Belated Nittany Lion review versus Iowa

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

Penn State visited Iowa this weekend to play a football game against the Hawkeyes. The result was a 38-14 thwomping in which the Nittany Lions dominated every aspect of the game save for garbage time kick return touchdowns. Penn State had 504 yards of total offense compared to Iowa’s 209 while possessing the ball for more than 38 minutes.

The 8:00 p.m. start relegated this match to the Big Ten Network, which means many people didn’t get to witness it (you can check their cable packages or just look at this week’s AP rankings for proof of that). The number one thing to remember about this game is that it was Penn State’s most impressive performance of the season. However, if you’d like to go deeper, here’s five more things.

Bill Belton carried the ball 16 times and gained 103 yards while scoring three touchdowns
Zach Zwinak had rushed for over 300 yards over the course of the previous three games, but in Iowa City Belton appeared to finally win Bill O’Brien over. Belton looked as healthy as he’s looked since the opener and appeared to locate and run through holes more easily than in the past. In short, he ran more like a halfback than like an athlete trying to be a halfback. Most surprising was the relatively slight Belton being so effective around the goal line. His three scores were from 11, three and five yards out.

Zwinak, meanwhile, had his first rough game of the seaosn. He had the same number of carries as Belton, but only gained 52 yards. Zwinak also lost a pair of fumbles, including one right on the goal line that would have been devastating had Penn State not been up by 31 points at the time.

Kyle Carter made a great leaping catch on a 4th-and-3 to set up Penn State’s second touchdown
We already know that O’Brien will opt to use his offense on fourth down in any plausible situation on the opponent’s side of the 50. What was interesting about this play that occurred on the Iowa 45-yard line in the first quarter was how Matt McGloin stared down his intended receiver as if there was no Plan B. Usually staring at one receiver is bad, but at the snap Carter was clearly locked in man coverage with no safety over the top, so you can forgive McGloin for this one. Carter was barely able to shake his man, but McGloin threw the ball anyway and Carter reached over the defender’s back for an incredible catch. Carter then kept on running and ended up with a 34-yard reception that set up a PSU touchdown. The play was very reminiscent of the Allen Robinson touchdown against Temple, which was also a fourth down play in which McGloin basically waited for Robinson to lose his defender before releasing the ball.

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Big Ten Football Tower of Power: The Bottom Rises

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

Last week’s Big Ten action featured a lot of class warfare, with the dregs of the conference doing battle with the upper echelon. Despite the cream of 2012’s Big Ten crop being decidedly less creamier than in previous seasons, a couple of top teams managed to dispatch their opponents with relative ease. However, not every conference peasant went down without the threat of an uprising…

12. Illinois
Poor Illinois could only manage 134 yards of total offense while getting run over by Michigan 45-0 last week. Nate Scheelhaase hit his head on the turf and was diagnosed with a concussion, but it’s not as though there’s a huge drop-off between him and backup Reilly O’Toole anyway. O’Toole came in and threw an interception, but it didn’t matter much anyway because the Illini had no answer for Denard Robinson. Illinois gets a much needed week off, and then they’ll take on Indiana at home in what could be a very embarrassing result for the Orange and Blue.

11. Purdue
Purdue was once the scary dark horse that was ready to take the Big Ten by storm, but after back-to-back home defeats, it is looking more like a cute white pony that won’t hurt anybody. In a 38-14 loss to Wisconsin last week, the Boilers allowed Montee Ball to run for 247 yards, which was all too reminiscent of Denard Robinson’s outbreak the week before. On the game’s first possession, Caleb TerBush connected with Antavian Edison on a 52-yard bomb that led to a 7-0 Purdue advantage, but it was all Badgers after that and the Boilers didn’t score again until Akeem Hunt scampered 81 yards in garbage time.

10. Minnesota
It was nice for the Minnesota defense to show up at home after taking a week off in their 31-13 loss to Iowa the week before. Last week versus Northwestern, the Gophers were shredded by Venric Mark in the first half en route to a 21-10 halftime deficit. However, Minnesota shut down Northwestern’s running game in the second half and came just a few yards short of what would have been an inspiring comeback. It didn’t help that MarQueis Gray got hurt and had to leave the game in the third quarter, but either way, Minnesota is no longer the worst team in the conference thanks to a resurgent defensive effort.

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Big Ten Football Tower of Power: The Quest Continues

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

The search for Big Ten supremacy isn’t getting any easier. Since I last wrote about the conference, a team previously thought to be a doormat rose up to challenge a conference title contender, a trendy dark horse pick took a big dose of reality, and two programs rife with defensive tradition combined for almost 600 rushing yards.

