Monday, July 29, 2013

Penn State Vs. University Of Central Florida Preview - Game 3

The Nittany Lions will face their first true test of the season on September 14 against the Central Florida Knights. The kickoff is at 6:00 pm at Beaver Stadium and will be televised on the Big Ten Network. The crazy atmosphere inside the stadium, which is sometimes used to the Lions’ advantage, will not faze the Knights. The Knights are coming off of an impressive ten win season with one of their few losses coming from the Ohio State Buckeyes, who they played away the second week of the season last year and lost just 31 - 16. The Buckeyes finished the season undefeated. Penn State will have to play a very strong game on the defensive side of the ball in order to win this game. The Knights return several players from last year’s offense. Their quarterback, junior Blake Bortles, threw for 3,059 yards, 25 touchdowns, and just 4 interceptions last year. Bortles will have a lot of experienced receivers to choose from as well; juniors Jeff Godfrey, Rannell Hall, and J.J. Worton all had at least 30 receptions and over 400 yards receiving. The Nittany Lions secondary especially need to keep an eye on Hall, who during the last season averaged 18 yards per catch. If Penn State can't keep the Knights off the board the game will most likely become a shootout. The Knights defense is very young and inexperienced. They lost two starters in the secondary; one of which was the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year. The Knight’s defensive line is very young and will struggle to get through Penn State's experienced offensive line. I believe this game will be high scoring and closer than most predict. Eventually Penn State will shut down Bortles and keep the Knights off the scoreboard. Penn State 37 UCF 21.

Multimedia Script - BSPG App Commercial Script


Monday, July 22, 2013

Executive Summary Presentation




A Company Description Summary
The Beaver Stadium Parking Group (BSPG) is a public company, owned and funded by Penn State University. The BSPG was created in 2005 to help organize and manage the Beaver Stadium Parking Lots. Over the last 8 years, BSPG has worked to improve Beaver Stadium game day parking but there is still room for continued improvement. Last year the BSPG created a technology department to begin utilizing technology for further improvements and to look for new and innovative ways to improve parking. It is currently experimenting with mobile applications.

The Problem
The biggest problems with the current Beaver Stadium Parking model is traffic flow into the stadium, as well as, monitoring the capacity of each lot. Fans that arrive approximately an hour before the game will sit in traffic for at least an hour, potentially missing pre-game activities and kickoff. Most of the traffic builds right by the stadium because fans want to park close and as fewer open spots are left, cars need to be re-routed to other lots.

Your Solution
The BSPG technology department recently came up with a solution that could change the parking plans for Beaver Stadium and athletic stadiums across the country: a location-based mobile app that will help fans find open parking spaces quickly and will help with traffic flow into the stadium lots. The market for this app includes any game attendee that did not buy parking passes ahead of time, fans that attend single games, or fans attending from the opposing teams. The app would also be useful for groups that want to park near each other to tailgate. Tailgating is an important part of the game day experience and if fans are traveling in multiple cars, the app will enable them to find a general parking lot that has several open spots by each other, in a quick and easy display. In order for this app to work, each parking space would require a location chip and sensor in the turtarrier. This technology will allow the app to recognize if the space is available or full.

Why Now
It is important to implement this mobile app now because the 2013 Penn State Football season is quickly approaching. It could take some time for all Penn State Football fans and game attendees to find out about the app, but there are plenty of advertising opportunities available. We plan to advertise via commercial spots throughout each game, via Online Ticketing websites, with an on-site kiosk outside the stadium and through social media. We plan to run 3 commercials each home game, once during pre game, halftime, and between the third and fourth quarters. Even if only half of the crowd catches the first few commercial spots during the game, that is already 55,000 people! As more people hear about this mobile app, the Beaver Stadium Parking model will be changed forever.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Penn State Vs. Eastern Michigan Preview

