Game 599: Louisville speeds ahead to fight off Wake Forest comeback in Collegefootballfan.com record-setter, 62-59

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Game 599: Louisville speeds ahead to fight off Wake Forest comeback in Collegefootballfan.com record-setter, 62-59

Winston-Salem, NC – The Louisville Cardinals’ speed vaulted them past the Demon Deacons early to post a 28-7 lead early in the second period.  However, the undefeated Deacs ranked 19th in the AP poll coming in, surprisingly out-scored their ACC foe from that point on, 52-34.  However, it wasn’t enough to avoid the upset by the Cards to fall, 62-59.  Had the Deacs (5-1,1-1) recovered their onsides kick with 1:10 remaining, no doubt here that the result would have been different.  Ironically, these two made collegefootballfan.com history as both had played in our top three scoring games among 598 previously witnessed contests.  However, the performances by both defenses makes a fan wonder, “Quarterbacks attend passing camps to hone their skills.  Maybe some smart coaches should start camps to teach pass coverage and improve tackling as well.” 

Louisville WR Seth Dawkins outraces Wake Forest defenders for a 55-yard gain.

Louisville starts full speed ahead

     Wake’s fumble by Cade Carney put Louisville on offense at the 28 of WFU.  LU drew first blood with Javian Hawkins TD run at the eight.  Wake’s next punt put the Cards with their backs supposedly to the wall starting for their eight.  WR Seth Dawkins burned the Deac secondary 55 yards catching Micale Cunningham’s pass (5 of 6, 99 yards, two TDs).  Wake showed that they wouldn’t go down easily with a 75-yard drive with QB Jamie Newman (24 for 41, 251 yards, three TDs, two INTs) hooking up with Sage Surrat for a 12-yard score.  The speed of Louisville flashed by us on the ensuing kickoff return by Hassan Hall.  He worked his way up the right sideline drawing in the coverage team, then cut left, and sped around the outside for a 100-yard TD jaunt.

Wake DT Sulaiman Kamara (90) and mates stop Javian Hawkins (10) short of a first down in second quarter action.

   Host and Guest Game Analyst Jim Harton’s buddy and fellow Wake alum, “Goober”, commented that on the entire Deacon team, probably only two or three players could match the speed displayed by the entire Louisville offense we watched. We witnessed that speed once again firsthand as LU’s Tutu Atwell returned Wakes ensuing punt 50 yards to the 13.  Heading into the second period, Cunningham connected with Atwell for a nine-yard strike for a 28-7 lead that seemed to be mounting.

Wake awakes

     In the second, the Deacs fought their way back into contention.  Newman finished off a 74-yard drive with a three-yard pass to Surrat (12 catches, 196 yards, three TDs).  The Deacs supposedly got a big break after that on a run by Cunningham who got upended hard by Safety Nasir Greer to force a fumble.  Not only did DB Traveon Redd recover the football and return it to the LU four, but the hit put Louisville’s starting QB on the sidelines for the rest to the game.  FB Cade Carney converted the turnover into six points for the Deacs with a one-yard run somewhat making up for his earlier fumble – with this score and 95 yards on 17 carries. 

Louisville QB Micale Cunningham go off to a hot start in the first half, but an injury sidelined him in the second period to be replaced by Evan Conley.

     Frosh QB Evan Conley took over for the injured Cunningham.  The Cards went four-and-out.  Their next possession started with Dom DiMaggio’s shanked punt that went out at the 46.  Conley moved his team to the 14 for Blanton Creque’s 23-yarder.  The Deacs responded with a drive down to LU’s 13 before DB Yasir Abdullah picked Newman for a key defensive stop to avoid another Deacon score that would have added to their comeback effort and given them momentum going into the second half.  Instead, the Cards took a 31-21 lead going into halftime.

Wake WR Sage Surratt (14) grabs one of his three TD passes for the day from the three.

     Could Louisville continue to dominate offensively with their speed, or would Wake’s contention not to give in overcome the Louisville lead for good?  GGA and host Jim Harton commented bluntly, “Our special teams are killing us.”  Wake Forest’s Marching Band performed with Motown sounds and fireworks from the Dixie Fair nearby lit up the night.  One thing that could be expected for sure in the second half the way the offenses and defenses played, more fireworks for sure. Who could ignite the most?

And the answer(s) is (are)…

     Speed still kills, and so do Wake’s specialty teams as abruptly pointed out by Jim already.   The second half kickoff return by Louisville looked like the 100-yard jaunt in the first half – except for the immediate finish. Hall started down the right side again and drew in the coverage before cutting to his left to ramble down field before he got caught at the 13. After this cruise of 83 yards, Conley threw a scoring strike to Dez Fitzpatrick from 15 yards away.  Demon Deacon S Grier captured a Conley pass on the next Cardinal drive to take over from the 14.  Wake closed the gap once again, 38-28, with Newman’s TD pass to Surrat for 47 yards. No quit in sight from the Deacs offense.  Different story for the defense.  Conley connected with his receivers several times on a 70-yard drive before Hall did the honors from the eight.  Wake responded with Nick Sciba’s kick from 34.  The third ended with the Cards in the lead, 45-31.  Despite many Wake fans already leaving, I felt this game was still within reach for the Demon Deacons.

WFU Strong Safety Nasir Greer (3) stops a Louisville drive with a pick at Wakes’ 14-yard line.

    After an exchange of punts, Louisville thrived with their speed game as Conley tossed the ball to Fitzpatrick who turned on his afterburners for a 50-yard TD. The Deacs responded with 59 yards culminating in a three-yard TD run by Ken Walker III.  Five minutes and 35 second remained when Creque put up another FG for a 17-point Cardinal lead.   Most of the Wake “faithful” already filtered out.  Jim promised to give his frat buddy, “One-Iron”, a ride out to Greensboro and it was well past 11. I had a long ride to Charlotte to catch a morning flight home.  I hate these evening kick-offs!

Surratt makes another grab for the Demon Deacons.

It’s not over till it’s over

      Jim and I sauntered out, made our “pit stop”, and continued out to our disassembled pregame tailgate in the Gold lot close to the stadium.  A few of Jim’s friends lingered to share their disappointments regarding their Demon Deacons. A couple of roars let out from the remaining crowd. The Wake band belted out, “Oh here’s to Wake Forest!”  And a couple more times!  What’s going on? Speed kills, special teams stink, time’s running out! Out came all the cell phones. Updates varied.  WTH? 55-52? We missed two Deacon scores?  Turned out Wake QB Sam Hartman, the starter from a year ago, hit Scotty Washington for a 22-yard TD pass.  Sciba’s onsides kick recovery put Wake at LU’s 47.  Three plays later, Hartman completes a 21-yard scoring pass to TE Jack Freudenthal.  I’m heading back into BB&T Stadium.

Christian Beal-Smith (26) gained 123 yards on 14 carries for the Demon Deacons.

   I get inside and easily find a seat.  I see a first down challenged and under review for several minutes. The replay video on the scoreboard is frozen showing Conley’s knee definitely down a yard short of the marker to the embarrassment of the refs, who by the way, were horrible all night. Louisville breaks from the sideline with their offense, not their punt team.   Fourth and one at the Wake 41 means the game here based on a first down or a stop. 

