| Category: College Football (Non PSU/Pitt) | 0 Comments
“Oklahoma and Florida use the empty backfield at least 80 percent of the time with a four- or five- receiver set. That is called the spread offense and nobody has stopped it yet.” - December 14, 2008
11-1.
| Category: Other | 0 Comments
Wow… time flies sometimes. I just realized that I haven’t contributed to FixTheFanLine since November 25. So, what is going on? Where have I been?
I’ve been here. I just been in a funk where I’ve ignored my blog for a few weeks. I think everybody does it from time to time. I can only think of two excuses for my hiatus.
So, as we approach the New Year, I resolve to be better… and you can expect more frequent updates to FixTheFanLine, and I hope to get back onto the daily schedule that this blog once new.
Happy Holidays!
| Category: NFL | 0 Comments
“I really hope the Lions aren’t the first team to go winless in the NFL. I’d like to save that honor for the Eagles some day.” - December 17, 2008
Sorry, but that honor has already been taken.
1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers - 0-14
| Category: College Football (Non PSU/Pitt) | 0 Comments
“If Utah and Boise State wind up as the only undefeated football teams in the country, then what?” - November 25, 2008
It’s difficult to say. If you’re suggesting that either of those teams should play in the National Championship Game, please just pack your bags and go home.
I think it’s likely that Utah will get invited to a BCS bowl, but it depends a bit on how the rest of the regular season pans out.
Here is a worst-case scenario (for both Utah and the BCS):
Oregon State wins the Pac 10 and Missouri wins the Big 12. That would mean that 4 of the 10 BCS spots would be occupied by teams outside of the Top 10 (thank you Big East and ACC).
With only 6 spots remaining, two of them would need to go to Penn State (Big 10 Champion) and the Alabama vs. Florida winner (SEC Champion).
That leaves four remaining spots, and it’s awfully tempting to take: USC, the Alabama vs. Florida loser, and a 2nd Big 12 team.
The leaves one BCS spot and I think Utah would claim it.
| Category: Other | 0 Comments
“Penn State’s fall from grace in college wrestling is going to be very notable this year. They didn’t take advantage of a great recruiting opportunity after finishing No. 3 in the country last year. What a disappointing year so far.” - November 25, 2008
Not quite so fast. It is still very, very early in the collegiate wrestling season, and it’s not time to panic yet.
Unlike football, a dual-meet loss or two in November has no late-season impact on the team. The real goal is to put yourself into position to wrestle your best matches in March.
After dropping a disappointing opening dual meet to Hofstra, the team got much needed wins over #24 Virginia and #15 Edinboro. Look at what the individual Penn State wrestlers did this past weekend.
125 - Brad Pataky defeated #17 Ross Gitomer of Virginia.
133 - Tim Haas defeated #15 Rick Deubel of Edinboro.
141 - Frank Molinaro defeated #3 Mike Grey of Cornell.
149 - #2 Bubba Jenkins continued to look impressive.
157 - #2 Dan Vallimont has had a slow start this season, but you still have to figure that he’s as good as anyone in the country.
165 - Mark Friend lost an 8-5 match to #6 Jarrod King of Edinboro, and he’s shown that he’ll wrestle hard against anybody.
174 - True Freshman Quentin Wright, having already defeated #6 Alton Lucas of Hofstra, continued to look strong as he gains experience at the collegiate level.
184 - Phil Bomberger has had a slow start to the season, but he was a national qualifier last year.
197 - It’s never easy to replace a national champion, and injuries at this weight have made things even more difficult.
HWT - Cameron Wade lost a tough 7-6 match to #10 Zach Hammond of Cornell. Wade is a redshirt freshman, and you have to figure that he’ll continue to improve as he see more collegiate matches.
So, give them a chance. You might be surprised by the time the Big 10 and NCAA championships come around.
| Category: NFL | 0 Comments
“I have two points to make regarding the comment about Donovan McNabb being average and agreeing with Rush Limbaugh. First, Donovan McNabb is way, way above average. Secondly, don’t ever listen to Limbaugh.” - November 20, 2008
I have two points to make regarding your call.
First, although Donovan McNabb has had some brilliant games this season, when you look at the overall picture, Donovan McNabb has been way, way average (at best) this season. See for yourself.
Completion %: 58.8, ranks 22nd among qualified QBs in 2008
Yards / Attempt: 6.9, ranks 18th among qualified QBs in 2008
TDs: 14, ranks 10th among qualified QBs in 2008
Interceptions: 10, ranks 23rd among qualified QBs in 2008
Passer Rating: 81.1, ranks 20th among qualified QBs in 2008
Your second point wasn’t really a point, but I appreciate your advice regarding Rush Limbaugh. Even still, the one point that you did make happened to be one point more than Donovan managed to put on the scoreboard this past weekend.
| Category: Penn State Football | 0 Comments
“The fans who want Joe to stick around are as clueless as he is.” - November 19, 2008
Clueless about what? In his last 4 seasons, his overall record has been 43-10 with 2 conference championships and a 3-0 record in Bowl games.
