Purdue vs Penn State Football 2022 Preview Week 1

[@georgesealy4706]

First game of the season. Purdue is home and revved. I say it goes down to the end and the winner will get a break a two.

[@timothythomad5529]

I think this is a much more important game for Purdue than PSU. At home, a chance to be relevant for once, last year with O'Connell. I think the home field keeps it close. I think the QB having experience playing top 5 teams in the last year helps against a team most think grossly outclasses Purdue in talent. I think that explains the 3 point spread. Yeah, PSU has more talent, but Purdue has better intangibles, coaching and the right talent in the right places. I think this will come down to the last possession of the game.

[@davidnikoloff3211]

1. Penn State has a good, but not elite head coach. 2. The wide receivers at Penn State may be outstanding, despite losing their top WR to the draft. 3. The starting RB last year is probably going to be #3 by the end of the year. The two new kids are that good. 4. The DBs are outstanding. General consensus among PSU observers is that 3 can play on Sundays. 5. The OL will have to prove they are good before anyone believes they are improved. 6. The DL is better. One DT is back from injury and another is back from being out last year for personal reasons. 7. LB is not a strength, but the guys they have can play. 8. The punter and long kicker are new. Special teams were a strength last year, but a question this year. 9. Clifford is ready to collect social security, but he is healthy. When pressed he is average at best. Can Purdue pressure him? If not Penn State scores, often. 10. Penn State 34, Purdue 24

[@Ehoffman61]

These are all spot on

[@teekay_1]

You're overrating PSU's coach.

[@jackstraw6880]

They don’t have a middle linebacker because they don’t run a defense that needs one. Edge rushers & big fast safeties are replacing linebackers all over the country.

[@bobbysilver581]

PSU Fan here - I think he's a little optimistic about our offensive line. There are some encouraging signs but I think if we get average offensive line play I think that's the most likely spot PSU will end up. Other than that so far 10 min into watching I can't argue too much with him.

[@bobbysilver581]

Secondary he was accurate one of the best in the big ten, Clifford second year with the same OC finally will be a positive, the new RB additions will be a big boost to the run game, and the DL should be REALLY good outside of the DE's who are largely ? marks rn due to either good players coming off injuries or new faces who are transfers. TEs are definitely above average and the WR core should be also better than last year in total.

[@teekay_1]

The big deal will be the almost legendary lack of game day coaching on PSU's part, including inability to do in-game adjustments. You'd have to point to the Illinois and Villanova games from last year as perfect examples of that.

[@bobbysilver581]

@@teekay_1 Don't agree - and they do adjustments well, more at halftime. Ex. @ Wisconsin last year couldn't do anything and then finally got on the board. And if you're one of the they can't coach type fans that's been a constant overall his entire tenure and he's still won games. Imo that's nothing and a random pot shot at a coaching staff you're generally just not high on. Imma be dealing in stuff that varies from game to game to make predictions.

[@teekay_1]

@@bobbysilver581 The big strikes against Franklin: * Loses 75% of games against top 15 teams * Struggles against teams they should blow out * backups not prepared to play in big games * terrible game day coach. * Franklin coached teams are not resilient and tend to lose if they're down in the 4th quarter. As to Wisconsin, if you recall they were struggling the first four games of the season, they started out at 1-3. PSU hit them at the right time. Had they played them in the last 1/3 of the season, they would have been routed.

[@bobbysilver581]

@@teekay_1 Again not even close lol. and no Franklins record from 2016-2019 were solid. All good seasons all things considered. One of the best runs in program history. Stats before that irrelevant due to sanctions. 2020 covid, that screwed up and skewed some stats and Cliffords injury last year. Franklins a good coach, you may hate him, but 2016-19 is more indicative of who he is than the rest. This year though it's all on him to re-show that.

[@edalbanese6310]

I don’t see Purdue win at all. Hope I am wrong. Secondary is really bad!

[@TheBigTimeBoiler]

Trice, Brown, Allen, Jefferson, and Taylor is an extremely solid secondary. Disagree. They got to be 100% tho

[@debrawillard3034]

WE ARE !!!!!!!!!

[@delmasneedamjr736]

Broc Thompson

[@brettk9316]

Game will be good first half think penn st wins by 2 tds at the end. Never know though.

[@michaelhenry8890]

Penn State 38 Purdue 17

[@dominicaccordino8932]

I'm a penn stage fan but he is talking penn state up a little to much. The o-line probably won't be that good. The O-line needs a lot to be what he think it's going to be..

