COMMENTARY
Fleury and Johnson faceoff for starting position
After a disappointing collapse against the
Boston Bruins on Wednesday, the Pittsburgh
Penguins rebounded with a win on Friday,
Nov. 12. For a team with quality talent and a
record of 8-8-1, just 17 games into the season,
should fans begin to worry?
What has been the scene thus far? Shaky
goaltending? Check. Defensive collapses?
Check. Questionable coaching decisions?
Check. You get the picture. Of course, this is
Flikr Creative Commons / Dan4th
Brent Johnson has a 6-2 record this season with
a 2.1 GAA and .927 save %.
TART
Auburn star and
hopeful accused
BRANDON BOYD
Despite off-field troubles,
Auburn quarterback, Cam
Newton, continues to make
defenders look silly on the
field.
Newton. who became
the eighth player to throw
for 2,000 yards and rush for
1,000 yards in a season on
Saturday, is under heat due
to "pay-for-play" allegations
in which his father, Cecil
Newton, is accused of selling
Newton's services to the high
est bidder. The allegations
were brought to light from
allegations that Cecil Newton
and another man, John Bond.
tried to secure payment from
Mississippi State during Cam
Newton's transfer from a ju
nior college. The rumored
amount was $lBO,OOO.
Newton has proclaimed his
innocence, saying "I haven't
done anything wrong," dur
ing a press conference.
Still, his checkered past
is not helping matters. New
ton was accused of stealing
a laptop computer from a
Florida State student, where
he started his collegiate ca
reer. Recent reports also sug
gest Newton would have been
facing expulsion for cheat
ing three times during his
short tenure at Florida State.
After last week's victory, Au
burn Coach, Gene Chizik,
discussed Newton: "Let me
tell you something. This is
SEAN NEELY
senior reporter
a great kid," he said. "I can
speak intelligently on that
one. This is a great kid. And
you can go back and you can
talk to elementary coaches,
high school, this is a great kid
and he's been a great kid at
Auburn University every day
he's been around me, this
staff and his teammates."
upstiir)t)
Regardless of the off-field
controversy, it can be con
fidently said that Newton is
among the elite of college
football. He has repeatedly
dominated opponents from
the stacked SEC conference.
He has thrown for 21 touch
downs and rushed for 17
against opponents like LSU
and Arkansas. He is without
a doubt a Heisman candidate,
and the likely leader at this
point.
However, the negative
press surrounding Newton
brings his on-field dominance
into doubt. The Heisman Tro
phy Trust stripped Reggie
Bush of his 2005 Heisman tro
phy after Bush was found to
have taken improper benefits.
In fact, the Heisman website
now skips the year 2005 in
their list of Heisman winners,
wiping Bush's jaw-dropping
year from their history.
The Heisman Trophy Trust
would likely want to avoid
a similar fate with Newton,
which could lean voters to
vote against him, despite not
yet being proven guilty. The
question of whether Bush
deserved to be stripped of
sarcasm and in no way, shape, or form should
any hockey enthusiast, or Pens fan for that
matter, be concerned.
However, what has been most interesting
this year has been the goaltending situation.
People have been calling for Fleury's head this
year. Yes, he has not played well, but should
we really resort to giving up on him just 17
games into the season? Absolutely not.
Now, I know what you are thinking; John
son should be playing. If you were to look at
the stats alone you would be correct in that
assumption, but, again, we are very early into
the season. Look at Philadelphia last year; they
were bottom dwellers in the Eastern Confer
ence. They went through a coaching change,
and got into the playoffs by winning a shoot
out that would have decided who would go on
to the playoffs. Some of you may remember
that game between the Rangers and Flyers.
Then, with the Bth seed, the Flyers went on to
the Stanley Cup Finals to lose to the Chicago
Blackhawks.
What about the Pittsburgh Penguins? Re
member in the 2008-2009 season when the
Pen's nearly missed the playoffs. They fired, at
that time, head Coach Michael Therrien, and
then brought in Dan Bylsma. What did that
team do? Oh yeah, that's right, they won the
Stanley Cup with Fleury in goal.
Listen, the hockey season is long. In fact,
we still have 65 more games to go. Hockey is
full of ups-and-downs; the proof has been in
the history of the league, not to mention what
has happened in the past two years.
However, there is no denying that the Pen's
goaltending situation needs to improve. The
answer will be Fleury. This is guaranteed. The
guy has won a cup, and is capable of rebound
ing.
Hiesman
of cheating
his trophy (an argument for
another day) and the issue of
whether or not college play
ers deserve to be paid (ditto)
should not come in to play
when voting for the Heisman
trophy winner.
The Heisman trophy
should be decided by on-field
play only. Players who have
done worse than what New
ton is accused of doing are
still listed as Heisman win
ners.
O.J. Simpson, who was ac
cused of killing his wife and a
man, is still listed as the 1968
winner. If O.J. Simpson can
still be listed as a Heisman
winner, despite his off-field
troubles, why can't Newton
or Reggie Bush? Both alleg
edly took money, and while
they may have the money to
afford expensive manicures
and jewelry, their hands are
clean of blood. While it would
be hard to say that Newton
and Bush are likely innocent
of taking money, their actions
pale in comparison to the
supposed actions of one O.J.
Simpson.
With the FBI now get
ting involved in the drama
surrounding Newton, there
is a chance that Cecil New
ton could be guilty of taking
money for his son's services.
