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Game 1—@Penn State Nittany Lions


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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey, Zips fans, hope life has been treating you all very well! Looking forward to chatting with you guys again, and hearing your analyses of your team. I'm in North Carolina, not Pennsylvania, but if I can answer any Penn State questions, I'll do my best.

 

For many of us, the biggest question mark is linebacker talent/depth. We've missed on significant talent over the last few years, and there were injuries that forced many young players on to the field before they were 100% ready. Obviously that can help their experience, but can also shake their confidence if they are thrown into the arena without adequate preparation.

 

Another area of concern is the defensive backfield. John Reid has been strong for the last couple of years, but is apparently out for the season (torn ACL?). His replacement (Lamont Wade) is highly touted, but is a true freshman . . .

 

We are hoping our offensive line has improved. Again, injuries forced younger guys to play sooner than anticipated, but hopefully that experience will be of huge benefit for Barkley, Sanders, McSorely, et al.

 

All the best, guys!

 

84

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32 minutes ago, PSU_Lions_84 said:

Hey, Zips fans, hope life has been treating you all very well!

 

Thanks for coming to the board.  I'm sure we'll be asking you for information as the game draws closer.  I know there will be many of us making the short 3 hr. trip, including myself.  

 

Congratulations on your Championship last year.  I know it's been a long, painful road for you guys getting back to that point.  And your win over the Suckeyes last year may have been my single most enjoyable Saturday night of the entire college football season.  :D

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36 minutes ago, PSU_Lions_84 said:

Hey, Zips fans, hope life has been treating you all very well!

 

Honestly, IMO, (and it was quite a...discussion...here on this forum) you guys should have been in the Championship Playoffs last year > the likes of State Ohio University.  But oh well.. I,  like skip, enjoyed that win of yours equally.

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Thanks, Skip-Zip and Balsy! I was actually a doubter for most of last year. Didn't seem we played a complete game of football the entire season. Obviously a win is a win is a win, but seeing the team struggle in the first half of most games caused this old guy some stress.

 

My only complaint with the selection process is how the committee set aside the value of winning the division/conference title. Think that is a bad precedent that hopefully will not be repeated. I mean, Penn State and Wisconsin had to play the title game, while anOSU got to sit home and enjoy Papa John's pizza. (Over at BlackShoeDiaries.com, guys will post the picture from a few years ago of Urbz sitting on a pizza cart dejectedly chewing on cold Papa John's after a loss.) The ultimate satisfaction was seeing anOSU lay a goose egg in their bowl game -- the ONLY team not to score a point in the 345 bowl games that were played last season.

 

I need to skim through your board here to see if you have begun posting updates on this year's Zips team. In the meantime, I appreciate your continued graciousness!

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2 hours ago, PSU_Lions_84 said:

My only complaint with the selection process is how the committee set aside the value of winning the division/conference title. Think that is a bad precedent that hopefully will not be repeated. I mean, Penn State and Wisconsin had to play the title game, while anOSU got to sit home and enjoy Papa John's pizza. (Over at BlackShoeDiaries.com, guys will post the picture from a few years ago of Urbz sitting on a pizza cart dejectedly chewing on cold Papa John's after a loss.) The ultimate satisfaction was seeing anOSU lay a goose egg in their bowl game -- the ONLY team not to score a point in the 345 bowl games that were played last season.

 

Yeah.  It's funny how division/conference title mattered when State Ohio University was on the bubble and needs it to matter, and then suddenly how it doesn't matter when State Ohio University is on the bubble and needs it to not matter.  There's a few on this board (me included) that believe that any excuse will be made for several programs in D-I football because of $$$$$$.

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I thought the Rose Bowl was the most entertaining bowl game that I watched last year. Most of the time I watched the game, I kept thinking, "I hope the Zips can limit PSU's possessions, because they have some serious talent on the offensive side of the ball at the skill positions"

 

15 hours ago, PSU_Lions_84 said:

For many of us, the biggest question mark is linebacker talent/depth.

How can this possibly be at Linebacker U? I'm sure you are correct though. I listened to the Pitt PSU game before the Zips played the Badgers. Jack Ham (color commentator that knows a thing or two about the position) was extremely critical of the linebackers in this game. I can still remember him saying repeatedly "you just can't take that kind of angle on a run play and expect to get good results" Pitt racked up 341 rushing yards on 56 attempts in beating PSU. Seems like a good formula. 

