Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl (Noon ABC) Game Thread

bdroc said:
I think we would have been 9-3 if Rojas didn't get hurt. His loss was huge because our LB depth was nil.

We lost to UCLA by 4. Iamaleava wouldn't have run wild if we had Rojas.
We lost to NW by 1. We win that game with Rojas.
We lost o Iowa by 1. We win that game with Rojas. Gronowski woudn't have run for 130 yds.

Instead of 6-6 we would have been 9-3. We lost to Indy by 3 and might have won that game with Rojas. Heck, that might have got us into the playoffs.

Grunk played well enough. Rojas was the big loss.
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11-1 with Rojas
 
bdroc said:
It all depends on who comes back.

Is Campbell staying? If so we're pretty good at DE with him and Kemajou. IMO he should have played if he didn't plan to stay. DT is very weak so we'll need 2 from the portal.

We definitely need Rojas & Campbell at LB. Probably 1 more from the portal.

I'm good with Grunk at QB for 3 years. He completed 65% of his passes today and there must have been 3 drops. I was disappointed that we didn't see Denmark or Howard today. We need a top WR even if those guys return. We also need Martin at RB + another from the portal. I wasn't impressed with Smith.
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I think Campbell stays. They just hired him. ;)
 
bdroc said:
It all depends on who comes back.

Is Campbell staying? If so we're pretty good at DE with him and Kemajou. IMO he should have played if he didn't plan to stay. DT is very weak so we'll need 2 from the portal.

We definitely need Rojas & Campbell at LB. Probably 1 more from the portal.

I'm good with Grunk at QB for 3 years. He completed 65% of his passes today and there must have been 3 drops. I was disappointed that we didn't see Denmark or Howard today. We need a top WR even if those guys return. We also need Martin at RB + another from the portal. I wasn't impressed with Smith.
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Campbell at DE? Did you mean Coleman? If so, he’s in the portal and definitely going to Ohio State unless something weird happens. Howard did get in for quite a few plays today. Had two catches and a good block on one of Martin’s runs to the outside. Once Smith became head coach, his snap counts had started going up, and coincidentally Clifford started going down.
 
Huge appreciation for Dani, playing the entire game. While I guess I understand the logic of the opt outs who are legit NFL prospects, I really don't understand guys like Dawkins, Rucci, Dikins, Durant sitting out. Durant may have a shot at playing on Sundays but these other guys will likely be selling used Mazdas, or coaching middle school.
 
Bison13 said:
Campbell at DE? Did you mean Coleman? If so, he’s in the portal and definitely going to Ohio State unless something weird happens. Howard did get in for quite a few plays today. Had two catches and a good block on one of Martin’s runs to the outside. Once Smith became head coach, his snap counts had started going up, and coincidentally Clifford started going down.
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Sorry, brain fwart on Campbell
 
Leatherhelmets said:
Huge appreciation for Dani, playing the entire game. While I guess I understand the logic of the opt outs who are legit NFL prospects, I really don't understand guys like Dawkins, Rucci, Dikins, Durant sitting out. Durant may have a shot at playing on Sundays but these other guys will likely be selling used Mazdas, or coaching middle school.
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Every D1 starter thinks they are getting drafted
 
bdroc said:
It all depends on who comes back.

Is Campbell staying? If so we're pretty good at DE with him and Kemajou. IMO he should have played if he didn't plan to stay. DT is very weak so we'll need 2 from the portal.

We definitely need Rojas & Campbell at LB. Probably 1 more from the portal.

I'm good with Grunk at QB for 3 years. He completed 65% of his passes today and there must have been 3 drops. I was disappointed that we didn't see Denmark or Howard today. We need a top WR even if those guys return. We also need Martin at RB + another from the portal. I wasn't impressed with Smith.
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Not sure who you mean at DE. Campbell? Next year's DE's from the roster, whoever stays, look like Granville (missed year injured after playing as a true freshman and skipping his senior yr of high school and looked like a future Carter clone), Kemajou, Harvey, Williams Robinson, Mayer and this year's true freshmen that redshirted Harris and Burnett.

At DT Blanding and Gilliam look like next year's starters pending who Campbell can get from the portal, with whoever stays from White, Wafle, Andrews, Cook and Adirika. But I was disappointed that none of White, Wafle, Andrews Cook or Adirika seemed to make a play today and I really didn't see any of them in the game.

If Rojas, Campbell and Wylie all return I don't see why there's a need for any more than 1 LB from the portal. And Tatsch seems like he will compete to start in 2026, with Arrington and Smith if they stay also developing.

I look for Smith and Wallace to transfer out. But that still leaves Martin, Hayes and Coleman who all were highly recruited at RB. Need another RB or two but could go for a young one, maybe a RB that committed to ISU.

Howard played a good bit today, and was targeted 4 times, and had 2 catches for 35 yards. He looks like a good starter in 2026. I didn't see Denmark today which was a surprise. Someone reported that he was upset about his participation level in the game.

Yep, WR and DT seem like the highest priority for top starters from the portal.
 
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GregInPitt said:
Terry left Martin for the 2 carries the last series to get his 100, then Hayes gets the 1st down. Nice reward for the former #1 PA player who had to sit the whole year due to the quest to get Singleton and Allen records.

