Ummm. Well, it would be difficult to be more WRONG in a game preview than I was this week. I thought this would be a tight, low scoring game. What we got was a blow out. The score doesn’t reflect how dominating the win actually was due to a late collective brain cramp allowing a TD on a kickoff return. In my defense, I did say that I thought it could be a blowout, I just didn’t choose to predict that. And, in reality, I didn’t expect it. I’m very happy to have been wrong.

The Good

• The Offense. This was the best overall offensive performance this year. Against a live, good defense, a large and loud hostile crowd, on the road at night with a 20 mph wind. That’s alot to overcome. They were sharp!
• The offensive line. Boeckman had all day to find receivers. Only one stupid penalty. The running game was working. 460 yards, 203 on the ground. Wow.
• Todd Boeckman. Here’s his stat line: 19-26-253 1 int, 1 sack, 3 TDs. His best game as a starter by far.
• Third down. The Bucks converted 12-15 and 1-1 on fourth down.
• Mo Wells. I’ve been tough on him, but he had a great game. 13 carries for 56 yards, but the main contribution was blocking. He picked up blitz after blitz. He ran hard and effectively too. Chris Wells may have better stats, but Mo was a man tonight.
• Place kicking. In a 20 mph wind, kicks were deep and 3-3 on FGs including a 50 yarder.
• Turnovers. The defense rattled Morelli and was hitting hard all night. The highlight was a pick-six by Malcolm Jenkins.

The Bad

• The Defense. Looked sluggish, bit on play-action all night long. Feels bad to say a unit that held an opponent to 10 points at home “bad” – but relative to their standards, there was room for improvement.
• The D Line. Didn’t hold the point of attack and let the offensive line get through to the linebackers.
• Kickoff coverage. It’s late in the 4th quarter, the team has absolutely dominated a good Penn State team at home. Special teams allow a 96 yard kickoff return for a touchdown narrowing the margin of victory. A major brain cramp.

The Ugly

• Officiating. Missed catch and TD on official review. OSU got away with a push off on a TD catch and two obvious pass interference calls. PSU was tackling the D line all night and got called once for it. This was as poorly an officiated game as I’ve seen this year. Generally though, the bad calls evened out – it was at least uniformly bad.
• Production values. Balloons floating in the camera view, missed plays occluded by down markers. Repeated audio intrusion by sideline reporter when not intended. Fluff material not really related to the game. It’s bad, and getting worse this season.

In the final analysis, despite any complaints, this was a dominating win. Go Bucks!