My thoughts USC’s 38-24 win over Penn State:
- The bright side: Penn State scored one more point than I predicted.
- I was shocked that Penn State was so unprepared — so many mental errors. When was the last time that Penn State was penalized that much?
- Somebody finally figured out to attack the Nittany Lions secondary. That unit needs a major upgrade, so that maybe Tom Bradley won’t feel the need to play 10 yards off the line.
- How did USC lose to Oregon State?
- Why no on-side kicks in the fourth quarter?
- Why a field goal instead of going for six?
- I appreciated the Nittany Lions pulling it together in the second half and getting several scores. They did not quit, good for them.
- Sadly, a healthy Evan Royster would not have made that big a difference I think.
- The offensive line, Penn State’s best in over a decade, did not look too good yesterday.
- QB Daryll Clark had a solid outing and will hopefully learn from it.
- I am really going to miss Derrick Williams, Deon Butler and Jordan Norwood. Those three provided four excellent years of football. Hopefully they have not played their last games. I know Williams has not and think Butler can get a job in the NFL. Norwood? I don’t know.
- So, how far did Aaron Maybin‘s draft status fall yesterday? I want him back.
- I won’t miss Anthony Scirriotto at all. That he never missed game time for his stupidity on April 1, 2007 is a major error by Joe Paterno. I won’t miss watching Scirriotto get beat deep any more. Good riddance, jerk!
- I thought the officiating was poor and favored USC, but ultimately, it was about 0.05% of the reason Penn State lost.
- Overall, this was a shockingly good season. I figured replacing Anthony Morelli was +2 wins, but losing Sean Lee was -1. Had Lee been healthy, they would be playing in the BCS title game, though they would not have necessarily fared better than they did yesterday. Still, a Big11Ten title is a lot to be proud of, especially since they exorcised their Michigan and Columbus demons. Apparently, the big one left is Iowa.
