You’re wondering – OK, complaining – about Penn State’s quarterbacks, and all that shuffling.
Same goes for that mess along the sidelines against Alabama on Saturday, when Penn State called three timeouts during its first 11 plays.
And I’m personally curious about how in the world they can run Silas Redd 19 of the first 20 times a running back got the call against the Tide.
Especially when Silas looked more like Marner than Warner.
Redd gained an average of only 3.1 yards on his first 19 carries, with a long of just eight yards. Redd finished with 65 yards on 22 carries (3.0-yard ave.), while backup Brandon Beachum had thre carries for 13 yards (4.3 ave.).
Don’t expect to find the answers from Joe Paterno, at least publicly.
These days, Paterno’s post-game press conferences are almost like the Nittany Lions’ offense on Saturday — three and out.
Not fair: Paterno answered 10 questions on Saturday.
Not fair again: The Nittany Lion offense averaged 5.8 plays per drive – 4.0 plays if you subtract the two scoring drives to start and end the game.
But you get the ideas.
THE HALL STORY
My point is this: As Paterno’s comments become more defensive, shorter and less insightful, the guy to really ask about Penn State’s offense is Galen Hall.
Hall is the Nittany Lions’ offense coordinator and running backs coach. He’s an offensive wizard – or, more accurately, used to be. (Maybe he still is, it’s just that he’s not in charge of the magic potion.)
Hall was a standout quarterback for Penn State four decades ago and has a resume that screams offense. Seventeen years as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma, head coach at Florida, head coach in NFL Europe, the AFL and the XFL, and Dallas Cowboys running back coach.
Galen knows his X’s and O’s. He also knows Joe’s the boss.
So when listening to his answers in post-game interviews, it is best to use a sifter – ’cause there are some real nuggets in there. You just have to wait it out.
With that in mind, here’s a portion of what Hall had to say after the Nittany Lions’ 27-11 loss to Alabama on Saturday. Post-game, it was just Hall and a few reporters, coming and going, with Hall talking softly and patiently in a loud room full of scores of reporters and players and coaches.
I offer the question as asked, Hall’s response and then my 2 cents:
AFTER YOU, CHIP
Question: “How much did switching the quarterbacks affect the rhythm of the offense?”
Hall: “They both practice with the first unit. They both practice with them, so I don’t think it makes a difference. I think our players have confidence in both of them.”
My 2 cents: Saturday’s QB rotation – Bolden, Bolden, McGloin, McGloin, Bolden, Bolden. Halftime. Bolden, McGloin, Bolden, McGloin, McGloin, Bolden.
The last time I saw a sequence like that was on the SAT’s — and I think I answered McGregor.
DEAR GALEN…
Question: “How do things change with the offense when Joe is in the box, if at all?”
Hall: “Joe writes things down, sends us notes. Very good. But it’s still our game to call, but Joe has control over anything he hears. He can do anything he wants to at any time.”
My 2 cents (and my question): There has to be a better way for Joe to give his 2 cents. An iPadterno, perhaps?
YEAH, HE WORKED HERE
Question: “McGloin was 1 for 10, yet Joe said he looked good. If we write that, people are going to say Joe doesn’t know what he’s talking about. So what did he do, from your perspective, that looked good?”
Hall: “Well, I think he managed his position pretty well. I think he threw some pretty good passes that we just didn’t execute on. And there are things he can improve on, just as there are things Rob can improve on.
“I didn’t realize that was what (Matt) was (passing). But I don’t think we lost any confidence in him or his quarterbacking skills.”
My 2 cents (and my question): Praise so faint you can hardly read it. Remind me never to put Galen down as a reference.
PROBABLY MAYBE
Question: “Do you see yourself playing with two quarterbacks moving forward?’
Hall: “Yeah, yeah. I think they both probably ended up playing pretty well. You might not like me saying that, but I think they both probably went out and did some good things. And did some things that can help us move the football team.”
My 2 cents: Probably trying to think of something good to say. Probably waiting to see what Joe decides.
TIME AND TIME AND TIME AGAIN
Question: “What happened in the opening series with the three timeouts?”
Hall: “We had some, uh…One of them we didn’t get in early enough. One was a new play that we put in and it probably didn’t get called. And one of the we might’ve not called the right thing and stopped it before the snap.”
“When Chima (Okoli) got hurt, we thought he was going to go down and stop the clock. And he gets up, or doesn’t fall down. He was hurt and tries to get off the football field. That gave us the late call getting in. Those are things we have to be more mentally alert about.
‘It’s inexcusable and it probably has to come back on us. We’ve got to manage that better.”
My 2 cents: I’ve seen the documentaries of Joe in the 1960s and ’70s – he grabs a player by his jersey, shouts the play in his ear, then shoves him onto the field. Then Joe takes a step, and starts coaching another kid on the sidelines. That was game management.
McQ does the best he can on the sidelines, but he’s one guy. And the youngest offensive coach at that.
Meanwhile, in the box are three current and former head coaches – Paterno (46 years), Hall (13) and Dick Anderson (6) – who are coaching the offensive side of the ball, but are not the field providing leadership. If Dick or Galen, both over 70 years old, won’t go downstairs, make Jay do it!
NOT SHINING: REDD RUN
Question: “Silas had 19 of the first 20 carries by a running back. Did you think about giving the ball to anyone else?”
Hall: “Our game plan was to run the tailback and we thought that was the best way to go. I didn’t realize it was that (many carries). We had no plans to say, ‘Hey, Silas, you’re going to be the guy.’ We wanted to run him and Beachum, and I didn’t realize he had that many carries. But our plan was to run the ‘A’ back.”
My 2 cents (and my question): No way Hall is counting the plays; he is trying to win the game. But couldn’t a grad assistant or someone tell Galen that after the first drive of the game until the start of the fourth quarter, Redd had nine carries for 18 yards? Beachum deserves an earlier look and so do the fullbacks.
HELP, I NEED SOMEBODY
Question: “Joe said the receivers didn’t help out the quarterbacks by catching the ball. Do you believe that?”
Hall: “We didn’t make some plays early…still, everyone has to help our quarterbacks. The line has to help them out, our backs have to know how to pas protect or gain some extra yards. We are a complete football team, not carried by any one person. The whole team could have helped the quarterbacks today.”
My 2 cents: There has to be a point where the quarterback is the one doing the helping against quality opponents – Michigan and Northwestern 2010 notwithstanding.
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