College Football Week 13

Sarge said:

I’m well aware of Nebraska’s ranking against the run. That same defense is ranked 3rd in the nation against the pass. And of the 12 passes attempted, 11 were completed for a tidy 181 yards. That’s pretty good work against a good pass defense. Throw cold water on it all you want, but I found it refreshing to see them play the way I thought they’d play all season. It was fun to watch.

Click to expand...

I'm glad you're aware. I have a hunch that Nebraska's lofty pass defense ranking has a lot more to do with their inability to stop the run, considering that they were 70th in the country in yards allowed per completion coming into this game, and that only got worse.

The gameplan to attack Nebraska's defensive weakness made sense. And it was good to see that Grunk was very efficient when he did throw those 12 passes. But that simple gameplan won't/doesn't work against top teams. You surely must be aware of that, too.

topseed said:

Penn State looked good on offense because they were playing against the #90 rushing defense in the country. They beat Michigan State because the Spartans have the #80 rushing D. Grunkemeyer has only attempted 25 passes in the last two weeks. PSU averaged less than four yards per carry against Indiana and Iowa, teams who are strong against the run, and 1.8 against Ohio State. They need to be balanced to beat good defenses. The Lions will never beat OSU or any other quality team with 12 or 13 pass attempts in a game. Not going to happen.

But a win is a win, I guess.

Click to expand...

You play who's in front of you and Nebraska is part of the Big Ten. Grunk is a Freshman and they needed to run but he was over 90% in passing yesterday with a 15 YPC average. Of all the games PSU lost, they were in all of them except the OSU game and they were in that one until the half. Lost to Oregon in double OT; lost to Indiana on a ridiculous catch; lost to Northwestern and Iowa by one point. All I'm saying is that the team didn't pack it in after the losing streak. The season didn't turn out they way we wanted it but I suspect no one will beat OSU this year.

ExUSAF said:

You play who's in front of you and Nebraska is part of the Big Ten. Grunk is a Freshman and they needed to run but he was over 90% in passing yesterday with a 15 YPC average. Of all the games PSU lost, they were in all of them except the OSU game and they were in that one until the half. Lost to Oregon in double OT; lost to Indiana on a ridiculous catch; lost to Northwestern and Iowa by one point. All I'm saying is that the team didn't pack it in after the losing streak. The season didn't turn out they way we wanted it but I suspect no one will beat OSU this year.

Click to expand...

I don't disagree. The Oregon loss took the starch out of everybody. If the ball had bounced differently when the Ducks fumbled in OT, and PSU recovered, I believe that the entire narrative to the 2025 season would have been completely different. They come off a huge win over Oregon, the monkey is off their backs, they go out to UCLA brimming with confidence and win. They return home still undefeated and beat Northwestern. And so on...

It was also very strange to see an interim coach carried off the field after beating a fellow 0-6 Big Ten team. Or seeing him start crying at a press conference. I don't get the hype, and I don't think a pair of one-dimensional wins against mid or low level teams who are playing their second-string quarterbacks is reason enough to hand simply over the keys to the program. Just my opinion.