2005 WWN POST GAME #1 - William F. Yurasko

PENN STATE 23 SOFLO 13

The first game of the 118th season of Penn State football is in the books and it goes down as a “W.” However, it was a sloppy game that was hard to watch at times.

BULLISH BEGINNING – CDT | Boxscore – ESPN.com

SLOPPY JOE

Neither side of the ball played to the caliber that they any of us could have reasonably expected. Mike Robinson showed that there is a reason it took about six attempts to get his first win as a starter, having fumbled a couple of times and thrown an interception. He was 9 for 15 for 90 yards on the day throwing and ran for 39 yards on 18 carries. He did score a TD in the fourth quarter.

Generally, the defense played uninspired and lazy football. While they did get a couple of picks, they routinely let SoFlo wideouts get open. If they could have made half of the catches they dropped, this would have been a very different game. Both SoFlo touchdowns came on fades to the endzone that our senior cornerbacks made little effort in trying to defend. On the bright side, Matt Rice had a really good game. Chris Harrell got an INT and Alan Zemaitis picked up a fumble and ran it in for a touchdown.

Speaking of Zemaitis, he held the ball out at about the three yard line on his return, which was stupid showboating that probably aggravated Joe Paterno. He is lucky the ball was not knocked out.

The big pick-ups Derrick Williams and Justin King had good debuts. On the first play of the game, Williams had his man beat for a TD, but the defender interfered with him to prevent the score. It turned out to be a good decision, since Robinson turned the ball over later in the drive.

King had a 61 yard run, but fumbled out of bounds at the end of the run. After that, he made only a few more appearances on offense.

RB Tony Hunt had two good runs on the day of 33 and 70 yards. As a team, the Lions ran up 264 yards, but more than 50% of it was on three runs.

Fans got to witness a punters duel. State’s Jeremy Kaponis put a few inside the 20 and kicked a 60 yarder into the end zone. SoFlo had a 70 yard punt too.

As expected, one of Penn State’s freshman kickers missed a kick; an extra point in the fourth quarter. Kevin Kelly, did a decent job on kickoffs though.

TAILGATING

We had a great tailgate, I got to break in my new Coleman Tailgate Grill. It was novel having a grill that could actually cook food rather than just heat it. Beer dogs, wings, and burgers were on the menu, along with blue and white tortilla chips and salsa, cheese and crackers, and a cooler full of beverages.

Post-game was more of the same, along with the traditional victory toast of bourbon.

PAMMY JO?

After going with without a Blue Sapphire (you know, the only majorette who does not wear blue) last season, the position has been filled. Pamela Jo Maierhofer succeeds the immortal Bobbie Jo Solomon. You almost have to wonder if having “Jo” as part of the name is now required for the position, but it turns out Miss Maierhofer goes by P.J.. She has the Bobbie Jo endorsement too.

More from The Collegian: Majorettes find new gem

STADIUM P.A. — VERY BAD

For some reason, the “braintrust” in Intercollegiate Athletics has decided that Penn State fans need costant prompting from the p.a. system in the form of loud hip-hop and Guns N’ Roses. I was insulted and irritated by this decision. One of the things that makes college football great are the marching bands. Choosing to play piped in music over the Blue Band — the 2005 Sudler Trophy winning Blue Band — is asinine. If this path is continued, Penn State will cease to be unique and special and feel like generic like a pro game.

FIELD GOAL CHALLENGE

Another football season means a renewal of the Field Goal Challenge. We go up to the IM football fields during every tailgate and attempt field goals on one of the goal posts. Here is who we staked up this week: