The fact that football allowed that school to be built into what it was genuinely makes me want to cry. They had no business continuing to field a football team after the revelations came out, and deserved the death penalty, as well as a swift removal from the Big Ten, replaced by Pitt for good measure.
I don't hold it against the current players or coaches, nor even the vast majority of past players or coaches, as that's not at all fair, but I do, to be certain, hold it against the institution, and will for all of eternity. It's a black eye upon every institution in the Big Ten that they continue to be associated with them, both academically and athletically.
I would agree with you that it's less pronounced than it was last year, but to claim there's "hardly any of it" doesn't seem fair to me. Being in control defensively by playing juggernauts like Akron, Georgia State, and Indiana (largely thanks to turnovers on Indiana's part) have very much allowed them to play a less risky style of football, but against Iowa and Pitt, games where they couldn't rely solely on Barkley to win, I saw McScorely make a number of throws that I would question and describe as ill-advised, very much in the same vein of what we saw a year ago: risky. They even won the Iowa game on a throw that, an inch of difference would have led to it being an incompletion.
I will admit that every game that I've watched of theirs this year was more of the channel flipping variety, except for Iowa-Penn State and Indiana-Penn State which I watched fairly intently, so maybe it's a case of me picking out what I want to see, but based on what I've seen, that's the impression that I've gotten.
I would put forth a different interpretation: Penn State is a high risk, high reward outfit that felt the pain of things not going their way that particular day due to going against the best defense that they saw all year, with many of their risky plays that they normally get away with favoring the defense as a result.
I think their so-called reputation as a "second half team" last year was also the result of their risky play. Go and watch the Pitt, Wisconsin and USC games, they were the same team all year, they just had a few more balls go their way, with certain quarters going their way more than others. Always explosive, always getting by by the skin of their teeth with risky playcalling.
McSorely is a fearless gunslinger who has great instincts and oftentimes even better luck. They're far from worldbeaters, and certainly not 81-19% favorites against Michigan, in my view.
So far, it's been pretty hard to tell, considering that our quarterback play has been so subpar up to this point, with innumerable missed opportunities every game as a result.
At the same time, we have a new starter who has appeared to energize the offense in a big way to the tune of finishing three times as many redzone drives in one partial game as the previous starter had in three entire games, and we have a great deal of skill position talent. Penn State's defense also aren't exactly worldbeaters, as evidenced by this and last year.
I'd rather be up against the unit that an offense with similarly poor offensive line play scored 49 on than on the exact same offense that was able to score 10 on a very similar defense.
Point taken, but I don't know if "completely" different teams is fair, considering that their entire offense is still based entirely around Barkley with McSorely chucking up prayers. Even Gesicki and Blacknall are still around. Poor line play is still very much an issue for them.
They were completely shut down by Michigan last year in a team based around dominant defensive line play, which seems to have continued into this year, and this year we appear to have upgraded in athleticism in a big way. This game doesn't scare me nearly as much as it seems that it scares most other Michigan fathful. I'm convinced that we have Franklin's number.
Every year, I'm finding it harder and harder to feel personally invested in the NFL. I really miss when I used to be able to sit down and be entertained watching the NFL all day, but I can hardly sit through one whole game at this point. I feel like every game follows a handful of scripts in the way that it plays out, almost like I'm watching a rerun of a football game.
Shutting out Tennessee in their own stadium 41-0 a week after beating Mississippi State 31-3 shows, at the very least, that they're more than taking care of business, compared to disappointing outings for us against Air Force and Cincinnati.
Our defense is perhaps the best unit in the country on either side of the ball, and we have what may very well be a generational talent at kicker, but until our offense shows consistency (and early returns with O'Korn are encouraging on that end), putting Georgia over us seems only reasonable. Thankfully, if we take care of business, it won't matter, whereas Georgia has an Alabama problem.
Five star recruit... surrounded by other five star recruits... play for one of the most storied programs of all time... play in the supposed roughest, baddest conference in the country... commit to a national championship winning coach... he gets fired... school hires unqualified man based strictly on personal likeability... okay, let's make the best of it... rough start, get shellacked by Mississippi State... what's going on?... September night game against tomato can... perfect game to put it together... play night game in front of 102,000... get asses kicked in front of the whole country by a team full of guys with Christmas ornament helmets... their school even shares a name with a Peewee's Playhouse character... realize that we're forced to wear purple uniforms every game... want to die...
