of like Morelli, one day they look great and the next day they look shitty. They and Northwestern battled to a 41-41 tie at the end of regulation, which Northwestern won in overtime 48-41.

So, now…what of this weekend’s results and what effect will they have on my predictions for the season. Like many of you, the unexpected point production against Iowa made me wonder whether I was being too hard on the boys. But then I said, “Nahhhhh, Iowa sucks and there’s no great reason for optimism.” I think we lose to Wisconsin and Ohio State. I have mixed feelings about Indiana, Purdue, and Moo U. We definitely beat Temple. (Sorry, Jenny. I will not adjust my expectations there.) We could actually finish the season with a winning record and be bowl eligible (albeit the much maligned Toilet Bowl in Kohler Wisconsin).

Special Note of Congratulations to the McCabe Sisters: Notre Dame finally broke their schneid with a 20-7 win over UCLA. I was wrong in my assessment that they would start 0-8. They will start 1-7, and you can take dat one to da bank!

I’ll be back on Wednesday, or thereabouts, with irreverent comments about Wisconsin and a link to that annoying-as-hell badger thing. Aw, hell. Why wait? Here it is.

This is Senior Leadership

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I’ve been told that I’m too hard on Morelli, because he can only do what his coaches tell him to do. Furthermore, I’ve been told that those coaches have “ruined” him. However, in order to ruin something, there has to be something to ruin. Get what I mean? A rifle arm and a cadre of vaunted receivers is going to waste here, and the guy with the arm has to bear a fair share of the responsibility for his own conduct and level of play.

If we would have beaten Michigan, it would have shut a lot of grousing mouths about the coaching, but Morelli’s performance on the field would have spoken for itself. He doesn’t shine as an individual performer, but moreover, he is not providing leadership appropriate to his being elected a captain. One has to wonder whether Paterno manipulated the selection of this year’s captains, as Phil Grosz suggested.

Morelli has had his share of maturity problems at PSU from the start. I guess that goes with the territory when you’re a young guy who has been told how great he was all the way through high school. His freshman year was the time for him to get that out of his system but as you’ll see below, apparently he hasn’t. I suppose it can be argued that coaches function in loco parentis, and share some of the responsibility for Morelli’s retarded emotional development. In that regard, the coaches should be blamed for Quarless’ and Harriot’s off-campus underage drinking and Scirrotto’s Midnight Melee at the Meridian II, too. Not likely. These kids are in college now and they are old enough to know better. They must be held directly responsible for their nefarious conduct and not shielded by placing the blame on incompetent coaching.

Morelli seemed to not have his head in the game at Michigan Stadium. He didn’t take care of the ball deep in his own territory, and handed Michigan a touchdown. He missed Deon Butler who was wide open, denying us a score. Any of the McCabe Sisters could have made that throw. He seemed uncomfortable and flustered at times in the pocket. What is troubling this guy? Is it the coaching? Is he just a schmuck? Is his poor performance a rebellion against the coaching schemata? Yeah, that would be a very mature approach, now wouldn’t it?

I suppose you’re wondering what got me going here. Well, I’ll tell you. Stewart Mandel’s mailbag on Si.com yesterday bore the following comments from a Michigan fan:

“I was at the game right behind the PSU bench cheering for Michigan with my brother in law who is a PSU fan. We could not believe it when the PSU starting QB was yelling at fans during the game. The more the fans got on him the more he taunted us back. At one point he was on the phone with a coach and he was trying to listen but was gesturing to us rather than really focusing. The sad time was when he told one fan who was riding him hard to come on the field and say that. Joe Pa was in the game. His coaches were in the game. I am a UofM fan and football fan. WHen your QB is more concerned with the fans rather than the game maybe he should look elsewhere for leadership. Coaches had to tell him and another starter to ignore the fans and play ball. Not a coaches fault his kids do not understand that games are won on the field. Play calling was ok but his players just didn’t execute. One player was wide open and the QB just did not look his way. The last drive had one Michigan reception that the PSU coaches told the corner to watch and that play he ‘forgot’ because that was the route they ran. The sacks were just blown assignments. One thing that got me though and i will leave on this note is how can the PSU QB be laughing while walking the sidelines when he played that badly. His WR were open. Thank god he was too busy yelling at us in the stands to see them. If you do not believe me watch the tape LOL. All the fans commented after the game that they have never seen a player become so obsessed with the fans he would have conversations with them!!!”

Can you believe that? OK, so the comment was made by a Michigan fan, so it is undoubtedly and understandably biased. On the other hand, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. If any part of this is true about Morelli, he should be sitting for the Illinois game. (Yeah, like that will happen.)

Obviously, a college football team cannot go undefeated every year. (Even Bud Wilkinson’s Oklahoma teams in the 1950s eventually lost one.) So, there will be losses. Losses always hurt us fans—we who live vicariously through our teams and are validated by their successes. So, if we have to lose a game, the blow is softened if we know that each player gave his best effort; any suggestion that someone is out there screwing off tends to piss me off royally. I wouldn’t condone that taunting crap if it took place in the Temple game with Penn State up 79-0 in the fourth quarter, let alone in the biggest game of the year whose outcome was in doubt up to the final minute or two.

Is this senior leadership?