Hey just a curious buckeye fan here wanting to know more about the teams around the big ten. I am hoping for the big ten to re-establish itself as a true power. While I dont buy the crap that the big ten is weak I do know ive seen better days of football for our conference. I have read things saying that PSU, illinois, wisky, and MSU are bringing back pretty good teams and I know OSU is as well, as for michigan i def think they can crack the top 25 depending on how well RR builds the team this summer the talent is still there.. Just hoping for a little input from you all.
All of the players currently suspended are expected to be back by summer practice as all or almost all of the charges against them have either been thrown out of court by various judges are will be thrown out shortly. With the exception of Bell, who has been kicked off the team, they should field a full team. Defensively, Penn State is getting a lot of love for the D-line which will be one of the best, if not the best in the country. Maurice Evans is the best end in the Big Ten and Jared Odrich and Phillip Taylor are largely considered the top two tackles in the league. They also have depth at every position on the line including Chris Baker who is probably the league's number four tackle. The linebacking corps took a big hit with Lee's injury but should be fine. They have a ton of talented players and have been reloading for years. As a unit, with Lee's injury, it ranks just behind the Buckeyes. Despite the early departure of Justin King, the secondary is probably on par with Ohio State's. The safety positions are in good hands as are the two corner spots. They lack star power but are good as every position with depth. Overall, the defense is on par with the Buckeyes' this year. It is one of the fastest Big Ten defenses I have ever seen if not the fastest an it certainly is the fastest this year.
On offense, the line is a true asset for the second year in a row. It is not as good as Ohio State's line but is probably the second best in the league. They have the best one two punch at running back though neither guy is in Chris Wells or Javon Ringer's league, yet. The receiving corps is great and would be on par if not better than OSU's pair if they were ever used and they have the best tandem of TEs in the league. The QB position is a big question mark but Pat Devlin fits the traditional Penn State offense better than Morelli ever did and they have proven that they know how to use Clark's ability with devastating effect should they choose to. They apparently learned their lesson with vanilla game plans that resulted in three of the regular season losses against inferior Michigan, Michigan State and Illinois teams and have vowed to field more dynamic offenses at home and on the road that take advantage of the speed mismatch they have on every team in the Big Ten.
Overall, this is the fastest Big Ten team I have ever seen in 20+ years of football. They are flying under the radar and it remains to be seen if the offensive coaches talk will actually be translated to the field. Going into the season, they have to be considered the second best team in the league behind the Buckeyes and the only true threat to them. But then again, they play in Columbus and Madison. Nevertheless, the should be favored in eleven of twelve games and the game versus OSU will determine the Big Ten title and possibly a spot in the title game.
The two games that worry me are Ohio State for obvious reasons and Wisconsin. The Badgers are going to field a good solid team as always but cannot run with Penn State. If Joe allows his offensive coaches to game plan the way they want to, Ohio State is the only team that can beat Penn State before the bowl game. They were close to an 11 win season last year and if not for bad offensive coaching, would have been and that team does not appear to be as good as this year's team.
SOS--Very optimistic, but everything you stated are all true. I think the one thing you mentioned that will be key to our success this year is our team speed. I feel like this could be our fastest and quickest team we've fielded for a long time, if not ever. The only thing that has the potential to screw it up would be JayPa, and our offensive staff. Let's hope not...
thanks for the input, I knew PSU had alot of returning starters and based off the recruiting that would be for this years senior class they would be pretty well loaded but I didnt know this well.
PSU finishing 6th in the Big Ten next year, yeah i dont think so. We are going to be anywhere from 4 to 1 and you buckeyes shouldnt get over confident, last time we ran a spread offense on you guys( if clark starts) we ended up first in the conference in a year when we werent expected to do much, somewhat similar to the year coming up.
SOS1984 did a great job of outlining PSU's personnel situation and the order of finish in the conference. I am curious about your oof; care to elaborate?
The Big 10 should be solid at the top next year with OSU, PSU, Wiscy and Illinois being very good teamsand Purdue will still suprise. Illinois played above themselves in the Big 10 last year and have an even more brutal schedule travelling to PSU and Wiscy as well as OSU at home. I think they will be the good team that ends up in the Alamo just based on schedule.
PSU is going to be good with tough road trips to Wisconsin and OSU plus can't overlook @ Iowa or @Purdue. Presuming that we win the home games second in the Big 10 is not out of the question.
Even though OSU will be the pre season favorite loosing at Wisconsin or at Illinois is not out of the question. I am looking forward to Joes first victory at the Shoe. We shall see. OSU played a perfect game last year at PSU a kind of game that they did not repeat before or after and was not indictive of how PSU played. With that said the top of the Big 10
1. OSU
2 PSU
3. Wiscy
4. Purdue
5. Illinois
with any one of the teams able to move up or down a couple of slots
I can see this year being alot like 1999 when MSU mich and PSU all lost just two games i believe wisky only lost three, the big tne was so tough that year every team lost at least two games in a row at some point in the season. I think that is how this season will be there is alot more balance at the top, with the way PSU OSU wisky, and illinois are shaping out. Remember illinois is still up and coming they have had consecutive top 25 recruiting classes.
