It was a disappointing weekend for the Penn State Nittany Lions.
Three players didn’t make the trip to East Lansing for the game with the Michigan State Spartans. Those three players — Chris Baker, Navorro Bowman and Knowledge Timmons — are in trouble for their involvement ina fight at the HUB.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Nittany Lions laid an egg in East Lansing, falling to the Spartans, 35-31, on Saturday afternoon. In this edition of Morelli OnLion, we’ll take a closer look at the Nittany Lions’ woes, check in on the Nittany Lion and Lady Lion basketball teams and have our weekly non-rev roundup.
(Chris Baker is in trouble again, this time for his role in the fight at the HUB.
Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).
Another Debacle
It doesn’t matter how one tries to spin it, the Nittany Lion football team is in a state of disrepair. There are problems across the board, on the field and off. The latest news of three players being charged for their roles in a fight at the HUB is almost unbelievable.
For Baker, this is his second offense. Remember, he was involved in the scrape at Meridian II back in April. One has to wonder how much longer coach Joe Paterno will put up with this kind of behavior.
Better yet, one has to wonder how much longer the Penn State administration will put up with Paterno’s laissez-faire attitude toward these incidents.
On the field, the Nittany Lions suffered one of their worst losses in recent memory, squandering a 24-7 lead and losing to the upstart Spartans. In a loss like this, no one is deserving of star status.
Instead, we’re presenting the three biggest problems this team has in a season gone awry.
1. Joe Paterno — Once again, Paterno was coaching not to lose rather than to win. With his Nittany Lions up 24-7, he should have come out in the second half looking to put the hammer down. Go for the throat.
Instead, the Lions got (surprise, surprise) conservative. Michigan State took advantage, stunning the Lions who lost for the third time on the road this season. But this, without a doubt, was the worst loss of the year.
The Lions had no business losing this game. Paterno coached them from the jaws of victory to a deflating defeat. MSU head coach Mark Dantonio is no Jim Tressel, but he outcoached Paterno on this day.
What a pathetic and uninspired coaching job by Paterno and his staff.
2. Anthony Morelli — Don’t get me wrong, I like Anthony Morelli. I think he has all the makings of a classic quarterback. But he’s regressed at Penn State and he simply cannot win the big game.
Once the Lions got down against the Spartans, you knew it was over. He failed to bring the Lions back against Michigan and Illinois earlier this season and his final four passes against the Spartans weren’t even close.
Why the Lions threw on four consecutive plays at the end of the game is anyone’s guess. Brent Carter was running well, but the coaching staff took the ball out of his hands.
But hey, that’s a column for another day.
3. Defense — Once again, the Penn State defense was exposed. As they were in the loss to the Buckeyes, the vaunted “D” failed to make a stop. Anthony Scirrotto led the team in tackles, which is never a good sign.
Linebackers Dan Connor and Sean Lee played hard, but two players cannot carry the entire unit. Tony Davis, Lydell Sargeant and Justin King got scorched plenty in the game. Speaking of King, has he ever been more afraid of contact than he is at this point in his career?
Tom Bradley needs to get this unit refocused as they prepare for whatever lower-tier bowl they’re headed to.
(Anthony Morelli struggled again on the road, failing to lead his team back.
Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated.)
In the Paint
The Penn State women’s basketball team is up to its old tricks.
The Lady Lions lost for the first time this season, falling at Xavier last Wednesday. Although they led throughout the game, the Lady Lions fell apart down the stretch.
Despite 23 points from Tyra Grant, the Lady Lions could not get over the hump against the Musketeers (1-1), who got a big night from Amber Harris. Harris scored 30 points, including 15 over a six-minute stretch in the second half.
Penn State led by nine at one point, 51-42, before the Musketeers came storming back. Following the game, Penn State first-year coach Coquese Washington didn’t make any excuses for her squad.
“They just had too much muscle inside between (Ta’shia) Phillips and Amber Harris,” Washington said. “We just couldn’t guard them. They were playing over our heads. They were jumping over us, getting rebounds … they were just too tough for us inside.”
Penn State led, 30-28, at the intermission.
But a 26-7 run down the stretch gave the Musketeers the victory.
Mashea Williams (14) and Kam Gissendanner (11) hit double figures for the Lady Lions in the loss.
Harris struggled in the early going, but really came on in the second half. She was 10-of-28 from the field in the game and also pulled down
13 boards. Maureen Hester was also solid for the Musketeers, scoring
11 points.
On the men’s side, the Nittany Lions are off to a flying start. They struggled in a 74-64 win over St. Francis (Pa.), but blew out visiting Canisius on Friday night, 93-40.
Both teams are in action this week. The Lady Lions head on the road to face South Carolina Tuesday night. The Nittany Lions will also face South Carolina in the Old Spice Classic, which is being held in Florida beginning Thanksgiving Day.
Non-rev roundup: Field Hockey
It’s been quite a season for the Penn State field hockey team — and it all began at the beginning.
When Penn State knocked off perennial power Old Dominion in the first game of the year, field hockey head coach Charlene Morett knew the
2007 season had the potential to be special.
Last weekend, the Lions fulfilled that promise, stunning two-time defending national champion Maryland, 1-0, on the Terps’ home field and leaping in to the NCAA Final Four, hosted ironically in College Park, Md. The win, which came after two straight postseason losses to Maryland in 2006 and 2002, earned Penn State a national semifinal date with Wake Forest on Nov. 16 for a trip to the national championship on the line.
“We sort of joke with this group because we started the season on the road against two Top 10 teams and won both games,” said Morett. “I think the players, at that point, felt that we should just zoom ahead to November, forgetting that we had to play all of these games in between.”
It was an up and down regular season for Penn State, but who can blame the Lions for getting antsy for the postseason after such a stellar start? When the games counted the most, Penn State delivered.
Against Maryland, the Lions were not timid despite their past failures. After two near misses in the first half, Penn State finally found the back of the cage in the 22nd minute after it was awarded a free hit from just outside the circle. Shaun Banta took the hit and sent a hard ball into the circle, where Long was waiting on the weak-side post to tip in the pass for her 14th goal of the year and her second of the NCAA tournament. Penn State’s defense dug in to keep the game in the Lions’ favor, despite a 14-6 deficit in shots by the time the final whistle blew. Senior goalkeeper Jen Beaumont recorded nine saves to lead the way for the defense, a unit that
Morett knew had to step up to keep the Terps at bay.
“You don’t want them to hang back (on the defensive end) but Maryland picked up their game a little bit,” said Morett. “It was a game of two motivated teams. They were so motivated to obviously get to the Final Four being a host and that was such a motivation for our team to want to get the Final Four.”
The Lions advanced to their meeting with Maryland after defeating Virginia, 3-2, on Nov. 10.
In addition to writing for gantnews.com, Chris Morelli is the editor of Blue White Illustrated, a sports publication devoted to Penn State sports. He is also a regular on “Front and Center,” which airs on ESPN Radio in State College and Altoona. E-mail him at morellionlion@gmail.com.