These allegations loom over
Newton's Heisman candidacy
in the same way that his 6'6"
frame towers over most of the
other players - and that's just
not right.
What's more troubling, is the fact that the
Pen's new contracts, specifically Milan Mi
chalek, and Paul Martin (Defensemen) have
been, well, underachieving. Defensive break
downs are not the goaltenders fault. So, next
time we go to blame Fleury, think before you
do so.
Not convinced? Let's see what veteran de
fensemen, Paul Martin, has to say about the
situation,
"Defense is our attitude. You have to want
to do the little things, and do them right. Some
of it's sacrificing, getting hit, taking a hit to
make a play, getting down early and coming
back. But, at the same time, we can't make ex
cuses."
Excuses is the key word there, but what
is the excuse for the Pens embarrassing 7-4
loss on Wednesday? It wasn't goaltending; I
wouldn't even blame Johnson for the loss.
Listen, goaltending will only be solid if the
team in front is solid. Solid, the Pen's defense
has not been. Sure the Pen's defense leads the
league in points, but they aren't exactly play
ing perfect in their defensive end. Currently,
the Pen's defense ranks in the middle of the
pack, giving up 2.76 goals-per game. That's
not a bad number, but there have been many
games that have inflated that number, like the
7-4 loss to the Bruins on Wednesday night. If
a defense takes away chances, and prevents
the other team from quality scoring chances,
which has not been the case this year, then
yes, a goaltender will have trouble from pre
venting those quality scoring chances from
going in. Whether it is Johnson, or Fleury in
net, neither will have success unless the de
fense in front of them does.
"I like Johnson, but there is a reason why
he has been a backup his whole career. Look
Sunday, Nov. 7 the Cleveland Browns domi
nated the field against the New England Patri
ots with a 34-14 win. The Patriots entered this
game with the league's best record of 6-1-0 in
hopes of winning against the Browns with a
record of 2-5-0.
The Browns took the lead early in the game
with a thirty-eight yard field goal from Kicker,
Phil Dawson. The Browns gained a 10-0 lead
with a two yard run for a touchdown from
Running Back, Peyton Hillis. The Browns en
tered the second quarter with the 10-0 lead but
the Patriots soon changed that with a two yard
pass to Rookie Aaron Hernandez, getting the
Patriots on the board. But the Browns did not
let this bother them by scoring an eleven yard
run touchdown from Wide Receiver, Chansi
Stuckey.
The Browns started the third quarter again
in their favor with a sixteen yard pass from
Rookie Quarterback Colt McCoy, giving the
Browns their third touchdown of the game and
making the score 24-7. The Browns opened
the fourth quarter with a thirty yard field goal
from Kicker Phil Dawson giving the Browns a
27-7 lead.
But the Patriots were not down and out
yet. The Patriots raised the score by gaining
another touchdown from Rookie Tight End
Aaron Hernandez, making the score 27-14.
But Browns sealed the deal late in the fourth
quarter by scoring a thirty-five yard touch
down from Peyton Hillis, making a final score
of 34-14.
Colt McCoy played a great game on Sunday
and looks to be the answer the Browns have
been looking for. Browns fans hope to see Colt
McCoy to continue playing and hope to see
their team gain more wins. Peyton Hillis also
played a good game, if he can stay healthy and
SAMANTHA MEYERS
staff reporter
Flikr Creative Commons / Dan4th
Marc-Andre Fleury has a 2-6 record this season
with a 3.23 GAA and .860 save %
at Brodeur, he's not exactly off to the greatest
start this year either," Bryan Fleeson, a sopho
more Behrend student said.
Has Fluery been great? No, but he's not en
tirely to blame. I would like to see the Pen's
defense stop pinching up the ice as much, and
play a game focused around what Michalek
and Martin were brought in to do: play great
solid defense in their own end.
Until then, we still have 65 games to go.
Injuries, and issues will come and go, but the
Pen's will make the playoffs, with Fleury lead
ing the way. Mark my words.
work on his ball control; he could be a chal
lenge for defense in future games.
"I think the Browns finally found a quar
terback in Colt McCoy," says Browns fan,
Cory Anderson, senior from Russell, PA. "The
Browns dominated the Patriots from start to
finish."
"The Browns had a pretty awesome trick
play on the offense that resulted in a touch
down," says Patriots fan Thomas McDowell,
freshman from Houston, TX. "I can't deny that
I'm happy to see the Browns enjoying some
success. They really needed a win more than
the Patriots did. It just serves to get the Patri
ots good and angry for their game against the
Steelers."
This game was a record setting game for
both teams. The Patriots . Rookie Tight End
Aaron Hernandez recorded his first two NFL
touchdowns and Logan Mankins made his de
but as Left Guard.
The Browns welcomed back Mohamed
Massaquoi after he suffered a concussion in
a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Also,
Rookie Quarterback Colt McCoy completed
13-of-18 passes for 167 yards in the game.
Peyton Hillis finished the game with a career
high of 181 yards and two touchdowns on
twenty-eight carries. His previous career high
was 144 yards which he earned against the
Baltimore Ravens earlier this season.
The Browns looked good again this week as
they took on the New York Jets. They showed
their ability to keep the game close as the
battled it out to a hard loss in overtime. The
fact that the Browns are no longer the team to
make fun of because of their multiple losses.
While the Steelers still have the upper hand,
Browns are beating teams that the Steeler's
could not. So long the days of the pathetic
loosing Browns, we all used to laugh at? Time
will tell if this team has really become a force
to reckon with.