Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1509432
Site Lines C O M M E N T S F R O M T H E L I O N S D E N A T B L U E W H I T E I L L U S T R A T E D . C O M NOVEMBER 2023/VOL. 39, NO. 3 MANAGING EDITOR Matt Herb CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Stu Coman, Cathy Jones, Chris Riffer WEBSITE PUBLISHER Sean Fitz WEBSITE EDITOR Nate Bauer STAFF WRITER Greg Pickel RECRUITING REPORTER Ryan Snyder FOOTBALL ANALYST Thomas Frank Carr CONTRIBUTING WRITER Jim Carlson PHOTOGRAPHY Daniel Althouse, Bill Anderson, Steve Manuel, Mark Selders COVER PHOTO Steve Manuel DESIGN Jeanette Blankenship Chris Miller F F F PUBLISHER Mark Panus BUSINESS MANAGER Linda Autry ADVERTISING SALES/MARKETING Michelle DeLee-Hamilton 574-286-8688 CIRCULATION MANAGER Sarah Boone CUSTOMER SERVICE Cathy Jones, Crystal Clayton 800-421-7751 BUSINESS INTERN Joel Jones BLUE WHITE ILLUSTRATED (USPS 742-550) is published monthly, except June, by Coman Publishing Company, 905 W Main St, Ste 24F, Durham, NC 27701-2076. A one-year (11 issues) subscription is $68.00. First-class, digital and foreign rates available on request. Periodicals postage paid at Durham, NC 27701 and additional mailing offices. Printed by The Papers, Milford, Ind. POSTMASTER: Please send address corrections/changes to BLUE WHITE ILLUSTRATED, PO Box 2331, Durham NC 27702-2331. For advertising or subscription informa- tion call 1-919-688-0218 or write BLUE WHITE ILLUSTRATED, PO Box 2331, Durham NC 27702. W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M ON THE UPS AND DOWNS OF PENN STATE'S OFFENSE THROUGH FIVE GAMES … I think the perception is that our running game is struggling because Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen haven't had huge games or explosive plays. I also know that Beau Pribula has accounted for a lot of those yards in garbage time. The out- comes have really been a function of who we've played and how those games have gone (all blowouts). We could cer- tainly have inflated the running game stats against Delaware, but that game was over quickly. Illinois tried to take the run away, and we still rolled up 164 yards on them. Drew Allar struggled a little in his first road test against a lot of man cov- erages. We rolled up 215 yards on the ground against Iowa in a rainy game against a perceived stout defense. — gigantor We REALLY miss Brenton Strange — he got drafted for his blocking ability. Not only was he our best blocking tight end by far, he also set the tone and inspired the other tight ends. — SDBaller The running game has been pretty efficient, no? Runs for 3 yards or less are down 10 percent this season, including a 3 percent drop in tackles for loss/no gain. Seems good. No explosive runs unfortunately, but the run game is keeping the offense on schedule. — Hannibal Well, our offensive line depth will surely be tested, as it seems possible that we may already be down two starting guards. I like Sal Wormley and Vega Ioane, but we could be getting thin at guard. — ptomaselli I am tired of [Harrison Wallace's absence at wide receiver] being used as the excuse to explain away the passing game woes. It is a combination of things that include Drew Allar failing to execute. Tight end blocking seems to be an ongoing issue for that room. … There are problems on that side of the ball that had better get fixed or PSU isn't beating Ohio State, Michigan or Maryland. — Miseryluvscmpy ON PSU'S OUTLOOK WITH BASKETBALL SEASON ON THE HORIZON … Last year was a bit of a Cinderella season. We had a lot of experience with no idea how it would jell. While rocky, the finish was amazing. Did anyone really see that coming? Tough to predict whether this team will have the same chemistry. While it won't have two guys who get drafted and won't have the overall maturity, there is more talent than I thought we could cobble together. — SRATH They won a bunch of games last year because they shot the hell out of the ball. I think this team could jell perfectly and still might not win as many games because the ball just doesn't go in the net as much. — Corne- liuswonder I like what I'm hearing about culture right now with this group. I like how involved Mike Rhoades is off the court with NIL work. I like what I'm hearing about player development so far. — SeamusPSU A Rhoades defense is a very different way of playing than what most of these guys have seen in their careers. For a team like this, that's going to be THE thing they work on. Defense is the thing that feeds Rhoades' soul. There will be no basketball team led by Rhoades that will not be playing defense as close to his standard as they possibly can. I doubt you'll hear much about how the offense is. Ace Baldwin has enough shooters that you can trust him to make something work, and Rhoades has treated offense as ancillary at all of his previous stops. Also, historically, Rhoades has been OK sporting some pretty putrid offenses as long as the defense is up to his (very high) standard. — ElJefe603 It seems like Rhoades is used to having similar/better talent than other teams in his conference. What happens when that's not the case in the Big Ten? On top of seeing if the strategy works, and not having a lot of direct experience playing Big Ten teams. One benefit Micah Shrewsberry had was that he knew the conference, the coaches, their tendencies, etc. Even the refs (not that it seemed to help him get calls). Lots of unknowns. Too many for me to have high expectations this year. — BlueBand I predict 7 to 9 conference wins, possibly 10. Rhoades can coach. — PSUriseANDfire I'll take the under there, but I would be tickled pink to lose that bet. — Got GSPs 4 N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 3 Nicholas Singleton was averaging 3.8 yards per carry heading into the Massachusetts game but had scored 6 touchdowns on the ground. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL