While looking at the Penn State sideline from our perch in the north end zone, I kept seeing Lloyd Carr.  In my left brain I knew that the old man of Penn State football was still there, yet time and time again I saw Carr.  I wondered why and then I realized that Paterno’s play calling reminded me of Carr’s risk averse style.  Now some of you may be tempted to write to me and insist that Ole Joe called some deep routes and that he threw the ball a lot and you would be correct to do so, yet there was a strange quality to it all, so much so that I was convinced that Penn State actually ran a more risk averse set of plays than they actually did.  I think that my impression was based on two facts—one that the Lions called the more risky plays at the wrong time and they usually failed miserably and the other is that as the game progressed Ole Joe went into a shell. 

Inexplicably in the fourth quarter, Joe tried to use up as much clock as possible with a long long drive that set the nail in the coffin.  At this point PSU became Phew U as they ran the clock out attempting to put one drive together for their video tapes so they would have something to analyze and provide feedback to their players for their next game—an exhibition against Youngstown State!!

Zibby continues to instill raw fright in the opposition with his knockout punch putting the Irish up 27-0!  But he is also arousing fear in the hearts of the Faithful with his “try to catch it on the dead run” death defying dance.  When asked if he had thought of trying Zibby on offense, Charlie dryly allowed as how he, Zibby, ought to learn how to catch punts first!

Such fantasies of versatility are owned by Travis the Troublemaker, for now Travis Thomas has added the feat of calling his own number to turn a punt into a 43 yard dash to glory, surprising EVERYONE in the Stadium including his own teammates who had no clue what he was doing.  In the days of one platoon football, he would be consensus All-American!  Several critics have called attention to some spotty play at backer but he did create with Maurice the Magnificent Crum the opportunity for Zibby to ice the game.

While most experts predicted a fairly large victory margin, their prognostications were all published BEFORE the strangely unrhythmic offensive performance against the Jackets, and so we believe that no objective sane person really expected the Irish to win over a ranked opponent with such dominance in all phases of the game!

The pessimists are crowing about the yardage given up on the ground, yet it is apparent that the move to the 4-2-5 is mostly responsible.  A defense cannot stop everything and by going to a nickel back on most plays, the soft underbelly appears between the backers and the d-backs and that is where PSU exploited the Irish, but that is the only place that they exploited the Irish.

It is apparent that Paterno had little confidence in Anthony Morelli.  It is also apparent that Morelli has little confidence.  He has to learn to release the ball a smidgeon earlier.  Partly because he is not ready for prime time, we believe that PSU will struggle a bit and although they will probably not revert to the Paterno losing years, they will not be contending for a BCS game this year!

The Michigan game promises to be a much more difficult challenge.  I just saw part of the 1979 game which ended in an Irish victory on the last play of the game with a 12-10 score.  It reminds us just how close many of the games in this series have been.  Blow outs are rare.  Games that end on the last play are common!

Yet, His Lloydness has done very well these last two years in blowing what should have been victories.  The 2004 game is especially clear in my mind for Carr simply forgot that the goal posts imply the need for a vertical game.  Instead he ran and threw for three yard gains in a horizontal plane.  Should he do this again, he will be run out of Ann Arbor on a rail!

Michigan has more talent and a more even distribution of talent than PSU.  But they will be out coached by a large margin and the Irish are in such superb condition that they will be outlasted if not totally outclassed.  This Irish team came an awfully long way in just a week and if they improve just a little bit more……

Do you realize that the Irish have not turned the ball over yet?

Knock on wood!

Go Irish!