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39 minutes ago, Dr Z said:

I thought the Rose Bowl was the most entertaining bowl game that I watched last year. Most of the time I watched the game, I kept thinking, "I hope the Zips can limit PSU's possessions, because they have some serious talent on the offensive side of the ball at the skill positions"

 

How can this possibly be at Linebacker U? I'm sure you are correct though. I listened to the Pitt PSU game before the Zips played the Badgers. Jack Ham (color commentator that knows a thing or two about the position) was extremely critical of the linebackers in this game. I can still remember him saying repeatedly "you just can't take that kind of angle on a run play and expect to get good results" Pitt racked up 341 rushing yards on 56 attempts in beating PSU. Seems like a good formula. 

At the risk of being called a "Suckeye honk" or whatever other creative name some of our posters like to come up with, I'll share this link.

http://www.espn.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/102439/position-u-linebackers

 

Penn State being "Linebacker U" is long gone.

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28 minutes ago, LZIp said:

At the risk of being called a "Suckeye honk" or whatever other creative name some of our posters like to come up with, I'll share this link.

http://www.espn.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/102439/position-u-linebackers  Penn State being "Linebacker U" is long gone.

I should have used a facetious emoji after "Linebacker U." 

 

PSU depth chart:

WLB Bowen, Manny JR -- Cooper, Jake JR

MLB Cabinda, Jason SR -- Smith, Brandon RS SR

SLB Brown, Cameron SO -- Farmer, Koa RS JR

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Quote

Penn State being "Linebacker U" is long gone.

 

Hopefully not many of you have as many gray hairs as I do, and thus I understand how counting noses since, say, 2000 can influence one's viewpoint. My CFB viewing history is a bit longer -- heck, I remember when Jack Ham PLAYED -- in college! (I was 10 years old in 1968; laid up in the hospital after a car accident in late Sep. Not many games were on TV back then, but the coverage of Penn State's 11-0 season featured Jack Ham and another LB named Denny Onkontz.)

 

Whether Penn State has/deserves the "Linebacker U" title today is almost irrelevant; the fact remains that it appears to be one of the weaker segments of the team this year. Hopefully the other parts of the defense can bolster the overall play, or the offense is dominant enough to win some of the close shoot-outs we lost last year, or the LBs have significantly improved over the summer. (Obviously I want to be greedy and say, "All of the above.")

 

How does Akron's offense stack up against this LB corps?

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23 minutes ago, PSU_Lions_84 said:

How does Akron's offense stack up against this LB corps?

You won't know until game day.

 

We have an offense that put up 68 points against Marshall last season. But that was with a healthy Tommy Woodson, and two receivers that are presently in NFL camps. Woodson's September 2017 health after a pretty serious shoulder injury is unknown as of June 2017. His rehab is allegedly on-schedule.

 

Our top 2 WR's have been replaced by a converted QB (Sr. Tre Chapman - former Pitt recruit) and a Redshirt Freshman (Stewart...a PA kid). Kwad Smith and Austin Wolf are legit deep threats. Woodson is very accurate, so if these guys can get separation, we'll have a nice air attack. 

 

Our OL is the strength of the offense. They were a great pass blocking crew last season. But didn't get much push on running plays. 4-of-5 guys return...we have a new left tackle - true Soph who was considered the 2nd best player in the Zips 2016 recruiting class. OL gained depth, and will be improved in 2017.

 

RB - Warren "Wrecking" Ball is a 6th year Ohio State transfer that was injured in the Wisconsin game last season. He's an absolute beast if healthy. But health has been an issue for him often in his college career, so it is impossible to bank on him. Bowden may also limit his touches in a game like Penn State, saving him for the less-punishing/more-critical MAC games. Van Edwards is a solid back. But not a game-breaker. Manny Morgan is probably 1/2 a notch below Edwards.

 

So if you ask me how the Zips offense stacks up against the PSU LB's, I'd say "ok," if we are healthy. If you have a solid OL, you can be an effective offensive unit. And the Zips OL is, at worst, in the top half of the MAC. 

 

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McSorely and Barkely will be the 2 of the most talented offensive players in the country this year. I think most know enough about Barkely, but McSorely really impressed me when I saw him a few times at the end of last season. Reminded me a lot of a Texas A&M QB in college that the Browns drafted a few years ago.

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Here is a Land of 10 article that introduces most of the potential receivers:

 

https://www.landof10.com/penn-state/candidates-replace-wide-receiver-chris-godwin-penn-state-2017

 

It even mentions some of the lesser lights such as Brandon Polk and KJ Hamler (who might see the field as a true freshman returning kicks). There is a great deal of potential here but it is unclear if any of these guys will be a direct replacement for Godwin. We had a similar situation when Allen Robinson (now of the Jags) left, and had us wondering if he could be replaced -- Godwin became the man. I honestly can't give you an informed opinion as to whether any of these guys will fill Godwin's shoes. Johnson was praised by Franklin during spring practices, but seemed to have a meh Blue-White (spring) game. Might not mean much, given the venue, but offering FWIW. Gesicki is not a "true" TE in terms of size (weight) and blocking ability, but he has good hands and a knack for getting open. Not huge top-end speed, but has a long stride that'll eat up some yardage.

