PSU Football Thread

[DropEmJayBird]

Let me change my position.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O09IUXNZ_Ws

Better angle right at the end - definitely see the PSU player with control (other hand below the ball). Easy TD call.

The only thing I can think of is the Nebraska player - on his way to hit the PSU guy - touched the ball before it hit the goal line - and started to knock it loose at that moment. Even that would have been bang-bang, and it looks like the ball was still just at the goal line if you assume the Nebraska player made contact with the ball at the earliest moment, so it should still be a TD.

[Staggy]

The call has nothing to do with whether the ball crossed the goal line. It was the opinion of the official, and mine to when seeing it the first time, that as the PSU player goes to extend the ball, he loses control. This happens around the 1 yard line or so I would say.

That's why the ball is so far forward in his hands. To me, it looked like in his thrust to move it forward, he lost it, and his hands were just following the ball at that point, going with the motion so to speak.

Lol.

Best wishes to Mauti though. He's been the heart and soul of the team all year. What a terrible way to end his career.

EDIT: sorry, didn't see previous post.

[shafnutz05]

Don't get game in NY...what happened to Mauti?! :( :(

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

O-lineman fell on his knee. Was taken off the field on a cart.

[PghSkins]

woot woot

[mac5155]

was the block on Mauti as dirty as my FB feed makes it out to be?

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

I didn't see anything dirty about it but i wasn't completely paying attention

[Lt. Dish]

was the block on Mauti as dirty as my FB feed makes it out to be?

While I was in another room, the announcers replayed it to dispel the notion that it was dirty: I heard (paraphrased) "Definitely not at all a chop block." So, that's someone's opinion. I didn't see it.

Mike Mauti, you've been awesome and have had a year, on and off the field, of which you can be very proud.

[relantel]

Mauti got hurt on a low block, but too many bodies to see in the replay they showed as to whether it met the definition of the illegal kind.

They did show him on the sideline at the end of the game in crutches.

Report out of postgame is that BOB was noncommittal about 2013 - at least as reported by Ben Jones on twitter (statecollege.com's beat reporter)

Ben Jones ‏@Ben_Jones88

O'Brien won't give a "Yes" or "No" to coaching next season. Says people gave legs to a story that isn't there, but doesn't exactly say no.

https://twitter.com/Ben_Jones88/status/ ... 6961541122

Ben Jones ‏@Ben_Jones88

If Bill O'Brien knows he is staying, he has to say so. Losing him this offseason would hurt Penn State more than sanctions would.

https://twitter.com/Ben_Jones88/status/ ... 4951730176

Ben Jones ‏@Ben_Jones88

Know some of you think the media is making a mountain out of a molehill, but it isn't a trick question and he has given nonspecific answers

https://twitter.com/Ben_Jones88/status/ ... 9348358144

Ben Jones ‏@Ben_Jones88

He has a contract for the better part of a decade, if him not committing to year two isn't at least suspicious then I don't know what is.

https://twitter.com/Ben_Jones88/status/ ... 9911432192


Apparently the questioner has an article up about it on Pennlive.com: http://www.pennlive.com/pennstatefootba ... /11/o.html

None of this necessarily means O'Brien is out the door.

It just means he won't lie. He won't sit there one day like Nick Saban did with the Miami fans and tell them he was absolutely staying and a few days later sign a lucrative contract in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

O'Brien is not going to hem himself in. He's not going to diagram a whiteboard when he doesn't know the package of possible plays yet.

That's the way the guy is. That's what makes him so good at what he does. And we're all just going to have to live with it.

[DontToewsMeBro]

O'Brien's buyout is upwards of ~$9 million, I don't see him going anywhere for the next few years.

[shafnutz05]

I would be horribly disappointed if he left. I know he has a really tough road ahead of him, but I have really grown to like him a ton as a coach and a person.

[columbia]

He knew what he was getting into, that would make zero sense for him to just leave.
Especially after such a good season.

[DontToewsMeBro]

I think he knew what he was getting into, but didn't know that he would be getting attention from the NFL so soon.

[relantel]

Anyone else thought the replay call in the 2nd half went Penn State's way solely as make=up for the Nebraska call? At best I thought it would be incomplete pass, as he never really secured the ball. And given the replays BTN showed, sure looked like a bang/bang on the goal line/ball loose, with not being able to tell which side.

[Lt. Dish]

BOB has to know that he'd look pretty bad if he left after one year, especially after his assertions that he was in it "for the long haul" after the NCAA sanctions were handed down. That's my belief, anyway.

An NFL team will pony up the 9.2 million to get him out of his contract. I don't think that's an issue.

I'm pretty annoyed that this question has arisen in the first place, just when things have stabilized somewhat.

[ulf]

not gonna lie, if someone was going to pay me enough that they're also covering a 9 mil buy-out, I'd get over the looking bad part of it pretty quickly.

[Orlando Penguin]

1. Mauti injury -- textbook chop block. Fully engaged up top when the running back dives into his knee. The *** on BTN who claimed no chop block were shot down by Howard Griffith in the studio after the game saying it was most definitely a chop block.

2. Replay upholding Zwinak TD -- Another classic case of the call on the field having to stand because the blind mice in the booth couldn't figure it out. To me, it was a catch, fumble, touchback. But because Z's back was to the calling official, that official couldn't see when the ball came out until it was over the goal line, thus the touchdown signal. On replay, it sure looks like that ball was coming out before he crossed the goal line. (who said PSU fans couldn't see it both ways?)

3. My opinion, if OB wants to take his chances at the NFL level, then be my guest. He could certainly be an all-timer at PSU...hell, he's already one just with the job he's done this year. But a lot of these guys have these giant egos where they want to prove themselves at the highest level and there are so many of them that fail. Hell, Saban was a huge failure at the NFL level but most non-Dolphins fans look past that blip on his resume.

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

I never thought Zwinak had complete control of the football. If anything it should have been an incomplete pass.

[count2infinity]

I honestly didn't think they'd call it a touchdown. Look at Zwinak's face after he drops it. He though it was incomplete as well.

[PghSkins]

I honestly didn't think they'd call it a touchdown. Look at Zwinak's face after he drops it. He though it was incomplete as well.

I agree, but that said I'm so tired of the conspiracy talk. First the call vs Nebraska was a conspiracy against PSU. Now the call in the IU game is a conspiracy the other way to make up for the Nebraska call?

Ugh.

My Dad's cousin offered us tickets to the Wisconsin game, was going to be my first game since 1994 and my kids' first game ever.

Cuz forgot and gave them to a business associate.

Dispwn3d.

[count2infinity]

i don't think there's any sort of conspiracy here. in the nebraska game it was a very very close call. the call on the field was fumble, so that's what was upheld. here it's the same thing. it was so close that it really depended on what the call on the field was. it was called a touchdown so that's what was upheld.

[mac5155]

wait wait.. BOB is thinking about leaving?

[PghSkins]

i don't think there's any sort of conspiracy here. in the nebraska game it was a very very close call. the call on the field was fumble, so that's what was upheld. here it's the same thing. it was so close that it really depended on what the call on the field was. it was called a touchdown so that's what was upheld.

Yeah, I should have referred it back to this

Anyone else thought the replay call in the 2nd half went Penn State's way solely as make=up for the Nebraska call? .

[thehockeyguru]

I'm still on the fence regarding BOB. I can't decide if he is that good of an offensive coach or if the previous regime was that inept. It very well could be both though.

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

At least some of the improvement of the offense can be attributed to focusing soley on McGloin instead of Rob Bolden. Bolden was horrible during his time at PSU. He had little accuracy.