Have we seen our worst?

Welcome 2015 Season

After a few year hiatus from expressing my thoughts in the form of a blog regarding Penn State Football, I had many thoughts in my head after this past week that I needed to get on paper. With that being said, Welcome. I encourage comments and conversations on all posts. Please be as critical as needed, everybody is entitled to their own opinion. I will attempt to post each week regarding my thoughts on what is going on in Nittany Nation. If there are any suggestions, comments, or requests PLEASE let me know as I'd love to make this as popular as possible with much interaction.

This week, the question is, have we seen our worst? I have to think the answer to this question is yes. If we sink any lower than we did this previous week, and lose to a MAC opponent this Saturday, I have a feeling all hell will break loose in State College. However, I do believe our team has enough heart and guts that they will come out in front of our incredible fan base, and really take out their frustrations on this opponent. I'm a very optimistic fan, but I do think that we will see the showing from our team that we SHOULD against this type of opponent.

I like to think that we have seen our worst, because quite honestly, how much worse can it get than 10 sacks in one game against an AAC opponent. I read quite a bit of online material regarding our Nittany Lions, and much of the blame is being placed on the OC and the OL. However, I do believe there are other pieces to the puzzle that contribute (not only to our success, but the also the happiness of our fan base)........

Hackenberg - A great quarterback will make adjustments for the things that are going wrong around them. I believe there are many things Christian can do to account for the poor offensive line play. If the line and the play calling will not adjust to his liking, he needs to make the adjustment to them and show how good great he is can be. Do not get my wrong, I'm a huge Hack fan, however I do believe he needs to become a leader. Please Read: https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2015/09/09/analysis-notebook-dont-blame-psus-o-line-for-hackenbergs-struggles/

Frank Lines - Yes, "Frank Lines," what I would like to call the tid bits we hear over and over again from James Franklin. Just like I am of Hack, I'm also a huge Franklin fan. I love what he has done to embrace the Penn State community, and love even more what he and his colleagues have done on the recruiting trail. However, one of my dislikes are his lines, he is a politician in the fact that he can tell people what they want to hear.

One of his most used lines is in defense of the play calling and using a limited number of plays. He always places the limited playbook on the fact that it's hard to call more plays when the line cannot protect. However, I believe the opposite of this, the limited playbook allows opponents to predict what we will be doing, with a larger arsenal of plays for Hack to utilize, it will keep them guessing and honest. Last season was understandable, first year in a system you do not want to overload the team with knowledge, however another "Frank Line" that is commonly used is the leap from year 1 to year 2 in a new system. Based on what we saw this past week against Temple, it looks as if Franklin had just become our head coach the week before the game.

I hope to see a larger selection of plays this week, and see it expand from week to week. We have too many weapons on offense for us to not specifically work towards them. These pieces are being used interchangeably, when in reality plays should be drawn up for our specific talents. We have may talented wide receivers with several talent sets: size, speed, and ball handling, and the same goes with our running back corps.

The Fans - Yes, this is a little contradictory to what I mentioned in my opening about being as critical as you would like, but we are a problem as well. I will admit, I'm a younger Penn State fan, not really developing a following until around the 2005/2006 season, so I have not seen the lowest of the lows that I have read so much about. However, the comments and social media posts I have seen over the course of the past week is the most critical I have ever seen of the Penn State fan base. I understand we are all displeased with what happened this past week, however a "Frank Line" I do agree with is patience.

Rome was not built in a day. Penn State will be a contender in the next few years, once Franklin has the ability to truly dive into his system with the players he hand picked. We are recruiting better than we ever have, and James will be able to use these players as they should be. We are in a TOUGH Big Ten East division right now, so it may look bad terrible, but once we recover from the past few years and get acclimated to our new coach, we will be in the drivers seat of our own destiny. This is why patience is important, recruits will not be lining up to play for PSU with negativity all over the internet. Remain optimistic, it is just a game after all.

I hope that you have enjoyed my opinion of the start of the 2015 Penn State Football season. While there are a lot of negatives in our community right now, please remember that we only have 12 of these weekends a year. Win or lose, these are the best weekends of the year, so make the most of them. Even a loss is better than reading all those off season articles. Whether you enjoy with friends at Beaver Stadium (or opposing stadiums), from your local cities viewing bar, or from the comfort of your own home, make the most of the experience. Cheer loud, and display your Penn State pride no matter what. Our time will come, and when it does these dark days will be forgotten.