12. Minnesota
Minnesota didn’t play last week, so the whooping they took at the hands of seemingly docile Iowa has them stranded at the bottom. This week, they host a Northwestern team that is fresh off their first loss of the season. A Minnesota upset would do a lot for their respectability, but more realistically they’ll be run over by Kain Colter and Venric Mark.

11. Illinois
Illinois did improve their standing by hanging with Wisconsin for three quarters, but the secondary that looked pretty decent two weeks ago against Penn State collapsed in the fourth quarter as the Illini were torched by Joel Stave. There was also little improvement from the Illinois offense, as Nathan Scheelhaase took a great majority of the carries, but only gained 84 yards on the ground.

10. Indiana
The B-Town Hoosiers hung onto the tenth spot by showing that their offense was for real… at least in the first half. Hosting a defensively stout Michigan State squad, IU sprinted out to a 17-0 lead and led at the half 27-14. Although their attack was slowed in the second half and the Spartans came back to win 31-27, the Hoosiers showed a lot of promise. Quarterback Chase Coffman impressed with 282 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions despite the absence of a running game.

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NFL Fantasy Podcast with Mista Dave Zita

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

I invited Dave Zita on the podcast program to talk about the NFL, and he did not disappoint. We talked about our terrible fantasy teams, made our picks for the week, and I got to rant about bad coaching decisions.

10-04-2012 AY Podcast NFL Dave Zita

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Big Ten Football Tower of Power

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

Yeah, I didn’t feel like calling them the power rankings. I wanted to be special. I also wanted this post to make sense, and starting with the worst teams made more sense to me than starting with the best teams. It’s kind of like climbing a tower. Plus, now the readers have to scroll down to see the team ranked number one. Muahahahaha.

Anyway, imagine you are on a journey across the midwest. The first four weeks were tougher than expected, but at least the sun was shining in the sky and there was plenty of food to be had. Now, the days are turning colder and the wild beasts off the beaten path grow more aware of your group’s growing weakness. You’re looking for the next town on the road for some shelter and maybe even a good meal, but a wild hog crosses the path and you’re drawn away by your hunger for something other than rice and squirrel meat.

It’s Floyd. The legendary hog leads you on a wild chase through the woods and finally disappears into the brush. Exhausted, you decide that the group would be better off heading back to the path than continuing the hunt. Unfortunately, no one seems to know where the path is anymore. Luckily, there’s a beacon of light shining over the woods, piercing through the darkness. You look up, and there’s an ominous tower silhouetted against the night sky at the edge of the woods…

12. Minnesota
Nothing says “welcome to the show” quite like a 31-13 beatdown to open up conference play. To make matters worse, Minnesota lost their beloved pig, Floyd of Rosedale in enemy territory and now must head back to the land of the lakes empty-handed. Those cute little victories over UNLV and Syracuse were nice, and they may help Minnesota reach a bowl game for the first time since 2009, but now reality has set it.

The Gophers allowed former walk-on fullback Mark Weisman to rush for 177 yards on 21 carries, while their own leading rusher was their second most mobile quarterback, Max Shortell. Minnesota may have something for the future in Shortell, but he probably won’t grow fast enough to make up for this team’s shortcomings. Getting burned on a flea flicker like they did in today’s day and age is embarrassing.

11. Illinois
Sure, the Illini’s two big non-conference losses were both to quality opponents, but it would be nice if the orange and blue looked respectable in at least one of those games. Illinois came out of the gate similarly flat against Penn State on Saturday and got crushed 35-7 under the weight of their own middling offense.

Illinois did get their starting safeties back for the Penn State game, and they did a good job slowing down State’s aerial assault. However, the ground game was a completely different story, as the Illini were run over by backup Zach Zwinak to a tune of 5.3 yards per carry. With talented run stoppers like linebacker Jonathan Brown and defensive tackle Akeem Spence on the roster, Illinois needs to put a plug in its run defense in order to give the offense time to find itself.

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Tynes misses 54-yard field goal, Giants fall to Eagles 19-17

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

The game that the New York Giants lost to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night was certainly one you could get upset about. There the Giants were, on the Philadelphia 27-yard line on 2nd-and-9 with 25 seconds left in the game. Down by two. All the Giants needed to do was run up the middle to get a little closer to the field goal posts, spike the ball on third time with as little time as possible left on the clock, and watch Lawrence Tynes kick the team to victory.

Everything seems so easy in hindsight. The painful part is, it probably was that easy, at least on the surface. The problem is, 44-yard field goals seem like a lot more of a lock when you’re not the coach of the team that needs the kick to win a rivalry game on the road. That’s why I can’t blame Tom Coughlin and Kevin Gilbride too much for choosing to throw the ball on that fateful play when a simple draw would have sufficed. After all, it was that same sort of aggressive play calling that led to a 30-yard gain on 4th-and-1 on the last play of the third quarter. Unfortunately for the Giants, neither of those aggressive play calls led to points.

