Well, well, well, look who is back on the schedule.  After an 18 year hiatus, the Penn St Nittany Lions are back to renew a rivalry that dates back to 1922.   Well it really isn’t much of a rivalry, as the season series is lopsided to the tune of 23-40-5.  In the eyes of many Orange fans, it was becoming a rivalry, when we took consecutive games in ’87 in the dome and ’88 in Happy Valley.  It would have been interesting to see how the teams would have played in the 90s.  However, the series halted when SU failed to give in to more home games at Penn St and the Big East failed to envision itself as a football conference when it shunned overatures by PSU to join the conference.  With that, the concept of “Eastern” football died.

What we Know

The Nittany Lions went 9-4 last season, doing most of their damage in Happy Valley.  Wins over Florida Int, Notre Dame, Buffalo, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, Purdue, Temple and Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl.  Losses were to Michigan, Illinois, Ohio St and Michigan St.

Conventional wisdom has this team in the Top 25 even though they could finish 4th or 5th this season in the Big 10.  I would hesitate to say that a 10 win season is attainable, especially considering the Cuse is probably the marquee game on a non-conference slate that includes Coastal Carolina, Oregon St and Temple all at home – yikes!

Spring developments

When you think of Penn St, you think of those generic white uniforms and Joe Paterno.  Paterno has personified longevity, coaching for an absurd 42 years.  And with that stability you would expect tranquility but alas, the Lions had their share of off the field hijinks and it pails in comparison to sneaking in to steal equipment.

On the field, LB Sean Lee went down w/ an ACL tear, leaving the Lions w/o the Big 10′s 2nd leading tackler. Fortunately, potential conference Def POY candidate Maurice Evans is around.  A sack machine who registered 12.5 last season, Evans leads an experienced Dline that returns 7 players who saw significant time.  The line was a prime reason the D was stingy against the run, rating 7th in the nation.

On offense, the major concern will be at QB as Joe Pa could be placing junior Daryll Clark and sophomore Pat Devlin on the proverbial merri-go-round.  Their offensive line will be a strength w/ AQ Shipley at C and guard Rich Ohrnberger both starters for the 3rd straight year.  The trio of WRs Deon Butler, Derrick Williams and Jordan Norwood are in the top 10 in receptions in school history.  Throw in RB Evan Royster who rushed for over 500 yds as a frosh and its easy to see that the Lions should maintain their 30.3 pts per game average next season.

As for the spring game, well let’s just say that they drew a few more fans than we did  and leave it at that.

Quick fact

Despite a long and proud tradition, the Lions have only one Heisman and that’s John Cappelletti in 1973

Why we can win

One need only look at last year’s stunning win over Louisville to see that there is hope that a top 20 foe can be knocked off.  The game is at home, where the Loud House can have influence.  Even PSU blogger There Is No Name on My Jersey gives us a punchers chance, albeit before the suspension of Mike Williams.  Teams were able to hang and beat PSU via the air last season and that will likely be the way such an upset would occur this season.

Why we can lose

The strength of PSU on both sides of the ball is their lines.  Evans and company may have a field day harassing ARob if the line reverts to its porous sack numbers.  A stout run defense could make life miserable for Hogue/Carter and Brinkley. I could see Joe Pa calling out mobile qb Pat Devlin to run roughshod on the LBing core, similar to how Jake Locker did last season against us in the dome.

ZHK says:

While its nice to see some old school rivals on the schedule,  this team is ill prepared to handle a team that is as balanced as Penn St.  Of course we said that last year at Louisville too and that game came off of demoralizing efforts against Washington and Iowa.  The stands should be filled, hopefully in orange.  Still, this game seems tailor made for a loss. How big of a loss will determine how well the program is received with FCS foe Northeastern in town next week.

Next week  Norhtheastern

Now talk to the Zero Hand…

In this installment of the ZHK, we will break down SU’s 2nd opponent, the Akron Zips.

