Game 1 of the 125th season of Penn State football is in the books with Penn State handling Indiana State easily, but sloppily.
KR Chaz Powell started the game off with a 95 yard touchdown on the kickoff return. He was untouched.
Game ball goes to RB Silas Redd who rushed for over 100 yards with authority and scored 2 touchdowns.
QB Rob Bolden got the start and did not have much success throwing the ball. WR Derek Moye dropped what would have put the Nittany Lions inside the 10. Bolden finished 6-12 for a mere 37 yards. He had another dropped throw in the second half and Justin Brown probably could have had another in the first. Bolden never got going.
QB Matt McGloin was more successful moving the team down field and went 6 for 8. He was nearly intercepted when rushed though. The conclusion — neither claimed the job as their own, but McGloin probably has a bit of an edge. Both are expected to play against the Crimson Tide next week.
Moye caught 4 passes for 57 yards.
Brandon Beachum had a decent day as the second RB.
Joe Suhey and Mike Zordich both had pretty busy days as fullbacks. Suhey had 6 caries for 29 yards and a touchdown, Zordich had 5 carries for 15 yards and a touchdown. Suhey also caught 2 passes for 16 yards. Zordich also had some big blocks.
The pass blocking leaves a lot to be desired, both Boldin and McGloin were pressured more than they should have been against the Sycamores. G DeOn’tae Pannell got beaten a few times. All told, Bolden was sacked twice and had an intentional grounding penalty and McGloin was sacked once. Unacceptable!
TE Andrew Szczerba had 1 reception for 4 yards.
Defensively, Penn State was strong with the top 2 units keeping the Sycamores out of the end zone. They recorded 2 sacks and grabbed 3 interceptions (safeties Drew Astorino, Nick Sukay and frosh CB Amos Adrian who also got beat on Indiana State’s TD late). The turnovers are really promising because they’ll probably need a couple next week.
Special teams, other than Powell’s kickoff return, need work. K Evan Lewis missed two field goals (38, 47) and an extra point, though he had made a 33 yarder that got nullified by a penalty. Kickoffs were not too deep for the most part either. Sam Ficken probably had the job next week. P Anthony Fera was missed, Alex Butterworth was not great, but sufficient.
Walk-on third stringer QB Shane McGregor scored a touchdown late.
QB Ronnie Fouch made a few nice plays for ISU, but he had no chance today.
Only 96,000 in the stands. More on that later.
Rotel is apparently no longer a Big Ten Network sponsor. Lots of agricultural stuff though.
I only heard Larry Bird’s name once during the telecast. Matt Devlin and Glen Mason were fine as was the sideline reporter. Mason never made mention of feature twirlers. I got the margin of victory correct (34 points) but had predicted 44-10.
Oh and Mason, the reason Penn State was passing the ball instead of running it was because they need to figure the quarterback situation and get them reps. Duh!
Joe Paterno coached from the box, as expected.
I made hot dog chili/sauce from scratch for the first time ever and it turned out rather well, even though I was pretty much throwing spice (chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, minched onions, Tabasco, a little Heinz chili sauce, 1½ bottles of Yuengling) in the pot as I went along. I had a half-smoke and a hot dog.
Given the lackluster win, I’ll toast with Jim Beam at best, but possibly Virginia Gentleman.
Lastly, THE NEW TRIM-LESS JERSEYS DON’T LOOK AS GOOD AS THE OLD ONES