I was listening to Colin Cowherd the other day, and he pretty much called the Penn State fanbase delusional. I wasn't at the game and have had very few encounters with PSU fans (all enjoyable.) But their message boards... delusional. For the most part.
Message board fans are not representative of the entire base, and tend to be more rabid, and yes, delusional. That's what makes bobcatattack special. The fans here, though rabid, are reasonable, and come off online as nice as in person. Only a couple that I can think of come off the other way.
The PSU message boards before/after the game reminded me very much of the Nebraska message boards after Callahan was hired before/after his first few games. Before his games, the message board fans were all talking about how, thank goodness, the old ways were gone, that now there would be a modern offense, that they were at last unfettered from the bad coaching of the past. Once the team actually started playing, reality interrupted that idyllic dream, and those that had touted him the most loudly often quickly became the harshest detractors.
Football is, in the end about blocking, and tackling, and fundamentals as much as it is about x's and o's. Coaching, and leadership, and organization, and ability to motivate players and build team cohesiveness still count. Delusional is thinking that any quick-fix is going to change things instantly. O'Brien may or may not turn out to be a good head coach, but his career success or failure will be built over a term of years, not weeks. PSU fans for the most part agree that he was out-coached this week, but is it surprising that he was? Solich is a very good coach, and to be honest, a much better head coach today than he was back in 1998. I hope for O'Brien's sake that he comes across better in person than he does in his press conferences or he may have a difficult time motivating his players, and building team cohesiveness. That's more of a threat to his long term success than the x's and o's, where I'm sure he'll be fine.