Lots of possibilities at lots of positions looking ahead to next season but I love the fact that Martin looked very good today and Hayes was the next back in and also showed he is an elusive and hard runner. Smith got the start, and may look better on turf or a better field, but he doesn't seem like a B10 RB to me. Don't know what happened to Walace, maybe he was hurt. 5th RB on roster is Coleman who was hurt earlier in the season. So I'm hoping to have at least Martin, Hayes and Coleman, all PA kids, back as the nucleus at RB for 2026

QB: Grunk with a very good game. Starting to make me a believer. Could Campbell go with such a young QB room, add a journeyman, or will he still add a likely starter....?

RB: may have to bring in a backup RB if Wallace and Smith leave. I'm expecting Martin, Hayes and Coleman to return. Wouldn't need another if PSU could have hung on to a 2026 class RB. Maybe Campbell can still get a RB for the 2026 class.

TE: Loaded with Reynolds and Rappleyea. Hopefully 2 of the 3 2025 class TE's stay.

WR: Hat's off to Pena for playing toda and getting 100 yards. Ross also contributed a good bit to the win. Are there any other WR's on the roster that will be ready to be B10 WR's in 2026 other than Howard and Denmark? And where was Denmark today? Campbell may need a separate GOFUNDME account to bring in 2 capable WR's including a true #1 WR. Can't follow the Franklin plan of bringing in WR's from the portal that are in the 2nd 25 of all portal WR's. Gotta get serious about putting a couple real WR talents in Blue & White for 2026.

OL: We have to like what we saw today. With Cousins, Shanahan, Boyer and Rulli playing well along with Donkoh who likely goes to the NFL the new OL coach will have a nice group coming back to build around with a good many other talented young Olinemen still on the roster pending transfers. Wouldn't surprise me to see Campbell bring in at least 1 experienced olinemen. I'm looking forward to watching Tengwall break down the film of today's OL performance to hear how they did individually. Could Rulli, a former walk on, be a good Center for 2026 allowing both Cousins and Shanahan to start at Guard??

CB: LOADED. Dixon, Joseph, Collins (if he returns for his last season), Woseley and a couple of other young CB's that likely stay with coach Terry

Safety: The young Safety's really showed up today. Lane, and Toure made a lot of nice plays today. If Mack and Bellgrave-Shorter stay the position is in good shape. Would be great to have any or all of Payne, Dinkins and the true freshman Thomas back as well.

LB: Campbell was very solid today and Wylie seemed to play his best game today as he looked good in coverage as well as vs the run. Rojas returning along with the 2025 class LB's (Tatsch, Arrington and Smith) could form a nice group. Have to see how this sorts out but it wouldn't be a surprise to see an incoming transfer to compete for DeLuka's snaps.

DE: The young DE's seemed to play pretty well today but is there a real game wrecker pass rusher on the roster without DDS. Hat's off to DDS for playing the whole game and valuing that experience with his PSU brothers!!! Will need a couple of the young DE's on the roster to stay and develop and/or an incoming transfer or two. But game changing DE's aren't easy to find in the portal.

DT: It seemed that Ford played most of the game and Campbell will need to find a big DT or two in the portal to solidify the inside while continuing to develop some of the DT's on the roster. Blanding also seemed to play well today.
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There is a video of Denmark throwing his helmet into the trash while walking off the field with the team celebrated in the background.
 
bdroc said:
I think we would have been 9-3 if Rojas didn't get hurt. His loss was huge because our LB depth was nil.

We lost to UCLA by 4. Iamaleava wouldn't have run wild if we had Rojas.
We lost to NW by 1. We win that game with Rojas.
We lost o Iowa by 1. We win that game with Rojas. Gronowski woudn't have run for 130 yds.

Instead of 6-6 we would have been 9-3. We lost to Indy by 3 and might have won that game with Rojas. Heck, that might have got us into the playoffs.

Grunk played well enough. Rojas was the big loss.
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There's no question, mobile QBs killed us. IMO, losing #13 was bigger than losing #15.
 
bdroc said:
I think we would have been 9-3 if Rojas didn't get hurt. His loss was huge because our LB depth was nil.

We lost to UCLA by 4. Iamaleava wouldn't have run wild if we had Rojas.
We lost to NW by 1. We win that game with Rojas.
We lost o Iowa by 1. We win that game with Rojas. Gronowski woudn't have run for 130 yds.

Instead of 6-6 we would have been 9-3. We lost to Indy by 3 and might have won that game with Rojas. Heck, that might have got us into the playoffs.

Grunk played well enough. Rojas was the big loss.
Click to expand...
If Terry had not FORCED Kotelnicki to throw deeper Grunk would have never shined. No one can complete passes near the LOS with 8 or 9 defenders there.
 
marylovesthelions said:
If Terry had not FORCED Kotelnicki to throw deeper Grunk would have never shined. No one can complete passes near the LOS with 8 or 9 defenders there.
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Agreed...and note how the running game opened up when we showed the ability to throw downfield. Turns out we had the receivers. We had the players. We had the plays. We just didn't have the coaches.
 
I always thought that Franklin was a decent coach but not a great one.

But seeing the dramatic improvement in the team after Smith took over was eye opening.

Throwing downfield opened up everything.

Featuring Kaytron over Singleton.

The D allowed to play aggressively.

Shame we didn’t play that way the last two years. May have twin natty titles! 🤷🏽‍♀️
 
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