Wife:
But, sheee-it - it's opening weekend, baby. The jubilation you feel as Grambling misses an XP to lose in orderly fashion...that's REAL OFFICIAL JUBILATION, and no one can take that away.
And armed with that, the PSU/Akron game begins. You're armed with Dish Network, and your stereo is blaring Jack Ham, one of your childhood Football Heroes, and Voice of PSU Football for a 6th season now...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! There's a 7 second delay!!!!!!
SO, you are forced to listen to PAM WARD and MIKE GOTTFRIED on the ESPN2 broadcast. You know they will be awful..and surpise, they are that and less, much less.
But dagnabit, you've been waiting 9 months for this, and as Anthony Morelli goes under center, you realize you've been waiting THREE YEARS for this. Then, as his first pass goes for a 42 yard TD, a ball that sails over two defenders and right into the hands of the WR, you remember that you've been waiting for a competent passing game from PSU for a lot longer than that...since Collins, since Blackledge...and before that, since rugby players started hearing helmets and tossing the ball downfield.
Anthony Morelli, I'm pleased to report, is a competent CFB QB. Many of you might think this an underwhelming revelation...and many of you are not joined at the hip to your expectations for PSU football success. I congratulate you...and I do so with a grin.
PSU is a young team. However, the CFB landscape has changed a good bit since I grew up watching PSU steamroll the weak teams of the Northeast. Everyone is "young". Now, even Paterno is getting his best talent on the field as soon as possible. The best experience is game experience. So PSU's OL needs some time to come together.
Now, the OL has been a sore spot for the team...a chancre that has been growing ever since the dominant '94 season. As the offense tightened up, the OL started to degrade, and the team has had all kind of trouble fielding a good, or even competent OL. However, starting in 2005, people have begun to understand...the OL is only as good as the other elements of the offense allow it to be. If you have a competent QB who can make routine outs, check through several targets, and hit open guys, if you have a gameplan that isn't utterly transparent to the opponent, if you have WRs that are speedy and actually catch the ball, well, you are success-enabled...if not...shit, witness a decade of decline, with a "legendary" coach's legacy burning up in the flashpan.
So...the OL has a ways to come, but this is OK, because your QB can take pressure off of them. But, it takes time. Akron's 3-5-3 is very effective against the run - there's always 8-9 guys in the box. Prior PSU teams struggled mightily with this, but this one has bolstered the skill talent. You cannot single-cover Derrick Williams. You probably can't cover him under any circumstances...but in single coverage, he'll beat you. Increasingly...so will #3 and #24, and now, watch out for Chris Bell, who looks like a young Braylon Edwards, and A.J. Wallace, who looks like..well, a really fast mofo.
Anyway, PSU has a ways to go. The defense is stocked with talent, proven and otherwise...and the potential is through the roof. Morelli will probably struggle against a better defense...but that will make him all the better down the road.
PSU won't win a MNC this year, hell, I know that. I do think they'll give OSU and ND really tough games, and I expect - DEMAND - a win against UM in front of a record-setting crowd. Not just a win...but a patient and scientific and dissection, with an overflowing medical waste bag. PSU will be a team that looks damn good by the end of the season, and I pity their bowel opponent.
And Pam Ward...she sounds like a man, knows nothing about CFB except what a cue card can convey, and with my luck, she'll be a fixture on PSU games for years to come.
raW
(signoff borrowed, hopefully not forevah :|)
