Penn State 'Won Ugly'? You Missed Something

With all due respect to my esteemed colleague here at FanHouse, I have to point out that Ray Holloman missed something in his post on the Penn State victory over Ohio State Saturday night. Not to worry, though, Ray; so far, it appears that a lot of other people have missed it too.

I know, based on seven of the Nittany Lions' first eight games, you all were expecting JoePa's harriers to drop 45 points and 500 yards of offense on the Buckeyes. Since I predicted a 34-31 Penn State victory, I was a little shocked too at how low the score was. (I hedged my bets in the middle of the afternoon, of course.) It turned out much more like both teams' Purdue games, in which Penn State only scored 20 and Ohio State only put up 16.

How did it turn out that way, though? After last week's Terrelle Pryor explosion in East Lansing and, well, Penn State's season, where were the offenses in this game? I mean, if a football game ends up with a 13-6 score and neither team putting up 300 yards of offense, they must be two mediocre teams, right? Don't good teams save their best performances for their best opponents?

Of course not. Great teams never play down to their opponents. Great teams don't just beat up on the little guys; they dominate their high-quality opponents as well. And they especially don't lose big games in their conference seasons. (Great teams are rare. Pretty good teams are common.)

But, whatever. It's a video game world these days, and nobody wants to watch a low-scoring game, even if there's something wonderful about two great defenses going up against two great offenses. Fine. You don't have to buy in to Penn State as a national title contender. If Bama holds serve and somebody gets through the Big XII undefeated, those are the two teams who should play for the title. Even an annoying Big Ten homer like me has to agree.

Some of you out there, however, are in the habit of never, ever giving even the slightest crumb of respect to any team that's not your own, or any team from a different conference. This is for you: There's something Penn State did last night which (a) your title contender didn't do yesterday, and (b) could level the playing field in a most unexpected way.

Maybe you know the story. Penn State hadn't won in Columbus since the Carter administration. JoePa hadn't even scored more than 10 points in any one game in Columbus since then. The Nits came into the Horseshoe last night as the favorite. Favored road teams facing opponents who are roughly their equal have to control momentum as best they can. If the home team starts to get momentum going in their favor, the game can quickly get out of hand. Giving up an early score (or even a big play) can start the process, but what usually makes it happen are the two things coaches hate the most: turnovers and penalties.

On the road, in one of the Big Ten's most hostile environments, against a good team that rarely loses at home, how did Penn State fare?

Zero turnovers. Zero penalties. You read that right. Penn State wasn't flagged once.

If you weren't impressed with anything Penn State did last night (or even all year), you should be impressed by that. That, my friends, is a sign of a team with slush in its veins. Every successful team knows that you have to take your opponents' mistakes and turn them to your advantage.

How do you do that if they don't make any mistakes?

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

10-26-2008 @ 10:47PM

Greg Grehawick said...

Your article was right on. We (PSU) did have one penalty. An offensive pass interference call. Once again PSU displayed smart football as that offensive interference play averted a very possible interception. The Lions did every thing they needed to do and derserve credit. I agree that if two teams, one each from the Big 12 and SEC go undefeated they deserve to be in the national championship game. If one loses, PSU deserves their spot.

10-26-2008 @ 10:54PM

Mark Hasty said...

Thanks, Greg. The box scores I've seen all say no penalties for PSU and I don't remember seeing them get any flags, but I wasn't able to watch all the game.

10-26-2008 @ 11:44PM

Josh said...

That offensive PI call was declined (pass was incomplete on 3rd down).

10-27-2008 @ 1:46PM

Esther said...

I still don't understand why everyone is making a huge deal about Penn coming out with a victory against Ohio State as such a great accomplishment. In 06-07, Ohio State was heralded as one of the greatest college teams in the game. No one except for Florida fans gave Florida a chance and what ended up happening? Florida blew OSU right out of the water. 07-08, OSU was dominated again, by LSU--a 2 loss SEC team. 08, OSU was convincingly beaten by USC. OSU might be a great team in the Big 10, but in the last three years, they haven't beaten a great team from any of the other conferences. Then here comes Penn State and it squeaks out a win in Columbus and all of a sudden that is supposed to give Penn State national credence? Penn State is the best team in the Big 10, no question there, but that isn't saying a whole lot either. I'd venture to say that the Big 10 is weaker than the ACC and the Pac10 this year. Point being, a 1 loss SEC team or a 1 loss Big12 team is still more impressive than an undefeated Big 10 team. Both the SEC and Big 12 play championship games which means there are more chances for an SEC team or Big 12 team to lose than a team in the Big 10. Put Penn in either the SEC or Big 12 and I guarantee it loses at least twice.

10-29-2008 @ 4:49PM

MM said...

Hey bud,

Ohio State has the best program in the country and that's why we are back time and time again. Sorry for the Gator's and the rest of the teams, they can't hold a candle to the program. The swamp looks like a high school playing field to most of the Big Ten school staudims. You may have the "high flying balls" but we have football, big time. It all isn't on the field, but in the heart and soul. Not sure watching those gators march onto the field would do anything for me and many others but one game in the "shoe" and script OHIO would make you a believer. I agree with you on beating big ten teams but it's really not all about winning all the time. But you with little understanding of the importanence of a real winner, both in life and football, can't judge, even if you think you can.

Go Bucks, winners in so many ways.....one of our buckeye nuts, can hit a gator in the center of it's head and it's all over. By the way, moved to Florida 3 years ago and still understand what is important.

10-29-2008 @ 5:57PM

Greg said...

