THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
Offense"l thought we had some of the up the attempted pass play.
right schemes called in the red Jay Paterno said the team had
zone that we wanted," Jay Paterno practiced the play all week, but
From Page 14. said. Royster missed the block, some-
More glaring, the Lions' second "We didn't execute a couple thing indicative of the whole team.
opportunity in the red zone result- things and then we had the 3rd- "We got to make sure we tighten
ed in gaining only five yards after and-4, we had a back go the wrong the ship down and make sure that
Ramsey dropped another punt and way on the protection, so that killed we all stick together and get after
the Lions started at the nine-yard us." it," Jay Paterno said.
line. Running back Evan Royster "We're going to evaluate every-
Similar to the first red-zone failed to pick up defensive lineman thing, the play calling, all those
opportunity, the Lions threw the Justin Staples while Staples and kind of things."
ball on 3rd-and-short, resulting in linebacker Nate Bussey, who blew
an incompletion after a batted ball. by left tackle Quinn Barham, broke To e-mail reporter: bjmsl46@psu.edu
Last Word
From Page 14
where once again we've got to pick
ourselves up, reevaluate ourselves
and we've got to go forward."
What lies ahead for the Lions
certainly won't be any easier. With
games against Ohio State,
Michigan and Michigan State high
lighting the rest of the schedule,
the bye week won't be a time for
rest.
With several defensive players
being thrust into more prominent
roles, the Lions can't afford to take
time off from preparations heading
into the second part of the season.
"We've got to see who's gonna
step up and see who's gonna
shrink back because this is defi
nitely not where we expected to be
as players or where the fans saw
us either," senior Stefen
Wisniewski said. "We're gonna
really need to take a good look at
ourselves and decide if we want it
or not."
Day to remember
Offense: Derek Moye
But Moye called his own 80-yard
touchdown catch forgettable after
the loss, so Illinois kick and punt
returner Jack Ramsey is a better
choice. Penn State's best field posi
tion was the result of Illinois' poor
special teams play.
The Fighting Rlini did their best
to gift-wrap several scoring oppor
tunities for the Nittany Lions, and
Ramsey's two fumbles gave Penn
Loss
and-inches, and the offensive line ment Paterno gave during his press
From Page 14. hasn't gotten any better. conference. As for how the Lions can
were 0-for-2 Saturday, a disconcerting "I'm not sure we're playing the get past the disappointing loss to the
stat for two reasons. First, because right people," Paterno said. "We Illini, senior wide receiver Derek
they haven't made the necessary gotta take a good look at the tapes, Moye says that won't be tough.
adjustments to score touchdowns, what some kids can do, maybe we're "For a team, I think it's gonna be
and second, because the offense asking a couple kids to do things they pretty easy," Moye said. "We got beat
couldn't move the ball into the red can't handle. I don't know" pretty bad. I want to forget it as soon
zone. The two chances both came off His puzzlement at the Lions' as possible."
turnovers deep in Illinois territory. struggles spread throughout the
They struggled in short-yardage sit- postgame interview room as no one To e-mail reporter: ajcs23B@psu.edu
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State plenty of scoring opportuni
ties. But drives starting at the
Illinois 23-yard line and the Illinois
nine-yard line resulted in field
goals.
Defense: Khairi Fortt
The true freshman came in for
his first start of the season and
filled in for senior Bani Gbadyu.
Fortt, a native of Stamford, Conn.,
showed inexperience at points dur
ing the game, but his natural ath
leticism was apparent. He record
ed 11 tackles and displayed lateral
quickness to keep up with Illinois'
shifty backs.
Day to forget
Offense: Rob Bolden
The freshman completed 8-of-21
passes and threw for just 142
yards. Take away the explosive 80-
yard touchdown pass to Moye, and
Bolden couldn't help the offense
have a succinct drive. Bolden also
had an interception returned for a
touchdown in the second quarter.
Defense: Defensive line
The front four struggled to put
pressure on redshirt freshman
Nathan Scheelhaase and didn't
record a sack.
