NATIONAL REPORT: NOVEMBER 1, 2007

Paterno Is Trying to Play Catch Up

Because Size Matters, a Re-Evaluation of Recruiting Begins

By Michael B. Sisak 3rd / sisak@collegeblitz.com

Maybe Joe Paterno is finally starting to get it. Maybe he is finally leaving the Stone Age. Or at least 1972, when he had his first and only Heisman Trophy winner. Maybe he is finally taking denial out of his game plan.

“I'm not going to worry about where we're going next year,” a clearly worried Paterno said during his Oct. 30 analysis of the 37-17 rout by No. 1 Ohio State (9-0). “But we're all right. We may not be quite … After looking at the game Saturday, Ohio State may be one step ahead of us because of their organization and the fact that they had a couple of people who could dominate the game inside. We haven't been able to get … we need somebody maybe who can dominate the game inside, so we can take more advantage of our outside people. They were able to take advantage of their outside people, because we had to worry more about their inside people. So it's a balance, and we've got to get the balance.”

He added: “Now in all fairness, they're a little stronger than we were, and we've got to probably re-evaluate exactly where we want to go as far as size and those kinds of things. I've never been a guy for size; I've always been a guy for speed, and maybe we've got to re-evaluate that, I don't know. … I think Ohio State has done a really good job. I think we've got to evaluate maybe a couple of areas where we've recruited, and I think we've got to obviously learn ... we played well Saturday. We only had the ball 46 or 47 times, all right? We played the game exactly the way I wanted to play it, but yet they were able to make drives of 89, 90 yards.”

Never was it so apparent as Saturday night that “We Are … Penn State” should be replaced with “Where’s the Beef?” Dominate? Ohio State moved at will, like a lawnmower up and down the lawn at Beaver Stadium.

Bill Conlin, the Philadelphia Daily News sports columnist who covered Paterno as he became the coach in 1966 and gave him “The Grand Experiment” title, had this pithy postgame analysis: “Worst I've ever seen a PSU team manhandled in a big game.”

Ohio State’s offensive line, averaging 6-6 and 313 pounds, outweighed and outsized the Penn State’s defensive line by 4 inches and 28 pounds per man, according to John Black of Penn State's "Football Letter." That blocked the past penetrations by Penn State linebackers Dan Connor and Sean Lee. It was men against boys. Penn State, the nation’s sack leader going into the game, sacked Ohio State quarterback Todd Boeckman, the 6-5, 243-pound quarterback from St. Henry, Ohio, ONCE. That was Todd Boeckman, starting his ninth game, not "Bend It Like Beckham."

And don’t forget “Beanie,” who was tremendous, said Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel, the Mister Rogers of college football. “Beanie” is not Beano. “Beanie” is Chris Wells, the 6-1, 235-pound running back from Akron. “He ran hard and ran well,” Tressel said of “Beanie.” “One hundred and thirty-three yards against these guys is pretty good. They are a physical football team … When his pad level is low, he is tough to handle. People have a tough time dealing with him, but that means we must have pushed somebody off the wall.”

Tressel added: "People are forced with our running back situation to get an extra hat in the box, which means there's one less hat back there to cover. We think that's a good combination. We did a good job of controlling the tempo of the game with out offense."

Of Boeckman, Tressel said: “I thought he threw with good feet and good velocity on the ball. He made good decisions and stepped up into the pocket well. I think he threw with a lot of confidence tonight and that starts with not having a whole lot of people in your face.”

Over all, Tressel said: “It was great coming here and getting a win. Penn State is a good football team. This is a hard place to play and a hard place to prepare to play in. They came out of the gate and made it tough on us. Our kids hung in there. We did a good job of controlling the temp of the game with out offense, I think we had 38 minutes of possession. We did a good job on third down (12 of 16). I thought out defense showed good poise. All in all, the kids played hard and prepared well. That’s nine ball games.”