This is the home opener for the Cuse, and thanks to my negative prediction last week of a loss to Northwestern, AD Darryl Gross can safely estimate an opening day crowd of 27K to watch us battle this MAC foe. On a side note, any chance of building some kind of rabid fan base with this blog probably went south with that pick too. Oh well, at least my pick was etched in pencil. But seriously, many fans will be taking a hard look at the program this season and that first game will either bring a full chorus of vitriol on Greg Robinson or maybe it could signal a Rich Brooks led Kentucky like resurrection of the program, or maybe neither.

Now back to the Zips.

What we know:

The Zips went 4-8 last season with wins over Army, Kent St, Western Michigan, and Ohio. Losses were to Ohio St, Indiana, UConn, Temple, Buffalo, Bowling Green, Miami OH, and Central Michigan. The Zips really struggled on Offense, ranking 97th in scoring, 90th in rushing (although at 127.8 yds per game its more than double our total 62.8 per game), and 100th in passing yds. The offense returns 7 of those starters, including All-Mac left tackle Chris Kemme.

Spring Developments:

On the positive front, Akron broke ground on a new on campus football stadium. On the not so positive front, expect Akron to lose 5 scholarships thanks to the NCAA. The defense plays an unconventional 3-3-5 defensive set. Only 4 starters return on D and to put more talent on that side of the ball, All-MAC RB Bryan Williams moved to the secondary. Several transfers from BCS schools (Miami, WV, Iowa) are expected to fill in and play critical roles.

Chris Jacquemain runs the offense. He may be pushed by redshirt frosh Matt Rogers. To continue to mock our spring fling, Akron split their team into a Blue vs Gold matchup and played a full game. None of this offense vs defense crap.

Most pundits are picking Akron as a middle of the pack team in the MAC with a potential to contend if things fall into place. The Quad ranks Akron as the #103 team out of all Div-I schools.

Quick fact:

Akron sports NFL Man of the Year/Dancing with the Stars runnerup Jason Taylor as a prominent alumni.

Why we can win:

On paper, Akron appears to offer a one dimensional ground attack. With the sheer number of changes going on the defensive side, this game is tailor made for the offense to establish something positive on the ground.  We also should have some success working in our youngsters at WR. The lack of productivity on the passing game for the Zips will alleviate our inexperience in the secondary.

Why we can lose:

Anyone that watched last season’s game against Miami Oh knows what we are capable of. Akron’s strength’s will be their OLine and depth of RBs. If they can run the ball and minimize mistakes they could hang around.

ZHK says:

This game should shape up as a solid indicator of where the team is heading. Typically, teams show their greatest improvement between the first and second games. A decisive win would do well to put fannies in the seats for the remaining home schedule. Struggling in this game, will cause me to rethink the merits of blogging this program. Plus it all but guarentees that next week’s game w/ PSU will feel more like a game at the Happy Valley then a home game.
Fortunately I’m not picking that. I expect to see Delone Carter make a big splash and rush for 100 yards. This is a game that we shouldn’t miss the services of Instant Six (Who I will forever reference as Deep Sixed from this point forward). The knob is turned down to simmer on the Grob seat this week. Chisel this game in stone as the Cuse gets a nice win. Hope springs eternal as Penn St rolls in next week.

Next week on ZHK: Penn St.

Thoughts? Talk to the Hand…

Welcome to in the inaugural edition of what I am currently calling the ZHK, Zero Hand Knowledge. Its everything you have the ability to know but are too lazy to hunt down yourself. Consider me your zero hand!

With the football season on the horizon, I want to start with some incite on our upcoming opponents. As we all know, this is really a make or break season for Coach Robinson. The fan base has already witnessed the tearing down of the program. We knew that the talent had declined in the later part of Paul Pasqualoni’s career, but no one invisioned 1-10, 4-7 or 2-10 for this program. Robinson now has 3 recruiting classes in house. What can we expect this season as fans? More than one win in conference? A bowl appearance? I’ll try and pick apart the schedule and see how our opponents are looking. In this addition, the ZHK will break down our opening game foe, the Northwestern Wildcats.

