Cam Porter will need to play the game of his life for Cats to have a chance v. PSU

[eastbaycat99]

Watching Penn State made me think of the Death Star in Star Wars: they are talented and efficient in every aspect of the game. While I liked what I saw of the Cats passing offense last Saturday, the PSU secondary will not get pantsed like Minnesota’s was, and the PSU edge rushers are really quick, capable of getting to the QB in a seeming blink of the eye. For the Cats to be competitive, they will need to play flawless football: any mistakes, like the gazillion they made in the first half against Minnesota, and they are toast.

Watching PSU, and using the Death Star analogy, if there is one slim possibility for the Cats to be successful on Saturday, it is that while the PSU DE’s are incredibly athletic, their long suit is quickness rather than strength. I have always thought a healthy Cam Porter was a player who is well above average relative to B1G running backs. He hits a hole quickly and with violence. While the Cats’ Oline has been poor at best so far this year, they have improved, and if NU builds its game plan on running at the ends, the NU tackles might give Porter enough of a crease to consistently get positive yardage on 1st and 2nd downs. If they could have modest success running, it would set up a few opportunities to take deep shots off play action. While the odds are steep, hit one or two and the Cats are in the game.

I honestly believe the only place the Cats can get a little leverage is by Porter, a strong downhill runner, challenging the edge of the PSU defense. If he does have the game of his life, Saturday will be less awful than I am afraid it will probably be.

 

[jensberg]

The highest probability for a close score is turnovers by Penn State

 

[loyolacat]

All around, if we can establish a run game. some slight of hand with the tight ends...shorten the game....set us up for some play action..Give the defense a chance....The Penn St. offense did not scare me that much..I think we can do the old Hank bend but dont break...and maybe we hang in....anything to make Franklin look constipated

 

[DarkSide576]

The only chance we have, sadly, is awful weather. The forecast, as of now, is 73 and sunny.
That being said, it matters not what I believe, it matters what our team believes.
Trust yourselves. Look left, look right, at your teammates and be accountable and present for one another. You have been put in an impossible situation, by forces that are well beyond your control. The only things you can control are how you play together as a unit. Shock the world.

 

[Hungry Jack]

Penn State as the Death Star. Are they really that much better than their recent editions?

Should we even bother to play the game?

 

[Catreporter]

Penn State hasn't had even one turnover this season,. They are due! I agree that this needs to happen for NU to make a game of it.

 

[techtim72]

My concern is our pocket passer against a quick DL. Tiernan really struggled against MN. The rest of the OL did OK but I don't think they were facing as skilled a DL as Tiernan faced.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Watching Penn State made me think of the Death Star in Star Wars: they are talented and efficient in every aspect of the game. While I liked what I saw of the Cats passing offense last Saturday, the PSU secondary will not get pantsed like Minnesota’s was, and the PSU edge rushers are really quick, capable of getting to the QB in a seeming blink of the eye. For the Cats to be competitive, they will need to play flawless football: any mistakes, like the gazillion they made in the first half against Minnesota, and they are toast.

Watching PSU, and using the Death Star analogy, if there is one slim possibility for the Cats to be successful on Saturday, it is that while the PSU DE’s are incredibly athletic, their long suit is quickness rather than strength. I have always thought a healthy Cam Porter was a player who is well above average relative to B1G running backs. He hits a hole quickly and with violence. While the Cats’ Oline has been poor at best so far this year, they have improved, and if NU builds its game plan on running at the ends, the NU tackles might give Porter enough of a crease to consistently get positive yardage on 1st and 2nd downs. If they could have modest success running, it would set up a few opportunities to take deep shots off play action. While the odds are steep, hit one or two and the Cats are in the game.

I honestly believe the only place the Cats can get a little leverage is by Porter, a strong downhill runner, challenging the edge of the PSU defense. If he does have the game of his life, Saturday will be less awful than I am afraid it will probably be.

Not sure it makes sense to use Porter (the “strong downhill runner”) to attack PSU on the edge. That’s more Himon’s territory, and/or Henning on sweep action, and/or Lausch on designed QB runs.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Penn State as the Death Star. Are they really that much better than their recent editions?

Should we even bother to play the game?

They’re really good. Iowa being shitty helped them look particularly good last week, but… are we any better than Iowa?