    Conley fakes a handoff to a back through the middle, takes it along the right side of his protection, turns upfield past one defender, and then bolts 41 yards untouched for a TD – unbelievable! It looked too easy.  Untouched.  62-52 with 2:15 left. I start walking out. Two more Deacon scores?  No way! Leftovers cheer again? “Oh, here’s to Wake Forest!” In only 1:05 and in seven plays, Hartman gets the Deacs back on the board with a one-yard TD run following his 27-yard pass to Surrat.  With 1:10 left, Sciba’s onsides kick gets recovered by Louisville. 1:10? If WFU recovered, no doubt they would have won. Unbelievable. They dropped out of the rankings. Louisville overwhelmed them with speed. Their specialty teams stink. Their defense can’t tackle, but “Here’s to Wake Forest!”

“Oh, here’s to Wake Forest!”

Final score ties record, but we put this one at the top

      For the second year in a row, we saw this same score that set our record a year ago when UMass defeated Liberty, 62-59, but that resulted after three overtimes. Over in regulation, we now officially consider this our highest scoring game. Throughout our forty-year history, we’ve attended five games totaling over 100 points.  Only WVU over Clemson in the 2012 Discovery Orange Bowl ended one-sided, 70-33, but the four higher scores were all competitive.  Making it more interesting, Wake and Louisville competed previously in two of the contests.  Wake Forest, of all teams!  That occurred in the 2015 Belk bowl where they defeated Texas A&M, 55-52.  Our first 100+ points came twenty years ago, almost to the day. On a cold, clammy, Thursday night at West Point on October 7, 1999, Army defeated the Louisville Cardinals, 59-52, in two OTs.  That record stood until last year’s the UMass-Liberty game.  One year later, the same score ties the record. The way the game is played today, a new record probably looms not too far in our distant future.

Time to update our record book again. Click on Milestones.

Next!

    The Deacons and the Cardinals (4-2, 2-1) host two ACC teams that played each other last Saturday.   Florida State (3-3,2-2) visit Winston-Salem.  The Deacon fans have high hopes for that one.  Louisville hosts No. 3 Clemson (6-0, 4-0) with Heisman QB Trevor Lawrence who knocked off FSU last week, 45-14.

    As for collegefootballfan.com, we celebrate our 600th game at The Birthplace of College Football where it all started 150 years ago. With about 100 others joining us for our landmark game, it should be a great tailgate party!  The Big Ten game, however, between the No. 20 Minnesota Golden Gophers (6-0, 3-0) and the hurtin’ Rutgers Scarlet Knights (1-5, 0-3) could be another 100-point game, but it would be more one-sided than the aforementioned WVU-Clemson game! In their past five games, they’ve been outscored, 195-23.  Let the good times roll.  We have 26 Minnesota fans joining our tailgate.  Looking forward to it.

Minnesota Head Coach P.J .Fleck, in gold shoes, leads his team against Rutgers this weekend where he used to be an assistant coach under former RU HC Greg Schiano.

Game 598: Navy comeback derails Air Force in final minute, 34-25

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Game 598: Navy comeback derails Air Force in final minute, 34-25

Annapolis – Don’t let this score fool you.  It was closer than this. The Midshipman of Navy took the lead from the Air Force Falcons with 23 seconds left in the 52nd meeting between the two with Navy QB Malcom Perry’s three-yard TD run.  Navy “striker” LB Tony Brown added six more on the final play with a fumble recovery for a touchdown to give the Mids (3-1) a 34-25 win in the first meeting of the season for the 2019 Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.  USNA outgained USAFA (3-2) on the ground, but several key passes from Perry (5 of 7, 144 yards) to WR Mychal Cooper set up short Navy scores to lead going into the final period before Air Force scored 16 straight points prior to Navy’s winning rally.

USNA Slotback Tajh Maloy (25) looks for running room against Air Force.

New experience for Collegefootballfan.com

     For Collegefootballfan.com with a contingent of eight Guest Game Analysts, the game contest, tailgating, and traditions of Academy football were enjoyed on a beautiful, sunny day from the porch of the Navy-Marine Corps Anchor Club in the southeast corner of the stadium.  For the first time, we treated ourselves to the Captain’s BBQ buffet and a cash bar open until the end of the third quarter.  The game and the entire weekend that began on Friday could not have been experienced any better.  Our GGA’s want to come back and do it all again!

View of Gold side of Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium from the Anchor Club.

Turnover time

    Air Force took a 3-0 lead in the first period with Jake Koehnke’s 42-yard FG following three consecutive series resulting in four turnovers by both teams including fumbles by both teams on just one play.  The Falcon recovery on that play restarted a series at Navy’s 33 to put Koehnke within distance to tally the only three points for the Air Force lead at the end of the first period.      

With the aid of WR Daniel Morris (80), FB Taven Birdow (33) scores a fourth quarter TD for a short Air Force lead.

“Precision bombing” works against Air Force

    Navy didn’t go to the air often, but when they did, they were effective. The Mids put seven on the board with FB Nelson Smith’s one-yard TD run following two consecutive completions from Perry to Cooper (three receptions for 90 yards) for 38 and 24 yards respectively to set him up.  The Mids next series resulted in similar fashion as Perry connected with Cooper on a 28-yard strike to the three before Smith (19 carries, 82 yards, two TDs) carried the ball over for the score. The Air Force Academy responded with a 53-yard drive to the Mids 23 where Koehnke drilled a 40-yarder to close the margin to 14-6 in favor of the Mids before the half.

Perry unleashes a pass down field although this one is not to his favorite target Mychal Cooper (3), upper left.

Heisman Hero and halftime

    A video tribute honored Navy’s Heisman Trophy winner of 1960, RB Joe Bellino, at halftime.  Bellino passed away at the age of 81 on March 27, this year.  His jersey number “27” emblazoned in gold, marked both yard lines on the playing field. This game’s program included an article about him as a great athlete, dedicated Naval officer, and an even a better person.  It can be read on the Navy Sports website by clicking here. 

Two Boeing F/A – 18F Super Hornets from Oceana NAS in Virginia approach for the “flyby” after the national anthem.

     Compliments of GGA Bill Serafin, we went up into the Ackerson Tower to a special event area where we met up with Bill’s fellow Wallington, NJ friend Steve Adzima whose son Mike is a senior C/OT on the Navy line (I believe I saw another son of his play QB at FDU-Florham).  We had a few drinks together and watched third quarter action before Bill and I headed back down to the Anchor Club for an anticipated great finish (can’t lie, the bar closed).  In the meantime, we got to speak to one of the Irish guests there on the committee for the Navy-Notre Dame game to be played in Dublin, Ireland next August.  We’re considering the opportunity.  We got to ask him what real Irish know about college football besides the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.  They know just enough to host a big game there was basically his answer. A few years ago, when the Mids and Irish met, ND brought 28,000 and USNA 7,000.

Navy LBs Paul Carothers (51) and Diego Fagot (54) both came up with 12 tackles each against the Air Force.

