I have the utmost respect for Bill O’Brien as he leads Penn State football through an unprecedented situation. He deserves every bit of credit possible and every Coach of the Year he gets for having to deal with the problems that come with being the leader of Penn State football. Not just the sanctions, but having to constantly be compared to Joe Paterno, and deal with the still ongoing aspects of the Jerry Sandusky pedophilia scandal. And handle the overzealous malcontent fringes of Nittany Nation.
He’s a stable voice of reason balanced against a cadre subset of unreasonable people.
Hat’s off to you.
There are 198 pages in the 2013 Penn State football media guide and I saw just two pictures, 8 mentions of Paterno. Of course, there were zero mentions of Sandusky and The Second Mile in this Penn State football history book. This shows you that the Penn State football program is doing the right thing in damage control. So let’s get to talking some college football.
Penn State football reasons to get EXCITED! ALL CAPS! Safety Malcolm Willis has the right message for Nittany Nation. You heard his “us against the world” soundbite, but his quotes here project the right attitude for Nittany Nation. O’Brien or BOB as he’s colloquially known worked miracles with Matt McGloin last year. He took a TERRIBLE HORRIBLE excuse for a starting quarterback and propelled him to pretty much rewrite the PSU passing record book. McGloin had an amazing season. BOB also got more out of Zach Zwinak than anyone ever expected. Silas Redd who?
Bill Belton adds depth.
The OL should be stellar. This team could easily average 35 points per game this season. And they may have to. Also, it’s amazing what O’Brien was able to do without any Placekicker to speak of. Well, Ficken got it together late in the year. And they’ll be other options this year at that position.
Penn State football reasons to be worried :( They aren’t Linebacker U. this season. An injury or two in that position group and major trouble will arise. Who’s the starting quarterback? Christian Hackenberg or Tyler Ferguson? Whoever it is will have Allen Robinson to throw to, and that will make his job a lot easier. The sanctions, limits on recruiting will really start to take effect in a year or two, so this is about as good as it’s going to get for awhile in 2013.
And that doesn’t look like it will be any better than 2012. They were good last year, but Penn State football fans are used to something more. Then again, the last years of Paterno didn’t have any national relevance any way; as he padded his coaching record by scheduling cupcakes and inflating his win-loss record.
Penn State football key games: Sept 21st vs Kent State could be trouble, then they have the “Big 2” to close out October. Yeesh. Nebraska and Wisconsin to close out the year will probably define this bowl game less season. Got to at least split the four Big Ten games I mentioned there.
Penn State football bottom line: 9-3 looks likely. Maybe 8-4
You’ll like this. It’s from Chicago’s leading sports talk radio station 670 The Score. And their afternoon program “B&B” (thank you Chris Tannehill for sending me this musical composition from Matt in Champaign)
Boers and Bernstein send-up, set to the tune of the Penn State Fight Song
And I’m awarding a Penn State football media guide to the best commenter on this post. Contest starts now and ends August 10th, Noon EST. At that point, I’ll see who had the most interesting, thought-provoking, interesting etc. feedback and the prize is yours.
Oh and enjoy this BOB meme someone sent me:
the 2013 College Football rankings 1-51
Big Ten Season Previews (and other teams of interest too):
NIU
Indiana
Iowa
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, a Fox Sports affiliate. He is also an analyst for 95.7 The Fan, and writes on Chicago sports media for Chicago Now. President Obama follows his Twitter account (@PaulMBanks)