What an end to the season

Revived Penn State Fans :

Congratulations to everyone who loves Penn State football. What a year; it was thrilling and it was maddening!! It gave us redemption and now it asks questions! It made us proud and maybe left us ashamed?

It was a great year!

Sorry, I am a bit late to the party on my final game write up. I’ve been writing petitions to Penn State to have Joe fired for harming my mental and physical health due to all the close wins this year. Really, this isn’t good for me and someone’s head should roll!

My only comment on the NOW front: Interesting how one group thinks Joe should resign, while his peers give him his 5th Coach of the Year award…..hmmm


My view from the Orange Bowl Road Trip:
This was my FIFTH bowl adventure…and I am happy to report that I am 5-0 in my Bowl vacations! A nice little Hanukkah gift the team gives me every trip. And this was my 5th different bowl game: Citrus, Outback, Fiesta, Alamo and Orange. Therefore, I feel I have the experience to make some broad observations about this year’s BCS Orange Bowl:

- Penn State Fans traveled and traveled BIG. Frankly it looked like we were at the “Penn State Miami Campus”. South Beach has never seen the “winter white” complexition on so many people laying on the beach.
- The fans lived by the motto “Arrive Early, Be Loud, Stay Late”! Nice job!
- Penn State needs to create a simple organized chant. The “We Are, Penn State” is cool. But we must create something to combat our opponents’ brain dead yells…in this case the tomahawk chop.
- Our band needs to play more, especially when outside of Beaver Stadium. They clearly lost the battle with the FSU band.
- QUESTION: Do the warm weather Bowl locations create an advantage for Southern teams?? I would like to see USC, Texas, FSU, etc play in the cold….
- Dolphin Stadium is another poorly designed multi-use facility. The seats are too far from the field.
- Speaking of poor. How much money do I have to “donate” to get decent seats??? Another example of why the BCS may never end…too much corporate money getting all the benefits!
- So, how does Myron Rolle feel now? Remember he is the All American, all everything high school player who spurned Joepa in favor of FSU back in September. His reason; “I want to play for a winning program.” Nice decision making kid….enjoy being a NCAA rule breaking Indian.


Seminoles get Chopped:
Here are my quick takes on the game and the all familiar team grades. The final grades for this school year:

- Our heralded Freshman played like Freshman in the big games that mattered: Michigan State and the Orange Bowl. The “virus of youth” came shining through in both catching and kicking the ball. On the positive they developed the mental toughness for the future.
- Joe reverted to his old style of Conservative play in the same big games.
- Congrats to the second string players who demonstrated great pose: Austin Scott and Sean Lee
- The combination of Robinson to Smolko proved to be BIG yet again!
- The Touchdown pass to Kilmer before half time…can you say HUGE!
- The Battle of Field Position was won by our Defense in the third quarter. FSU started inside the Penn State fifty, 3 times in the quarter…and yielded ZERO points!!!
- Kapinos continually out punted his coverage, forcing our player out of their tackling lanes. Not a good mixture against FSU’s speed.
- You can’t coach Speed and clearly FSU has it. But you can coach Football and PSU does that. Outcome: Penn State WINS!

Grades:
Coaching: C that turned into a B
- The team played tentative and looked sluggish/unsure at times.
- The Offensive play calling was pretty vanilla….we saw more plays run out of the I formation than in any other game all year.
- Odd idea to run a fake field goal in the third overtime…

Offense: C
- Too inconsistent…we moved the ball, but got few points in the first half.
- Too many dropped balls and poor passes.
- FSU had a fast and strong defense. And the team did not adjust well to their half time changes to stop the run.

Defense: A+
- The team only made 1 error the entire night, on the screen pass in the 2nd quarter.
- 12 first downs, and 26 rushing yards…need we say more?
- Dan Connor played a great game….how nice it will be to see him and Poz back next year.

Special Teams : F
- Punt and kick coverages??? Please Joe hire a full time ST Coach.
- Kevin Kelly…is he a hero or a goat? He was 1-3 on game winning kicks. But let’s remember - his is only 19! Now he is mentally tough for the future.
- Punt and kick returns. Please Joe hire a full time ST Coach….


Bowl picks of the week:
I was wrong…badly wrong…2-6

Alamo bowl = Michigan NO
Vitalis Sun bowl = Northwestern NO
Chick-fil-A bowl = LSU
Outback bowl = Iowa NO
Capital One bowl = Auburn NO
Tostitos Fiesta bowl = Ohio State
Nokia Sugar bowl = Georgia NO
Rose bowl = USC NO


Upcoming subjects to be covered by the Editor:
2006 Recruiting Update
2006 Prediction and Keys to
Team Preview for 2006

Thanks for playing my little game of Sports writer,
Erik “Wake me up for Spring football” Rosenstrauch