Three scores each, but not the same score

     Air Force scored on its first series of Q3 albeit once again on a 49-yard field goal on the strength of Koehnke’s leg.  However, Navy’s only scoring answer came back in a touchdown on a 20-yard run by Perry (23 carries, 111 yards, two TDs) to give the Mids a 21-9 lead at the end of the third.

Jake Koehnke delivers one of his four field goals for the Falcons.

Punches and …

     In the fourth, once again, Air Force’s drive heading into the final 15 minutes resulted in three more points on Koehnke’s 26-yard boot.  On the next series, Air Force recovered a Navy fumble at the Navy 37.  This time Air Force got their engines finally revving to forgo a field goal as QB Donald Hammond III (10 for 25 passing, 205 yards; 12 carries for 77 yards, one TD) took it over from the three to close within two, 21-19.  The Falcons forced a Midshipman put and started from their 28.  A pass to WR Benjamin Waters for 41 yards keyed the possession to the Navy six.  FB Taven Birdow’s one-yard run into the end zone gave Air Force a 25-21 lead with only 3:15 left to play. 

Air Force Cadet band enjoys its brief lead late in the game.

… counter-punches.  Knock-out! 

   Perry did the brunt of the running on Navy’s next possession down by four.  He converted a fourth and one on a sneak at the 14 for a first down.  With 23 seconds remaining, he carried the ball over from the three to retake the lead for the Mids by three.  Desperate to score quickly with only one tick left on the clock, the Falcons went into the lateral mode from their 27 resulting in an eight-yard fumble return by Brown to wrap up the scoring at 34-25 for the Navy victory and what many witnessed as the biggest celebration to ever end a game at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.  Another great experience enjoyed by our entourage of GGAs. 

Malcolm Perry (10) carries the ball over for Navy’s winning score.

Thanks to our GGAs

   Other GGAs for our tailgate besides Bill included Les Di Vite (Seton Hall) and Chris Cohen (USMC Vet) who did all the driving this weekend.  Frank Lorito came up from Delaware to celebrate his 60th birthday with us.  Mike Pitch who said when we attended the Memphis game last year, “let’s do a big game next year”, which resulted in this weekend’s plans. He also admitted he was impressed with the hotel arrangements I made this year.   Vince Gallo who took some great pics and a couple of good videos on his phone which will let us remember some great moments at this game. Steve Ciesla (Juniata/Montclair State) brought us more beer we’ll probably use for Game 600.  Bob Brauer brought the Scotch and sacrificed himself to room with Mike who snores loudly.

Brian Donnelly stopped by and the best thing he did for us was to bring his sister Eileen whom we all like.  And finally, for our other tailgate friend “Navy Al” and his son Alex, a professional chef who grilled some great ribs and burgers for us after the game out in the parking lot, thank you both!

Bill, Bob, Chris, and Steve enjoy our “light” tailgate before the game. We were saving ourselves for the Captain’s BBQ later at the Anchor Club.

   On Friday, seven of us got into town only to find Annapolis packed by the annual boat show we didn’t know about as well as the biggest Navy football game of the season at the same time. Things worked out well for us despite the congestion.  We decided to have late lunch when we got into town at Chick and Ruth’s instead of breakfast there the next morning.  The weekend was a food fest to say the least.  After lunch, we enjoyed happy hour from three to seven for our first time ever at the Ram’s Head Inn.  I recommend their Oak Barrel Stout!  After happy hour we had appetizers outside in the Biergarten there and reminisced about our favorite female TV stars from many years ago still on re-runs today. It was stimulating conversation before heading back to our hotel to imbibe. Great time and game in one memorable weekend.

Navy’s post-game celebration before “Navy Blue and Gold!”

Next!

Navy (3-1, 1-1) heads to Tulsa (2-3, 0-1) for an American Athletic Conference contest.  Air Force (3-2, 1-1) hosts Fresno State (2-2) in a Mountain West Conference clash.  Collegefootballfan.com meets up with our friend and Wake Forest alum Jim Harton to see his No. 19 Demon Deacons (5-0, 1-0) host Louisville (3-2,1-1) in a prime-time game at 7:30pm (ugh!).  Jim and I are rooting for his Deacs to win so he and his friends can update my name among them to “9-0 Koreivo” from “8-0 Koreivo”. Over 40 years, I’ve seen the Deacs play eight times and they’ve won them all! We doubt anyone else can claim that!

Three Air Force Falcon mascots enjoyed the game for their perches as well.

We’re back!

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Sorry! Our website was knocked off the internet due to some technical issue for a few days, but we’re back now. Come back for our update regarding a fantastic weekend and great game as Navy defeated Air Force in the first leg of The Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy, 34-25!

Game 597: Temple turnovers topple Tech, 24-2

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Game 597: Temple turnovers topple Tech, 24-2

Philadelphia – The Temple Owls defeated the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets visiting under their former Head Coach Geoff Collins with big plays on defense to win their third game of the season under their new Head Coach Rod Carey, 24-2.  The Owls came up big in several situations where Tech threatened to score nearing the red zone.  Offensively for Temple, RB Re’Mahn Davis rushed 29 times for 135 yards and two TDs. The Owl record now stands at 3-1 since Carey took over after his successful stint at Northern Illinois.

Temple’s Re’Mahn Davis (20) fights for few yards on a second period touchdown drive.

So close, but no cigars!

     Temple’s opening drive came to an abrupt end when Tech DB Kaleb Oliver swooped in front of Anthony Russo’s pass in the end zone to put Tech’s offense on their 20 with the touchback.  Temple stopped Georgia Tech on downs on their next drive.  Heading into the second, however, the Owls came up with a big defensive play on Tech’s next drive. The Owls thwarted what looked to be a sure TD as QB Tobias Oliver approached the goal line in an open field.  Met inches from the goal line where LB Isaiah Graham-Mobley hit him high causing a fumble, CB Christian Braswell recovered the ball in the end zone.  Both teams suffered turnovers at the goal line early in this game putting up yardage but no points.

Tech CB Kaleb Oliver picks Anthony Russo’s pass to end Temple’s early scoring threat.

     Late in the second through which both offenses had been held in check, Temple broke the scoreless stalemate as Davis capped a 58-yard scoring drive for the Owls with an 18-yard TD scamper.  On the Owls’ subsequent possession, he carried the ball in at the one to finish a 73-yard drive to lead Tech going into the half, 14-0.

It looked like clear sailing for Tech’s QB Tobias Oliver until LB Isaiah Graham-Mobley (far left) met him about foot from the goal line and Christian Bradley (behind No. 12) recovered his fumble in the end zone.

Turnover time

     Tech’s offense seemed to be building steam once again on its first drive of the second crossing into Temple territory, but DT Ifeanyi Maijeh forced Oliver to fumble once again.  The ball hopped into the waiting arms of S Benny Walls who promptly sped past the Tech line and cruised down the left sideline for a 74-yard touchdown jaunt.  Tech’s defense did what its offense couldn’t following a punt to the Temple one.  They wiped their “goose egg” off the scoreboard with a tackle of Davis in the end zone for a safety.  Temple added Will Mobley’s 34-yard FG before the end of the third period to tack up the final score, 24-2.