If Ramses Barden doesn’t completely maul Eagles corner Nnamdi Asomugha on that play at the end of the game, the Giants probably go ahead and kick a 44-yard field goal on third down. Maybe it goes in, maybe it doesn’t. It certainly would have had a better chance of going in than the 54-yard try that Tynes ended up trying (and missing) thanks to the offensive pass interference as well as Coughlin’s fear of the clock running out.

If Manning doesn’t throw an interception on the first play following the 30-yard, 4th-and-1 completion to Cruz, the Giants might not even be trailing with 15 seconds left in the game. Manning misread Eagles corner Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie on the play and made a sloppy throw that cost the Giants at least three points.

Was it too risky for the Giants to run a play on third down with virtually no chance to spike the ball if they got tackled in bounds? There was another team playing on Sunday that didn’t think so.

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Penn State crushes Illinois 35-7 in Big Ten opener

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

Woo. What a wild weekend. It seems like a long, long time since Penn State polished off a refreshingly comfortable win over Illinois on Saturday. I was having a good time with some PSU friends at Tonic East while simultaneously trying to keep track of the football game, and since “having a good time” involved drinking a tower of beer, things are a little bit hazy.

I seem to remember a lot of different halfbacks, and Michael Mauti running a long way. Matt McGloin ran backwards a lot and Sam Ficken missed a couple of field goals, but in the end, everything turned out better than expected. Let’s see what else we can learn from Saturday 35-7 Penn State win.

Zach Zwinak may be Bill O’Brien’s favorite halfback

Bill Belton was healthy, and Derek Day was healthy. Curtis Dukes had apparently gotten over his thigh issue from last week, as well, so it made less than perfect sense that supposed fourth string halfback Zack Zwinak got the majority of the carries in Champaign. Although Zwinak did score Penn State’s first touchdown on a one-yard plunge in the first quarter, he didn’t get his second carry of the game until Penn State’s fifth possession.

Once Zwinak got on a role, though, he didn’t relinquish his grip on the halfback role until the game was well in hand. Zwinak ran for 109 yards on 19 carries without having one carry longer than 14 yards. He just plowed ahead, gaining solid yardage on seemingly every trip through the line. Belton started the game and played reasonably well (16 carries, 67 yards), but O’Brien clearly favored Zwinak in the second and third quarters, when Penn State took over the game. It will be interesting to see who starts at halfback this week when Penn State plays Northwestern.

Michael Mauti nearly had a 100-yard interception return

With Penn State holding a 21-0 lead late in the first half, Illinois desperately needed a score to give the team some hope of a comeback. Starting the drive at the Illinois 22-yard line with just over three minutes remaining, quarterback Nate Scheelhaase drove the Illini down the field. Scheelhaase connected with wide receiver Ryan Lankford four times before the drive was grounded to a half at Penn State’s four yard line. It was fourth down and goal with 19 seconds remaining in the half when Scheelhaase tried to connected with Lankford in the endzone. However, Penn State linebacker Mauti stepped in front of the pass, snatched it out of the air and began sprinting the other way.

What began as a great defensive play soon turned into a chance to put an early dagger into Illinois. Mauti got to the left sideline with a cavalry of blockers and it certainly looked like he had a chance to score. Mauti was tracked down inside the five-yard line by Illinois quarterback Miles Osei (who I suppose was in the game as a wide receiver or halback; it was Scheelhasse with threw the pass). Although at first it seemed that Mauti had scored a ridiculous touchdown, the replay review showed that his knee hit the ground just before the ball crossed the goal line. However, the review also showed that one second was remaining on the clock…

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Podcast Interview with Illinois Blog “A Lion Eye”

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

I interviewed Robert from A Lion Eye about this Saturday’s Penn State vs. Illinois game. Also got his thoughts on the recruiting incident over the summer.

09-27-2012 AY Podcast with A Lion Eye

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Survivor XXV premiere thoughts

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

Yeah, I know this is a week late, but I’m going to squeeze it in anyway. Last week, the 25th season of Survivor premiered on CBS. After I missed the first 19 seasons, Survivor became my favorite show when I watched the Heroes vs. Villains season. Although its ratings have been sliding over the years, I’m not sure how Survivor will every go out of style completely. I feel like it’s become an actual sport at this point, and it’s not as though Major League Baseball is getting cancelled anytime soon.

For this season, the show is being shot in the Philippines, which host Jeff Probst explained were a great place to put the water challenges that recent seasons have been devoid of. They are also going back to a three-tribe format in order to keep alliances smaller, which should make for a more competitive game in the later stages. The last big game changer is the three veteran players being shipped in. Michael Skupin, Jonathan Penner and Russell Swan were all evacuated from previous seasons because of medical reasons and all three are hungry to get back in the game and bring home the title.

