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Soft Penn Program Could Be Looking West For Relief


Guest DT

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Is it just me, or does the Penn football program appear to be going soft?

Seems like whenever this team is involved in a big game, the results are not very good.  There has been plenty of talk here about Penn possibly going independent, and adopting a more regional schedule with additional big names from out of state..

Typically, a program will look for tougher competition when it is dealing from a position of extended strength.  

Penn doesn't strike me as a particularly strong program, given results of the past 5 years, and the lack of higher level talent moving on to the next level.

Based on regular season scheduling and post season geography, Penn and the Duneland Conference are starting to look like more of a matchup as time goes on.  The consolidation of Elkhart Central and Memorial give Penn the perfect partner to move west and create a new 10 team DAC.  

The Duneland didnt appear ready for Penn over the past decade, but the gap seems to be closing.  Valpo, Merrillville, and Michigan City are all at Penn level today, and several other DAC schools are showing signs of improvement.  

With Mishawaka leaving the NIC, and the  new Elkhart considering its own options and future, Penn is no longer in the drivers seat, and not necessarily in control of its own future.  A move west to The DAC looks like a much better option for the Kingsmen than staying in the small to mid size school NIC or rolling the dice on Independence.

 

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DT, just last year you were calling on Penn to go Independent and adopt a Midwest schedule. Now, you're flipping the script and using the past 5 years as a data point? I'm not buying it. You're over-reacting based on lopsided losses to Valpo and Homewood-Flossmoor. I will agree though that Penn should look west towards the DAC, which is the same belief I had last year.

 

Edited by Boilernation
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20 minutes ago, Boilernation said:

DT, just last year you were calling on Penn to go Independent and adopt a Midwest schedule. Now, you're flipping the script and using the past 5 years as a data point? I'm not buying it. You're over-reacting based on lopsided losses to Valpo and Homewood-Flossmoor. I will agree though that Penn should look west towards the DAC, which is the same belief I had last year.

 

Penn's scheduling strategy is clearly not working for them.  The NIC regular season does nothing to prepare them for the playoffs, and now they are getting thumped regularly in non con play.   

So what do you do?

The NIC will implode at some point.  I doubt anybody is happy with the setup in that conference.  It's a real cluster....

I think the new Elkhart might be the key to what happens next.   

Penn does not have the cache, rep or talent it once had.   Maybe they are pulling a Lake central over there and going more girls and country Club sports     

 

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27 minutes ago, Gipper said:

I don't see Penn in the DAC.

I would set up the new 10 team DAC in an East - west division alignment to minimize travel

Schools would play all teams in their division every year, and 3 rotating cross over games against the other division.  That leaves two weeks open for non con play

DAC East

Penn/Elkhart/Laporte/Michigan City/Valpo

DAC West

Lake Central/Crown Point/Merrillville/Portage/Chesterton

 

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I do not see it happening due to travel, time difference and you have to consider the other sports 

A school bus ride to Crown Pt on a weekday is no short jaunt for the other teams

Maybe the have over scheduled but if you cannot find anyone to play you have to get what you can.

Most Indiana teams do not have open weeks after week 2-3.  And playing any of the other SB schools is a waste of time for them

Maybe they just are not what they used to be at least currently

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3 hours ago, DT said:

 

There has been plenty of talk here about Penn possibly going independent, and adopting a more regional schedule with additional big names from out of state..

 

 

"There has been plenty of talk here by me about Penn possibly going independent..."

There, I fixed it for you.

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33 minutes ago, Indian72 said:

I do not see it happening due to travel, time difference and you have to consider the other sports 

A school bus ride to Crown Pt on a weekday is no short jaunt for the other teams

Maybe the have over scheduled but if you cannot find anyone to play you have to get what you can.

Most Indiana teams do not have open weeks after week 2-3.  And playing any of the other SB schools is a waste of time for them

Maybe they just are not what they used to be at least currently

And you can forget about neutral site games in Michigan City, Valparaiso, or any of the Travel Plazas along the Toll Road...

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Without Mishawaka, there is absolutely no reason for Penn to be in the NIC.  That's my 2 cents.  I don't know what the optimal solution is though.  I just think it's dumb that the two rivals will soon not be playing one another on the gridiron annually.  

