Today's outcome is no surprise to any of us. We are - exactly who we thought we were.
On offense - we lost some really outstanding offensive linemen to graduation and it definitely hurts. There is no single replacement for James Conner, and Nathan Peterman was an excellent QB in this system. The revolving door on the offensive coordinator's office hasn't helped us either. The only playmaker is Quadree Henderson, but PSU was never going to let him beat them today. They were sold out to stop him on the jet sweeps. (We should have only used them as a decoy to exploit their over-pursuit.)
On defense - our inability to recruit the LB position continues to plague us and that's something that has to be addressed, although I don't know what the answer is. Our DB's are still too small, although they seem to be covering better this year. But there are no playmakers...no difference makers.
Overall - we simply don't have the talent to compete at the highest level. We don't have great team speed, and I thought that was very evident today. The coaching staff's overall schemes weren't bad, and were good enough to keep us in the game. We were simply overmatched by PSU's talent. They simply have some athletes who can make big plays, and that's what we lack. We made up for it last year with a more experienced team. But until and unless we can begin recruiting a better grade of athlete on both sides of the ball we will always be a top 40 team, with a chance to crack the top 20 every 3 years or so. That's not pessimistic. That's simply what we are, at least for now.
Can it change? I suppose. But it's troubling that we can't land even one top-level linebacker or top-grade quarterback. Those are the positions that require playmakers and game-changers. We just can't seem to get any.
For me - the leading indicator of when we'll emerge from mid-level status is when we recruit a couple of 4/5-star linebackers and a 4-star QB each year. (And I realize how screwy the star systems are...what I mean is legitimately high-level recruits at both of those positions. To this point under the last several coaches, we've had none.) Until then, good schemes can keep things close and when we have senior-laden teams we'll be good enough to knock off some good teams, but we won't break down the door until we land great athletes at those two positions.
On offense - we lost some really outstanding offensive linemen to graduation and it definitely hurts. There is no single replacement for James Conner, and Nathan Peterman was an excellent QB in this system. The revolving door on the offensive coordinator's office hasn't helped us either. The only playmaker is Quadree Henderson, but PSU was never going to let him beat them today. They were sold out to stop him on the jet sweeps. (We should have only used them as a decoy to exploit their over-pursuit.)
On defense - our inability to recruit the LB position continues to plague us and that's something that has to be addressed, although I don't know what the answer is. Our DB's are still too small, although they seem to be covering better this year. But there are no playmakers...no difference makers.
Overall - we simply don't have the talent to compete at the highest level. We don't have great team speed, and I thought that was very evident today. The coaching staff's overall schemes weren't bad, and were good enough to keep us in the game. We were simply overmatched by PSU's talent. They simply have some athletes who can make big plays, and that's what we lack. We made up for it last year with a more experienced team. But until and unless we can begin recruiting a better grade of athlete on both sides of the ball we will always be a top 40 team, with a chance to crack the top 20 every 3 years or so. That's not pessimistic. That's simply what we are, at least for now.
Can it change? I suppose. But it's troubling that we can't land even one top-level linebacker or top-grade quarterback. Those are the positions that require playmakers and game-changers. We just can't seem to get any.
For me - the leading indicator of when we'll emerge from mid-level status is when we recruit a couple of 4/5-star linebackers and a 4-star QB each year. (And I realize how screwy the star systems are...what I mean is legitimately high-level recruits at both of those positions. To this point under the last several coaches, we've had none.) Until then, good schemes can keep things close and when we have senior-laden teams we'll be good enough to knock off some good teams, but we won't break down the door until we land great athletes at those two positions.