To say that he’s earned his right to continue coaching, after 43 years of Hall of Fame service, is obviously an understatement.
To say that fans are clueless for wanting Joe to coach another year insinuates that there is a problem. Where’s the problem? I see an 11-1 team that’s heading to Pasadena.
“When JoePa does leave, the program will be lucky to approach, just like the basketball team, a .500 season every year.” - November 19, 2008
OK. So, you’re implying that Joe is coaching and is having a positive impact on Penn State’s football program, not just serving as a figurehead Shhh… don’t speak too loudly around here!!
“I think that it’s amazing that Joe Paterno trying to reach 400 games is putting his own personal goals above the team. Joe should leave as a winner, which he is, and stop putting the program in jeopardy with his own goals.” - November 20, 2008
You’ve got your coaches mixed up. It has been Bobby Bowden who has openly stated that 400 wins is a goal of his. Paterno has never mentioned the number. He has repeatedly asserted that the record is meaningless to him.
“Stop putting the program in jeopardy with his own goals” - I’m lost. See recent results above.
“I do not want to open up a can of worms, but you have to wonder what would have transpired had Joe Paterno taken the Pittsburgh Steelers’ head coaching job when he was offered the position in the late 1960s after Bill Austin was fired. This is when Chuck Noll took over the team. I guess you can only imagine.” - November 21, 2008
…. and it my aunt had balls, she’d be my uncle.
| Category: Penn State Football | 0 Comments
“I don’t understand the BCS rankings. Pitt beats Iowa, then Iowa beats Penn State, but Penn State is ranked higher than Pitt. I don’t understand it.” - November 16, 2008
This is always great logic. Using these types of scenarios, it’s possible to argue almost anything.
I guess I don’t understand the CBSSports.com Top 120 rankings. Pitt loses to Bowling Green, and Bowling Green loses to Eastern Michigan. Eastern Michigan is ranked #115. Shouldn’t Pitt be ranked somewhere behind them?
| Category: Penn State Football | 0 Comments
“With Joe Paterno’s conservative approach in big games, Penn State could play South Carolina 100 times and not score 56 points like Florida did.” - November 17, 2008
Forget the 56 points. They don’t matter.
The Penn State defense is holding their opponents to 263.9 yards per game (4th best in the nation) and 12.4 points per game. The Florida defense is holding their opponents to 278.7 yards per game (12th best in the nation) and 12.0 points per game.
South Carolina scored 6 points on Florida. It’s reasonable to think that the Penn State defense would be just as successful at shutting down the Gamecock offense.
Penn State could play South Carolina 100 times, and they would score more than 6 points… like Florida did.
| Category: Penn State Football | 1 Comment
Iowa 24 - Penn State 23
I guess you could say that I’m crawling out of the hole. I had to take a nearly one week hiatus from even thinking much about college football. But, now it’s time to take a deep breath, reflect, and move forward.
The Fan Line has been busy for nearly a week talking about every aspect of the Penn State @ Iowa game last weekend.
What is the Fan Line’s response to Iowa defeating the Nittany Lions?
Blame The Officials
“The officials gave the game to Iowa.” - November 9, 2008
No, they didn’t. There were some questionable calls, especially in the last few minutes, but Penn State did not play well enough that they could expect to defeat Iowa. Officiating didn’t help their cause down the stretch, but the game never should have come down to the final 3 minutes to begin with.
“Bob Flounders, the only thing questionable about the pass interference call is your eyesight. And I’m a Penn State fan. Give credit where credit is due. The better team won, no excuses. Considering what that football team went through this year, with the flooding and all, God bless them.” - November 11, 2008
The pass interference call was very questionable. It wasn’t necessarily a good call. It wasn’t necessarily a bad call. It was certainly questionable, but again, Penn State can’t blame their loss on that call. To give credit where credit is due, Iowa played well enough to keep themselves in the game. While Penn State played poorly enough that they didn’t deserve to win the game, you cannot say that the better team won.
Here’s the interference video. What’s your take?
“The roughing the kicker call against Iowa was one of the worst I’ve ever seen in college football.” - November 9, 2008
Personally, I’m not a big fan of the way roughing the kicker is called. If a defensive player even lays a finger on the kicker/punter without blocking the ball, roughing will be called every time. Many times, it seems as though the punter will actually kick his foot towards a defensive player in effort to draw the flag.
Regardless, there really wasn’t anything “bad” about this call. Roughing the kicker is in the rulebook and that’s the way it’s called.
You obviously haven’t watched much college football if that’s one of the worst calls you’ve ever seen.
Blame The Coaches
“Derek Williams and his teammates played a great game. They deserved a better play-calling game from their coaches.” - November 9, 2008
Yes, Derek Derrick Williams played a great game. It’s hard to say what else he could have done to help the Nittany Lions win at Iowa. His teammates, however, did not play a great game. Good play-calling or bad play-calling, the on-field execution was just not there.
