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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Nooner Boon, Sooners Swoon, and Moo Who?

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Penn State Blows Out Northwestern 31-7

Mighty #4 Penn State (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten) showed offensive flaws, but were good enough to dispel nooner doubts with a 31-7 road win over the Northwestern Wildcats (2-3, 0-2 Big Ten). With Pat Fitzgerald’s Northwestern defense concentrating on stopping Saquon Barkley, Trace McSorley was left to do his thing, which our crappy offensive line fortunately allowed him to do. T-Mac produced his best game of the year, albeit against a somewhat shitty Wildcats defense.

McSorley Shines

McSorley could have been even better had he not channeled Hack on a few throws. He still wound up with a highly respectable 24-34 for 245 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions. Receivers were having no problems freeing themselves from Northwestern defenders. McSorley received only moderate pressure from the Wildcats’ pass rush. Abetted by the Nittany Lions’ complicit offensive line, they recorded four sacks and two hurries on T-Mac, and another sack on Tommy Stevens during garbage time.

Barkley Bottled

Saquon Barkley was bottled up in the first half, recording negative yardage. He wound up the day with 75 yards on 16 carries with two touchdowns, including a 53-yard beauty that redeemed a performance that might have put a crimp in his Heisman chances. Would someone please send us an offensive line?

Northwestern Defensive Woes

Northwestern’s already shaky defense was further depleted by a couple of targeting ejections to two top defenders, linebacker Paddy Fisher and safety Godwin Igwebuike, who had a combined total of 17 tackles. Northwestern also shot themselves in the foot with penalties, giving up three first downs on flagged plays.

PSU Defensive Highs

The Penn State defense shut out Northwestern until garbage time, forcing three turnovers and holding Clayton Thorson to a 19-36, 142 yard performance, with no touchdowns and two interceptions. Thorson was relieved late in the game by Matt Alviti, who went 4-7.

Warts

One more thing. Field goals. This isn’t rocket science. Tyler Davis was good last year. What happened? The excuses regarding a new long snapper and a new holder don’t wash now that half a season has passed — and it doesn’t get easier from here, with Michigan following the bye week.

Moo U. Knocks off #7 Michigan, 14-10

The Spartans’ dominance over the Wolverines once again evidenced itself  in da Big House, as the Moo U. Spartans (4-1, 2-0 Big Ten) came to play, beating the favored home team Michigan Wolverines (4-1, 1-1 Big Ten) 14-10. It was the eighth win in the past ten games for Sparty.

In a game played under horribly rainy conditions at times, Michigan conducted a long opening drive eating up over seven minutes of game clock, but could only manage a field goal. Moo U. subsequently leapfrogged to a lead, never to relinquish it. They led 14-3 at halftime. Backup Michigan quarterback John O’Korn, filling in for injured starter Wilson Speight, threw three interceptions, and the Wolverines lost two fumbles.

Speight Has Three Broken Vertebrae

Looking toward Penn State’s next game with the Wolverines, we’ll probably be seeing O’Korn at the helm, as starter Wilson Speight looks to be done for the season. He was diagnosed with three broken vertebrae.

Sooners Swoon in Norman

The Nittany Lions can move up a notch in the rankings this week as #3 Oklahoma Sooners (4-1, 1-1 Big 12) fell to the Iowa State Cyclones (3-2, 1-1 Big 12), 38-31.

Worthy of #3?

I don’t know, but if that offensive line doesn’t find itself and the field goal situation doesn’t improve, that ranking will plummet during the next couple of games. While Michigan has struggled on offense with both Speight and O’Korn, their defense will give Penn State fits. And Ohio State, especially playing at home in the Horseshoe, adds some offense to the picture. Any way I look at it, Penn State will emerge from October with some black-and-blue marks on their collective ego. If they can eke out two wins, they can maintain that #3 and could cement a position in the playoffs, assuming that they could get past Wisconsin in the Big Ten Champeenship.

Bragging Rights

Our primo predictor was reader Joe, who gave us a 31-10 prognostication. Congratulations on your astute crystal ball work!

Laugher of the Week

Finally, a seven-overtime game? Yeah, we had one, as Western Michigan outlasted Buffalo 71-68 in a slugfest, tying the record for overtimes, and setting a new record for total points at 139.

 

I’ll be back sometime within the next two weeks with an overview and prediction for the big Michigan game. 