Please don't say that. I'd rather be a lot of things than a Scarlet Knight.
In a North Korean prison, pinned under a large boulder, infected with dysentery, dead... all better than being a Scarlet Knight by an order of magnitude.
Anybody else holding out a small hope for Josh Jackson to graduate transfer to Michigan for his final year? Hopefully we don't need him, and probably won't, but it would be pretty cool to see.
They fired Les Miles for going 10-2 every year and losing to Alabama to hire Ed "Brady Hoke" Orgeron to fight for bowl eligibility and lose to a team from Alabama. Good decision!
That was one of the most short-sighted, baffling hires that I've ever seen in college football. The biggest sin was firing Miles midseason and putting them in a situation where they would be forced to give Orgeron a shot.
An additional thought just came to me: MSU is lucky that they have such an awesome, experienced, automatic field goal kicker. That's always nice to have against a stingy defense like Michigan.
It sure would be really unfortunate if he were something like a freshman who's 2/3 on the year with a long of 40, and a very short miss in their most recent game. That wouldn't bode well, would it?
My version of Hell would be being reincarnated as an Iowa fan who has to wake up in a Groundhog Day situation where they play Michigan State that day and I'm required to watch it out of obligation.
Take a moment to appreciate the fact that Tennessee latched on to a fucking literal trash can for their team to rally around. They even spraypainted it orange, for God's sakes. In wins, it comes across as stupid, and in losses, it comes across as absolutely pathetic and embarrassing.
Whoever thought that was a good idea is probably somebody who would call his team "CHAMPIONS OF LIFE" after a loss with a straight face.
If they're anything like the typical Sparty team, I'm going to guess they're going to react with a lot of personal fouls, lots of dirty hits, and possibly some attempted murder sprinkled in.
As are three turnovers, 38-18, and a hypothetical team pounding their chest over beating Western, Bowling Green, and a deflated, uninspired, hungover Iowa team at home.
Karma doesn't owe a crushing loss more to a player and coach combination than McSorely and Franklin. They manage to stand out as especially unlikeable in a conference that has Mark Dantonio and Nick Holt in it.
Tennessee, please! Don't fight over whose fault it is for being down 24-0. Your whole team is terrible, and it's collectively everybody on the team's fault!
So you don't think Saquon running for two yards, and having it responded with "HE MAKES TWO YARD RUNS LOOK LIKE FIFTY YARD RUNS!" might be a little unreasonable?
I'm not saying he hasn't been good, but any time he touches the ball, they act like he just ripped off an 80-yard touchdown.
I think that you may be both shortchanging Michigan, and giving Sparty far too much credit based on beating up a deflated, uninspired Iowa team with no offense to speak of.
Does anyone think that the Big Ten Network was given marching orders to do anything possible to fuel Saquon's Heisman candidacy?
They could cut to him drinking water on the sideline, and they'd be saying "It's INCREDIBLE how Saquon drinks water! That's the drinking form of a champion!"
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He clearly said that it doesn't, get off his case!
The fact that football allowed that school to be built into what it was genuinely makes me want to cry. They had no business continuing to field a football team after the revelations came out, and deserved the death penalty, as well as a swift removal from the Big Ten, replaced by Pitt for good measure.
I don't hold it against the current players or coaches, nor even the vast majority of past players or coaches, as that's not at all fair, but I do, to be certain, hold it against the institution, and will for all of eternity. It's a black eye upon every institution in the Big Ten that they continue to be associated with them, both academically and athletically.
Says the overconfident, soon-to-be destitute man.
I would agree with you that it's less pronounced than it was last year, but to claim there's "hardly any of it" doesn't seem fair to me. Being in control defensively by playing juggernauts like Akron, Georgia State, and Indiana (largely thanks to turnovers on Indiana's part) have very much allowed them to play a less risky style of football, but against Iowa and Pitt, games where they couldn't rely solely on Barkley to win, I saw McScorely make a number of throws that I would question and describe as ill-advised, very much in the same vein of what we saw a year ago: risky. They even won the Iowa game on a throw that, an inch of difference would have led to it being an incompletion.