Temple LB Shaun Bradley (5) foils another Tech scoring attempt.

     In the waning minutes of play, once again Tech threatened with a deep scoring drive to TU’s 14.  However, this drive into the end zone misfired as Walls intercepted for his second turnover of the day.  Temple’s defense came up big to hold a Tech offense that just couldn’t cash in on several drives they threatened to score on.

It’s always sunny in Philadelphia!

Rambling Wrecks alright!

     The Yellow Jackets fell to 1-3 with ACC play to contend with in the coming weeks. Guest Game Analyst Bill Reilly (Juniata College) and I agreed that despite long drives, Tech still seemed to struggle converting from the previous triple-option run under former HC Paul Johnson to the more balanced attack Collins wants to implement.  It was surprising though that running game lacked some punch from that experience to get the ball into the end zone. Their O-line was big and their backs quick and shifty. Turnovers killed several chances to score.

The Tech offense still seemed to be making a transition to something other then a triple-option offense.

Next!

     Temple has a short week to prepare for a Thursday night game against East Carolina in an AAC game.  Tech hosts North Carolina (2-3) one week after the Tar Heels’ one-point loss to Clemson that dropped the Tigers from No. 1 to No. 2.  Tech fell to Clemson in their opener, 52-14. 

     We at Collegefootballfan.com look forward to our first 2019 game at Annapolis this upcoming weekend when the Midshipmen of Navy (2-1) host arch-rival Air Force (3-1) in the first meeting for the Commander-in-Chiefs Trophy for Academy football supremacy.  We look forward to a new experience at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium when our group will watch the game at the venue’s Anchor Club where we will get to enjoy the cuisine at the Captain’s BBQ.  Go Navy!

Game 596: Penn State continues slaughter of Maryland, 59-0

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Game 596: Penn State continues slaughter of Maryland, 59-0

College Park, MD – Since 2014, when Maryland co-captains dissed the captains of Penn State’s football team under sanctions at the coin toss to stir up a rivalry by not shaking hands, the Lions have reeled off five straight victories against the Terps after that one-point loss.  PSU added insult to injury for that memory last Friday night, 59-0, for the 54th win in 58 games against Maryland. Following a one-point victory by the Lions in 2015, they’ve outscored the Terrapins, 201-20, since.

Travelers from Happy Valley got loud and stayed proud of their Lions on a Friday night.

Fear the Turtle?

    Penn State scored on seven of its eight possessions in the first half to lead 38-0 before Maryland’s Marching Band took to the field.  Lion QB Sean Clifford scored on his team’s first play from scrimmage following an interception by LB Jan Johnson to place the ball at Maryland’s eight.  On the third play of their next possession, Clifford (26 of 31, 398 yards, three TDs, one, INT) connected with KJ Hamler for a 58-yard TD pass.

    In the second period, PSU’s dominating and lightning quick defense forced punts four times after only three plays, one after four, and intercepted starting Maryland QB Josh Johnson after a 14-play drive to the five ending there in a pick by DB Tariq Castro-Fields.

    That last stop started a 95-yard scoring drive finished off with Ricky Slade’s five-yard run.  TE Nick Bowers caught a 15-yarder from Clifford, and RB Journey Brown hauled in another for a 37-yard score on consecutive series.  Jake Pinegar finished State’s first half scoring with his 21-yard field goal.

PSU RB Ricky Slade takes the ball over from the one for the first and only score of the third period.

Defense…Defense

    As potent as the PSU offense performed, the defense bottled up the Maryland offense from start to finish.  In the second half, six of seven Terrapin possessions ended in three plays or less.  Guest Game Analyst Brian Donnelly (Towson grad, Terps fan, bigger Navy fan) left our Penn State section before halftime to go sit in the abandoned Maryland student section to sulk in peace by himself.  GGA John Massimilla (PSU grad and fan) and I stayed and reveled in the PSU section in front to the Blue Band members that came to support their Lions.  The Lion defense allowed only 68 passing yards and only 60 rushing yards on the evening.  They seem primed up for Big Ten Conference play.

With the Lions up 45-0 in the third, we started playing a new game – “Where’s Brian?”

Spreading the spoils to victory

    Six Nittany Lion players rushed for a combined 198 yards.  KJ Hamler caught six balls for 108 yards and a TD.  Twelve other Lion receivers snagged 23 passes for 313 yards and two TDs.  Penn State got their Big Ten East play starting with an explosion.  They looked to be firing on all cylinders to start to challenge in upcoming conference play.

Next!

     No. 12 Penn State (4-0,1-0) hosts Purdue (1-3,0-1) coming off a 38-31 loss against undefeated Minnesota.  Maryland (2-2, 0-1) heads to Rutgers (1-3,0-1), 52-0 losers to Michigan last Saturday.  Their Head Coach Chris Ash and his Offensive Coordinator John McNulty were both fired by the school on Sunday.  Appropriately, read our Collegefootballfan.com game review from last week following their game versus Boston College.

    We stayed at Brian’s house Friday as he slowly recovered from the shock trying to understand why he went with us again to see this match- up.  He did the same two years ago in PSU’s 66-3 win over Maryland.  He couldn’t stop blaming himself. Great tailgate with he and his wife Laurie and her cousins Deb and Dan and friends, all devout Maryland Terps fans and season ticket holders.  Brian drove us there and back so John and I could relax and enjoy after our long rides to Maryland to catch up with him.  We look forward to going with him again in 2021. He won’t be caught dead in Penn State.  He can’t withstand the traffic after a Penn State home game.

Great tailgating before the game with Maryland and Penn State fans combined.

      Next stop to stay on track to Game 600 – Philadelphia for a Saturday afternoon at The Linc to see Temple host their old coach Geoff Collins and his Ramblin’ Wrecks from Georgia Tech!

Game 595: Princeton bashes Butler Bulldogs to open 150th season, 49-7

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Game 595: Princeton bashes Butler Bulldogs to open 150th season, 49-7

Wide open Princeton WR Andrew Griffin (19) grabs an early Davidson (behind Butler’s 96 in white jersey) pass for a first down.

Princeton, NJ – The score stood 42-0 in favor of Princeton at the end of the first thirty minutes of play on Saturday. Collegefootballfan.com decided to go home at that point and actually watch some games on TV rather than watch a football practice between two teams wearing a lot of clean uniforms.  Good choice, the second thirty minutes resulted in a 7-7 tie to give the Tigers a 49-7 season opening victory. 

Princeton on the prowl

     PU started off 2019 like last year although not as well when they took it to these same Bulldogs, 50-7.  New starting QB Kevin Davidson, a senior, replaced last year’s Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year, John Lovett, now with the Kansas City Chiefs.  In his 2019 debut, he passed for 341 yards and two TDs.  RB Collin Eaddy rushed for 59 yards and two TDs.  WR Andrei Iosivas, hauled in two TD passes – one from Davidson and one from fellow wide-out Dylan Classi, all in the first half. Over the course of the game, nine Tiger ball carriers combined for 168 rushing yards.  Eight Tiger receivers totaled 375 yards via the pass.  The opener for the 150th edition of Princeton Tiger football ended one-sided to say the least.  Butler tallied zero yards returning kicks and zero punt return yards.  Princeton hiked the ball 30 times during the first half to amass 378 yards and 42 points. Game over!  Outta’ here!

PU’s Collin Eaddy (1) heads around right end for an early Tiger score.

Tiger Tamer

  Head Coach Bob Surace, Princeton starting Center class of ’90 and former Cincinnati Bengal assistant for nine years, looks to have his Tigers charging for another Ivy League championship. He is one of only two people to win Ivy league titles as player (1989) and as head coach (2013, 2016, 2018).  His 2013 and 2018 Tiger teams featured the two highest scoring teams in Ivy League history.  The Tigers seem ready to pounce on some more football accolades in 2019.

The Princeton Tiger joined us to keep his eye on his Tigers!

  Next!

  Butler (1-3, including a 57-10 thrashing to No. 1 North Dakota State to open their season) heads to Florida to play the Stetson Hatters, a Pioneer League foe.  Princeton, 1-0, travels due west to Bucknell (0-3) of the struggling Patriot League which thus far has an anemic, non-conference record of 4-20 combined.  Their first challenge doesn’t appear on their slate until October 26 when Harvard comes calling on Old Nassau.

Tiger Defensive Captain Jake Strain halts BU RB Brad Sznajder for a loss.

   We plan to go back to Princeton Stadium when the Tigers face a traditional rival, the Yale Bulldogs. On November 16.  It should be more interesting with ESPN Game Day in attendance.  This weekend will be our last of two games weekends as we close in on Game 600 on October 19.  On Friday at 8 pm, we’ll see Penn State clash with Maryland for the third year in a row.  The Lions have won the past two by a combined score of 104 to 6.  Penn State (3-0) has to prove they’re ready for some better competition on the field, and Maryland (2-1) desires to improve over the last two years when the Lions trounced them. On Saturday, we’ll be at The Linc in Philly to see Temple (2-1) under new HC Rod Carey lead his team against their coach of the last three years, Geoff Collins, who brings his Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (1-2).  Should be an interesting game to watch here.

We’ll be back, but not on it like this Princeton Tiger who got tripped up.

Game 594: Boston College rushes past “clueless” Rutgers, 30-16

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Game 594: Boston College rushes past “clueless” Rutgers, 30-16

The Birthplace of College Football – I never thought I could say this in a Collegefootballfan.com game review, but the Rutgers Scarlet Knights actually had a chance to defeat Boston College yesterday, despite the Eagles 30-16 victory which could have been challenged had the clueless RU coaching staff picked up on an evident weak spot to exploit.  Rutgers (1-2) trailed 17-13 at halftime. 

However, the coaching staff seemed to show no sense to take advantage of a definite Eagles’ weakness in their secondary.  Following BC’s rout by lowly Kansas at home a week ago, the Knights could have picked up on some areas of weakness and taken advantage as the Jayhawks scored three TD passes against this team.  Replacement QB Art Sitkowski played a hot passing hand for the Scarlet Knights (23 of 33, 304 yards, one TD) that could have taken advantage of some evident, slow, secondary reactions certainly noticeable early on.

Rutgers Soph QB Art Sitkowski (8) racked up 304 passing yards despite a game plan short on long tosses.

 Find a weakness and take advantage

   The Eagles ran roughshod against the Knights’ D on their first possession with David Bailey rambling 42 yards over right tackle for an early 7-0 lead.  RU’s second offensive series, like their first, finished in three plays, but unlike the first, it resulted in a touchdown instead of a punt as Sitkowski tossed a short pass to Raheem Blackshear who faked DB Mike Palmer out of his jockstrap with some fakes and raced 74 yards down field to tie, 7-7.  After that, Palmer’s inability to cover tightly should have been as easy to notice from the coaching box on top of SHI Stadium as it was from my vantage point eight rows up from around the 20-yard line.  The Knights could take advantage.  They never did despite Sitkowski’s accurate performance on this beautiful, sunny fall day.

As surprise Guest Game Analyst Shawn, RU season ticket holder from Westfield pointed out, Rutgers has no confidence in Sitkowski’s long passing capabilities.  The time seemed ripe to let him take advantage of some playmakers who could easily get open under these circumstances.  They continued to throw short, or at best intermediate range passes throughout this game.

Despite being under the watchful eye of HC Chris Ash (left in white “R”shirt), Raheem Blackshear (2) on a kickoff return, never got the chance to beat the BC secondary long.

  Keeping it close

   The next Rutgers drive continued into the second period after starting from their ten.  Justin Davidowicz gave his Knights a 10-7 lead with a 23-yard FG.  The subsequent RU drive starting from the nine gave BC great field position when their defense caused Blackshear to fumble with DB Mehdi El Attrach recovering to start Boston College at Rutgers’ twelve.  QB Anthony Brown (Cliffwood, NJ) plunged over from the one to give his Eagles a 14-10 advantage.  Davidowicz put RU within one, 14-13, with only :44 left in the first half. 

However, Brown clicked with his receivers to get Aaron Boumheri in position to take BC into intermission up, 17-13.  We figured some halftime adjustments would be made to take advantage of some evident weakness in the BC secondary.  Shawn, his wife, and daughter, however, had to leave for some other commitment at halftime.  A lot of other RU fans must have made other plans as well.  Many didn’t stick around for the second half even thought their beleaguered Knights seemingly had a shot to win here.

BC QB Anthony Brown (13) passed for 159 yards and ran for 40 and a TD.

Do what you do best

     RU started the second half from their 40.  However, no long passing game emerged to exploit an evident weakness.  BC on the other hand returned to its strength.  They turned to RB AJ Dillon (32 carries, 150 yards, two TDs) to run the ball starting with a drive from their 18 until he took it over from the one-yard line.  The teams exchanged punts.  RU continued to run the ball and throw short passes basically in front of BC defenders for short gains.

BC’s AJ Dillon runs for some of his 150 yards.

    Into the fourth, the Scarlet Knights closed to within a score of 24-16 with Davidowicz’s 50-yard field goal.  With 13:09, Rutgers still had a chance.  Would they look to open things up further down field? BC had other plans to stick with their ball control offense first.  They churned out a 75-yard drive with 18 plays, mostly with Brown, Bailey, and Dillon chipping away converting third downs and even a fourth down into a fresh series each time.  Dillon scored from the four with 6:32 left and after a failed two-point conversion, RU trailed, 30-16.  Sitkowski converted a 28-yard completion to Bo Melton to keep scoring drive hopes alive.  However, Palmer came up with an interception on a short pass attempt right at the line of scrimmage.  BC controlled the ball and time to run out the clock for the win.

Dillon finds end zone for the final score of 30-16 in the Eagles’ 11th straight win over the Scarlet Knights.

Tales of Two Teams 

    BC, with a heavy contingent of players and fans from the Garden State, went home with a 30-16 victory.  However, Rutgers had a chance to take this one if they made some adjustments to their game plan as far as collegefootballfan.com determined.  After the Kansas loss, BC Head Coach Steve Addazio is lighting a fire under his team to avoid mental mistakes moving forward and getting ready for ACC foes coming up.