 

[gocatsgo2003]

My concern is our pocket passer against a quick DL. Tiernan really struggled against MN. The rest of the OL did OK but I don't think they were facing as skilled a DL as Tiernan faced.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think Tiernan was really that bad against Minny (at least in the pass blocking arena). Got called for a couple penalties, but I recall at least one of those being when Bryant broke the pocket and he held on a bit too long; that’s the kind of “straining” penalty that Braun talked about as being occasionally acceptable.

 

[Rebel II]

---

I really feel Cam Porter has shown flashes the last two weeks of being a very good B1G running back. Everybody has to step it up several notches this week. Life is tough in the B1G!

 

[Hungry Jack]

They’re really good. Iowa being shitty helped them look particularly good last week, but… are we any better than Iowa?

They are also very young, which is scary. Their roster really seems weighted toward freshmen and sophomores.

I would have a very hard time arguing that we are better than Iowa. I would also be challenged to argue we are worse. The best thing we have going in this game is 1) home field 2) 11 am start.

 

[wildcatpn]

They are also very young, which is scary. Their roster really seems weighted toward freshmen and sophomores.

I would have a very hard time arguing that we are better than Iowa. I would also be challenged to argue we are worse. The best thing we have going in this game is 1) home field 2) 11 am start.

If we're talking about whether or not we're worse than Iowa offensively, I would say that NUs offense in the 2nd half last Saturday looked better than Iowa's offense has looked at any specific time over the last several years. So if that offense shows up we are much better than Iowa on that side of the ball. Obviously Iowa has a better defense than NU. That's not because NUs defense is bad but Iowa's is very good.

 

[phatcat]

Penn State hasn't had even one turnover this season,. They are due! I agree that this needs to happen for NU to make a game of it.

And Allar dreams will come true

 

[NUCat320]

I don’t see Porter as a big play, home run guy, and any memories of that guy are just really fond first impressions of his 100+ yard nominal debut against Illinois in the COVID season. Porter is a 3.7ypc dude who doesn’t fumble, which isn’t fine.

Any big plays in the running game will come from Himon or Henning or one of the other receivers on reverse action or Lausch or Sullivan.


As for the Death Star analogy, it’s perfect, and better than perfect if Bajakian wears a Skywalker-style helmet/headset while calling plays on Saturday.

GO CATS GO CATS GO

 

[eastbaycat99]

I don’t see Porter as a big play, home run guy, and any memories of that guy are just really fond first impressions of his 100+ yard nominal debut against Illinois in the COVID season. Porter is a 3.7ypc dude who doesn’t fumble, which isn’t fine.

Any big plays in the running game will come from Himon or Henning or one of the other receivers on reverse action or Lausch or Sullivan.


As for the Death Star analogy, it’s perfect, and better than perfect if Bajakian wears a Skywalker-style helmet/headset while calling plays on Saturday.

GO CATS GO CATS GO

I agree Porter is not a big play guy. Porter is a guy who hits a crease violently and quickly. He had a few games early in his career where he showed his ability; last year he was recovering from injury. This year, he looks to me to be healthy. The Cats have yet to use a run first game plan this year, while to my eye every defense they have played has cheated up to stop the run. After the Minny game, my guess is that PSU will be defending pass first, relying on their base defense to stop the run. The one possible chink in their defense is that their DE’s are built more for speed than power, playing more like oversized LB’s than power run stoppers. I think a run first scheme attacking outside the tackles could yield consistent 4 to 5 yard gains. If they did, PSU would eventually yield some room for the Cats to pass. Essentially, if Porter played the game of his life, say 120 yards on 25 carries, it would be enough to mount maybe 2 long, slow drives. It would also set your the possibility of two or three play action gash plays, all of which combined might generate 20 points. Throw in some luck with a short field score off a turnover or punt return, and the Cats would be competitive. A couple of long drives would also shorten the game for the PSU offense. From what I have seen of PSU, the odds of breaking a long passing or running play without forcing them to stop power runs is about 0. I do think they are vulnerable to an extent to power runs aimed at the right places. Trying to beat them in a track meet will lead to a sure rout.

One last subjective observation is that every time I see Porter play healthy, I can’t believe he hasn’t had more success. I get the sense that he is right on the verge of a breakout game. I’m hopeful Saturday might be it.