Thoughts From the Valley
Sept. 28, 2009
The Hangover
How I am feeling: Pretty awful. My Beloved Penn State Nittany Lions pushed me to the brink of insanity last night. Losing I can handle (usually). But losing specifically because we played like garbage? That makes me angry. Angry enough to throw my phone in disgust, in fact. Not a proud moment, folks, but illustrative, I suppose. Onward.
What I am drinking: Great Lakes Brewing Company Dortmunder Gold. I finally found a beer store near The Beautiful Wissahickon Valley that sells Great Lakes beer. And this makes me happy, folks. Great Lakes (of Cleveland!) makes some of the finest beers you'll find anywhere, folks. And the Dortmunder may be their very best.
What I am listening to: Death Cab for Cutie. Plans. I need some good karma. This album brings back good memories. Maybe it will do the trick.
My thoughts on the weekend: Wow. Where to begin?
I'll say this much, folks: I have known for weeks now that this Penn State team wasn't anywhere near as good as last year's squad (which was a damn fine squad). But I still thought the 2009 Nits had a decent chance of being pretty good.
Now (and at the risk of being accused of "overreacting"), well, I have my doubts.
Serious doubts.
For one reason: This might be the worst offensive line I've ever seen at Penn State. The group is, in a word, terrible.
There are some folks pinning this loss on Daryll Clark, who threw three interceptions. There are some folks pinning it on Evan Royster, who fumbled once and caused at least one of Clark's interceptions by dropping/tipping a catchable ball.
And, sure, maybe Clark and Royster deserve some of the blame.
But here's the thing, folks: I don't care if we had Michael Robinson at quarterback and Ki-Jana Carter at tailback last night. We still wouldn't have won that game. Because the offensive line was absolutely owned by Iowa.
I mean, owned.
These lineman can't run block.
They can't pass-protect.
Heck, they can't even pull off a shotgun snap—that's why (in case you were wondering) Daryll Clark spent most of the night under center, rather than in the shotgun, even though the shotgun gave the Nits' offense their only success of the night. I mean, do you realize how ludicrous this is? We had to abandon half of oyr playbook specifically because center Stefan Wisniewski isn't capable of getting the ball to Clark safely out of the gun.
It's a mess, folks. A real mess.
And the scary thing is, there isn't any help on the way. What we've got today is what we're stuck with the rest of the season.
This line might get a little bit better. But it will never be good. It will never be close to good.
Which means Royster won't get his yards.
Which means Clark won't have time to throw.
Which means the offense will struggle. And struggle. And struggle.
Which means a team that was expected to win 10 games may not even win eight.
Yeah, it's that bad.
And no, I'm not overreacting.
Three Yards and a Cloud of Dust
Three ...: Big Ten officials are really, really bad. I mean, they flat-out suck. Everyone knows that. But here's a question: Why does it always seem as though Michigan is the single team that actualy benefits from this league-wide incompetance? Indiana coach Bill Lynch was absolutely furious about that "interception" that sealed his team's fate after a valliant effort in the Big House. And he had every right to be. The Indiana wideout clearly caught the ball. The Michigan cornerback clearly stole it away after the wideout was down. Everybody could see this. Except the Big Ten refs, of course. And Jim Delany.
Two ...: Oregon 42, Cal 3. How utterly predictable. Can we please ban Cal from ever being ranked in the Top 10 again? Thanks.
One ...: Michigan State is serious trouble. After a 38-30 loss (and the game wasn't really that close, folks) to Wisconsin yesterday, the Spartans (a trendy preseason dark-horse pick to win the Big Ten) are sitting at ... 1-3. Next week they've got to take on Tate Forcier and Michigan. So yeah, they're looking at 1-4. This would be a truly disastrous start for Mark Dantonio, and if things really get out of control, you can bet that you'll start seeing some of the Spartans' current recruits jump ship. Especially if the Wolverines keep winning. How quickly things change ....
Touchdown ...: I am too exhausted to make any predictions today, folks. I'll just point out the following: Penn State never plays well on the road for noon starts. In fact, it would be fair to say that the Nits are generally awful for these early road games. And you know what? Next weekend they take on Illinois, in Champaign, at noon.