Penn State - Central Florida Official Game Thread

[abpk2903]

Secondary has 2 very good players in Lucas and Amos, but the rest are young unknowns.
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Keiser is a 5th year senior and a captain. Far from a young and unknown. Does he have the potential to be a game changer like Lucas and Amos, no! He will be a consistent player on the back end of the defense.

Really barring injury, there is only 1 player on the defense that is a question mark for me. That is Williams/Davis/Haley who are battling for the CB spot opposite Lucas.

Yes the receivers torched the secondary last year in happy valley but they also had a top 10 overall pick throwing them the ball and running back that really kept the LBs honest.

[Crimson's Ghost]

First observation, PSU's line isn't too good.

[Crimson's Ghost]

The white helmet gold shirts and white pants against the all whites is an annoying contrast to watch.

[PLDragons24]

Is Hackenberg a top 3 QB in the nation? At times he looks unstoppable and at others he makes some really bad decisions. He is so talented tho.

[konjo78]

I'm a Penn state fan but hackenburg is not a top 3, top 5, top 10 or top 25 quarterback yet in the nation. He played well but made some bad turnovers. He has potential to be the best but he has not earned that yet.

[abpk2903]

Are you nuts??? Did you watch any other games yesterday? Hack may not be the top quarterback in the country but you would struggle to find a hand full of QBs better than him. Winston made se really, really bad decisions too last night but he won the Heisman last year. Hackenberg threw for a school record passing yards on the opening game of a season after losing his top 2 receiving options to graduation and the NFL and behind an offensive line that returned one starter. Every play he was making throws on the run while escaping pressure.

Penn State's win yesterday was big for the depth situation they are in this year. Let's face it, Penn State isn't going to make through the season without some injuries and when they happen Penn State is in real trouble. So to get this win early in the season and have no sign of noticeable injuries is huge. It's tough to recruit when coming off a 5-7 year but if Penn State can find a way to win 7 or 8 games, that will help keep the class they have together and maybe even make it a little stronger.

[Crimson's Ghost]

Hackenberg is Good but man those announcers made it seem like he was Elway or Marino. But that has nothing to do with Hack and more to the fact those guys were really bad in the booth. Clueless for both sides. Clueless on the calls and penalties. They weren't good and it felt they weren't watching the same game as me sometimes.

[El-Moldo]

The announcers sure criticized Franklin on a number of play calls that were made. Also, saw Hackenberg picking himself off the ground quite a few times yesterday after throwing passes. Will this get to him as the season wears on? 57 yards rushing as a team? And don't say that PSU "took what UCF gave them". Hackenberg threw almost 50 passes. Everything isn't as copasetic for PSU as apbk says it is. The weak schedule for the 1st half of the season should help the Nits though.

[DragonsDoExist]

Yeah the announcers were awful. At one point they criticized Franklin sending Ficken out for a 57 yard FG at the end of the half saying he had a career long of 54 and this was clearly out of his range. Only to turn around after the turnover on downs and say this may provide UCF a chance at a FG with a more proven kicker with a career long of 50 yards! Huh???

I agree it was outside Ficken's range but the commentary regarding the decision was borderline moronic.

[KirkHerbstreit]

Hackenberg may not be a top 5 qb, but he is certainly among the top in the nation. To say he is not in the top 25 if foolish.

He also may not be Marino or Elway, but chances are he will be a top 10 pick in the draft following next season. He is that good. Do you think announcers didn't talk like James Connor was the second coming of Tony Dorsett when he ran all over bowling green? It's what announcers do.

However, the announcers were beyond bad,

UCF returned 9 defensive starters from a team that won 12 games last year, a BCS bowl, and were ranked high defensively last year. What Hackerberg and the young wideouts did was impressive. The Oline pass blocked fairly well. Penn State's backs are ok, but I'm looking forward to some of the young recruits to come along

Defensively, they were outstanding against the run. Davis struggled with the Pass, but they were always in position.

This game made me a little more optimistic than I originally was. A lot of work to do, but the talent at wideout and tightend is impressive.