Lions Man Up after Three Sissified Quarters

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Remember the title of my pre-game post? To refresh your memory, it was Trap Games Are for Sissies. So, what happened on Saturday could have produced a really disgusting article from me here today, as the #12 Nittany Lions (8-1, 4-1 Big Ten) did indeed look like sphincterized sissies for three quarters until they redeemed themselves in the fourth quarter, eventually licking unranked Northwestern (5-4, 2-3 Big Ten)  34-13.

They came out with their heads somewhere else — entombed, perhaps, in a warm, dark, redolent intrapersonal space with a Vise Grip for a sphincter — as they allowed the Wildcats to dink their way down the field to a 10-3 lead in the second quarter. The touchdown scored by Northwestern represented only the second time a TD has been scored on Penn State in the first half this season — not coincidentally, the second in back-to-back road games in which the Lions suffered a slow start.

Then, something fortunate happened to the Nitty Kitties, albeit not of their own doing. NWU quarterback Mike Kafka, who with the help of his hurry-up, no huddle offense, was impressing this Turkey by hitting receivers in voids in the Nittany Lions’ vaunted BBDB soft pass defense, pulled up lame, grabbing his hamstring on one play and heading to the bench for the rest of the game after the succeeding play. Later, Wildcat sources confirmed that the injury was to Kafka’s lower leg, not the hamstring.

This game kicked off at 4:30, not noon, Eastern Time, so the guys didn’t even have the early kickoff excuse to fall back on as an explanation for their lameness in the first three quarters. I don’t want to take credit away from Kafka and head coach Pat Fitzgerald, though. I’m just sayin…

Who knows what would have happened had Kafka stayed in the game instead of being replaced by young sophomore Dan Persa at that point. Kafka had performed brilliantly, completing 14 of 18 passes for 128 yards, as his allegro molto rhythm had the PSU defense on its heels, attempting to extract their heads from the aforementioned warm place. Kafka also hurt Penn State with his legs, as he rushed 8 times for 42 yards and a touchdown. Persa was 14-23 for 115 yards for the rest of the game after relieving Kafka. He was also effective on the ground, gaining 42 yards on 14 carries with a long run of 25. He admitted that he was in over his head — it takes lots of real game experience to be able to think as quickly as Pat Fitzgerald’s bang-bang offense demands.

Penn State was able to add a touchdown on a 2-yard Daryll Clark scramble after Clark moved the ball down the field using mostly sideline routes to Derek Moye and Graham Zug. A pass interference call put the ball on the Northwestern 15, after which Clark hit freshman Curtis Drake, who was forced out of bounds on the 2, setting up DC’s score.

Northwestern closed out the half with a 45-yard Stefan Demos field goal, after an earlier, 37-yard effort had been blocked. The Wildcats took a three-point lead into the locker room.

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Trap Games Are for Sissies

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Lots and lots of people out there are portraying the forthcoming game between #12 Penn State (7-1, 3-1 Big Ten) and Northwestern (5-3, 2-2 Big Ten) as a “trap” game. The Nittany Lions are coming off an emotional win at da Big House, their first in 13 years, and next week they will be coming home to play the Ohio State Buckeyes, a meaningful game in the quest for the Big Ten title and a trip to a BCS bowl. Northwestern is playing at home on Ryan Field, where they always play the Lions tough. They need one more game to be bowl eligible for the 2009-2010 post-season. All the components of an upset are there, yet this Turkey thinks that Penn State will take care of business.

Hell, back in 2005, it took a desperation pass from Michael Robinson to Isaac Smolko on fourth-and-ten to grab a victory out of the jaws of defeat there at Ryan Field. Don’t tell me it ain’t tough!

However, this year, Northwestern’s secondary is decimated by injuries and they have no running game to speak of. Their passing offense, led by quarterback Mike Kafka, dinks its way down the field with short routes and quick reads. Because of a green offensive line, Kafka doesn’t have much time to do otherwise. The Wildcats will be able to score some points against the Sandusky BBDB, especially if the corners are going to play 10 yards off the LOS, but not enough points; meanwhile, Penn State should be able to throw on their deficient secondary all day.

This, of course, is subject to a potentially big weather factor. While it has been raining up in Evanston this week, the sun is expected to peek through the clouds and dry things up. High temperature Saturday will be 50F. Nevertheless, as this is written on Friday, heavy rain amounting to 0.7″ has fallen on Ryan Field. The track is liable to be sloppy.

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