Watching the game, some things popped out to me overall:
1. OL play - when I went to San Berdoo for a week, I almost immediately noticed that the OL was more than handling its own against our DL in one-on-one pass pro drills - occasionally decidely beating the DL. In this game, BYU did everything they could do to try and confuse Rosen and the OL...but we kept Rosen upright. Pass pro has been an issue the last few years with our OL, and they got some pressure on Rosen, but we kept him upright most of the game. I feel a LOT better about them as a group today - AND we gashed BYU running the ball. A lot to be confident about this OL group for the season I think.
2. Prior to the season starting, I talked with some Penn State fans about their thoughts on Bradley as DC. While they liked him, they were not exactly enamored with how much pressure he brought and that we'd have to see games before we could decided if a lack of pressure was Bradley's doing, or (as they suspected) a function of Paterno's style he wanted for his defense. Not being a coach, the first two games I didn't see a lot of exotic blitzes, etc. and thought that maybe we were just staying conservative to not show anything to future opponents. But this game opened my eyes a bit. We still didn't bring a lot of exotic blitzes, but we brought a LOT of pressure. We just bring pressure in different ways due to Bradley's coaching. Everything from alignment shifts, to putting people in different spots based upon match-ups - all of that IS bringing a lot of pressure. We found BYU left tackle #76 had trouble with speed, and tried to exploit that all night long. THAT is coaching. We might bring even more pressure in the future, but as long as the coaching staff is actively attempting to put people in positions to exploit the offense, I am satisfied with how we bring pressure. It looks like Bradley's approach is working so far.
3. Rosen grew up as a QB after halftime. In the first half, he tried to thread the needle on throws into traffic and got burned repeatedly. In the 4th quarter, he threw the ball out of bounds, out of the end zone, etc...and lived to play another down. The TD pass to Jordan was PEREFECTLY thrown. As Mazzone said post-game describing Rosen, he managed the game well in the 2nd half, and especially well the last two drives. As bad a game as Rosen had, it feels to me like both mentally and emotionally, Rosen got stronger when the game was on the line. How is that for a true freshman QB?
1. OL play - when I went to San Berdoo for a week, I almost immediately noticed that the OL was more than handling its own against our DL in one-on-one pass pro drills - occasionally decidely beating the DL. In this game, BYU did everything they could do to try and confuse Rosen and the OL...but we kept Rosen upright. Pass pro has been an issue the last few years with our OL, and they got some pressure on Rosen, but we kept him upright most of the game. I feel a LOT better about them as a group today - AND we gashed BYU running the ball. A lot to be confident about this OL group for the season I think.
2. Prior to the season starting, I talked with some Penn State fans about their thoughts on Bradley as DC. While they liked him, they were not exactly enamored with how much pressure he brought and that we'd have to see games before we could decided if a lack of pressure was Bradley's doing, or (as they suspected) a function of Paterno's style he wanted for his defense. Not being a coach, the first two games I didn't see a lot of exotic blitzes, etc. and thought that maybe we were just staying conservative to not show anything to future opponents. But this game opened my eyes a bit. We still didn't bring a lot of exotic blitzes, but we brought a LOT of pressure. We just bring pressure in different ways due to Bradley's coaching. Everything from alignment shifts, to putting people in different spots based upon match-ups - all of that IS bringing a lot of pressure. We found BYU left tackle #76 had trouble with speed, and tried to exploit that all night long. THAT is coaching. We might bring even more pressure in the future, but as long as the coaching staff is actively attempting to put people in positions to exploit the offense, I am satisfied with how we bring pressure. It looks like Bradley's approach is working so far.
3. Rosen grew up as a QB after halftime. In the first half, he tried to thread the needle on throws into traffic and got burned repeatedly. In the 4th quarter, he threw the ball out of bounds, out of the end zone, etc...and lived to play another down. The TD pass to Jordan was PEREFECTLY thrown. As Mazzone said post-game describing Rosen, he managed the game well in the 2nd half, and especially well the last two drives. As bad a game as Rosen had, it feels to me like both mentally and emotionally, Rosen got stronger when the game was on the line. How is that for a true freshman QB?