The premiere offered plenty of juicy material, so I summarized it for you. Enjoy.

Michael can’t stop hurting himself

Back in 2001 on Survivor: The Australian Outback, Michael Skupin was sitting by his tribe’s fire when he took in too much smoke, passed out, and fell into the flames. Although Michael was only out for a second or two, he suffered severe burns on his hands and was forced to be evacuated from the game. 11 years later, Michael finally has another shot, so you’d figure he’d be more cautious, but instead he’s been completely reckless.

So far, Michael has cut his finger with the giant, coconut-smashing machete and opened up a huge gash on his foot that somehow doesn’t need stitches. He also somehow cut himself on top of his head, but he basically just rubbed some dirt on it and went right on building his tribe’s shelter. I’m not sure if Michael is crazy or just a warrior, but he’s a very likable guy and someone who I won’t mind rooting for this season.

Russell says he doesn’t want to be the leader, nearly gets voted off as the leader

Russell was apparently doing a great job on Survivor: Samoa before he suffered severe dehydration and had to be carried off during a challenge. Now he’s back and looking forward to picking up where he left off. However, he says there’s one thing he’s going to do differently: He’s going to sit back and let some other fool lead the tribe. Russell knows from watching and playing Survivor that being the leader only invites unwanted attention as well as a lot of blame should the tribe lose an immunity challenge.

Well, he talked the talk, but when Russell actually got out in the field with his new tribe, he did exactly what he didn’t want to do. He bossed his tribe around, which actually made sense while they were trying to construct a shelter. However, when it came to the immunity challenge, he blundered spectacularly by putting Zane on the running portion despite the man having just quit smoking upon arriving in the Philippines. Meanwhile, Angie ended up having to attempt the puzzle at the end despite specifically volunteering that she was lousy at puzzles.

Not surprisingly, Russell’s tribe was crushed in the immunity challenge and it looked like Russell was going to pay for it with his Survivor life, but luckily someone intervened…

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Penn State dispatches Temple 24-13 behind McGloin’s 318

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

Despite being hampered by penalties all afternoon, Penn State defeated Temple once again on Saturday 24-13. Temple quarterback Chris Coyer was shaky all day, throwing for only 124 yards with a 50% completion rate. Meanwhile, Penn State’s Matt McGloin made all the plays he needed to in the passing game in addition to running for two touchdowns. The Lions led the game 24-6 until a late fourth quarter Temple drive resulted in the Owls scoring their only touchdown of the game.

This weekend’s Penn State win wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but victories can’t be taken for granted these days. Here’s what you should know about the Lions’ triumph:

Penn State committed nine penalties, resulting in 100 penalty yards

Ouch. That’s over 10 yards per penalty, so you know a bunch of them had to be major infractions. I’m not one to complain about officiating (that often), but I feel like Penn State got hit with a bunch of fringe calls that allowed Temple to stay in the game for longer than it should have. On one drive in the second quarter, Penn State had a big gain in Temple territory called back because of an off-the-ball offensive pass interference call. On the next play, the Lions appeared to gain most of the yardage back only to get hit by a dubious holding penalty. Instead of moving inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, Penn State was pushed back past midfield and forced to punt.

Early in the third quarter, Temple was able to get great field position because of a supposed late hit on a punt return that looked perfectly clean. Later in the third, kicker Sam Ficken got flagged for a late hit out of bounds when he barely got a piece of Temple kick returner Matt Brown. There was a specific point when I felt Penn State got away with illegal contact on a Coyer throw to the endzone, but when you add everything up, it seemed the Lions got the short end of the stick regarding the penalties that were called.

Matt McGloin threw for a career-high 318 passing yards

Yeah, I was also surprised that 318 was a career high for McGloin. Last season, his totals were low across the board because of the old administration’s insistence that the fans suffer through a handful of Bolden throws each game. In 2010, I remembered McGloin having big games against Michigan and Northwestern, but he only threw for 250 and 225 yards, respectively, in each of those games. Turns out that McGloin threw for 315 yards in the win over Indiana that season, which was his previous career high.

McGloin looked pretty sharp all afternoon. He used a lot of crossing routes to extend drives and spread the ball around better than he has done in his previous starts this season. Favorite targets Allen Robinson and Kyle Carter caught five balls each, while Mike Zordich, Alex Kenney, Matt Lehman and Brandon Moseby-Felder all caught between two and four passes each. The biggest play of the game for McGloin came on a 4th and 5 from the Temple 41-yard line late in the first quarter. He patiently waited for Robinson to lose his man and then hit the sophomore wide receiver 15 yards down the field just as a defender closed in for the sack. Robinson evaded a pair of defenders to reach the endzone and give Penn State a 7-0 lead.

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