Though the Lions lacked depth
because of injuries and were with
out defensive end Eric Latimore
who sustained an injury on the first
play from scrimmage, no one
stepped up.
The Lions surrendered 282 rush
ing yards, which was the most a
team had against Penn State since
2004, when Minnesota's two-head
ed attack of Marion Barber 111 and
uations again Saturday, getting could really pinpoint any reasons
stopped on a key second-quarter 4th- aside from the "we stunk" assess-
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Laurence Maroney rushed for 288
yards.
Did you notice?
The "S" zone received a home
coming weekend makeover and
formed a blue paw print ... Illinois
had no problem attempting a 4th
and-1 from its own 31 during the
opening drive ... The 20-point loss
was the worst on Homecoming
during Paterno's tenure as head
coach.
Extra point
The Lions searched for addition
al motivation toward the end of the
practice week, and it didn't show
up in the game. After a players
only meeting held last Monday, the
week ended with a video about
Penn State football history and tra
dition. Running back Evan Royster
said the video had clips and a moti
vational speech from a movie.
"I think at some point we need to
stop relying on all these other
things to get motivated and just
kind of motivate ourselves and
want to win without having to look
at a video," Royster said.
Quotable
Joe Paterno, when asked about
his team being unable to beat the
opponent in the trenches: "We got
the crap kicked out of us. You're
being very polite. On the line of
scrimmage? Kicked our rears in.
The linebackers? I thought they
never saw a pass before."
To e-mail reporter: aass22o@psu.edu
Learn well + Live well
Mink
From Page 14
Bolden float one up to Brett Brackett in the back right cor
ner of the end zone. That wasn't the worst of it.
On its next drive, after Penn State made one of its seven
first downs on the day, Stephfon Green rushed for six yards,
bringing up 2nd-and-4 at the Illinois 45. Bolden had his next
pass batted down at the line of scrimmage. On third down,
Bolden checked down to Devon Smith crossing over the mid
dle one yard short of the first down marker. On fourth down,
when rolling Bolden out gives you the option to throw or run,
Green carries straight into a logjam of bodies for a turnover
on downs.
Then, you knew This is not getting turned around.
Players popped in a videotape of Penn State history Friday
after squad meetings that highlighted a slew of its best play
ers such as LaVar Arrington and Jack Ham to bookend a
week of practice that started with a players-only meeting
Monday.
Stephon Morris titled the video "Penn State swagger."
I polled players on what they saw in those former players
that they aren't seeing in themselves.
The reviews are in.
Candid senior right guard Stefen Wisniewski: "They just
got a little bit more desire than we have. Desire to just smack
somebody, to make a play. With the ball carrier, just a desire
to gotta refuse to get tackled. Fighting for everything you got
to get in the end zone. For linemen, it's fighting for every
thing you got to stay on blocks.
"It's just this much on every play. Every guy, this much
more. It adds up to be a lot."
Senior linebacker Chris Colasanti, who has played the last
two games with a broken hand: "I feel that those guys are no
different. We have pride wearing the blue and white. We have
heart, and we have the intensity of going out there and play
ing good defense and offense, and besides those small mis
takes, those are the things we have to correct."
Morris: "Lack of intensity. We gotta tackle. We have to
tackle. We have to strip the ball out. We just need to help the
offense out. Anything we can do just to help the offense, any
thing."
What a young team needs is guidance, leaders. Penn State
has none, including at the top, and cute little motivational
videos can't fix a program corroding from the core.
"We're not making any progress," said Paterno, slouched
in his chair, legs crossed. "I thought by this stage we would
be a pretty good football team. I didn't think we would be
great, but I thought we would be pretty good but we're not.
We're not getting any better, and that's the discouraging
part."
The admission was never clearer, and you've seen what a
couple of 11-2 seasons masked. Swagger and 83 years old
don't go well together.
Nate Mink is a senior majoring in journalism and is The Daily Collegian's
football editor. His e-mail address is npmso2s@psu.edu.
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