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closeFans clamoring for change in PSU approach should hold their breath
By Jeff Rice
Few things could have made Penn State fans more frustrated than watching the Nittany Lion offense sleepwalk through Ann Arbor with a play-calling scheme designed, as one fan wrote me with trembling fingers this week, “to give the team no chance of winning.”
Listening to Joe Paterno defend said scheme three days later (“I don’t feel as though there’s much that I would do differently,” the coach said Tuesday) was one of them.
But today’s column is not about what plays could have been called, or should have been called, or should have been laid to rest with Pop Warner. Ninety-eight percent of the people reading this, not to mention the person writing it, wouldn’t be able to construct a functional Michigan game plan if given three months and a key to Lloyd Carr’s office.
It’s also important to note that, even if Paterno does second-guess a few calls or a few quarters of Saturday’s game, the chances of him publicly admitting that are about as good as Anthony Morelli’s Heisman hopes.
But it’s doubtful that he wants to change much. And it’s important that fed-up fans understand why.
Paterno, for those who have forgotten, has 366 career wins, 22 of them in bowl games and two of them for national championships. His record as a favorite is remarkable. His record as the underdog is underwhelming. His recipe for victory is as unchanged as his team’s uniforms, and he spelled it out again for us Tuesday.
“If you can’t play defense and your kicking game isn’t solid, then you really don’t have a chance,” Paterno said. “But when you go to the offensive side of the football, you’ve got to evaluate the other guy, what’s he doing. Hang onto the football.”
If you’ve heard those words before, it’s because they came out of the mouth of Michael Robinson at least once a week in 2005.
“We’ve just got to take what the defense gives us,” Robinson, who took enough to quarterback the Nittany Lions to an 11-1 season, would say.
The fans who loved watching Robinson adapt to what defenses were doing are now cringing as they watch Morelli, now in his second season as the starter, struggle to do the same. They see his strong arm, a deep group of wide receivers and wonder why opposing defenses don’t have to take what Penn State’s offense gives them.
Against inferior opposition, it really doesn’t matter — Penn State’s blue-collar defense dominates the game and the offense, free from pressure, usually makes enough plays to win.
But when the Nittany Lions meet teams just as good or better, the formula has broken down. Since 2000, Penn State is 4-19 against Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Iowa, teams that have won nine of the last 11 Big Ten titles. Teams, according to Paterno, that use very similar formulas.
“We’re playing against some people who play the game the way I think most guys would like to play — you’re tough on defense, you don’t make any mistakes in the kicking game, and when you get some opportunities, you take advantage of it,” Paterno said. “But don’t give the other guy that many opportunities.”
The risk you run by playing this tight style, as the Nittany Lions have discovered all too often during the past few seasons, is that if you give the other guy a few opportunities, and fall behind, the opponent will gladly play just as tight, whether it was his original intent or not.
It’s a chess game, where one false move adversely affects the next five or 10. And when Penn State fans look around the country, they see schools with similar or even lesser talent playing checkers and filling the scoreboard.
What, we threw two picks and we’re down 10-0? No problem. We’ll chuck the ball around the field and score 21 points in the next 10 minutes!
Could Penn State play that looser, riskier, ultimately more entertaining brand of football? With better execution, sure. But it’s simply not the way Paterno prefers to win.
And if you still don’t get that, consider Jan. 2, 1987. Penn State’s 14-10, national title-clinching defeat of Miami in the Fiesta Bowl, the highest-rated college football game of all time, remains Paterno’s signature win. It was the ultimate triumph of defense over offense — the Nittany Lions totaled a paltry 162 yards, 2.7 per play, but intercepted Miami’s Heisman-winning quarterback Vinny Testaverde five times.
Penn State’s execution was not enough to make Paterno’s formula work against Michigan and, if it doesn’t improve, won’t be enough Saturday at Illinois or against most of the remaining schedule. Whether the strategy is good enough if properly executed doesn’t seem to matter to the fans. They want a high-octane system that has a larger margin for error.
They’re barking up the wrong coach.
“I don’t want to all of a sudden say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna change, we’re gonna do this,’” Paterno said. “Because I’m not sure it’s necessary.”
You disagree. You’re tired of chess. You want touchdowns.
Just remember that Paterno has 366 reasons to ignore you.
Jeff Rice covers Penn State football for the Centre Daily Times. He can be reached at 231-4609 or jrice@centredaily.com.
PENN STATE-ILLINOIS Kickoff: Noon Saturday in Illinois TV: Big Ten Network RADIO: WMAJ 1450, WBUS 93.7
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