We are ranked #1 by Phil Steele in his pre-season rankings
- Thread starter Sherriff Coffee
- Start date
LionDeNittany
Active member
That's great, but also insane.
LudicrousSpeedGO!
Active member
He's the most accurate in the business X number of years running, at least according to Phil Steele.
TheNewBoss
New member
Wow, give me some Kool Aid. 
Pennstate_one
New member
This is the year to get over the hump. Hopefully Allar lights it up and the receiver room takes a nice step forward. I can't believe they did what they did last season with virtually no wide receiver help.
I can't believe how bad our WRs were last year. Fleming flamed out. Wallace came up short in big games. How much was Allar? How much was focusing too much on Warren?
What we did last year was beat the weaker teams and lose to the good teams (OSU, OR, ND). We were lucky to squeak by USC & MINN.
Without Fleming, we lose to USC and don’t make the playoffs. —He wasn’t what we expected, but he was uniquely critical for a successful season. I appreciate his effort/contribution.
—-Agree that our receivers did very poorly at the most critical times.This is why we hit the portal for 3 “ proven commodities “. —Our Freshman and Redshirt Freshman WR’s seem to be a step or two up. We’ll see.
I think the ND game leaves an even worse taste in our mouth since it was the final game. That 0 catch for WR stat line is just bizarre for a team that led at the half and was tied with under 2 minutes left.
The OSU game was bad as well, but that can at least be considered a defensive struggle. Our entire offense did nothing that game and the WRs still had 3/49 and should have been a 4th reception (for a TD).
Even against Oregon (which doesn't come across as a bad game), they only put up 5/81.
The good thing is, we've reset the room. It has to improve because it honestly can't be much worse.
Allar can shoulder some blame, but we have the film of him throwing 100+ balls to Warren. And that's with teams actively planning to stop him. If the new look WR room can provide something between Warren and Wallace, I believe we'll be satisfied.
Wallace would be a great #2 or #3 (I hate he left), but he isn't a WR1 unless Kiffin can help him. Just like KLS. He had a statistically good year at Auburn, but they stunk. Playing from behind a lot aided his stats.
I think people get too hung up on stats. I'll gladly take 2200+ rush yards from our 2 RBs and 400-500 yard years from the WRs as long as they can get open vs OSU. If you looked at Wallace and Evans final yardage, you would think "they weren't that bad" until you break down the games.
Wow, give me some Kool Aid.
What flavor?
Not a shocker. Joel Klatt also has us #1. Lindy's has us #2. Expectations are through the roof.
The three non-conference walk-overs to start the season are making me a little nervous though. It might be better to play at least one respectable opponent...say on the order of West Virginia as in the past two years...before the big test against Oregon in late September.
PSU has been horrible against top opponents in close games under Franklin. Defenders fell down to allow ND to come from behind just like they did vs Michigan in 2021. Why does this always happen to PSU? Then we followed that up with Allar's horrible INT to give up the winning FG similar to McSorley's late INT vs USC in the Rose Bowl.
The OSU game turned on two things. One was the pass to Wallace to Wallace that looked like a TD until the OSU defender stole the ball from him. The other was 1st and goal from the 3 yd line and Warren didn't touch the ball in 4 attempts.
PSU''s defense wasn't good against Oregon. Gabriel was 22-32 with 4 TD and 0 INTs. But it was still only an 8 pt game. Allar threw and INT that was returned to the 1 yd line (virtually a pick 6) and he threw another on the final drive from near mid field with 2 minutes to play. PSU had 523 yds of offense in that game which should have been enough.
This year will be interesting with new starting WRs. Allar is going to have to find a new favorite target with Warren gone. Ross, Hudson, Pena, Reynolds, and Dinkins give him lots of choices.
Wesauking Lion
New member
This is what we have done every year. Same Game, Same James.... different players.
Win the big ones. The excuse for the upcoming year is already baked in... its going to be either the receivers did not step up or Allar did not step up. Will Allar play big and not flake when the pressure is on? Will the receivers get an inch of separation? I guess we will have to wait and see.
I think the OC needs to step up also.... quit the gimmick plays.. double pass back nonsense. If you are averaging 7.8 yards a carry, keep doing it until they stop you. Allar as a receiver is a wasted play. OC wastes a lot of plays with gimmicks or just head scratching plays. Trick plays work against bad teams. The good teams are not fooled by the trick plays... they sniff that out.
Win the big ones an ranking takes care of itself.
LudicrousSpeedGO!
Active member
I'm hoping that Allar's new favorite target is the guy who is most open on that play. It is possible that his comfort with Warren held back his development. If he wants to cement himself in the first round this year, he needs to spread it around to whichever is the best option on that play and not have tendencies.
Last year, it wasn't only Warren, but he had certain games where Wallace was the favorite verses WVU and then disappeared for a bit, Evans had over 100 verses Kent St, Clifford had over 100 verses UCLA. It was like game by game, they had a plan, and Allar watched one guy more than the others. Most games that was Warren, but there were some games that it was a random WR. I'd like to see him spread it around and have a few guys consistently showing up with 50+ yards in nearly all games. Now it could be that they were trying to exploit a certain matchup, but I'd still like to see several threats most games.
National champions or bust baby!
Mostly agree but I think some trick plays are OK. Just don't go overboard. MSU beat us a few years ago with some trick plays. Michigan beat us by employing 7 OL to break a few big runs.
I agree that I hate Allar split out wide. I think that was to get Pribula in the game similar to what we did with Levis. I don't expect to see much of that this year.
Wesauking Lion
New member
I think this is especially true for Allar. There is a lot of pressure on him to step up when the pressure is on. People will be very critical of him if he makes mistakes late in the game with an opportunity to win. All the excuses are played out. He is not young. He has a huge number of starts. He has played in big games... home and away. It goes on and on.
No question he is talented. Can he step up when its time?
Wesauking Lion
New member
The trick plays are frustrating especially when the offense is clicking.
RickinDayton
Member
Alla
Allar has to find multiple targets. He can't have singular focus.
It's going to define his collegiate career for sure. They've spent the money and retained a very good roster around him. They brought in 3 new players at WR. They hired Knowles to improve the defense (Allen did us no favors vs Oregon nor Notre Dame plus a ton of terrible 1st half all year long).
The pieces are in place.
Pennstate_one
New member
The way I think about it is that a championship team just wins. Gotta get the monkey off our back one way or the other.