The only Ohio State blemish was the 97-yard kickoff return by A.J. Wallace. “Unfortunately, we let a kick off return go,” Tressel lamented.

But that return got Paterno’s attention, finally leading him to admit he had underused Wallace, likely the fastest Penn State player. "Wallace is a kid that's been a little bit that way, and until we get ourselves squared away in a better position ... I think we ought to try to get Wallace a little more (touches),” Paterno said.

Before denial crept back, Paterno said: “They (Ohio State) played a great game. I thought we played well. We went into the game with the idea that we were not going to turn the ball over, that we were not going to lose the game in the kicking game and hopefully make a play in the kicking game, which we
did, and not have stupid penalties. So we did what we had to do. Unfortunately, from our side of it, Ohio State was a little better, played a little better, and maybe did a little better coaching job. But I think we're going to be okay.”

When told that some of his defensive players said teams are getting a feel for what the defense is doing and running short patterns to take advantage of it, Paterno said: “I would not disagree with that part of it. We didn't get beat with the short pass; we got beat with a couple of long passes. On third-down passes, yeah, but that's because we didn't stop the run on first and second down. You know how many third-and-3s, third-and-4s we had? So I'm not sure where we are on that end of it. I think that's one of those perceptions, reality, maybe, and we have to address that with the kids, I don't know. But I thought we didn't play a great game defensively; I think that's true. On the other hand, you have to give Ohio State credit. Ohio State is a good football team. They played well, and we went in with the idea that we had to win the turnover battle, and no stupid penalties, and neither team put the ball on the ground. I think you've got to give the other guy credit.”

He added: “I think against Ohio State we've got to take a good look at a couple of things we're doing. To be very frank with you, I underestimated the one kid that made the long touchdown. What's his name (Ray Small, whose 60-yard pass play on first down led to the 10-7 Ohio State lead for good)? We put our corners in a tough situation, we really did. We didn't change up maybe enough on that. But I think the kids played hard and worked hard and maybe in this day and age whether you can match up a corner with a wideout without pressure -- and I give Ohio State credit. They took a lot of ours that we -- I think Jim and his staff out-coached us. They did a couple of things really well.”

Paterno seemed to acknowledge that Penn State lacked depth in criticial positions and lagged in recruiting behind Ohio State and Michigan, against which he is 8-20 since joining the Big Ten. In the last two years, Penn State had a total of two offensive touchdowns in four games against those powers, Neil Rudel of The Altoona Mirror reported.

“The competition today is on such an even keel, there are so many good players,” Paterno said. “Ohio State has been fortunate, and I think you have to give Jimmy Tressel credit that they have been able to be in there now for a couple of years, and they've been fairly ... a lot of things have gone their way, and I think a lot of that has to be attributed to their recruiting and Jim and his staff. … So I don't want to detract from anything they've done, but here is Southern Cal, and all of the sudden they're out of the national picture. Would you have said that two years ago, a year ago?

“Obviously, we're a couple plays away from being where we could be in it his year. It's a funny year. I think Ohio State came in here and gave us a good drubbing, and we've got to learn from that. Other than that, we've been pretty competitive.”

Then Paterno embraced Penn State tradition again. “It's amazing to me on a game day to see guys like LaVar Arrington and Anthony Adams all on the sideline, coming back all the time, Ki-Jana Carter and his mother, and there are so many kids of those who just want to come back. Tamba Hali came back this weekend; they had an open date. I said, " 'What are you doing here?' and he said, 'We have an open date,'and I said, 'Get the heck out of here and have some fun,' and he said, 'I just wanted to tell you that I miss you.' I felt like crying."

Tressel felt like laughing, and did. When he entered the Guantanamo Bay-like visitors’ interview room, (imagine a small garage with 100 people) with lights glaring and camera with microphones jammed up in front and behind a tiny desk, Tressel guipped: “O.K., guys, I did it.”

And did it he did.