[@bobbysilver581]

After watching the whole thing the only real extra hype up and overly optimistic thing was that OL. Other than that I agree with his secondary hype. I do think the OL and run game will be question marks to some extent, but it should be better.

[@gabeweiss768]

Go Irish

[@jackstraw6880]

Does this Penn State guy even watch PSU football?

[@TheBigTimeBoiler]

So what's been the issue the past two seasons... Is it coaching? Seems like you guys get good level recruits. The development not there tho?

[@jackstraw6880]

The problem last year was the new OC needed specific types of players to run his specific type of offense. That’s why they need to start playing the freshman that came to PSU because of the new OC. PSU couldn’t run the ball because of multiple reasons, #1 being Yurcich had little interest in running the ball. They didn’t start trying to establish a running game until Clifford went down. October is too late to put a running game in the system. Saying Franklin modernized the program means they recruit kids the would not have made offers to in the past (still amazing kids, but some don’t fill a team need) also Franklin has been hiring coordinators that run gimmick systems; they do one type of thing and do it well with specific types of personal. That’s fine and very common. But when life happens and something goes not to plan, there is very little ability to adjust. Like if QB1 goes down and you have a pass blocking OL but need to run the ball.

[@brettk9316]

Not sure why got rid of kirk ciarrocca so fast. He wasn't given much of a chance yurcich better work out. I'm not a fan of trautwein but this is his year to prove me wrong!

[@pelcold]

@@TheBigTimeBoiler One dimensional offense in 2021 with no consistent run game. 2020 was just a complete mess with Franklin going through a tough family situation. His daughter has sickle cell and he didn’t see them for something like 6 months during the height of Covid while they stayed in a house of theirs in Florida. Bottom line though I think a lot of Franklin’s success, which he deserves credit for, was due to a couple guys carrying the program. When they left, weaknesses of his were certainly exposed. Clifford is a serviceable QB but isn’t putting an offense on his back. The offense will go as the O-Line and run game goes. Barkley and Micah Parsons carried them in a few games over the years and kept them from going 8-4 or 9-3 in those 11 win seasons (on top of the infamous blocked field goal vs OSU). In terms of on field coaching you’d be hard pressed to find many who do less with more in the country than James Franklin with Consistent #2/3 in Big Ten recruiting classes. Franklin and Co. in the past have also stubborn in terms of preserving shutouts over giving backups meaningful reps in games. Bit them in the ass last year after Clifford got hurt. There was no competent #2 QB. With regular top 10-15 classes there’s no excuse for that. It’s also not just a segment of the fans pointing fingers at Franklin. Watch a PSU game and you’ll regularly hear commentators make remarks over “questionable coaching decisions” aka what the hell is this guy thinking. Bottom line there is a loyal percentage of fans who are all in on Franklin and another fraction (probably a bit bigger IMHO) growing inpatient and calling his bluff. David Jones of PennLive calls it best: James Franklin is the king of the press conference. Gets you to buy into his philosophy then blows a game against Illinois in 9 OTs or flops against a beatable team on the road after a close loss or bye week. See MSU in ‘17, ‘18. Illinois in 2021. The entire first half of 2020. Even Minnesota in 2019 was winnable. I’m not saying Franklin should have been canned but it’s ludicrous to think he is the only able bodied coach who can lead this program. As such the patience should be a bit thinner each year PSU finished with less than 10 wins.

[@TheBigTimeBoiler]

@@pelcold appreciate the reply and analysis! That's good info

[@CDettmar]

Just Falcon doesn't add a whole lot to this. Too many trite statements and not enough solid analysis. Not good that he missed his prediction on Nebraska - Northwestern.

[@TheBigTimeBoiler]

In fairness we both missed that Nebraska prediction tho I did say I wouldn't be surprised to see them blow it. Typical Frost. Will get Just Falcon talking a lot more in the next one, he knows his stuff. This one was primarily to hear Penn State thoughts from someone that covers them. Also probably doesn't help older brother likes to talk over him haha

[@analogcrunch4716]

Easy Purdue win- I say 21 point win.

[@cadeezra315]

Lmao

[@TheBigTimeBoiler]

I like your confidence lol but I'm thinking it's going to be a tight contest.

[@ZMAN0224]

3-15 all time record vs Penn State and haven’t won since 2003. It’s likely a nail biter and the line is PSU by 3.5 points. However if there is a blowout, it’s likely not going to be in Purdues favor.