Hands down, Penn State was the biggest surprise in college football last season. Outside of State College, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who thought that Penn State would be one of the top three teams in the country last season. This season Penn State, who lost a slew of starters from last season, will have to prove that last season was no fluke and their young stars can keep them at the top of the Big Ten and college football.Penn State will have its hands full trying to rebuild one of the best defenses in college football. The biggest loses will be in the secondary where all four starters from last season are gone. Sophomore Justin King, who is now going to focus solely on cornerback, senior Donnie Johnson and junior Brent Wise will be expected to help fill the void in the secondary. The defensive line also takes a big hit by losing the ends, Tamba Hali and Matt Rice. Hali, who now is a Kansas City Chief, was one of the top defensive ends in the country last season. Those are pretty tough shoes to fill. Josh Gaines and Jim Shaw will have to fill those shoes. Linebacker U lives up to its name again with Paul Posluszny, who should be one of the top ten picks in this year’s draft, got a knee injury in the Orange Bowl last January, but should be 100 % by the start of the season and should be even more explosive this year. Senior Tim Shaw and junior Dan Connor should have big seasons because opposing defenses will focus on Posluszny. The defense will need to have another great year if the Nittany Lions hope to repeat last year’s success.
Things look pretty good offensively for the Nittany Lions. The team has one of the top young wide receiver corps in the nation. Sophomores Deon Butler and Derrick Williams will be the starters, but sophomore Jordan Norwood and junior Terrell Golden should see plenty of playing time and have the talent to change games. First year quarterback, junior Anothny Morelli, is a big time prospect and will get a lot of help from his receivers. He should have a breakout season and could be a Heisman candidate next year. The team has two good running backs in seniors Tony Hunt and Austin Scott. Hunt will be the starter again this season. Scott, who played well in the Orange Bowl after Hunt got injured, should see a good deal of playing time this season. Scott is a very talented running back who could be a starter on almost any school, but he is a little lazy and has a problem of showing up to meetings and listening to coaches. He also lacks the blocking ability of Hunt. If Austin Scott was a disciplined runner, he would be a Heisman candidate. If he decides to work hard and show up to meetings, he could the catalyst on offense this season.
The team’s schedule will have the biggest impact on their season. The team will play No. 2 Norte Dame and No. 1 Ohio State in weeks two and four respectively. They could also have a tough time with Michigan, who was the only team that beat them last season, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan State. It’s very possible that Penn State ends up going 6-6 or just as easily could go 10-2.
Penn State’s season is full of mystery. Can Morelli be as effective as Robinson was? Will the defense hold up? How will Pos do after his injury? Can they contend for the Big Ten Title? Only time will tell.
3 replies on “Penn State Season Preview”
i hate it how there are so many more penn state fans on this site! i swear if they start lose everyone who has ever supported penn state better be with me mourning every time and if they continue to win, well, you know what to do!
i think tom bradley has proven he can take care of the defense, seeing it was one of the best units in the country even during the 3 and 4 win seasons. and honestly i think the offense will be fine. i think the o-line will hold up, i think morelli will be pin-point good and his recievers are obviously good. don’t be surprised if tony hunt is in nyc this winter.
poz will be fine, as will the other billion linebackers it seems we have.
it’s funny, even last year it seemed as if joepa was always trying to downplay all the failure saying “we are better” and all htat kind of stuff. but if you listen to interviews this off-season, he is almost making it out to be like he KNOWS penn state is poised for a HUGE year. he knows it, the “experts” may not. but he is always saying how “we need to keep working hard” instead of the “we can be better” talk.
look out for the nittany lions. and for the record… id rather lose a non coference game early in the season (ND) then a conference game to OSU. i wouldn’t be totally surprised if they lose to ND but i definetly think they can handle both ND and OSU because they have just as good of offense in my book and maybe better defense the BOTH do.
first we have to take care of akron, that QB is good…
Pretty good I like it. Not front page material, but very good stuff. There’s a typo with the paragraph that starts “Things look pretty good..”… You have “First year quarterback, junior Anothny Morelli…” Unless he spells his name that way haha. But yeah good stuff!
For the record, I predicted Penn State’s season on pure intuition. I said two weeks before the season started, to my friends, “Penn State is gonna be a top 10 team this season!” They laughed but I laughed last.
I could have used a little more insight to make me really believe that Penn State could kick butt this year. Exaggerate, don’t even mention a weak player, just ramble about how great your great players are.
well i was at the game soaking in all the rain from ernesto 78 rows up (the last row) on the 3rd deck of beaver stadium. its amazing to think i paid 59 bucks for tickets when i paid that same amount to sit 15 rows from the endzone last year. i guess an 11-1 year will bring back any fan.
here’s my assessment… ammo looked great. the akron coach said college fball won’t see a better arm all year and i agree. he is able to place the ball perfect at any time. he had a few mental collapses late (throwing into double and triple coverage, fumbled once but recovered) but he had zero turnovers.
the WR’s were great, the fab 3 all scored including norwoods 1st career TD. the linebackers were game, even though akron tried to run away from poz, conner had a career game including 2 sacks.
the new secondary was fine, scarrato or however his name is spelt had a pick and so did the other dude who wears #24? i didn’t know two players could wear the sumer number?? so safeties looked great, corners, including king looked so-so, they need to work on tackles.
the new d-line showed early it could handle the pass rush, getsby had trouble getting 100 yrs in the air and hes a 3,000 yrd qb.
the obvious big problem was the o-line, something no penn state fan wanted to hear. while they showed they can handle the pass rush very well, i think morelli was only rushed twice, the run game obviously was terrible. hunt, a 1,000 back, ran for 36 yrds and 1 td on 14 carries. that is awful. hopefully it was a combo of weather and the 3-5-3 scheme that akron sent because otherwise, without a running game it could be a longggggggg year.
personally, i look for the o-line to improve dramatically in week 2. the great teams always make their biggest improvments between weeks 1 and 2 and i really look for them to pull off the “upset” vs. ND. it wouldn’t be so much of an upset in my mind, but i would LOVE to see the faces of that entire gameday crew, and mark may if the lions pulled out on top. they might as well just all go and suck charlies dick while charlie challenges the babe and his 2,362 hotdogs eaten.
CAN I GET AN AMEN FROM THE BOBBLEHEADS??