After opening the 2013 season versus Syracuse at Met Life Stadium, in New Jersey the Nittany Lions return home to play a Mid-American Conference member, Eastern Michigan. In 2012, the Eagles went 2-10. Although the Eagles have several players returning on the offensive side of the ball there lack of experience on defense will hurt them versus PSU and the rest of the season. They will return only 5 players on defense. Considering they only had 7 total sacks last season, this is not a good sign for EMU. If the Eagles can’t put pressure on Christian Hackenberg or Tyler Ferguson, they are in a lot of trouble. Even though both Hackenberg and Ferguson have no experience at this level, they will have plenty of time to get the ball away. Look for the 2012 Big Ten Wide Receiver of the Year Allen Robinson and the Penn State’s tight ends to have huge days. Penn State needs to take this game seriously because their next two opponents, University of Central Florida and Kent State, won a combined 21 games last season. They need to get off to a fast start so less experienced players can get some playing time in the second half. It is important for starters to get some rest in games like these because once Big Ten games start they will be playing the whole game. Penn State should put this game away by halftime, forcing several turnovers. PSU wins 42 - 7.

Monday, July 15, 2013

Elevator Pitch - First Draft

The Beaver Stadium Game Day Parking App is a location based app that will give Penn State Football fans the ability to see every available general parking spot surrounding the stadium from any mobile device. There are several parking spots that are purchased in advanced for the whole season, which will not be available to view on the app. The market for this app includes any game attendee that did not buy parking passes ahead of time, fans that attend single games, or fans attending from the opposing teams. The app would also be useful for groups that want to park near each other to tailgate. Tailgating is an important part of the game day experience and if fans are traveling in multiple cars, the app will enable them to find a general parking lot that has several open spots by each other, in a quick and easy display. In order for this app to work, each parking space would require a location chip and sensor in the turtarrier. This technology will allow the app to recognize if the space is available or full. Overall, this app will help fans find open parking spaces quickly and will help with traffic flow in and out of the stadium.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Penn State Vs. Syracuse 2013 Season Opener Preview

Penn State Football's season opener versus Syracuse is less than 2 months away. The old eastern rivals will kick off on Saturday, August 31 at 3:30pm at Met Life Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ. The game will be televised on ABC/ESPN2. Penn State and Syracuse have played 70 times. They played every season from 1944 - 1990 and in the 2008 and 2009 seasons. Penn State owns a 42-23-5 record versus Syracuse. After the 2012 season concluded it looked as if this upcoming game would be a very tough matchup for the Nittany Lions. The Orangemen won six of their last seven games, including a blowout of West Virginia in the Pinstripe Bowl. But things changed quickly for the Orangemen, Head Coach Doug Marrone left for the Buffalo Bills. Defensive Coordinator Scott Shafer took over for Marrone. Shafer was the team's Defensive Coordinator since 2009. Shafer's biggest obstacle this summer is choosing a quarterback. Either sophomore Terrel Hunt or Oklahoma transfer Drew Allen will be lining up under center versus Penn State. Both quarterbacks have very little experience. The Nittany Lions can relate on the inexperienced quarterback front. True freshman Christian Hackenberg and junior college transfer Tyler Ferguson will be competing this summer for the starting job. Though Penn State will have an inexperienced quarterback starting, there is plenty of talent returning on offense that will give the quarterback some comfort. Junior running back Zack Zwinak and junior wide receiver Allen Robinson will help take the pressure off the quarterback. Zwinak ran for 1000 yards and 6 touchdowns last season while Robinson caught 77 passes for 1018 yards and 11 touchdowns. Both players will have to show up against Syracuse in order for the Nittany Lions to move the ball on offense. On the defensive side of the ball, Penn State will need to put pressure on Allen or Hunt. 2012 Big Ten Freshman Player of the Year, defensive end Deon Barnes and outside linebacker Mike Hull will be relied on to get to the quarterback. If Barnes and Hull can keep Allen or Hunt in check, the Nittany Lions will be able keep the Orangemen off the scoreboard. Both Penn State and Syracuse will be starting inexperienced quarterbacks but the Nittany Lions have the advantage with several key play makers on the offensive and defensive side. Penn State wins 28 – 7.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Publishing Plan

I could attempt getting my blog posts, Paterno Field and Pay College Athletes? published by Penn State's student run newspaper, The Daily Collegian. They have an opinion section with a submission form page. Both of my posts fit the requirements, they ask for the letters to be less than 250 words. I think my blog posts could be published by The Daily Collegian because both posts are debated often at Penn State.