Sorry it has taken me a while to publish this, I know I have had to work on things with school or the NFL but I wasn’t going to forget about doing this. Anyways let’s get into the festivities with 107,000 fans in attendance for the 1st time in 21 months. Enjoy the show!
Today on THE PRIDE OF PENN STATE FOOTBALL! An escape from Camp Randall with a 4 game homestand on the horizon brings optimism back to University Park. James Franklin made it very clear that we are going to have to use this win as a building block for us going forward. He states that the offense needs to improve just a tad bit if they want to make themselves the Class of BIG10. Sean Clifford also claimed that their performance in the 2nd Half against Wisconsin is a spark that will boost our confidence for the rest of the season. The major problem for the Nittany Lions this week was that Ellis Brooks, their best defender, would be suspended via his targeting hit against Graham Mertz in the 4th Quarter of their Week 1 win. Franklin made it clear that whoever steps in for him this week will be a huge reason for our success. A forward thinking coach if I’d say so myself.
In this week’s matchup Penn State would return to the familiar confines of Beaver Stadium for a matchup against the defending MAC Conference Champion Ball State Cardinals. ((“Sensored) Ball State!” -Penn State students) Unlike last year during COVID they get to play in front of 105,000 fans on a late Saturday Afternoon at home. Following their win over Western Illinois, Ball State is trying to at least make this a respectable game. BOOM! However they would stand no chance against this BIG10 Machine! Once the Nittany Lions took the field they knew they were going to win in convincing fashion. The game started off similar to how it did in Madison where the defense was all over Ball State QB Drew Plitt and forced a 3 and Out right away. Then Offensive Coordinator Mike Yurcich wanted to establish his spread out offense right away. They went right down the field on their opening drive led by a few chunk plays as Noah Cain was able to punch the ball in from 5 yards. So far a good start, but the Cardinals will certainly try to attack them on the outside. They couldn’t because they were worried about passing it right at Jaquan Brisker. Result, ANOTHER 3 AND OUT! Sean Clifford and the offense got going again thanks to a short field as they had 20+ yard plays leading to their QB1 sneaking it in on 1st and Goal from the 1. Just as Ball State could finally move the ball against the vaunted Nittany Lion defense, they quickly stalled deep in PSU territory and had to settle for a field goal. Penn State responded to this with a 45 yarder of their own. (Jordan Stout has overcome his rough weekend at Camp Randall. THANK GOD!) After the teams also traded punts and field positioning, The Lions had a chance to put this game basically out of reach at halftime. And they did! Penn State went 64 yards in 8 plays as Jahan Dotson went 25 yards on a WR Screen into the end zone. This was the statement that the offense would need in preparations for playing real teams in the future.
The 2nd Half would be more of the status quo for the defense. They quickly shut down the Cardinals offense following Stout missing a long field goal. Even if Clifford couldn’t get going on PSU’s 2nd drive of the half they at least pinned Ball State deep in their own end. You know what that means? TURNOVER TIME! “Plitt drops back, he fires it out to the right, and it’s PICKED OFF! GOING DOWN THE RIGHT SIDELINE AND IN FOR A TOUCHDOWN IS JESSE LUKETA!” (I called this Pick 6 before the playing even happened while I was in the student section) Penn State Defense! Franklin has made this unit as dominant as they were in 2016 and 2017. They may not have the household names yet but if they keep playing like this who knows. The secondary plus their backups afterwards were riding shotgun as they tallied a few more points to the scoreboard and once Ball State finally reached the end zone it was garbage time. The final score just happened to be 44-13. Just the way WEARE Nation likes it! The win in this game also marked their 300th home win at Beaver Stadium. It’s a nice way to welcome back the PSU fans but there’s still plenty of work to do. I wonder how the rest of their BIG10 rivals did? (Michigan moves into Top 25 with a blowout of Washington) Not important, what else? (Iowa defeats Iowa State on the road to go to 2-0) You’re on the right track but not good enough (Maryland and Wisconsin make primetime statements to make claim for higher rankings in Top 25) NEXT! (Ohio State upset at home by #12 Oregon!) (DRAMATIC MUSIC!) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! (Zombie Nation playing in the background, WE ARE PENN STATE!) Looks like we have a new leader of the Eastern Division in the BIG10! Ohio State is going to get dethroned by PSU, I repeat! OHIO STATE IS GOING TO GET DETHRONED BY PSU! Not only that I forgot to mention the Cherry on the SnowBall. Next on the schedule is the Whiteout game against Auburn! This is going to be amazing if Penn State wins that game, because they will have control of their division early. All that and more next week on the PRIDE OF PSU FOOTBALL! P! S! U! LETS! GO! PSU!
Bragging Rights Sports 