Archives for October 2008

Emo Portzline is emo

cbjlogonew.jpg…and you thought I was negative about the Buckeyes’ underachievements.

Portzline’s piece will make CBJ fans want to listen to Arcade Fire and cut themselves. He talks about his “friend” who has lost his interest in the Blue Jackets (ya sure, he’s your “friend,” Aaron).

For those who don’t know Portzline, he’s paid to cover the Blue Jackets. And yet the team chemistry is so terrible that he’s finding it hard to stay interested in them. Ouch.

In other news that reveals how abso-freakin-lutely desperate the team is, Rick Nash will be starting at center tonight. He hasn’t played center “since he was 10 or 11 years old.

Still, it wouldn’t be late October unless the Jackets were at the bottom of the standings. Silver lining viewpoint – at least there’s only one place to go when you’re at the bottom, right?

(No, I don’t mean ‘Toronto’.)

The Big 10 bashing continues…

…this time from Tom Dienhart.

But don’t worry, The Rivalry, Esq. kicks some virtual tush:

“…bringing Penn State down because of something which has no correlative significance to the 2008 Nittany Lions (namely, the 06-07 Buckeye’s performance in the BCS title game). Using your logic, the 2008 Texas Longhorns should somehow be penalized because of Oklahoma’s two consectuve [sic] Fiesta Bowl losses. Obviously this makes no sense.”

Warning – Very unedited/unpolished loose rant is imminent:

Anyone who DARES claim that journalists are better than bloggers can read Dienhart’s article and then sit & spin. This nonsense about punishing Penn State for two OSU failures is ridiculous, and one of the most potentially damaging things in college football today.

Penn State is having a very similar season to OSU 2002. They started low, came out of nowhere in late October, and whammo! – actually play defense. The difference is, of course, that Penn State has a better offense than OSU did in 2002.

Go get ’em, JoePa.

The only thing that will shut these birds up is an old-fashioned beatdown at the hands of the folks that have been defining college football for over a century. It might not happen this year, but it will happen. So your conference had a few good years, big deal. It’ll be over soon, and the cycle will go somewhere else, and then what will you DO then?

I’d rather my team went and lost, than wasn’t man enough to never make it at all. So there. Sigh. Rant over.

2008 Blogpoll Ballot, Week #9

Rank Team Delta
1 Texas
2 Penn State
3 Alabama
4 Oklahoma
5 Florida 1
6 Texas Tech 2
7 Georgia 2
8 Southern Cal 1
9 Oklahoma State 4
10 Utah 2
11 Boise State 2
12 Ohio State 2
13 LSU 2
14 TCU 2
15 Missouri 4
16 Ball State 2
17 Brigham Young
18 Florida State 3
19 Minnesota 5
20 Tulsa 2
21 Michigan State 5
22 North Carolina 4
23 Georgia Tech 3
24 Oregon 2
25 Cincinnati 1

Dropped Out: South Florida (#14), Pittsburgh (#15), Northwestern (#23), Boston College (#25).


Presented without comment because I’m late for work.

Cheer up, Terrelle

This loss rests on Bollman’s shoulders, not yours. You can only work with what you’re given.

For those keeping score, that’s the second time this year a Bollman offense hasn’t scored a TD at home. (And had Herron not snuck one in against Ohio, it would have been three home games, out of six, without a TD.)

And it wasn’t for lack of effort, it was gameplan and scheme. Yeah, “Penn State has a good defense,” yet Coastal Carolina, Syracuse, and even UM scored more points against them, among a handful of other teams.

I don’t care what the optimists say about next year… no way this offense improves without a major change. Unless Beanie returns for his senior year, next season does not look promising, so long as the same tired coordinator is running the offense.

Time to stop screwing around.

Bollman, do what’s right and resign now.

Look at this picture. This is because of you.

Resign.

Why did OSU lose?