 

The true key, imho, is Moorhead's scheming. He seems to find ways to get the most out of the players by exploiting an opponent's defense. Even though I've heard them claim they do not do this, it seems half-time adjustments are HUGE: The guys seem to go through the motions in the first half, then come out with a whole new game plan and mind set in the second. Again, more gray hairs for some of us . . .

 

84

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What are you hearing about Michael Miranda?  Offensive line recruit from Stow, Ohio.  He was a beast there.  I've heard that he enrolled early and got lots of reps with the 1's during Spring practice (because of an injury to someone), but that he held his own.  Any chance that he will get serious time on the field as a true freshman?

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10 hours ago, Cykron said:

What are you hearing about Michael Miranda?  Offensive line recruit from Stow, Ohio.  He was a beast there.  I've heard that he enrolled early and got lots of reps with the 1's during Spring practice (because of an injury to someone), but that he held his own.  Any chance that he will get serious time on the field as a true freshman?

Watched the kid in high school probably 3 times as a junior, 4 as a senior.  Really needs to improve on his aggression level.  Spread himself real thin in HS early with multiple sports, but when he concentrated on FB he improved.  IMO he won't see lots of time this year.  Slowwwwwww right now on reaction time.

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18 hours ago, Cykron said:

What are you hearing about Michael Miranda?  Offensive line recruit from Stow, Ohio.  He was a beast there.  I've heard that he enrolled early and got lots of reps with the 1's during Spring practice (because of an injury to someone), but that he held his own.  Any chance that he will get serious time on the field as a true freshman?

 

Assuming decent health, O-line should be a position of strength relative to the years when Hackenberg was being constantly buried by opposing teams. Injuries last year pushed some younger players onto the field, giving them experience and confidence during the winning streak.

 

Another Land of 10 article:

 

https://www.landof10.com/penn-state/penn-state-2017-early-depth-chart

 

(I don't usually read them all that much, sticking with BlackShoeDiaries.com, but Land of 10 usually has good analyses and is a good alternative while waiting for BSD to publish its reviews.)

 

BlackShoes does a 100-day countdown, with each day featuring a current player if he is wearing that particular day's number. Mike was featured for Day 73:

 

https://www.blackshoediaries.com/2017/6/21/15819544/penn-state-mike-miranda-offensive-lineman-nittany-lions-football-stow-ohio-limegrover-hogs

 

For as much praise as Moorhead gets for his offensive schemes, Limegrover deserves great respect for his work on the o-line. Last year he had to move guys around to plug in for injuries, and those guys did a fantastic job for McSorely and the running backs. Hoping Moorhead has even more offense to reveal, with the line showing still more improvement.

Edited by PSU_Lions_84
Posted too soon.
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4 hours ago, PSU_Lions_84 said:

 

Assuming decent health, O-line should be a position of strength relative to the years when Hackenberg was being constantly buried by opposing teams. Injuries last year pushed some younger players onto the field, giving them experience and confidence during the winning streak.

 

Another Land of 10 article:

 

https://www.landof10.com/penn-state/penn-state-2017-early-depth-chart

 

(I don't usually read them all that much, sticking with BlackShoeDiaries.com, but Land of 10 usually has good analyses and is a good alternative while waiting for BSD to publish its reviews.)

 

BlackShoes does a 100-day countdown, with each day featuring a current player if he is wearing that particular day's number. Mike was featured for Day 73:

 

https://www.blackshoediaries.com/2017/6/21/15819544/penn-state-mike-miranda-offensive-lineman-nittany-lions-football-stow-ohio-limegrover-hogs

 

For as much praise as Moorhead gets for his offensive schemes, Limegrover deserves great respect for his work on the o-line. Last year he had to move guys around to plug in for injuries, and those guys did a fantastic job for McSorely and the running backs. Hoping Moorhead has even more offense to reveal, with the line showing still more improvement.

 

 

Thanks for the links and thoughts.  Sounds like he is good for a freshman, but still is a freshman.  Looking forward to watching him over the next several years.  

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10 hours ago, Cykron said:

 

 

Thanks for the links and thoughts.  Sounds like he is good for a freshman, but still is a freshman.  Looking forward to watching him over the next several years.  

 

Excellent summary, Cykron. I've mentioned this site to the folks at BlackShoeDiaries.com; I expect some will make their way here over the summer -- I encourage you to check that place out. Be prepared for wild tangents, such as debates of bacon vs. scrapple, Sheetz vs. WaWa's, etc. but hopefully the football discussions are of value.

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