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Speaker 1: Welcome back into the Penn State Pulse. I'm your host,

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Speaker 1: Dylan Dawson.

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Speaker 2: Penn State put a fairly sloppy performance on tape Saturday night,

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Speaker 2: but still came away with their first ranked win on

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Speaker 2: the young season, topping number nineteen Illinois by the score

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Speaker 2: of twenty one to seven.

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Speaker 1: So let's jump into this thing as usual with the

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Speaker 1: things that stood out to me.

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Speaker 2: First, Tom Allen's adjustments were very big in this game.

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Speaker 2: Don't think I didn't see all my comments calling for

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Speaker 2: Tom Allen's head after that opening drive by Illinois.

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Speaker 1: No one's safe around here. I see everything.

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Speaker 2: But after going with a pretty vanilla defense on that

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Speaker 2: opening drive, Tom Allen did what he's done through all

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Speaker 2: four games now and made the necessary adjustments.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna read something off to you, guys.

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Speaker 2: And this stat is very telling of set adjustments that

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Speaker 2: this defense has made through four games now. Penn State

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Speaker 2: has allowed nine total points in the second half of

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Speaker 2: their contest.

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Speaker 1: Nine. That is very impressive.

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Speaker 2: That defensive line, in particular, is finally beginning to flash

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Speaker 2: their elite potential, as they turned it up a notch

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Speaker 2: in their first conference against their first conference foe of

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Speaker 2: the season.

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Speaker 1: They ended up.

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Speaker 2: Tallying thirteen tackles for loss and seven sacks against Illinois.

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Speaker 2: That's very impressive, especially compared to what they were putting

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Speaker 2: up numbers wise to the first three games of this season.

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Speaker 2: So that kind of leads me into my next point,

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Speaker 2: which is that Penn State might actually be truly elite

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Speaker 2: in the trenches. Not really sure how it's possible, but

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Speaker 2: after losing a ton of talent along both lines to

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Speaker 2: the NFL, Penn State may actually be even better in

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Speaker 2: the trenches this season. Illinois is a big, tough team,

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Speaker 2: and the Ninty Lions simply pushed them around all night long.

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Speaker 2: Look no further than the rushing stats to prove this,

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Speaker 2: as Penn State ran for two hundred and thirty nine

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Speaker 2: yards in three.

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Speaker 1: Touchdowns and held Illinois.

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Speaker 2: To thirty four yards and zero touchdowns on thirty two carries.

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Speaker 2: That comes out to one point one yards per carry

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Speaker 2: for the fighting Alni. I went with Abdul Carter as

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Speaker 2: my netny line of the game, and for good reason,

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Speaker 2: as he put up a ridiculous stat line of eight pressures,

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Speaker 2: seven tackles, four tackles for lost, two sacks, force fumble,

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Speaker 2: and one pass defense he wasn't the only one on

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Speaker 2: that front seven that dominated, though, So let me give

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Speaker 2: credit where credit is due, my guy Zaane Durant out

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Speaker 2: there on the interior, he put up four tackles, two

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Speaker 2: tackles for loss, and a sack. Those numbers don't even

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Speaker 2: tell the whole story, though, as he was just man

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Speaker 2: handling the interior of that Illinois offensive line all game long.

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Speaker 2: Kobe King at linebacker also put together another great performance.

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Speaker 2: He's having an awesome year in the mic position. He

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Speaker 2: put up seven tackles, one and a half tackles for loss,

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Speaker 2: and a sack of his own. On the opposite side

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Speaker 2: of the ball, Drew Shelton, he seems to be showing

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Speaker 2: some improvement with run blocking in particular. Venga Ya and

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Speaker 2: Nick Dawkins have been I'm honestly pretty elite on the interior,

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Speaker 2: both living up to their preseason hype. And then some

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Speaker 2: coach Franklin actually praised Dawkins in particular in his Monday presser,

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Speaker 2: saying quote, we had high expectations for him, but I

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Speaker 2: actually think he's playing better than we anticipated. And then finally,

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Speaker 2: I can't talk about the offensive line without highlighting Anthony Dunko.

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Speaker 2: We haven't heard his name very much at all this season,

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Speaker 2: which is quite a good thing when talking about an

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Speaker 2: offensive lineman. He has been absolutely holding it down over

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Speaker 1: So next up, I have to highlight this two headed

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Speaker 1: monster at running back.

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Speaker 2: We've heard it a million times for going on three

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Speaker 2: years now, but there's no sign of stop in k

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Speaker 2: Tron Allen and Nick Singleton. I know I already mentioned

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Speaker 2: the run game, but that was more about crediting the

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Speaker 2: offensive line, So these running backs need their flowers as well.

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Speaker 2: Singleton and Allen once again each put up great performances

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Speaker 2: in the same game, both averaging nearly six yards per

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Speaker 2: carry against a very stout Illinois run defense. K Tron

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Speaker 2: went for one hundred and two yards and a touchdown

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Speaker 2: on eighteen carries, while Nick went for ninety four and

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Speaker 2: a tuddy on sixteen carries. These two backs, paired with

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Speaker 2: an offensive line that's becoming increasingly dominant, and run blocking

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Speaker 2: is a unit that can do some serious damage in

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Speaker 2: this conference. They just took over the game on Saturday

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Speaker 2: night and showed us a bullying rough around the edges

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Speaker 2: personality that we haven't quite seen to that extent in

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Speaker 2: past Penn State teams in past tiers. So let's jump

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Speaker 2: into some areas for improvement. Just gave you guys a

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Speaker 2: bunch of good for you to sit on, so let's

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Speaker 2: talk about some of the bad. The first thing that

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Speaker 2: needs to be addressed is obviously the kicking game. Sanders said.

