A lot of folks seem to have gone offline this week (and I don’t blame them) – there were fewer comments on our questions post this week than we had any other week, including the BYE. Don’t worry, BSDers;
we’ll bounce back.
Smee asks: UCLA is 0-4 and has played two home games in the Rose Bowl (capacity 91,136), and two away games. The home game attendances were 35,032 against Utah, and 31,163 against New Mexico. (For informational purposes their away attendances were 36,117 at Allegiant Stadium against UNLV, and 12,023 on the soccer field against Northwestern).
Point is, this will likely be the smallest crowd PSU will play in front of this year. What do you guess the attendance will be in the Rose Bowl on Saturday? And what percentage will be PSU fans?
I was present for the smallest crowd Penn State played in front of two years ago (in Evanston) and that kind of game is certainly a vibe. If this was later in the year, we might see more attendance, but after such a letdown of a game, I’m not so sure many Penn Staters will be traveling out to LA. For Penn Staters who live out that way, it’ll be a (cheaper, easier) way to see their team play, but it’s not a destination this year like it might have been last year.
JayMPSU asks: What’s the most agonizing game you’ve ever watched? Something recent maybe?
This is very similar to a question I got a few weeks ago about the most painful moment I’ve seen in person. And the one I mentioned in that post is absolutely up there (and certainly much worse than this past week), since everyone was expecting us to absolutely steamroll Minnesota, who was decidedly not a top ten team like the Ducks, and it was late in the season and we were undefeated.
But as for simply watching games, I can think of many that were worse – mostly because the team that we were dominated by (or at least lost to by multiple scores) wasn’t a great team like Oregon was, and while we also weren’t great teams – we were supposed to be better than the opponent that beat us handily. Some of those outings were 2015 vs Temple, 2012 vs Ohio, 2010 vs Illinois, and the 2011 Outback Bowl (the last of which is on this list solely because there wasn’t just one backbreaking interception, but FIVE). Not even touching the dark years because I’d be able to pick probably ten games that were more frustrating just in glancing at those years’ schedules.
Gerry Dincher asks: Do you think that Penn State beats Oregon with Beau Pribula at quarterback?
Maybe! I think the loss had more to do with play calling and offensive line play than all on quarterback, though. I still have no idea why you call that play that ended the game, when the first overtime was all runs (from what I remember) and went so well. But call a pass play downfield, of course!
Beau wouldn’t have fixed either of those things, but might have covered them up/mitigated their effects better.
LarzLion asks: Is PSU’s schedule this year the worst on record? 3 cupcakes in non-con and then two of the worst teams in the conference in the first 3 conference games?
LOL not even close.
I’m not sure if you’re talking about worst on record in college football, or worst for PSU. But either way, it’s not close. This year, they’re not even the worst in conference – Maryland has played a worse schedule year to date, and Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, Ohio State, Washington, and MIchigan all have lower strength of schedules for the remaining games they’ll be playing.
As for a Penn State schedule, yeah, this year’s schedule is easy – there’s no sugar coating it. But in addition to what you mention above, in the regular season the Nittany Lions will be playing three teams in the top ten (a feat I couldn’t find in the last fifteen years)- and there have been years where we’ve played none in the top ten, or only two ranked teams in the entire season. I’d argue some of these years were as bad (if not ultimately worse) than this year:
2015: out of conference opponents were Temple, Buffalo, San Diego State, and Army. Played three ranked teams – Ohio State (ended up #4), Michigan (ended up #12), and Michigan State (ended up #6).
2014: out of conference opponents were UCF, Akron, UMass, and Temple. Played two ranked teams – Ohio State (ended up #1) and Michigan State (ended up #5)
2013: out of conference opponents were Syracuse, Eastern Michigan, UCF, Kent State. Played three ranked teams – Michigan (ended up unranked), Ohio State (ended up #10), and Wisconsin (ended up #21)
2012: out of conference opponents were Ohio. UVA, Navy, and Temple. Played three ranked teams – Northwestern (ended up #16), Ohio State (ended up #3), and Nebraska (ended up #12)
2009: out of conference opponents were Akron, Syracuse, Temple, and Eastern Illinois. Played one ranked team – Ohio State (ended up #5)
Claiming this is the worst ever is complete recency bias, especially when you think about how bad certain teams in our division in the Big Ten were for so many years (even if some have since turned a corner and are much tougher outs now).
swift_retribution asks: Alrighty, I guess I’ll be the one to pull the pin and run away.
Who’s on your list to replace CJF if he leaves?
I can’t believe I’m even saying this, but I’d put Kiffin on that list. Obviously Cignetti. Who else am I forgetting?
I do not like Cignetti; not sure what it is, but he rubs me the wrong way. And I refuse to put on my list a grown man coach who wears a visor.
If Franklin leaves (by his own volition or by Pat Kraft’s), I just have no idea who you’d get. With the addition of Jim Knowles, it’s obvious that Kraft is putting his money where his mouth is, so while conventional wisdom would be Matt Rhule (which I wouldn’t be sad at, but I also couldn’t see as an upgrade over Franklin), there might be much splashier hires that he could make.
I saw in the questions post that folks were saying Saban, and I’m just not sure that that would work. Saban of ten years ago, absolutely – but Saban now? I just don’t know, and I’m notoriously risk averse so I’m not sure I’d risk it.
Dwight D Eisenhower asks: It seems that in Big Games(TM), James carries a play sheet (against Oregon, Ohio State, etc) while in most others he does not. Two questions. Am I correct in that observation and, if so, why does he carry them for those games and not others?