With Big Ten foes (and improved Liberty) on the horizon, a second win for the Scarlet Knights could be challenging to say the least.  Recruiting against the likes of “sharks” at Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan is difficult enough, but if the coaching staff cannot identify weaknesses of opponents to take advantage of, we can’t see Chris Ash returning for another season at The Birthplace despite the extension he received two years ago.  This program is going nowhere and the fans are leaving at halftime three games into the season despite down by only four. What does that say?

Eagle adoration.

Next!

     Rutgers travels to highly embarrassed Michigan next Saturday where Jim Harbaugh now joins Chris Ash on the proverbial hot-seat.  Harbaugh can’t beat anybody in The Top 25, but Ash can’t beat anybody.  Harbaugh’s Wolverines’ will take it out on RU.  Rutgers can probably best retaliate by starting a new coaching search before Michigan does.  If RU wants to make a significant hire to make a move before Michigan decides to make a change, they better get out in front before the Michigan program is “available”.  BC hosts 4-0 ACC foe Wake Forest next week, a team we will see play Louisville on October 12 with WFU fan and alum Jim Harton.

Rutgers Scarlet Knights could use some “charging up” from somebody!

 History

    After this game, we drove 40 minutes south of The Birthplace to Princeton, possibly the same route but by different mode (horse and buggy, we assume) traveled to and from 150 years ago when Princeton and Rutgers started all this crazy, traditional, college football stuff we love to see played every fall.  Princeton (10-0 and Ivy League champs in 2018), like all of the Ivy League teams this weekend, just opened the their traditional 10-game slate only focused to win the Ivy League championship.  At 5 pm, they kick off their season against the Butler Bulldogs who they “wasted” last season, 50-7, in their opener in Indiana. Regretfully, we expect to see a similar outcome.  This would be much more competitive if they played each other in basketball.   We have to go though to keep pace to celebrate game 600 on October 19.  Look for our Princeton-Butler game review report next.

Game 593: No. 1 North Dakota State dominates Delaware for 24th straight win, 47-22

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Game 593: No. 1 North Dakota State dominates Delaware for 24th straight win, 47-22

Newark, DE – The perennial FCS champion North Dakota State Bison visited Delaware and not just dominated No. 18 to confirm that they are head and shoulders above most FCS programs, they stomped a traditionally good and well-coached program, 47-22.  The score is not indicative of the dominance we saw in a game that marked the first time collegefootballfan.com got to see the Bison play.  With a new head coach, a new QB, and new defenders in their lineup, they suffered a slight setback and then did whatever needed to be done at will to batter the Hens.  They can contend to play at the next level and have proven that with wins over FBS teams in previous years.  From all over the country but mostly in the cold regions of the upper Midwest, NDSU recruits players that could most likely play at the next level. Under their third HC in eight years, the program looks like it will just reload under new coach Matt Ertz.

The North Dakota State Bison prepare to defend their title of FCS champs once again.

Blue Hens seemed ready to fight  

  The Fighting Blue Hens (2-1) made a statement looking like they were ready to make this a game when Luke Frederick blocked NDSU’s punt after its first series that bounded through the end zone for a safety and a sudden, 2-0 UD lead.  Aside from Jake Roth’s 36-yard FG for Delaware at the end of the first, the Bison stampeded to a 27-5 lead by halftime.

   Instead of taking the momentum to the Bison after the safety, the Bison turned the tables with SS Michael Tutsie’s pick to put NDSU at the UD 35.  Kobe Johnson scored from the one and the Bison never looked back over their shoulders.  Griffin Crosa’s 46-yard kick gave the visitors a 10-5 lead at the end of the initial period.

State’s Kobe Johnson (24) extends football for one-yard TD.

Thundering Herd – wasn’t that Marshall?

    Bison QB Trey Lance (18 of 23 for 195 yards and three TDs) threw a 24-yard TD to Adam Cofield to cap a 75-yard drive to bolster the Bison lead.  Late in the quarter, Crosa put up three again from the 23.  To top off an 80-yard drive, Lance tossed a five-yard touchdown pass to TE Ben Ellefson with 30 remaining for the 27-5 half time lead.  The one-sided action frustrated the UD fans among the 14,489 in attendance.  It bored and disappointed collegefootballfan.com who expected to see more enthusiasm and resolve from a Delaware program trying to rekindle their own dominant FCS days of the past.  A loss at NDSU last season in Fargo did not spark the flame we had hoped to see.

Bison DE Derek Tuszka (91) gets hold of QB Pat Kehoe (12) for sack in first quarter.

 Halftime Blues

Guest Game Analyst Frank Lorito (Parsippany, NJ Poop Factory alum) and I sauntered to the Delaware Stadium Beer Garden near our GA section for a couple of Blue Moons as our way of supporting the Blue Hens who were making us “blue”.  Frank met an acquaintance during the break who follows UD closely and said he thought HC Danny Rocco was just “sliding into retirement”.  Can’t agree. He’s made some strides up since taking over from previous HC Stan Brock three years ago.  We changed seats for better views and possibly better results in the second half.

We think Delaware HC Danny Rocco is in Newark to get the Blue Hens back on top. He’s native of Huntingdon, PA, home of Alma Mater dear, Juniata College.

 Hope in Henderson

    Following another UD three and out to start the second half, the Bison stampede continued 50 yards with Lance throwing TE Noah Gindorff a four-yard TD pass.  Two points went for naught, extending the NDSU lead, 33-5.  The UD crowd abandoned hope for the exits of their stadium still under construction.  Their faith in this program is going to require some refurbishing as well.  HC Danny Rocco replaced starting QB Pat Kehoe (2 for 9 for a paltry 11 yards, one INT) with Soph QB Nolan Henderson.  With the game seemingly out of reach, he sparked a little life into the offense (9 of 12 for 125 yard and two TDs) leading to a Roth FG of 23 yards in his first series of the second half.    NDSU dominated into the final period, 33-8. Yawn.

Delaware Stadium has a long way to go for completion. The football program has made greater strides since Danny Rocco to over this program that was struggling before he came.

    Henderson stirred some further interest and his Smyrna, DE HS classmate Will Knight (8 carries for 116 yards) burst 59 yards to the Bison 20.  A seven-yard pass to Gene Coleman II gave UD its first TD.  They even topped it off with a successful two-point conversion on Thyrick Pitts’ option pass to fellow WR Chichi Amachi.  The 33-16 score brought some momentum to give the remaining Blue Hen fans some call for optimism.  At this point with 12:01 remaining, I thought the opportunity called for an onsides kick.  The Hens lined up in their basic kicking formation, but I pictured Roth just knocking it off the tee for ten yards and jumping on it while the Bison fell back to block.  He didn’t, but from what I saw, it could’ve worked.  Delaware blew a chance to at least hold down the score while using clock.  Rocco must have decided to write this game off at this point.  Too bad. 

Will Knight (25) charges into the line after taking hand-off from former Smyrna HS teammate Nolan Henderson (14). Sign in back celebrates UD football history.