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Speaker 2: Haydak went oh for two on the day, missing both

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Speaker 2: from forty yards out. That just that simply can't happen

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Speaker 2: when the competition increases and every point matters that much more.

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Speaker 2: Sander is now three for nine in his career at

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Speaker 2: Penn State and one for six from thirty plus yards out.

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Speaker 2: I get that you need to trust your kicker and

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Speaker 2: give him enough opportunities, but I'd say that this experiment

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Speaker 2: should be coming to an end.

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Speaker 1: He's had plenty of them.

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Speaker 2: So Heyak just can't string together consistent performances, and Penn

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Speaker 2: State does not have the time to sit around and

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Speaker 2: hope that it just works out. I really think they

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Speaker 2: need to make a change here. If you guys recall

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Speaker 2: my preseason, it was like a breakout player episode where

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Speaker 2: I picked a player at every position. I was calling

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Speaker 2: for a walk on Ryan Barker to possibly start. That

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Speaker 2: hasn't come to fruition yet. As far as the kicking game,

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Speaker 2: Penn State did send him out there after their final

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Speaker 2: touchdown last Saturday for the extra point, which he did make.

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Speaker 2: So if they do indeed make a change at place kicker,

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Speaker 2: it's going to be either Barker or Tulsa transfer Chase Meyer.

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Speaker 2: Meyer was able to go seventeen for twenty last season

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Speaker 2: at Tulsa and that included a nearly perfect seven for

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Speaker 2: eight from thirty to thirty nine yards out and three

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Speaker 2: for five from forty plus yards Not too bad, much

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Speaker 2: better than what they're putting on the field right now.

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Speaker 2: Peterson used to make a change at kicker before they're

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Speaker 2: going up against the likes of USC, Wisconsin, and Ohio State,

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Speaker 2: which are all in a row.

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Speaker 1: By the way, make the change. James's time. Finish your drives.

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Speaker 2: This is another issue ties a lot into my last

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Speaker 2: point with the kicking game, but Penn State will need

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Speaker 2: to find a way to finish drive with points at

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Speaker 2: a higher clip than they did against the fighting Alainai.

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Speaker 2: PSU had three hundred and seventy four yards and nearly

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Speaker 2: thirty four minutes of time of possession Saturday night, but

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Speaker 2: only twenty one points.

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Speaker 1: To show for it.

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Speaker 2: The issues with the field goal kicking is absolutely the

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Speaker 2: big factor here, but I also thought Andy kottle Nicky

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Speaker 2: made a few poor decisions when Pennce's offense would get

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Speaker 2: down around the red zone. Although the run game was working,

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Speaker 2: I think he leaned on that a little too much

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Speaker 2: toward the end of drives. Illinois was in that pressman

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Speaker 2: coverage for the majority of the night, as expected, so

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Speaker 2: I was hoping to see more play action leading into

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Speaker 2: crossers and mesh concepts, especially when they were closing in on.

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Speaker 1: Points down there in the red zone.

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Speaker 2: And then finally, I need to hit on the lack

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Speaker 2: of discipline. We've never really seen these sort of things

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Speaker 2: become an issue to the extent that they have this

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Speaker 2: season under James Franklin. Penn State has some major penalty

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Speaker 2: issues and they have not gone away through four games.

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Speaker 2: It's typical for teams to have some sloppy mistakes through

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Speaker 2: the first few weeks of this season, as they gel

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Speaker 2: and become more comfortable with their schemes, but PSU can't

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Speaker 2: seem to wrangle them in. The big one on Saturday

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Speaker 2: Night was on the would be pick six by AJ

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Speaker 2: Harris that was called back by a very unnecessary block

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Speaker 2: in the back on Zion Tracy. I know it's much

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Speaker 2: harder to make a decision like that in real time,

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Speaker 2: but Harris was on his way to the end zone regardless.

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Speaker 2: It's just something you can't really do in a situation

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Speaker 2: like that, and I want to reiterate that, just like

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Speaker 2: the missfield goals, a play like that can change the

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Speaker 2: entire course of a game against an opponent like Ohio State.

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Speaker 2: Most of the nittni Lions penalties, though, have been pre

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Speaker 2: and post snap ones, which is just as frustrating. The

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Speaker 2: defense has consistently had probably three or four off sides

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Speaker 2: in every game this season. Now they probably had like

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Speaker 2: five against West Virginia, but there's been an excessive amount

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Speaker 2: of unnecessary roughness penalties as well. All of this can

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Speaker 2: still be cleaned up, but again those changes are going

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Speaker 2: to have to come very soon.

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Speaker 1: So that is gonna do it.

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Speaker 2: For today's episode of The Penn State Pulse, Thank you

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Speaker 2: so much for tuning in, and i'll see y'all in

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Speaker 2: a few days to break down Penn state Saturday matchup

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Speaker 2: with the UCLA Bruins.