BWI Live: A Penn State football podcast from Blue White Illustrated

Penn State football put together a successful 11-2 season last year, riding a five-game winning streak into the offseason, capped by a 35-21 victory over Utah in the Rose Bowl. But every team is assessing its strengths and weaknesses this time of year.

February is a recruiting dead period and is a good time to do a deep dive into what parts of the offense and defense worked last season and which parts didn’t. While we won’t get into incredibly nuanced assessments like formation usage or personnel package broken down by field position, we’ll hit some high-level concepts that the Nittany Lions can improve upon or keep up next season. 

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Penn State basketball came into its game against Illinois at the Bryce Jordan Center with both an opportunity and a need. They needed to stop a four-game losing streak if they wanted any hope of making the NCAA Tournament. Illinois also represented the opportunity to gain a quad-one win over a quality team to boost its resume. 

They delivered in a big way, winning 93-81. Today on the Blue White Illustrated Penn State Hoops Show, host Thomas Frank Carr and reporter Nate Bauer discuss Jalen Pickett's historic night and how the team around him helped get a decisive win. 

As always, check out the show on YouTube and subscribe to Blue White Illustrated, so you don't miss the Hoops Show. If you're a fan of the BWI Daily, submit a five-star review, and you can get your question answered on the weekly mailbag show. 

Penn State loosens up and goes off

Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry, discussed how he felt he'd led his team down the wrong path, making them too tight to perform well over the last several weeks. 

"When we came back Sunday after that game, you can see like an air of confidence. We had a good day of practice. And we came back yesterday and we had another good day of practice. And then when I walked down for shoot around today and then throughout our shoot around, our spirit was great. Spirit was great. They weren't broken. They were together. They were ready to fight. They were ready to fight together. And I think that's the biggest thing is they didn't let anything affect them. That's a sign of maturity. That's a sign of a group that's together. I'm proud of those guys. They're winning despite their coach," Shrewsberry said.

Bauer and T-Frank discuss how that situation is a balancing act that will continue this season. 

But it helps when a player goes for 40 points in a game. Jalen Pickett had a historic night on Tuesday, becoming the first player to reach 40 points in over 60 years. 

"That's special. Sometimes when you're going through it, you just need somebody special to have a special performance. I think that's what he did. But not to downplay what some of the other guys did. Maybe they didn't score as much, maybe they didn't rebound as much, but I thought their effort and some of the contributions we got from everybody was special," Shrewsberry said after the gam. 

Finally, T-Frank and Bauer will discuss the team's defensive performance, which still wasn't steller in the win. Previously, Penn State has struggled to defend when they don't shoot well. Was there any improvement in that last night? 

"I feel like steps were made in spurts. When our offense is going, we really play good defense. We want to get more stops and get on offense. But when teams are scoring, we get maybe a little bit overwhelmed. We want to play a perfect possession every time. So I think our mental needs to be a little bit stronger for us to keep going. But we got time to fix that," Pickett said after the game. 

Check out the full show to hear more about the team's upcoming schedule and how Penn State still has a chance to make an NCAA Tournament run in the remaining regular season games. 

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In honor of Valentine’s Day, the BWI Daily Edition lists its sports man-crushes. Today, host Thomas Frank Carr and reporter Nate Bauer will have some fun listing the players and figures in sports they admire the most. Check out the show below for Bauer’s full list, which includes basketball and football, spanning his time covering Penn State athletics.

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Penn State had a flurry of visitors attend junior days and view campus in January. Now that the dust has settled, the BWI Daily Recruiting Show is taking a look at guys who were overlooked at the time, but shouldn't have been.

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Penn State started winter workouts on Tuesday so the march to the 2023 season is officially underway. Who needs to have a strong winter workouts? Ryan Snyder and T-Frank give their top five lists.

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BWI Daily host Thomas Frank Carr and insider Sean Fitz discuss Tuesday's media day at Penn State. Then, they open up the weekly mailbag to answer questions from fans of the show. If you'd like to get your question on the weekly mailbag, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts with your question as the comment.

