EXPERIENCE
“The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson”
Tom Bodett
Archive for September, 2012|Monthly archive page
The Word of the Day – 9/11/01 – Bush
In The Word of the Day on September 11, 2012 at 9:57 pm
9/11/01
“Now, we have inscribed a new memory alongside those others. It’s a memory of tragedy and shock, of loss and mourning, but not only of loss and mourning. It’s also a memory of bravery and self-sacrifice, and the love that lays down its life for a friend – even a friend whose name it never knew”
President George W. Bush
“View from the Philly Pressbox” – Virginia 17 – Penn State 16
In College Football, Penn State Football on September 10, 2012 at 9:45 pm
It would be easy to say that this loss can be blamed directly on the NCAA for allowing All Big 10 kicker Anthony Fera to walk away from the Penn State program and immediately become a Texas Longhorn, leaving new head coach Bill O’Brien and the Nittany Lions with an inexperienced kicker, on the road for the first time, and in a tight game when they visited the Virginia Cavaliers in Charlottesville on Saturday. The truth of the matter is that kicker Sam Ficken should’ve never been in a 1 point ball game.
Penn State clearly outplayed Virginia for the entire ball game and deserved to win that game. It would’ve helped if Ficken would have made a few of the 4 field goals he missed and didn’t have an extra point blocked, but again, it shouldn’t have come down to field goals. Here are a few facts buried in the game:
- · Penn State forced 4 Virginia turnovers, giving the offense the ball at the 17, 17, 19 and 29 yard line but gained a total of 6 offensive yards after those turnovers and scored only a field goal.
- · Penn State was 1 for 5 in the red zone.
- · Penn State had only 2 defensive three-and-outs all afternoon.
- · Virginia’s final drive was 12 plays, 86 yards and took 6:36.
- · The Cavs had only 295 yards total offense for the game.
- · Virginia was 9-15 on 3rd down conversions and 3 for 3 on the game winning drive.
- · Penn State held Virginia to 32 yards rushing on 25 carries and 2 rushing 1st downs.
- · Penn State averaged only 2.9 yards per carry on 42 carries.
- · Allen Robinson had 10 catches for 89 yards and a TD.
- · Penn State led 7-3 at halftime but lost the game in the 2nd half for the second straight week.
- · Virginia had 10 penalties for 70 yards, PSU 3 for 24.
- · Penn State ran 85 offensive plays to Virginia’s 61.
- · Penn State had the ball for 20:03 seconds of the 1st half to Virginia’s 9:57.
- · Virginia had the ball for 18:16 seconds of the 2nd half to Penn State’s 11:44.
As we discussed last week in the “View from the Philly Pressbox “ – Ohio 24 – Penn State 14, link is attached, https://phillypressbox.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/view-from-the-philly-pressbox-ohio-24-penn-state-14/, the only statistic that matters are the numbers on the scoreboard. Penn State outplayed and outworked Virginia and should’ve won the game. Matt McGloin played well, passing 19-35 – 197 yards and 2 touchdowns. McGloin battled through an elbow injury and showed solid leadership. The defensive front 7 that was pushed around last week by Ohio was rock solid until the last drive of the game. Michael Mauti led the way with 9 tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Gerald Hodges followed with 8 tackles and a fumble recovery.
At the end of the day the ball game fell on Fickens’ shoulders and he didn’t deliver this time. However, as stated a lot of things happened on both sides of the ball that should’ve taken this game away from Fickens and been an easy Penn State victory. Unfortunately that’s not where Penn State football is today.
Next up, the Midshipmen of Navy come to Beaver Stadium for a 3:30 kickoff. This will be the first time Penn State has played Navy since 1974. The Middies opened their season in Dublin Ireland, taking a 50-10 whipping from Notre Dame. They had last week off to lick their wounds and will be looking to get on the winning track. For Penn State this is a “must” game if they’re going to salvage this season. We look for them to be fired up and ready to play well against Navy and get their first win.
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The Word of the Day – APPRECIATION
In The Word of the Day on September 10, 2012 at 5:13 pmAPPRECIATION
“We are so often caught up in our destination that we forget to appreciate the journey, especially the goodness of the people we meet on the way. Appreciation is a wonderful feeling, don’t overlook it”
Anonymous
The Eagles 53 Man Roster vs the “Stay & Go” Vote
In Philadelphia Eagles on September 7, 2012 at 5:06 pm
Are Eagles fans that smart? Does Eagles management pay attention to what the fans think or were the changes so necessary that anyone could see them? These are the questions that can now be answered that the 2013 – 53 man roster has been set.
On January 8, 2012, Philly Pressbox posted a summary of the Eagles fan vote conducted by Philly.com for players to “Stay or Go” in 2013. That link is attached. https://phillypressbox.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/eagles-stay-or-go-fan-vote/. Lets compare who the fans voted to “Go” and if they did actually go.
On offense, the fans voted the following people to be gone: Vince Young, Ronnie Brown, Steve Smith, Winston Justice, Julian Vandervelde, Jamaal Jackson and King Dunlap. All are gone except for Dunlap. The King has earned a starting position going in to the season; however, if not for the injury to Jason Peters the King would’ve likely been gone too. The fans did vote to keep Chad Hall, Mike Kafka and Owen Schmidt, but all three of them are gone as well.
On defense, the fans voted for only one starter to “go” and he’s gone, Asante Samuel, traded to the Atlanta Falcons. The fans voted the following reserves to “Go”: Juqua Parker, Trevor Laws, Victor Abiamiri, Cedric Thornton, Akeem Jordan, Moise Fokou, Curtis Marsh, Brandon Hughes and Tom Nelson. Of that group only Jordan, Marsh and Hughes will be part of the 2013 team. The fans did vote to keep both Casey Mathews and Brandon Graham and they will both be back.