Still thought it was good idea

     Methodically, the Bison rushed five times including Kobe Johnson’s (11 carries for 101 yards, one TD) jaunt to the ten where Adam Cofield plucked the Blue Hens once again to make it 40-16.  UD responded once again with Henderson barking signals.  He found Amachi in the left corner of the end zone.  This time the two-point attempt failed.  However, with an influx of clean jerseys, the substitute Bison refused to yield.  Saybein Clarke put the exclamation point on the dominant NDSU performance with a 20-yard TD run with 1:35 left.  Game over.  The defending champs left their vanquished foe and head to the next victim of another run at a national championship.  Still say they should have onsides kicked. 

NDSU QB Trey Lance (5) brings Bison closer to end zone on a late TD drive.

Next!

  The Bison (3-0) return to Fargo to face another top FCS challenge in No. 4 UC Davis (2-1).  Will they dominate? We think so.  Looking to make it 25 in row before heading into Missouri Valley Conference play.  Winning is embedded in this program – seven championships in eight years.  No. 20 Delaware hosts Penn as the Ivy Leaguers finally join the fray just this weekend for the first of only ten games they all play.  Will Rocco start Henderson against the Quakers?  He’s got to be thinking about it.

This North Dakota State cheerleader led the Bison in rushing this day. Every time they scored, she ran of over 100 yards!

     As for collegefootballfan.com, needing to attend two games on our pace to catch Game 600 on October 19, our original plans for this weekend got terminated by bugs.  We planned to see Yale open at home against Holy Cross at 1 pm, and then go see another Ivy League member, Brown, visit the Bryant Bulldogs at 6 pm in Smithfield, RI. That plan became a no-go when the kickoff got moved up to 3 pm. According to the Bryant website: “Due to the heightened risk during evening and nighttime hours of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE), a mosquito-borne virus in the area, the University is rescheduling outdoor activities accordingly in an effort to minimize the possibility of exposure for our fans and participants.” Bugged-off!

Delaware blow-hards!

    So luckily but regretfully for collegefootballfan.com, we will fall back to an original plan when that became available as the Boston College at Rutgers kickoff was announced for 12 noon. Right after that, we head down the Turnpike to see Princeton in their opener against Butler, a team they trounced in the opener of their 10-win season last year, in a 5:00 start.  Lucky that we get to see two games as we desired.  Regretfully, we anticipate two blow-outs.  Also, we’ve already seen both BC and RU play already.  

Extra Points:

    UD football fandom is not what it used to be.  Over the years, I’ve attended sold out games filled with excited Blue Hen fans for season openers (William and Mary) , critical conference games (James Madison, ten years ago) non-conference powers (Georgia Southern) in town, and for play-offs (Lehigh) on a cold December day at Delaware Stadium.  Now it’s really disappointing to see so many empty seats for a game where the Hens are on the rise and the number one FCS team in the nation came calling.  I see a big change to be honest in attendance at major football program throughout the country.  I guess it’s the preference nowadays to sit at home and turn I off if it’s a clunker.   Takes away from the atmosphere by keeping fans away from the stadiums.  I also think a lot of die-hard, school-spirited fans are moving on and upward.

One Blue Hen die-hard displayed some exuberance as UD scored to cut the lead, 33-16.

Celebrity sideline sighting:

Philadelphia Eagle QB Carson Wentz (in yellow) , former starter at NDSU, roamed the sideline among the Bison before heading to Atlanta where the Eagles lost on Sunday.

Game 592 : William Paterson rides freshmen past FDU-Florham for first win since 2017, 28-23

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Madison, NJ – The William Paterson Pioneers (1-1) mounted a strong running attack behind Freshman Terrique Riddick and Soph Marcel Mason who both scored two second half TDs to overpower FDU-Florham’s passing attack, 28-23. FDU, after a high-octane performance in a win over Kings Point, 56-48, launched into a quick start on Friday evening to take a 17-0 lead over William Paterson University.  Guest Game Analyst Paul Fraley noted Red Devil QB Anthony Caserta (39 for 55, 320 yards, two TDs) could really “zip” the football.  The Junior from Fordham Prep fired a scoring strike to Tyler Adams (Warren Hills HS, NJ) from five yards out to finish an 88-yard opening drive, the only points on the board for either team in Q1.

“Willy Pat’s” Marcel Mason (1) picks up blocking for some of his some of his 81 rushing yards for the Pioneers in an exciting, intensive win over FDU-Florham (1-1) .

Defensive forces

     In the second, Nick Maciejewski drilled a 32-yard FG enhance the Red Devil lead, 10-0, that stood into halftime.  The Devils held the Pioneer offense in check the entire first half holding them to only 98 yards.  Twice in the first half, the Pioneers fumbled away the football to give the home team a few more opportunities to score.  However, their defense rose to the occasion to thwart any more scores.  Following their 12-9 opening loss to Western Connecticut the previous week, there looked to be little hope of the Pioneers generating any offense in this game.

William Paterson receiver stopped short of first down on third quarter drive.

Second half, same as the first?

    WPU started the second half just as dismally with a three-and -out. After their second punt of the half, the Red Devils churned out a 67-yard scoring drive with Frosh WR Mark Kepler (Wharton, Morris Hills, NJ) taking it in at the six.  FDU had all the momentum and a 17-0 lead. 

Freshmen go to work

     Pioneer HC and Offensive coordinator Dustin Johnson opened things up with a short passing game.  His Freshman QB George Crespo aired the ball out completing several passes before Riddick (11 carries for 167 yards, two TDs) tore away for 41 yards to put seven up on the scoreboard for WPU with 3:15 left in the third.  The drive signaled a sign of things to come.    LB Bryan King sacked Caserta for a 12-yard loss to force the Devils to punt.

     A Crespo completion to Frosh WR Matt Clarke at the Florham six set up a one-yard TD run by Mason to turn this into a ball game.  With the Pioneers now trailing, 17-14, they started their next series at their won 30.  Riddick, a 5’6” freshman, burst upfield for 45 yards to the Devils 25.  He finished the drive with a two-yard run to give “Willy Pat” the lead, 21-17.  WPU’s defense stiffened again to force an FDU punt.  The Pioneers blazed a trail 76 yards with the final play a 10-yard TD run by Mason.  With only 2:49 remaining, the underdog visitors had suddenly extended their lead, 28-17.

Final minutes

    The Red Devils went to the air waves with Caserta spreading the ball to his targets. With 1:30 left, he fired a 14-yard scoring strike to Khrystan Camillo.   The two-point attempt to get within a field goal failed with an incomplete pass.  The Pioneers recovered the onsides kick and ran out the clock for their first victory since 2017.  Players doused their second-year HC Dustin Johnson and began to celebrate after the handshakes.  It was a shocking and inspirational victory for the Pioneers who fell to FDU at home a year ago, 31-17, lost their season opener, and finished 0-10 a year ago.  With their young backfield, they hope to develop some momentum for this season and the program’s future over the next few years.  For the Devils, it’s back to throwing the ball more down field.  Like last season, lot of deep drops only result in getting the ball back to the line of scrimmage.  High completion rates, but not enough yards per catch.

Khrystan Camarillo adds late score for FDU.

Next!