I will admit that every game that I've watched of theirs this year was more of the channel flipping variety, except for Iowa-Penn State and Indiana-Penn State which I watched fairly intently, so maybe it's a case of me picking out what I want to see, but based on what I've seen, that's the impression that I've gotten.
I saw every game of theirs last year and have watched every game this year, actually.
I would put forth a different interpretation: Penn State is a high risk, high reward outfit that felt the pain of things not going their way that particular day due to going against the best defense that they saw all year, with many of their risky plays that they normally get away with favoring the defense as a result.
I think their so-called reputation as a "second half team" last year was also the result of their risky play. Go and watch the Pitt, Wisconsin and USC games, they were the same team all year, they just had a few more balls go their way, with certain quarters going their way more than others. Always explosive, always getting by by the skin of their teeth with risky playcalling.
McSorely is a fearless gunslinger who has great instincts and oftentimes even better luck. They're far from worldbeaters, and certainly not 81-19% favorites against Michigan, in my view.
So far, it's been pretty hard to tell, considering that our quarterback play has been so subpar up to this point, with innumerable missed opportunities every game as a result.
At the same time, we have a new starter who has appeared to energize the offense in a big way to the tune of finishing three times as many redzone drives in one partial game as the previous starter had in three entire games, and we have a great deal of skill position talent. Penn State's defense also aren't exactly worldbeaters, as evidenced by this and last year.
I'd rather be up against the unit that an offense with similarly poor offensive line play scored 49 on than on the exact same offense that was able to score 10 on a very similar defense.
Point taken, but I don't know if "completely" different teams is fair, considering that their entire offense is still based entirely around Barkley with McSorely chucking up prayers. Even Gesicki and Blacknall are still around. Poor line play is still very much an issue for them.
They were completely shut down by Michigan last year in a team based around dominant defensive line play, which seems to have continued into this year, and this year we appear to have upgraded in athleticism in a big way. This game doesn't scare me nearly as much as it seems that it scares most other Michigan fathful. I'm convinced that we have Franklin's number.
Every year, I'm finding it harder and harder to feel personally invested in the NFL. I really miss when I used to be able to sit down and be entertained watching the NFL all day, but I can hardly sit through one whole game at this point. I feel like every game follows a handful of scripts in the way that it plays out, almost like I'm watching a rerun of a football game.
Shutting out Tennessee in their own stadium 41-0 a week after beating Mississippi State 31-3 shows, at the very least, that they're more than taking care of business, compared to disappointing outings for us against Air Force and Cincinnati.
Our defense is perhaps the best unit in the country on either side of the ball, and we have what may very well be a generational talent at kicker, but until our offense shows consistency (and early returns with O'Korn are encouraging on that end), putting Georgia over us seems only reasonable. Thankfully, if we take care of business, it won't matter, whereas Georgia has an Alabama problem.
Interim coach Brady Patrick Hoke, of course.
I was thinking of the Penn State kick, I got two of the Big Ten State teams that I hate confused.
Regardless, 48 isn't exactly a kick from a mile away, and everything else in my post was accurate. I don't think it bodes well for them.
I don't know how true that is, I've heard that his sharkwife wears the pants in the family. Completely controls him, supposedly.
I'll accept nothing less than most honorable Seppuku during Orgeron's post-game press confrerence.
Five star recruit... surrounded by other five star recruits... play for one of the most storied programs of all time... play in the supposed roughest, baddest conference in the country... commit to a national championship winning coach... he gets fired... school hires unqualified man based strictly on personal likeability... okay, let's make the best of it... rough start, get shellacked by Mississippi State... what's going on?... September night game against tomato can... perfect game to put it together... play night game in front of 102,000... get asses kicked in front of the whole country by a team full of guys with Christmas ornament helmets... their school even shares a name with a Peewee's Playhouse character... realize that we're forced to wear purple uniforms every game... want to die...
Please don't say that. I'd rather be a lot of things than a Scarlet Knight.
In a North Korean prison, pinned under a large boulder, infected with dysentery, dead... all better than being a Scarlet Knight by an order of magnitude.
Anybody else holding out a small hope for Josh Jackson to graduate transfer to Michigan for his final year? Hopefully we don't need him, and probably won't, but it would be pretty cool to see.
They fired Les Miles for going 10-2 every year and losing to Alabama to hire Ed "Brady Hoke" Orgeron to fight for bowl eligibility and lose to a team from Alabama. Good decision!