On Special Teams the fans voted for Alex Henery, Chas Henry and John Dorenbos to all stay, and they will.
The biggest change the fans wanted to see was in the administration and the coaching staff. The fans voted for Howie Roseman, Joe Banner, Andy Reid, Marty Mornhinweg and Juan Castillo to all be gone. Well, Banner is gone and everyone else is in place.
Through the draft, trades and free agency it appears the Eagles have improved greatly with the additions of Fletcher Cox, Mychal Kendricks, Vinny Curry, Nick Foles, Brandon Boykin, and DeMeco Ryans. This has turned in to a very young and talented team that should have some depth with the only major weakness being at the safety position. Hopefully the late addition of David Sims, from Cleveland will help in that area.
Well fans, what do you think, was management actually listening or were these choices just too easy?
How far do you think the Eagles will go in 2013??
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The Word of the Day – DISCIPLINE – Dewey
In The Word of the Day on September 7, 2012 at 5:01 pm
DISCIPLINE
“A person who is trained to consider his actions, to undertake them deliberately, is in so far forth disciplined. Add to this ability a power to endure in an intelligently chosen course in the face of distraction, confusion, and difficulty, and you have the essence of discipline”
John Dewey
Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education,
“New York: The Free Press”, 1916
“View from the Philly Pressbox” Ohio 24 – Penn State 14
In College Football, Penn State Football on September 6, 2012 at 9:40 pm
After watching the season opener of the “new era” of Penn State football one couldn’t think that they saw much good on the field for the Nittany Lions. Ohio University came to Beaver Stadium with a good ball club that was expected to put up a good fight, but this was Ohio University of the MAC Conference not Ohio State University of the Big 10!!
Early in the game it appeared that Matt McGloin may have improved under the coaching of Bill O’Brien as he ran a fairly efficient offense and took PSU to the locker room with a 14-3 halftime lead. As the 2nd half started it was very evident that the losses of Silas Redd and Justin Brown were significant. When starting tailback Bill Benton went down with an ankle injury there no weapons left on the offensive side of the ball. As a result the Penn State offense was limited to 115 yards in the 2nd half. The limited talent on this team was shown early when O’Brien made the decision to use 6-foot-2, 237-pound linebacker Gerald Hodges returning kickoffs and punts. Hodges is an outstanding athlete but has no business returning kicks at Penn State. As a result, he returned one kickoff to the 12 yard line and fumbled a fair catch that led to an Ohio field goal. This is a clear indication of limited talent.
More importantly was not having Tom Bradley calling the defense in the 2nd half. I’ve seen a few times over the years where the defense was beaten up by better teams, but it wasn’t often. Ted Roof’s defense had no answers for the Ohio offense that rolled up 301 yards in the 2nd half alone, converted 11of 12, 3rd down conversions, gave up drives of 82, 70, 50 and 93 yards and turned a 14-3 lead in to a 24-14 loss. The front 7 of the Nittany Lions are considered the strength of the team. This group was pushed all over the field in the 2nd half. There are two ways to look at this, either the players were outmatched or the coaches didn’t put them in a position to be successful. Either way, the result was ugly!!
At the end of the day, this coaching staff got severely outcoached by Frank Solich and his Ohio staff. Solich has been around the block and is a quality football coach that’s done a nice job at Ohio. As for Penn State, the importance of having a staff that had been together for so long may have been taken for granted. Very rarely was a Penn State team ever outcoached. It was even more unusual for them to not make the proper adjustments at halftime.
Our analysis of games at the Philly Pressbox is not usually based on stats. Stats can be misleading and often are. After all, the only numbers that matter are the ones on the scoreboard. However, there are always several stats that tell the story of the ball game. Obviously, one is turnovers. Ohio created 3 turnovers, 2 fumbles and 1 interception, and PSU none. Time of Possession is important because it allows teams to wear the opponent down and unless you’re playing against a quick striking high powered offense, if one team has significant time of possession over the other they usually win. Ohio led in time of possession 33:10 to 25:05. This also resulted in Ohio running 88 plays from scrimmage while PSU ran 70. Last is 3rd (and 4th) down efficiency. If the defense can’t get off the field because they can’t stop the opponent in 3rd and 4th down situations they usually lose. Ohio converted 14 of 22 while PSU converted 10 of 19.
As a Penn State supporter this was a very sad day. I was very proud of the fans for their support and for the players for their dedication to the cause. However, as I watched the replay on TV and heard the comments from the ESPN broadcast team that as they worked in State College during the week they found very little indication or recognition of Joe Paterno saddens me to know end.
As far as Penn State football, the feeling here is that this is only the beginning of a slide that will be very difficult to stop. This weeks game at Virginia was going to be difficult with a fully stocked lineup. The players can say that they will be better and that what happened against Ohio won’t happen again but the real question is this; do they have the talent on the field to keep it from happening again?
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The Word of the Day – PROBLEMS – Alexander
In The Word of the Day on September 6, 2012 at 9:17 pmPROBLEMS
“Understand that most problems are a good sign. Problems indicate that progress is being made, wheels are turning, you are moving toward your goals. Beware when you have no problems. Then you’ve really got a problem… Problems are like landmarks of progress”
Scott Alexander
The Word of the Day – OVERCOME – Jackson
In The Word of the Day on September 4, 2012 at 2:34 pm
OVERCOME
“I feel the most important requirement to success is learning to overcome failure. You must learn to tolerate it but never accept it”
Reggie Jackson
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