Penn State is LURKING and built to win big

let's start with Penn State penate would that be so bad to do I got my Roar Lions Roar shirt on man I'm ready okay I'm ready for this Penn State season uh the over under is 10 and a half they were 10 and three a year ago very very good team for sure the frustration of course with Penn State was more of the same right and great against everybody on the schedule except for the best teams on the schedule I don't know about you but I'm feeling 10 two that's the I think siren Call for all things Penn State it's at least been that way for the last couple years I view 2024 as perhaps the most pivotal year since James Franklin has got to Penn State wow it is okay it is and it's for many of the reasons that I have described all throughout this offseason that I can go into detail about now but uh Penn State benefits perhaps Above All Else by the new system with the expanded playoff they benefit perhaps more than anybody else with the new divisionist structure of the Big 10 the schedule for Penn State is spaced out pretty nicely it gives them padding in between the headlining games and this is a team that's got a lot back Penn State should be a playoff team this year full stop okay Full Stop in my opinion if they are not in the playoffs this is is a huge disappointment huge missed opportunity and I don't know what happens next got to make the playoff this year so the conversation in 2024 begins there and continues with James Franklin's two new coordinators one Andy cootel Nikki who was hired away from Kansas was kind of the higher of the cycle on the offensive side and Tom Allen got fired from Indiana but still a damn good coach in his own right especially as it relates to Def defense he is coming in he's going to take over for Manny Diaz who went to take over the Duke job both of them in my view excellent hires I love it I'm ecstatic to get both in the same cycle each guy though is in a little bit of a different situation sounds a little counterintuitive I granted I feel like Tom Allen's got more pressure on him because prob the defense needs to stay at an elite level if they're going to make any kind of serious run at this thing and they lost some difference makers to the NFL let's be clear about that Tom Allen needs to step in needs to hit the ground running in this defense maybe can drop off a little bit but can't drop off too much is your guy DDS still there DDS I'm about to talk about the okay sorry about to talk don't get don't get ahead of yourself premature DDS in yeah notably on defense for this Penn State team Tom Allen is making a little tweak little tweak okay playing more of a 4-25 this year functionally what does that mean that's a d yeah functionally it means that they're swapping a linebacker for a safety hybrid safety or hybrid the lion position whatever they call everyone's got a name for it now right I think it's a smart move especially since they're moving Abdul Carter from linebacker to Edge rusher that creates a really good situation I think along that defensive line I am very excited about the combo of Abdul Carter and deny Dennis Sutton I was so confident in deny Dennis Sutton a year ago that I botched his name well that'll happen it is not Danny Dennis is spelled D N I he says it deny yeah Den the opportunity we are denying all of these other big 10 teams the opportunity to get a leg up on this defense okay beyond that their top four defensive tackles are back they're very deep up front the danger on this defense starts in the trenches line should be ferocious if they're in danger at all on the defensive side it's probably at corner where they had a lot of turnover because kin King and Johnny Dixon and dayquon Hardy all went pro this year they bring in AJ Harris from Georgia Jaylen Timber from Florida to help plug some of those gaps I could see it taking a little bit for those guys to mesh but they're backed up by a really good set of safeties and the good news is that there aren't a whole lot of highflying offenses at least not in the early part of the season on the schedule they've got like I don't know a month and a half to before they play a team like a USC which as we know in La yeah in La USC has built more to take advantage of that but um as long as Tom Allen isn't doing the full college football 25 simulation of the defense yeah this is going to be a beast of a unit and they're going to be real real good that goes without saying yeah the key to this entire thing is offense and it wasn't bad last year I don't mean to imply it was a bad offense but it was very underwhelming let's be clear so what Andy cootel Nikki can do with this offense is going to decide how the whole thing goes he's a super creative mind his work at Kansas should be in the freaking Lou all right Kansas Kansas was nowhere before Lance Li got there and through Li Andy kotel Nikki they turned into a really good offense especially a really strong running team which is what I like about this hire I would love to see Penn State build the whole damn plane out of Nick Singleton and KRON Allen who are their two star running backs and just go from there figure it out from there but start with the running game build it around those two dudes and then we can work in more receivers more passing schemes for Drew Aller etc etc but that's I think that's the teeth of the offense okay hopefully he feels similarly last season that is not the same say they didn't try cuz they did but they lost pretty much all of their home run threats this offense had virtually no explosion in 2023 so the caveat is you got to try and get some of that pop back the caveat is that the line is relatively green they lost three starters to the NFL so good good line a year ago probably still fine with a lot of talent they've recruited well but possible danger if they take too big a step back and if they rely a little bit or or try to rely a little bit too much on that running game that brings me to Drew Aller in the passing game this is where it really hurt them that there wasn't a home run threat actually let me let me let me back up this is where it really hurt them when they had receivers an entire room of receivers that couldn't get open they got no separation all year long only so much you can do that's not to say some of it wasn't on Drew Aller he's still relatively green I've talked at nauseum on this show about how he picked up the quarterback position later he hasn't been playing it since he was 10 years old he is still learning to play this position some of it's on him most of it's on the receivers not getting open so what happened in the off season they all left they all left all the receivers are gone yeah they all left this is a bad receiver room a year ago it's basically a brand new receiver room this year because something like Five Guys transferred out um the top Target appears to be Julian Fleming who transfers in from Ohio State otherwise it's Harrison Wallace and Kaden Saunders who were very lightly used a year ago Tyler Warren is back at tight end I like him a lot okay whether it's these guys whether it's somebody else lower on the depth chart it is essential that somebody else step up somebody else needs to step up and become a reliable Target there needs to be more of a Supporting Cast around allert maybe it's Nick Singleton or