So there you have it all the questions are answered. Ok, so not really. Some 73,000 blue and white clad fans made the trip to a sun-drenched Beaver Stadium Saturday and were rewarded with football. It was a glorified scrimmage with no kickoffs or punt returns but it was football. Of course I made the trip and got in some spring tailgating (I was at mid-season form I might add) and here are some of my drunken random thoughts from the game.
I couldn't tell you which quarterback is better. When going against the second team defense Daryll Clark looked fine but against the starters he ran into a lot of trouble. Devlin threw a beautiful pass to tight end Andrew Szczerba, one that sailed perfectly over the outstretched arms of the trailing linebackers and just in front of the secondary. It's a tough call at this point and I hope when the fall rolls around Devlin will get a fair shot but I doubt it.
Speaking of Andrew Szczerba, when did the coaches look at the lineup and realize Penn State actually has a tight end on the roster. Is that what Spread HD means? Where was that all of last season. Szczerba looked good in the pass catching department so I think the loss of a certain unnamed tight end won't be that big of a deal come September.
Let the Stephfon Green overhype begin now. I was saying to my fellow tailgaters before the game that I hoped Green would take the opening pitch and run 80 yards for a touchdown just so I could read all the hype on the message boards and local papers. Well that didn't happen... it was only 57 yards, but I got my wish. I am officially NOT on the Stephfon Green bandwagon yet. Yes the kid is lightning fast but speed does not make a good running back, vision does and I was not impressed with Green's. When the defense did their job and kept him contained he looked lost.
Someone that did impress me was true freshman Brandon Beachum. Beachum set up his blocks really well, was patient waiting for them to develop and made some great cuts. For a true freshman this kid looks great.
Clark's touchdown toss to Derrick Williams was unimpressive on so many levels. First it was against the second string defense and Williams was wide open from the get-go and Clark held the ball a second too long. More importantly Williams was WIDE open, not the 'I got a step on the corner' wide open but the 'did they forget to cover me' wide open. We should all be sacrificing a goat monthly to the football Gods so that Penn State doesn't have any injuries in the secondary.
Offensive line good. Defensive line great. Depth on the defensive line is fine but the offensive line better not lose anyone, especially at tackle. 'nuff said.
Basically I walked out of Beaver Stadium worried. I realize that I might be overly pessimistic at this point but I couldn't help having a small amount of anxiety for this team. Sean Lee's injury was huge and I'm just wondering where the leadership is going to come from. I'm also worried that Devlin's talents are going to rot on the sideline for the next two seasons and that would be a great injustice because I'm impressed with him.
Some of the extracurricular activities from Saturday.
Dave Jones is an ass of epic proportion but in this instance in his fight with Paterno in the press conference he's definitely 100% correct. Someone needs to get it through to Paterno that working from home and taking one recruiting visit per year is not the expectations of a division I head coach specifically at a major university like Penn State. Sorry, I love the man but it's time for him to realize that if he can't go on recruiting visits and be with the team as much as his assistant coaches then it might be time to hang it up. I hate agreeing with Jones but even ESPN picked up on this story. Jones is right and I think I just threw up a little in my mouth a little while typing that.
Walking around the parking lots pushing for Barack Obama were some notable Penn Staters. I saw Michael Robinson, Tamba Hali and none other than Jay Paterno himself in the flesh. My friend tried to hit Jay in the back of the head with a brick but missed. Damn his aim!
They introduced former players at various times during the game. Anthony Morelli got booed, loudly. I couldn't help but laugh.
I wanted badly to sit in the upper deck in the last row just for the heck of it but they had it gated off, I was disappointed. They had a rather... how should I put this... not athletic woman guarding the gate to get to the upper deck and about half way through the first quarter two kids jumped the gate and ran away from her and made it up. At halftime a thin dude was guarding the gate. I'm just sayin'
73,000 people make for long carnival ride lines especially free carnival rides.
Feel free to stop by my good friends and get their thoughts on the game.
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