Bonus question: do you think he is calling any plays and/or more vocal about play calling in big game settings?
Hello, General, and welcome back to this plane!
I have not observed the same, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. Do you only qualify the big games as the ones against Oregon & Ohio State (ie conference games we’ve lost) or did you observe the same thing in the two playoff games we won last year? Is this something that you’re seeing throughout the whole game, or is situational – and are you looking for it on every down? Could it be that if you’re seeing it on TV, it’s situational – and since during the “other” games he’s not being shown on TV it’s just not something that is shown? I honestly don’t know the answer to any of these hypotheticals (he couldjust do it for more “important” games against more closely matched teams!) but without more evidence, I can’t draw conclusions.
Anyone who says they know that Franklin is the one who calls plays in big game settings must be on the coaching staff, because no one outside the program truly knows that. Does he call things like the fake punt last year against Minnesota? Absolutely, and he’s vocal about that. But I would be very surprised if he actually calls offensive plays. The most I could see him do would be to tell his OC after three quarters of running Nick Singleton between the tackles for no gain, to go off-tackle or actually look for a dynamic play.
Gerry Dincher asks: Which player from last year’s team would be the most helpful for this year’s team?
The easy answer is Tyler Warren, but after this week’s news that Tony Rojas is going to be out for significant time due to injury, I think the answer has got to be Abdul Carter. Heck, I might even take Kobe King right now 🙁
PSU1979dude asks: What do you think about the senior leadership on Franklin’s teams? Do you think they are as much leaders as the seniors were on the previous coach’s teams culminating in the Mauti/McGloin press conference?
Leadership is cyclical and also completely dependent on the players themselves. You’ll never be able to tell me that Trace McSorley, for example, wasn’t a good leader; same for Saquon Barkley, who was a captain for the Eagles in his first year (and was a multi-year captain in NY) – you can’t tell me he didn’t lead that PSU team as a sophomore in 2017.
I feel like what you’re really trying to say here is that Franklin doesn’t cultivate leaders ever on his team. But that’s so incredibly short sighted and full of recency bias. I talk about it ad nauseum, but I was a student from 1999 to 2003 – are you willing to stand on a soapbox and say that the 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2004 teams all had better leaders than ten years of Franklin’s teams? If your answer it yes, then I /insert all the cliches about duping you or your head being in the sand.
Jiminsantafee asks: Do we have any idea how the loss affected the recruits that attended the game? Any idea on how many dropped from the list?
I know nothing about recruiting so I can’t say, but I also don’t think it’d be too much – there are absolutely ways to spin losses like this (the most obvious being, if we had a player like you on our team, we would have won this game). This isn’t the first time we’ve lost to a top five team in a home game, and it won’t be the last – sorry to say, but it’s the truth. Something everyone, even his detractors, can all agree on is that Franklin is a great recruiter – so he’ll know what to say to keep recruiting.
Smee asks: Are we OD’ing on Mannings? I mean, a cute Peyton commercial or two was fine. And the somewhat-stilted football history thing was OK. Initially the commenting on a game from their living rooms was interesting, but the zoom-style wears thin pretty quick when there’s no pandemic. And Eli doesn’t have the country-hick charm thing. And now, we’ve got a college QB at Texas. Where I should remind everyone that while at Tennessee Peyton never beat the Gators. Finally, this Chad Powers shtick has grown a Ted Lasso. Enough already. Can I get a Manning filter for my devices?
I was ok with it for a few years, but yea, now I’m with you – I’m done with it all. Arch Manning is probably a good quarterback but he’s not the second coming like he was hyped preseason, and our media landscape today of taking something that goes unexpectedly virally popular and beating it to death means that the Mannings are now on the other side of that. I’d recommend blocking those terms on all social media, if you can!
LarzLion asks: Can you remember a time that the Penn State fan base has been in a more foul mood? Granted the expectations were higher than any recent time but in my 40+ years of following as a student and fan, I have not seen this level of disappointment. Maybe a sign of the times with X, the internet, NIL and all that but what say you?
Once again, this is incredible recency bias on your part. I can think of multiple times (not even talking about the scandal) where we’ve been in a more foul mood – see my list above of hardest games to watch.
I’m sorry, our five-star quarterback getting sacked by Temple on a three-man rush is objectively worse than losing in double overtime to the #2 team in the nation, when we can still make the playoffs. That’s incontrovertible.
Smee asks: How bummed were you that Cael wasn’t the guest picker on Gameday last weekend? Or, do you think they asked and he declined?
I’d be surprised if they hadn’t made at least tentative inquiries, but I’d also be SHOCKED if he actually considered it. Going on Gameday seems like one of the least-Cael-like things I can imagine; he’s the epitome of not wanting attention drawn to himself, deflecting to the team and the sport and not talking about his own accomplishments. Plus, he’s not super well known outside of these parts, so I’m not sure ESPN would have been willing to sweeten it up enough to make it worthwhile for him.
Smee asks: So, BSD Mike make a rare appearance not that long ago, and hbeach made one the other day. What other classic username would you like to see grace us with their presence even if just for a moment, and if it’s not bscaff, why not?
Bscaff is a great one – I do certainly miss his style of writing, and especially his film room posts. I do miss my divas on here the most, though, and those BSD after dark threads of years past. You never know you’re in the heyday of something until it’s gone, and that was definitely some of the most fun I’ve had online.