KRON Allen in the passing game I don't know maybe it's Tyler Warren here here is where we are relying on that creativity from Andy cotel Nikki to unlock this passing game because last year under Mike Urich in a system that felt more rigid for whatever reason it did not click it needs to click let me say one more thing about Drew Aller PFF I mentioned this too PFF posted something on their site about how Drew Aller is one of the most disrespected quarterbacks in looking back in 2023 he had a 25-2 touchdown inter interception ratio objectively that's very good to my eye he never fully looked comfortable I don't know if that's a processing thing I don't know if it is truly fair to throw the receivers under the bus the way I just did but I think it Bears mentioning that another year in this system hopefully with a better offensive coordinator gives Drew Aller the seasoning that he needs to maybe get to that five-star potential he was good last year he wasn't great he wasn't a festar last year right a more flexible system I am hope can get him there three yards per attempt against Michigan thank you thank you he was good against everybody just not the best teams on the schedule yeah he was more he was uh I I would appreciate how safe he was not safe but like clean responsible two interceptions right he was responsible but here's the thing Dan if you come in and and maybe this is the part that wasn't fair to Aller when you come in as a festar people look to you to win games they look to you in a game like that Michigan Affair or Ohio State or any of the bigger teams on the schedule even at home no head coach against Michigan for sure but if the running game isn't working and isn't giving you the pop that's when people look at the five-star quarterback and they say go win the game for us yeah and he was not able to do that either because he was not ready or did not have the skills or did not have the receivers but the passing game was not good enough for that so they got to fix that they got to get better they don't need to necessarily be the Mike Leech air raid this season but they have to offer a second Pitch yeah this is a great schedule like oh yeah this is a great it feels like this should be a playoff team with this it's well balanced there's enough Firepower on here to be taken seriously but yet good buffers after all the big games there's a five-week stretch between the middle of October and early November that I think decides this season at USC then a and at Wisconsin home against Ohio State home against Washington that's the stretch right there West Virginia to open up the year is tricky and it's on the road and a weird early kick too right it's the noon yeah yeah I'm not as concerned because I think Penn State should be good enough at stopping the run and certainly as I said on the defensive line that stopping West Virginia's run should be something that they can handle but West Virginia is a good ball club we we'll know like pretty early on what this defense looks like against a good power rushing team but I agree um I'm not I'm not out here saying I'm gonna throw all my money on over 10 and a half I'm just saying to somebody wearing a pen State shirt and somewhere around here has a diploma hanging on the wall that if they're not making the playoffs this year it is supremely disappointing and I don't know what that means for James Franklin's future yeah like and I feel weird saying that cuz he's had a lot of success there and I have nothing against him truly but this this is the Year this is the year to make that playoff and um getting a home game at Beaver Stadium is on the table that would be awesome they winterized the stadium now they've talked a lot about that they're in the throws of this major renovation to the football stadium th this is the year to kind of lay it all out in the line and uh get the most out of what I think is a really exciting class that came in you know back in 2022 they have one team on their schedule in Ohio State which is at home in Happy Valley that looks to be a Surefire top 10 12 15 team one team now somebody might surprise obviously USC or Wisconsin or Washington somebody's going to pop up and offer more of an obvious threat than where it sound seems to be right now but as it stands now maybe it's West Virginia who knows as it stands now in terms of talent in terms of situation in terms of Pop it's only the Buckeyes right now no can't lose to Michigan if you don't play Michigan Right Dan it's there for him yeah there's a reason why their 10 and a half is tied with Oregon and Ohio State as the best in the conference it's because the schedule works the team is good the coordinators that they went out and got are good there's a ton of talent across the board this should be a year that Penn State gets in the playoff so um I don't know how many teams ultimately get in from the Big 10 but my hunch is at this point if we're assuming three seems reasonable Penn State would be the third would you rather be Penn like a Penn State fan this year or a Michigan fan this year I would rather be a Michigan fan because my team would have just won the national title that's true and expectations are always high at a program like Michigan yeah but there is a little bit of a grace period exhale a little bit Yeah you can exhale a little bit and there's a grace period whenever you lose that much the coach all the players Etc you can take that step back and you still want the team to play well you never want to lose to Ohio State but you've already gotten to the top of the mountain Penn State I'm fearful that it's going to feel like we get into week 12 and again we're banging our head against the wall wondering what could have been yeah that's all reasonable yeah I I would probably feel better about Penn States here as a Penn State fan than I would feel like for isolating in a vacuum as a Michigan fan than Michigan Zer because similarly built but we think there's more pass upside with Penn State and Aller even after not all on him a a 2023 that really saw some struggles going downfield consistently which disappointing I'm sure for Penn State fans but with this schedule like you should be as you are brimming with confidence that the best of Penn State should be able to make the playoff this year and look this is not to say it's an easy schedule it's the 34th toughest schedule right now per Bill Connelly but in terms of Home road splits and missing missing Oregon and Michigan yeah Home Road splits are good it's also not a USC schedule which maybe we can talk about next right like it's it's it's one of the easier schedules in this conference and truly on display is this new setup and how it could benefit Penn State right got to take advantage of these opportunities they don't come around all that often they should they should have been coming around more often yeah they just haven't for Penn State so this is this is the at your Minnesota Golden Gophers though tauma I am a little bit fearful that game okay I'm serious all the Minnesota stuff I'm not just paying lipsti I understand I hear I am serious about Minnesota this year arguably Minnesota's biggest modern win was over Penn State it's true in Minneapolis a few years ago I gotta get I got to get one of those cool Minnesota shirts and wear it okay to team this year yeah fair enough