What we know:

# of returning starters O – 8
# of returning starters on D – 7

Northwestern’s record last year was 6-6. Many experts rated their schedule as one of the easiest in the nation, yet they did not go bowling. They did not play Wisconsin or Penn St. They pretty much beat who they were expected to beat minus losing to Duke at home. Wins: Northeastern, Nevada, Mich St, Minnesota, Eastern Michigan, Indiana. Losses: Duke, Ohio St, Michigan, Purdue, Iowa, Illinios. Their best win was against Michigan St on the road.

This is a pass first team. They return their core group of skill players. CJ Bacher led the Big 10 in passing last season. He has an experienced cast of receivers in Eric Peterson (66 catches), Ross Lane (49) and Rasheed Ward (46). Running backs Tyrell Sutton and Omar Conteh combined for 50 receptions as well and split the carries evenly also on the way to a combined 1000 yards. Sutton has the potential to be a big time back. He rushed for 1500+ yards as frosh and 1000 as a sophmore but missed 7 games last season. How well Sutton returns will dictate whether the Wildcats will have balance on offense or rely on Bacher to direct the attack.

Key Spring developments:

Northwestern must replace 3 starters on the line and it looks like redshirt frosh Al Netter will be manning the all important LT position. They have an new O Coordinator like we do in Mick McCall. He is looking to install a no-huddle offensive to help turn the Wildcats offensive yardage into points.

On the D side, Mike Hankwitz takes over as D coordinator and will be looking to improve on a defense that gave up alot of yards via the air and sacked opposing QBs only 18 times. The secondary is undergoing some position battles that will be decided in fall. Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

Spring game:

The NU spring game pretty much followed the breakdown of their team. The offense scored TDs in 3 of its first 4 series. And get this, they were able to pull off a 75 play scrimmage! That’s like a double spring session for us Cuse fans!

Quick fact:

Head coach Pat Fitzgerald played during the Gary Barnett era, won Nagurski/Bednarik awards as LB.

Why we can win:

It’s the opener. The Cats will be unveiling 3 new starters on the line. Their secondary weakness could be exploited by our biggest strength in Mike Williams, aka Instant Six! We will learn alot about our team in the opener. Last year we played a mobile QB in Jake Locker and were horribly exploited. Bacher is a throw first qb in the lines of our Andrew Robinson. Hopefully that means easier assignments for our D, which will have to put pressure on and limit the running game. Their Dline did not pressure the QB well and if we can get time to throw that will be to our advantage. Having a healthy stable of RBs in Hogue/Carter and Brinkley will take pressure off of ARob. Mitch Browning’s experience with having seen Northwestern will be a plus.

Why we can lose:

It’s the opener, duh, and its on the road. We are also trotting out a new offensive system and our weaknesses on the Oline will still be unknown as to any or how much improvement. NU’s strength is on offense and if their new no-huddle starts clicking we could be in for a long day, as they have the experience needed to make it work. This aspect scares me more than any other development. If Sutton runs well we will be in trouble. Our LB core, while it got some experience last year, is not a strength at this point. Our young secondary will be tested as well. Northwestern could be a sleeper this year in the Big 10. This will not be an easy game.

Areas of note:

Check out Northwestern blog laketheposts for his interview with Brian from Orange::44!
A more historical look at NU can be found at hailtopurple.

ZHK says:

We will probably be a team that gets better as the season progresses. If we want to entertain any thought of going bowling, this game is a must win. On the other hand, it may be alot to expect a win given Northwestern’s offensive experience. We can probably hang with them, but their ability to move the football will be a big factor, especially at home. I pencil this game as a loss.

Next ZHK: Akron

Now, talk to the Zero Hand!