“That’s great, Paterno. You play a quarterback who isn’t healthy when you have a competent backup to play.” - November 13, 2008
To some extent, I’m in this club. I think Pat Devlin should have played for a least one series. At the very least, this would have provided a change of pace. Maybe it would’ve caught the defense off guard. Clearly, our offense needed some form of spark, and I don’t see any reason that Devlin didn’t see at least a few snaps.
“I hope when the grades come out for the Penn State coaches, they get an F.” - November 10, 2008
The overall coaching performance was disappointing. Starting the game with three consecutive passes into the wind (especially if they were concerned with Clark’s health) is surprising. Not giving Devlin any snaps was questionable. Clock management in the final minutes of the game was poor. There’s no reason that we couldn’t have used our timeouts ensure that we’d see more than 1 second with the ball.
“I wish David Jones and Bob Flounders would write it. With Joe Paterno sitting in the press box, he was hindering the offensive coaches from calling the right plays.” - November 10, 2008
Here’s what I don’t know (I feel like I haven’t known this for years), and I’m guessing that a lot of PSU fans are in the same boat. Who’s really calling plays? Who’s really making strategic decisions (substitutions, clock management, etc). Did any of the coaches suggest giving Devlin a shot? Did Paterno veto that decision? There’s not much way of knowing.
The one thing that you’re certainly wrong about is your notion that Paterno is hindering the offensive coaches any more (or less) because he is in the press box as opposed to being on the field.
“I’m 17 years old and all my life I’ve been raised to live and die on Penn State football. How awful it is to have your championship season thrown away by the coaches. Thanks, Tom Bradley!” - November 10, 2008
See above. Who deserves the most blame? Bradley? Hall? Jay? Joe? etc, etc, etc.
Blame The Players
“Who was that team in Iowa Saturday? They didn’t show up.” - November 10, 2008
You’re right. The boys in blue and white didn’t show up. They came out flat, without fire, and things never improved throughout the game.
“Daryll Clark, don’t get down on yourself. It was a team loss. There was enough blame to go around. You proved you are a man. You weren’t like yellow-belly Morelli. You came out and faced the media afterwards.” - November 11, 2008
Yeah, it was a team loss. As I said above, Derrick Williams (and I guess, Kevin Kelly) are probably some of the only people who can look back on that game without much regret.
Listen to Some Kind Advice
“Listen, Penn State got beat. No big deal. Do you realize one-third of the top 25 teams in the country lost? The fact that you were one of them is unfortunate, but you will be in a big time bowl and probably win it because you can’t give Joe Paterno a month to prepare. Just ask Texas A&M, Tennessee and Florida State. You had a good season and will be Big Ten champs. Losing to Iowa is no big deal.” - November 11, 2008
…slowly… stepping…back…from…the…ledge….
Other Randomness
“You have 100 guesses where Tyler Thigpen, the Kansas City quarterback that almost upset San Diego, went to college and the first 99 don’t count. It is Coastal Carolina. He is the new quarterback sensation and almost pulled a monumental upset. They went for the win and didn’t get it, but the kid is from Coastal Carolina. What a shock.” - November 11, 2008
See. Penn State’s non-conference schedule isn’t that bad.
“I think the Eagles should get rid of Donovan McNabb and send Andy Reid with him.” - November 11, 2008
That’s a shocker. From here, I can almost hear Charlie Manuel and Ryan Howard giggling right now.
“I’ve been watching Joe Paterno coach, or at least try and coach, for 45 years. If Penn State had a coach, they would go 13-0 and win the national championship.” - November 11, 2008
If you’ve watched him coach for 45 years, you’d know that he’s the winningest coach in D1 history. He’s had five undefeated teams, and “2 National Championships.” Get off his back.
“Life is so sweet. Pitt wins and Penn State loses to an unranked team.” - November 10. 2008
Cough! Bowling Green. Cough! Rutgers.
“So, Iowa beats Penn State. Pitt beats Iowa. What does that say, Penn State fans?” - November 10, 2008
It probably says the same thing as this. Pitt lost to Rutgers and Bowling Green. Those teams lost to: Fresno State, North Carolina, Navy, West Virginia, and Cincinnati. Going further down the line, we get losses to: Nevada, Louisiana Tech, Hawaii, and more.
“Pitt would destroy Iowa right now. The passing game has finally taken off. They have as much talent on that team as anybody else, and I mean anybody. They’ll finish strong this year and have one heck of a 2009 season.” - November 13, 2008
Pitt has shown us that they are capable of losing to anybody (and I mean anybody) this season. They can hang their hat on a nice win at South Florida, but I can’t take Pitt seriously after losing at home to both Bowling Green and Rutgers.
“Penn State should have played at least one other Top 10 team in the first half of the season if they wanted to be ranked at the top. They needed a touchdown to get a win at Ohio State.” - November 9, 2008
Believe it or not, sometimes even Penn State needs a touchdown to win.
The Clincher
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