   Paterson’s next game is in two weeks when they will go face SUNY-Maritime (1-1) out on Long Island.  HC Brian Surace’s Red Devils travel to Widener to open up their Middle Atlantic Conference schedule. Collegefootballfan.com headed to Newark, Delaware to see the fighting Blue Hens host No. 1 North Dakota State, winners of five the last six FCS National Championships.

Game 591: Penn State second half surge turns back Buffalo Bulls, 45-13

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Game 591: Penn State second half surge turns back Buffalo Bulls, 45-13

State College, PA – A tough Buffalo defensive effort and a ball-control, ground game earned the Bulls a 10-7 halftime lead over the Nittany Lions, but a 36-yard interception return by CB John Reid early in the third jump-started a Lion rally in the second half to come back for a 45-13 PSU victory.  PSU QB Sean Clifford (16 for 22, 279 yards, four TDs) added three TD passes after that to add to his early scoring pass to WR Jahan Dotson (four catches, 109 yards, two TDs) midway through the first period.  Throughout the first half, UB showed no signs of intimidation in front of 104,136 in attendance in Happy Valley.  HC Lance Leipold has his team that plays in front of lesser crowds in their 30,000-seat stadium well prepared.

PSU WR Jahan Dotson dives for Sean Clifford’s first of four TD passes to take an early 7-0 lead for PSU against the Buffalo Bulls.

Bull rush

     PSU scored a TD before they ever recorded a first down nine minutes into the game.  In the end, the Bulls out-rushed the Lions, 184-78.  Their time of possession overwhelmed PSU, 42:32 to 17:28.  The home team overcame the visitors’ short yardage, ball-control running game with six quick touchdown-scoring drives consisting of five plays or less.  After State led 7-0 at the end of one, PK Alex McNulty converted a 32-yard FG to put the Bulls on the board.  With 14 seconds left in the second, QB Matt Myers tossed a six-yard scoring pass to TE Julien Bourassa to give the Bulls an unexpected lead at the half.

Alex McNulty puts up three in the second period for the Bulls.

Fan Friendliness!

    We noted a couple of positive changes for the fans after having attended over 90 games in the Happy Valley over these last 40 years (Penn State’s record with collegefootballfan.com in attendance is 84-25, both home and away).  Parking spaces are no longer arranged to park front end to back end.  Now, parking attendants guide every vehicle to park head to head giving everyone plenty of space to party from their tailgates or trunks.  Secondly, we like the new game program policy.  Fans can now buy a laminated tri-fold for only $2.  It includes rosters, depth charts, stats, and game schedules of the Big Ten teams that particular week.  Very easy to reference when watching a game.  The traditional 100+ page programs are now sold as yearbooks.  Buy one and you’re set with all the stories, team history, biographies, and features of that year’s team in one tidy, prefect-bound periodical.  Perfect!  Somebody’s been thinking about ways to make the game experience even more happy for the Blue and White faithful of the valley.

Needed spark

     Things didn’t start well offensively for the Lions in Q3 as RB Ricky Slade fumbled to set UB up on their 33.  Reid then stepped between a Myers pass and his intended receiver to race down the right sidelined unimpeded 36 yards for a TD to lead, 14-10.  Buffalo punted after a three and out.  A 22-yard return by KJ Hamler and a 15-yard personal foul put the Lions at the Bulls’ 23.  The PSU O went right to work getting TE Pat Freiermuth (8 snags for 99 yards, two TDs) into the end zone on one play.  The Bulls responded with McNulty’s FG from 25 to whittle the Lions lead, 28-13.  The Lion O roared back once again.  In three plays, Clifford raced 58 yards to the Bulls’ two where Frosh RB Noah Cain took it in for the score. 

Penn State’s Journey Brown looks to live up to his name, but it was short trip. He carried six times for 28 yards against the Buffalo Bulls.

Tragic moment

     Following another UB three and out, a horrific injury occurred on UB’s punt. The ball got tipped and misdirected, but the blocker fan into P Evan Finegan whose leg whiplashed through the air and came down on it at a bad angle. We heard that FOX Network decided correctly not to show the replay.  Our sight was blocked by the emergency cart.  All we could see was a medical technician quickly pumping air into what we figured was an air cast.  The loaded Finegan gently on to the cart and whisked him out of the south end zone portal to an awaiting ambulance to take him to Geisinger Medical Center conveniently not far from our designated parking area.  On Monday, reports indicated he was still there following surgery with a full leg cast on.  Members of the PSU special teams and HC James Franklin went by to visit.  We hope and pray for his full recovery to what surely is a very serious and unfortunate injury.

    After the punt on the fifth play, Clifford connected again with Freiermuth for 28-yard score.  With the Lions now leading, 35-13, heading into the final period, Jake Pinegar split the uprights from 32 yards out. The two teams exchanged puts before UB turned the ball back over on downs at the Lions 26.  Franklin decided he needed to extend the score for rankings.  On first and ten from the Nittany 44, Clifford led Dotson wit a deep pass for a56-yard score.  With 3:03 remaining the game wound down with the blue-chip Lions overcoming a young but game Buffalo Bulls team.

Lion LB Jan Johnson (36) tallied 12 tackles in this game for the most among all defenders.

Observations from us in the “peanut gallery”

     Penn State has some kinks to work out after having seen them in early season action.  This week Surprise Guest Game Analyst, “Steve from Hershey” sitting alongside, noted how until Clifford’s final TD pass, many of his passes fell short of his intended receivers (don’t tell me about that back- shoulder pass crap they talk about on TV).  Receivers had to slow down their routes or come back on their patterns to make catches.  He’s going to have to lead his receivers more often.  The defense allowed 245 yards passing and Leipold’s offense did not show much of a threat with a long passing with their RS frosh signal-caller in Myers (16 of 31 averaging 7.9 yards, longest for 29 yards).  Buffalo is young a well-coached team. They will do well in MAC competition this year.

     We believe Leipold, six-time HC of D-3 national champ Wisconsin -Whitewater and proving his worth at UB with stellar improvements over five years, will be coaching at a Power Conference next year.  Illinois?  Rutgers? I might actually root for the latter if Leipold stepped into that fire pit.

Maybe we’ll see Bulls Head Coach Lance Leipold wearing a different color next season.

Next!

     No. 13 Penn State (2-0) hosts Pitt (1-1) for the 100th  meeting, but probably the final game of this natural, intra-stare rivalry.  This concludes a four-year deal with no future plans to continue in sight. It sounds like an effort should be made by both teams to enhance their non-conference schedules (Idaho? Yeah, we know why, James) and to get their blood boiling before diving into conference play.  The Bulls (1-1) travel to Lynchburg, VA to play Liberty (0-2).

Fight on, State!

     For Collegefootballfan.com, we hit a local D-3 contest Friday under the lights to see the Pioneers of William Paterson U. of the NJAC (0-1) visit the Red Devils of FDU-Florham (1-0) after a log awaited winning season at 6-4 a year ago.  Last week, FDU defeated Kings Point, 56-48.  What’s going on here?  We really look forward to Saturday though.  For the first time, we’ll see FCS No. 1 North Dakota State, FCS champs five of the last six years charge into Delaware to meet the No. 18 Fightin’ Blue Hens in their newly renovated stadium.  We’re rooting for the upset.  Should be fun and memorable, we hope!