I'm starting to think that Rutgers might not be very good at football.
No shame in going three and out against that vaunted Rutgers defense, OSU. That's not embarrassing in the slightest or anything!
Rutgers' uniforms make them look like an uncreative middle school team who purchased their uniforms from the lowest bidder.
I guess that it's appropriate how it matches their level of play, but still.
That was one of the most short-sighted, baffling hires that I've ever seen in college football. The biggest sin was firing Miles midseason and putting them in a situation where they would be forced to give Orgeron a shot.
An additional thought just came to me: MSU is lucky that they have such an awesome, experienced, automatic field goal kicker. That's always nice to have against a stingy defense like Michigan.
It sure would be really unfortunate if he were something like a freshman who's 2/3 on the year with a long of 40, and a very short miss in their most recent game. That wouldn't bode well, would it?
If not, it will be a battle. This is Sparty's Super Bowl.
Whether Lewerke will be able to finish the game out after taking a double digit sack count.
I'll give it to Nate Stanley for working so hard to ensure that State gets the win today.
My version of Hell would be being reincarnated as an Iowa fan who has to wake up in a Groundhog Day situation where they play Michigan State that day and I'm required to watch it out of obligation.
INTERIM TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS COACH BRADY P. HOKE?!
Take a moment to appreciate the fact that Tennessee latched on to a fucking literal trash can for their team to rally around. They even spraypainted it orange, for God's sakes. In wins, it comes across as stupid, and in losses, it comes across as absolutely pathetic and embarrassing.
Whoever thought that was a good idea is probably somebody who would call his team "CHAMPIONS OF LIFE" after a loss with a straight face.
If they're anything like the typical Sparty team, I'm going to guess they're going to react with a lot of personal fouls, lots of dirty hits, and possibly some attempted murder sprinkled in.
Tennessee may have lost the game, but nothing will ever change the fact that they're still CHAMPIONS OF LIFE, and nobody can ever take that from them.
I'm convinced Iowa is an undisciplined, uninspired garbage pile.
No matter what you do in life, you'll never embarrass yourself as much as Stanley did on that play.
SPARTY, NO!
Devin Bush and the Michigan defensive line say "Relax, we got this!"
As are three turnovers, 38-18, and a hypothetical team pounding their chest over beating Western, Bowling Green, and a deflated, uninspired, hungover Iowa team at home.
I don't know if you've noticed, but Franklin isn't the most sporting or upstanding man.
I wonder what percentage of college stadium fights involve an alumnus or student in either party*?
*MSU football team excluded, as their on-field fights would skew the numbers
Is there a zoo I can go and see Karma in?
Karma doesn't owe a crushing loss more to a player and coach combination than McSorely and Franklin. They manage to stand out as especially unlikeable in a conference that has Mark Dantonio and Nick Holt in it.
Given Maryland's track record of quarterback health... are you sure about that?
Lane Kiffin back to Tennessee. They deserve each other.
Why would Commercial Aaron Rodgers keep hanging out with Commercial Clay Matthews? He's constantly breaking his stuff!
Gorgeous Al Borges tricked the Iowa offensive coordinator out of the booth and locked him out. He's been working on emulating his voice for ages.
Tennessee, please! Don't fight over whose fault it is for being down 24-0. Your whole team is terrible, and it's collectively everybody on the team's fault!
So you don't think Saquon running for two yards, and having it responded with "HE MAKES TWO YARD RUNS LOOK LIKE FIFTY YARD RUNS!" might be a little unreasonable?
I'm not saying he hasn't been good, but any time he touches the ball, they act like he just ripped off an 80-yard touchdown.
I think that you may be both shortchanging Michigan, and giving Sparty far too much credit based on beating up a deflated, uninspired Iowa team with no offense to speak of.
Does anyone think that the Big Ten Network was given marching orders to do anything possible to fuel Saquon's Heisman candidacy?
They could cut to him drinking water on the sideline, and they'd be saying "It's INCREDIBLE how Saquon drinks water! That's the drinking form of a champion!"
I tuned in to CBS, and they're interrupting my commercials with a football game!
Penn State's numbers are so big that even Joe Paterno could read them. It's another matter whether he'd willfully overlook it, though.