Bill O'Brien offense vs the blackshirts.. little worried

[KC Cowboy]

This is where Pelini's 'Bend but don't break' D comes into play. They have no kicker of any sorts, so if we can hold them from getting inside the 20's, we'll be great. Because of this, don't be alarmed if we give up some serious yardage. It's all designed to make sure they don't get the big play.

 

the same could be said of us

You must be watching a different game. Maher is 12-18 on the season, and all but 2 of his misses came from 45+ yards.

[KC Cowboy]

Penn St. kicker is 7-14, and has only made two kicks over 29 yards.

 

http://espn.go.com/college-football/player/_/id/518197/sam-ficken

[flatwaterfan]

We should win the kicking game and I think that will be a big help to us. If they do a 3 step attack we have to play it close and the dline need to get their hands up. I want to see some bat downs and tips for interceptions!

 

Small towns are great.

[Coqui]

Coaching can't cover talent....their O-line doesn't have the talent, you should be able to get push and pressure McGloin into Moxie McGloin again.

[Fuzzy]

I'm more worried about us than anything Penn State can do against us.

Amen to that.

[totengur]

I'm a die hard Nebraska fan living out here in Massachusetts..I grew up in Mitchell, NE prior to moving to NY and finally Massachusetts.. Anyway, I'm a little worried about the upcoming game.. We've had some big wins over Wisconsin, Michigan, MSU.. Bill O'Brien (Current PSU) headcoach was the offensive coordinator for the Patriots for a number of seasons and they were always one of the best in the NFL.. (Some of that credit goes to Tom Brady also)... Anyway, he's a great coach IMO for dealing with everything he's had to deal with at PSU and he's a great offensive coach.. little worried how the blackshirts especially the secondary deal with his passing game..

 

I'm sorry

 

says the man with the pony sigs. I like Mitchell, its nice little town with great people. got some family up there my self.

[Chaddyboxer]

I'm more worried about us than anything Penn State can do against us.

Amen to that.

I do concur.

[3rd and long]

Well, if I remember correctly, GSG5545 is from Gering, whom we (me also being a Mitchell grad) routinely kicked the snot out of during high school (which was a VERY long time age), is probably a little bitter. Just joking and all said in good fun GSG, but the small towns were good places to grow up in, move away from, and then come back to to raise your kids.

 

Totengur, ZRod, NU41SB and Dawson,, would love to have you send a PM, see if anyone knows the others.

[SeattleHuskers]

Penn St. kicker is 7-14, and has only made two kicks over 29 yards.

 

http://espn.go.com/c...8197/sam-ficken

Did you see their game against Virginia? I felt so bad for the kicker...

[Notre Dame Joe]

He also doesn't have the same caliber of players at Penn State as he did with the Patriots. You can draw up a "perfect" offensive game plan, but if you don't have the players to run it, it doesn't mean much. If the weather's bad and windy then I think that plays right into our hands. We have the horses at RB to run the ball the whole game. If they have to pass the whole game, with the wind that's going to cause them problems.

 

We got 5 years of the Patriots offense under Weis. We learned that it works a lot better when it has Tom Brady, about 10 Troy Brown-WR, and Belichek's D keepin the pressure low. In college execution > the scheme.

[GSG]

As far as the Mitchell comment, it was a joke, so shut the f#*k up about it already.

[Decked]

As far as the Mitchell comment, it was a joke, so shut the f#*k up about it already.

 

No! I'm from the Olathe, Kansas.

[Mavric]

We have one of the best secondarys in the nation, they play right into our strength.

We are #1 in pass efficency defense at 46%

#5 in total passing yrds/game

Bo will probably be outcoached.

[IvabigN]

This is where Pelini's 'Bend but don't break' D comes into play. They have no kicker of any sorts, so if we can hold them from getting inside the 20's, we'll be great. Because of this, don't be alarmed if we give up some serious yardage. It's all designed to make sure they don't get the big play.

 

the same could be said of us

You must be watching a different game. Maher is 12-18 on the season, and all but 2 of his misses came from 45+ yards.

I know the original post didn't warrant it, but I guess I should have included punting- and lets put it this way, missing a 30 some yarder last week and endless shanks on punting doesn't give me the warm and fuzzys to say we'd win with him trying a 35 yard FG to end a game

[Mavric]

Gotta give him a lot of credit. Had all the sanctions and players leaving, and his team is still playing solid. At the end of the day we are more talented and the game is at home. I don't see a problem here....McGloin can't scramble.

 

True...but how many times this season have we played teams that we out-matched and out-classed on paper close? Let's see, we've got:

 

-UCLA

-Wisconsin

-Northwestern

-Michigan State

 

All four teams that, on paper, we run circles around. And all four games in which multiple board members went around saying we're going to blow 'em out of the water...

 

I have a feeling that this week's game against Penn State will be more of the same--we'll shoot ourselves in the foot, and make a spectacular 4th quarter comeback attempt. Problem is, Penn State is resilient and disciplined enough to quell any sort of resurgence by our team...

 

Do I think we'll win? Yes. But it may be closer than people think, especially in the 4th.

UCLA probably stands but I think it's now pretty obvious that they are better than expected and we weren't as good as we hoped.

 

Wisconsin got their points after one big play, a fumble on our 23 yard line, a roughing the kicker penalty that kept a drive alive and a fumble on our 13 yard line. Not exactly running up and down the field on our defense - 295 total yards, 1.4 yards per rush.

 

Northwestern scored after a fumble on our 14 yard line, a shanked punt, one big play, and another drive where they took over near mid-field. 301 total yards - 3.3 yards per pass attempt.

 

Michigan St. scored on a drive featuring two pass interference penalties, one big play, one really good drive to start the second half where they settled for a field goal, and an INT ran back to our 38 yard line and assisted by a gift late hit. Bell did have 36 carries for 188 yards rushing but it included runs of 3,1,1,3,-1,2,3,1,2,2,1,3,1,0,1,2,-2,1,3,0,3, and 1 yard. That's 22 carries for 31 yards - not exactly gashing us. He had almost half his carries on three runs - 23,40, and 26 yards. If you get 36 carries your bound to break a couple but his other 33 carries netted 99 yards (3.0 ypc). Not a great day but not exactly terrible.

 

Obviously the defense had a few self-inflicted problems but many of the scores we've given up in those games were when the defense was put in a bad position through no fault of their own. In the last three games you listed (other than UCLA), the defense has given up a total of three TDs where the offense started on their side of their 45 yard line.

 

As has been stated, we've been our own worst enemy.