Wikipedia:Peer review/2013 Penn State Nittany Lions football team/archive1

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2013 Penn State Nittany Lions football team[edit]

This peer review discussion has been closed.
This article, my pet project during the Penn State season, recently passed GA, and my long-term goal if for it to achieve FA status, and perhaps even be TFA someday, however lacking much experience with the FA process, I was hoping for some input on what it needs to get there. Thank you in advance.

Thanks, Go Phightins! 19:13, 30 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Comments from EricEnfermero[edit]

Hi Go Phightins! I noticed that this had not drawn any comments yet. Keeping in mind that I have less FA experience than you and that I've never participated in PR before, here are some things I see. Obviously a great deal of research and time went into this article. As I see it, jargon is one of the big challenges for these articles at GA and FA - how to make the article read well for both the sports fan and the non-fan.

Lead

  • "in wake of the Penn State..." - "in the wake of" should be more common usage
  • "ultimately true freshman Christian..." - ultimately appears a few times in the article and I think it can usually be left out
  • "injuries could decimate the team, while surprise performances could lift them to success" - This is probably true of any team. You might mention that a specific expert had concerns about the durability of the offensive line, quarterbacks, etc.
  • "In non-conference play..." - maybe change to "Penn State opened the season with two non-conference wins..."
  • "Despite the team never being ranked..." - for the non-fan, maybe a wikilink to the 2013 Div I FBS rankings entry.
  • I think conference awards (Receiver of the Year, Freshman of the Year) should use caps.
  • may be simpler to leave out "scholar athlete"
  • can condense the next to last sentence - "A few weeks later, O'Brien accepted..."

Recruiting

  • Can the position key be moved up a bit, as you begin using the acronyms in the previous section?
  • I would consider breaking up the long first sentence under Recruits.

Preseason buildup

  • It looks like the first paragraph is one sentence. The quote doesn't fit into the structure of the sentence. One approach: "Penn State finished with an 8–4 win-loss record in 2012. USA Today's Paul Myerberg said that..."
  • There is a vague reference to many college football experts in that paragraph.

Game Notes - Aug. 31

  • "In the lead up to the game" - I think this can be left out. I would start a new sentence at "however".
  • "After pulling within 6" - this may be a little informal.

Sept. 7

  • period after Kyle Carter
  • "Instead, the Lions wanted..." - take out instead
  • "pushing a 42-yard field goal attempt wide right" - may be difficult for the non-fan

Sept. 14

  • "As this was Penn State's..." - multiple clauses that begin with "as" - might help to break up into shorter sentences
  • "pinned UCF deep" - what about "After Penn State punted the ball deep into UCF territory, the Knights marched..."
  • "THUD" tackling - I know that at least one ref uses caps, but I think they are unnecessary here.
  • "Speculation exists that..." - seems vague.

Sept. 21

  • "In 2012, Archer rushed for" - the verb tenses are inconsistent in that sentence.
  • "not exactly 'dazzled'" - would go with a more formal/neutral phrase unless that's a quote from someone.
  • Check for more caps issues for player awards.
  • After the first mention, you can refer to Hackenberg and others by last name.
  • "Not surprisingly due to the rain" - maybe "The passing game faltered under the rainy conditions..." - avoids editorializing.

Sept. 28

  • I would clarify/source "perhaps the biggest of the season."

Oct. 5

  • "once again, as they had in 2012..." - they came in 2-2 again? or they were struggling defensively in the first four games again?
  • Not sure about indenting the O'Brien quote at the end.

Oct. 12

  • New sentence after series. I'm not sure of the significance of hometown paper being in quotes.
  • This section seems a little more detailed than the other game summaries, but it may just be that this was such as long game.
  • There are instances where you say the team capitalized, took advantage, wasted no time, etc. - may be best to just describe the drives objectively. These phrases are common in sports coverage, but I think you might run into resistance at FA that they may be unencyclopedic. This is something that could be evaluated throughout the article.
  • "The four overtimes was..." - The four-overtime game was the longest...

Oct. 19

  • focused (or forms of the word) - appears several times in the section. "instead focusing on conditioning" may be best left out.
  • some repetitive word usage - tandem, citing, noting
  • "Keys to the game..." - inconsistent verb tenses in this sentence

Nov. 2

  • "Coming of a shellacking..." - change to coming off, or omit since you've covered the previous week's game
  • Who concurred with Hull specifically?
  • "Sam Ficken uncharacteristically" - can leave out uncharacteristically because of what you say after that.
  • The quote near the end makes the sentence sound a little odd.

Nov. 9

  • "running game supposedly led by Bill Belton" - clarify, WP:WTW
  • "however an illegal block in the back on Jesse James" - this comes up a few times in the article. Generally a however should go at the beginning or the end of a sentence rather than the middle. Sometimes "but" would be a simpler word for some of these.
  • "There was no scoring in the third quarter..." - overly long sentence

Nov. 16

  • "Though expected to beat an overmatched Purdue squad..." - overly long sentence
  • receiving corps - might go with wide receivers instead
  • "Purdue's coach Darrell Hazell..." - long sentence
  • "including one Penn State who joked" - missing word, probably player

Nov. 23

  • "According to York Daily Record..." - I think we're missing a period in this sentence.
  • "Offensively, Penn State's passing game was plagued by dropped passes..." - seems redundant

Nov. 30

  • "same aforementioned preview" - can get rid of either same or aforementioned, or maybe both
  • Seems like a lot of sports lingo in this section, like between the tackles and bubble screen. Wikilinks to some of these may help, as will either more explanation or maybe less detail.
  • "In the game, Penn State sent its seniors off..." - this seems redundant to the previous paragraph.

Post-season

  • "McWhorter, who was 63-years old..." - no hyphen
  • Pennsylvania-native - same thing
  • "in the ensuing days" - two uses of this phrase in close proximity


Again, good job! I think the success of the article will depend largely on controlling the use of jargon and any assertions that seem non-neutral. Clearly, a great deal of work has gone into this one and it's something that you can already be proud of. EricEnfermero HOWDY! 22:39, 11 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

All specific concerns addressed, I believe. Thanks Eric for your thorough review! Go Phightins! 22:21, 1 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]