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Penn State running back London Montgomery was poised for a standout season at Scranton Prep last fall before an ACL injury ended those hopes. Today on the BWI Daily Edition he sits down with Thomas Frank Carr to discuss his road to recovery and how the Penn State football team embraced him after the news. Check out the full interview at 7 pm on YouTube. Subscribe to our channel and enable notifications, so you don't miss any live airings of the show. 

Also, get your questions on the weekly mailbag show on Thursday by submitting a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and leaving your question in the comments section. 

Montgomery worked on his mental state, now focusing on his physical

Before diving into the injury situtaion, T-Frank asks Montgomery about some happier news. The former 2,000 yard rusher signed with penn State in December. So what was that moment like? 

"It was just a dream come true, really. I mean, I worked my butt off for it. Everybody around me, I appreciate them. They got me where I wanted to be, so I just need to finish out and get there. 

But soon, the conversation turns to the injury. What was going through Montgomery's mind when it happened? Montgomery didn't hold back about how he felt after the injury. 

"I just felt empty when I found out that I tore my ACL because I wouldn't expect that to happen to me, and it can happen to anyone. So I was just so heartbroken from it. 

You know, I just looked passed it. I can't look back. I got my mental right first and foremost, and then so now I'm working on my physical. So you know, I took it as it is and just went forward," he said

Penn State added a running back to his class after the injury. 

Montgomery also addressed the situation at running back in the Class of 2023. Does he feel uncomfortable that the team added another running back after his injury? He and T-Frank discuss Montgomery's conversations with running back's coach JaJuan Seider after the team added three-star runner Cam Wallace in December. 

They also discuss how Penn State reacted to the news and how the injury allowed him to spend more time with the team this fall in Happy Valley. 

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Penn State basketball's fight for an NCAA tournament berth under second-year head coach Micah Shrewsberry took a turn for the worse on Sunday when the team lost an ugly 72-63 game on the road at Nebraska. The team is now 1-6 on the road, which has become a significant storyline for the season. 

But it's not the only one. 

Today on the BWI Penn State Hoops Show, Nate Bauer and Thomas Frank Carr discuss the loss and the subsequent comments from Monday's press conference. Bauer takes viewers through head coach Micah Shrewsberry's comments from the event while T-Frank provides his observations. Subscribe to Blue White Illustrated on YouTube and enable notifications so you don't miss the Hoops Show when it airs each week. 

Bauer and T-Frank start with the most obvious problem from Sunday, Penn State's defense. The Nittany Lions were sloppy and uncoordinated on the road despite playing a beatable Nebraska team. While their record isn't stellar, Bauer points to something Shrewsberry said the last time the Nittany Lions played the Cornhuskers as a potential danger zone. Unfortunately, that aspect of Nebraska's game came true on Sunday and eventually sunk the Shrewsberry's team. 

So why was defense such a problem on a team of veteran players? Bauer chronicles the decline of Penn State's defense since the start of the new year. The issues, according to Shrewsberry, are in the team's offensive struggles. 

Offensive scoring on the road is also officially a "thing" for the Nittany Lions. The problem isn't just shooter Andrew Funk going cold in some games; Sherwsberry points to a bigger problem with the offense beyond the top three scorers. This conversation leads to another about who is stepping up and who isn't on the team. Bauer and T-Frank read between the lines of Shrewsberry's words. Finally, they preview the upcoming game against Wisconsin. 

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Penn State football held its 2022 season recap press conference and media day on Tuesday. The day marks the transition from last season and the final recruiting cycle into the new year and winter workouts. Today, the BWI Daily Edition Live show discusses what they saw and heard in the Beaver Stadium media room. Host Thomas Frank Carr and reporter Greg Pickel were on hand and got to talk to second-year players, some for the first time. 

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Is Penn State making inroads with Maryland school Quince Orchard? T-Frank joins the show today to fill in for Ryan Snyder to discuss that, Keylen Adams and the Penn State offensive line recruiting efforts on today's recruiting show.

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