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It appears as if the DAC is rising and Penn is falling at the current time.  That is the perfect recipe for a better fit between the two entities.

And dont forget Elkhart.  With the right staff and the right resources, that program will challenge Penn in the future.  

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While many are butt hurt and disagree with the fact that he used the term "soft", there is no denying that Penn is not what it used to be and the facts he stated about the NIC are true.  

It's a pretty logical move in my opinion if you are not a snowflake and obsessed with his terminology.

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2 hours ago, Indian72 said:

I do not see it happening due to travel, time difference and you have to consider the other sports 

A school bus ride to Crown Pt on a weekday is no short jaunt for the other teams

Maybe the have over scheduled but if you cannot find anyone to play you have to get what you can.

Most Indiana teams do not have open weeks after week 2-3.  And playing any of the other SB schools is a waste of time for them

Maybe they just are not what they used to be at least currently

Now try Lake Central.

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2 hours ago, Coach Nowlin said:

PENN and SOFT 

HAHA

Stop it 

PENN and soft might be the wrong word marriage, but people can not deny that PENN is having the same success as years past.

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26 minutes ago, DT said:

It appears as if the DAC is rising and Penn is falling at the current time.  That is the perfect recipe for a better fit between the two entities.

And dont forget Elkhart.  With the right staff and the right resources, that program will challenge Penn in the future.  

They have the right men at Elkhart Central right now!!   

6 minutes ago, DT said:

Soft is a relative term

Perhaps you would prefer I say they are not as hard as they used to be?

 

Nothing about Coach Yeamon that is soft.  

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27 minutes ago, DannEllenwood said:

Now try Lake Central.

I recall a couple of times going there on 30 from I 65 and the traffic is ridiculous

With school corp strapped for money with caps they would have to find money to subsidize the operation

If the time change was not there then that might make it more attractive

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42 minutes ago, Indian72 said:

I recall a couple of times going there on 30 from I 65 and the traffic is ridiculous

With school corp strapped for money with caps they would have to find money to subsidize the operation

If the time change was not there then that might make it more attractive

Unfortunately the State of Indiana somehow believes that an Interstate Highway between Indianapolis and Evansville is more important than an interstate between Fort Wayne and Chicago.....................now you can get out of Indianapolis via interstate to the N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, & NW. In the meantime, US 30 from FW to Chicago is an ABSOLUTE nightmare.................and dangerous!

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1 hour ago, Indian72 said:

I recall a couple of times going there on 30 from I 65 and the traffic is ridiculous

With school corp strapped for money with caps they would have to find money to subsidize the operation

If the time change was not there then that might make it more attractive

It's literally a "no-win" situation to get to Lake Central from the East. You take 30 west from I-65 and you'll sit through endless stoplights and suburban congestion on 30. You take 94 West to Indianapolis Blvd and you'll likely sit in Borman Expressway traffic in Gary and Hammond.

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8 minutes ago, Boilernation said:

It's literally a "no-win" situation to get to Lake Central from the East. You take 30 west from I-65 and you'll sit through endless stoplights and suburban congestion on 30. You take 94 West to Indianapolis Blvd and you'll likely sit in Borman Expressway traffic in Gary and Hammond.

LC feels more like a community college than a high school.  Its just a gawd awful terrible location.  They just dropped 150M into the place in the past 5 years so its not going anywhere.  

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. . I went to that game (I split my high school playing days with HF, and finished at Snider).. HF (Chicago southwest suburban) was just too fast, strong, and well coached..  Coach Buzea  was probably very fired up considering his past outcomes vs Penn when he coached against them when he was at Portage.. (I can't recall if he coached against them when at Michigan City).. He is also very good at getting his players fired up.. Even with Penn's starting QB, they still would have been beaten soundly. .The 7 points they got came from a break away run from midfield with seconds to go in the first half.. I do believe that Penn will improve as the season goes on though.. They have size, numbers, an excellent coaching staff, and smart kids, but not quite the firepower offensively or defensively they usually have.. HF would/could be top half in the MIC (Indianapolis) yearly  and probably would beat everybody in the MIC  this  year.. I hope Penn plays well vs St. X this Friday, at Penn.. Next year, HF will be traveling to Canton, Ohio (McKinley) our week #3 (their week#2). .

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