Briefly:

  • The offensive gameplan in the first half was confusing and pathetic. Stuff that had worked for weeks was abandoned for formations and plays that were straight out of the Troy Smith era. Not one play from the pistol formation. No use of the fullback. Use of Beanie was sporadic (and he didn’t even start the game). Zero – NONE – play action passes. Make no mistakes – the OSU coaches did make good use of OSU’s talent. They got away from what the Bucks were good at.
  • OSU lost the field position battle. Too many drives started around the 10-15 yard line.
  • Pryor made the mistake(s) that we were expecting a frosh to make. HOWEVER, he didn’t affect the game as much as Washington’s two PI’s did, which kept two PSU scoring drives alive.
  • Penn State is a good team, obviously.

The MSU game seems to be the aberrant outlier. Since USC, OSU’s offense has been playing worse and worse.

Good on ya, PSU…

…now MAKE IT WORTHWHILE AND BRING THE CRYSTAL FOOTBALL HOME TO THE BIG TEN WHERE IT BELONGS.

Week #9 Open Thread

Here is this week’ Open Thread for available for your commenting pleasure. What’cha watching? Who looks good, who doesn’t?

I’ll be putting my thoughts below the fold, so I don’t clutter up the front page.
[Read more…]

Bird’s Eye View

Did you know that this will be the first game that the SkyCam is used at the Horseshoe? I didn’t either. MotSaG’er Joe sent us a link to a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into setting up the SkyCam:

Penn State’s Quad-Annual Rise to Relevance and Increased Message Board Fodder…

We see this about every 4-5 years with Penn State…the stars align…the pure talent or blind luck of a Penn State QB is able to overcome the quarterbacking developmental ineptness of Jay Paterno (Insert Zach Mills or Anthony Morelli joke here).

Regardless of the success that this PSU team is experiencing, there is a bigger problem. I understand that a lot of other schools think that OSU fans are douchebags. Actually, we are pretty much douchebags. We have been spoiled with recent success over the last 10 years. However, when Penn State starts it’s standard four-year plan to rise to the top, it’s fans are able to fast-track their ability to go from “Zero to Unabashed Jerkface in 2 games against teams like Coastal Carolina and Temple.” I commend the ability of the fans, but loathe the results.

But as an unabashed OSU homer, let me welcome PSU back to relevancy in the college football world. You guys should stick around for a while.

I am not sure if a lot of OSU fans share my vitriol, but I started my journey at OSU in 1993 at the same time as Penn State’s entrance into the league. At the time, I heard a lot about how PSU was going to dominate the B10. This couldnt be further from the truth and with the exception of the 1994..63-14 debacle, the OSU – Penn State games have sometimes been close…sometimes not so much, as the average score of an OSU – PSU game at the Horseshoe is OSU 28 Penn State 7. Granted, games at Happy valley have been much closer, but that is about as relelvant as Larry Johnson’s manners or Santonio Holmes’ partiality to the wacky weed this year.

Rather than review a bunch of stats and tell you that OSU awesome and that Penn State is even awesomer, I will leave you with a few links providing the perspective of the more “reasonable” fans representing the Pennsylvania State University and it’s football team.

Thoughts on Beanie Wells…

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

ESPN Bias Towards Ohio State…Wow…

Fabrication of a Rivalry

Now, I realize that message boards dont represent the entire fanbase, but this is not far from the truth as the OSU Alumni group in Seattle share space in the Sport Restaurant with the PSU Alumni on gamedays Saturdays. Needless to say, those people are effing crazy…like “I picked a bad week to stop sniffing glue” crazy. Seriously though, PSU fans really are a classy bunch of blokes that have the utmost respect for a team and it’s fans. PSU fans would never display a history of bad behavior and questionable judgment like beer can violence and urine bombing. Every time a Penn State fan shows classiness at Happy Valley, an angel gets it’s wings.

Per usual, YNBA is always here to provide a totally-level headed representation of Penn State and it’s fanbase every time it becomes the least bit relevant on the national stage. I’ll refresh this post again in 2012.

Only one prediction for this weekend….”Pain”

LOLBucks