If you put Penn in the Sec or Big 12, I'd lose a lot more than 2 games. I'd bet on 8. Penn is an Ivy League team, so I don't even know why you'd bring them up in a discussion of D-1 football. Suggesting Penn would win on the road at Ohio State is even more laughable.

What's next, claiming South Carolina State or Georgia State or Alabama State would dominate the Big 10 because they're from the south?

10-27-2008 @ 2:16PM

HUSKERDIVA said...

DEFENSE...DEFENSE...DEFENSE. It's either defense or the hokie pokie and I truly believe in football it's defense that wins games. Many people have taken me to task for this comment but hey, no one likes me anyway. What a game! Ugly win? Yes. Win for PSU? Yes!!! It was alot like a chess game at first but things got really interesting in the second half. Like Esther, I would love to drop PSU into the Big 12, South that is, and see what happens. Nonetheless, my congrats go out to the PSU players and, of course, my favorite NCAA boyfriend, JoePa.

10-27-2008 @ 3:16PM

Thanks for all the comments, everybody.

I've thought for the past few years that the Big Ten was doomed to national irrelevance until there was a viable alternative to Tresselball (Carrball, Schembechlerball, Hayesball, whatever). Since the mid-90s, the path to the conference title has consistently gone through Columbus and Ann Arbor, meaning that the other teams in the conference had to build themselves to beat Ohio State and Michigan. This just perpetuated the "big, slow, boring" image the Big Ten has had, because, let's face, Ohio State and Michigan have been big, slow, and boring.

This year the success of Penn State and Minnesota suggests that things are on the cusp of changing. Both those schools currently play a more "national" style of football. They might not yet be ready to take on some of the elite teams in the country, but if teams are forced to deal with wide-open offenses week after week, every staff in the conference will have to change their strategies, and that can only help come bowl season.

10-31-2008 @ 12:12PM

M1EK said...

2005 PSU team wasn't big and slow and boring. Minor fly in ointment.

10-27-2008 @ 5:59PM

Pat said...

The OPI on third down wasn't a bad penalty, either. Butler was making sure the defender didn't have a chance on the ball. There are a few penalties that sometimes you "want" to make. Not a lot - holding is frequently stupid (especially on a run play), as 10 yards is a big deal.

But no false starts? Visiting? On the road?

Mark, there's something else you missed, too: Penn State had zero three-and-outs. Zero. Not one. They had only one drive under 30 yards. A lot of people think only penalties and turnovers are mistakes. Well, a three and out can easily be a turnover, and they didn't make one. They always - always - were in a position to give the Ohio State offense a long field.

This game looked a lot like 2005, and it was just as impressive to watch. How often do you see games where both teams play nearly mistake-free football? Going into the fourth quarter, the only mistakes you'd seen were three deep balls on blown coverage or just dumb luck (but followed by the defender being in the right spot and tackling, something that seems to have been banned in other conferences this year).

How in the world was that an "ugly" game? Talk about the tension! You knew one team was going to make a mistake. It was just a question of when.

10-28-2008 @ 9:22AM

Ren said...

PSU can't win for losing. Mark, I like the positive way you view and argue for the Big Ten--the problem is most people just refuse to see things your way. No one outside the conference really thinks MSU's win over Michigan means anything, Minn's turnaround means anything or PSU's win over OSU means anything. Like you said about OSU and Michigan basically being the Big Ten to everyone--and I'd argue with some of your descriptions of those two teams, at least if used to say those teams were consistently those things--no one respects OSU anymore, so beating them means nothing anymore. If USC wins by 32 points, despite losing to another OSU, PSU beating the Big Ten's OSU by just a touchdown after not being able to score one most of the game says a lot to people who already view the Big Ten negatively. They take that as PSU not being able to hang with teams in title consideration like Alabama, Texas and even USC.

But PSU won steady, not ugly. To me, winning ugly means you go out there and do all these horrible things--give up big plays, fumble, get a lot of penalties, etc--and still manage to win. Now, for those who don't understand...okay, Michigan's win over Wisconsin was ugly. Utah's win over Michigan was ugly. PSU had no penalties or turnovers; they just played relatively conservatively on offense while playing solid defense. And against an OSU that has future top draft picks on defense, playing conservatively on offense is not a bad idea. They just sat and waited for young Pryor to make a mistake, and that's exactly what he did--two, to be exact.

11-03-2008 @ 8:19AM

JIMPSU said...

PSU is not an Ivy League school. We just graduate players like one.

11-03-2008 @ 6:21AM

Ron717B64 said...

Your article hit the nail on the head. Now that the week is over and we had a bye week finally under our belt, we need to address the AP top 25 issue. When Texas lost to Tech., Tech was catepolted to #2, and not #3. The coaches pole has PSU as #2, which is how it should be. What is everybody afraid of? Could it be that we have the most winningest coach in the history of college football, or maybe because we are a East coast school. Joe Pas' bowl game record should speak for itself. Maybe that is what everybody is afraid of.
When do we get the recognition that we deserve? When do we get the opportunity that we deserve?

11-07-2008 @ 8:36AM

Richard said...

The Ohio State quarterback is a very good passer and runs the ball well. He is, however, a freshman. Sitting on the bench is the team Captain Boetman who was one of the best quarterbacks in college football all of last year! It's one thng to give a freshman experience but quite another to give him the starting slot with such a fine quarterback now on the bench. I blieve Tressel made a very big mistake in that decision. A costly mistake and a decision that he should have to answer for.