The Penn State Football Show

As I expected, Darryl Clark showed his ability to rebound from a tough defeat and put together a rather impressive performance in Champaign last Saturday. Despite the fact that this Illinois team is heavily deflated and most likely down for the count, the Lions offense showed signs of improvement with a more effective running game including career-long runs by Darryl Clark. The O-line is coming along, the passing game appears to be consistent, the secondary is not as bad as we anticipated, and Tom Bradley has once again put together a solid defense.

However, it is once again difficult to read too much into this game. Don’t expect to find any more answers to those lingering questions during this weekend's match up with FCS Eastern Illinois; the game marks a conclusion to the "extended preseason" before a challenging stretch of games that will separate the boys from the men in the Big Ten conference.

Outside the lines:

• To shield or not to shield, that is the question. Through 5 games, Darryl Clark has used the Nike Protective Shield in two of them (Akron & Temple). My guess is that he removed the shield due to rainy conditions. According to team equipment manger, Brad “Spider” Caldwell, 41 PSU players started the season wearing the protective visors.
• Can’t argue with Jason’s point on the white uniforms. Uncontested, single best uniforms in college football. Starting to ask the question, why don’t the Lions wear the white ALL the time, similar to LSU’s donning of the white jerseys at home and on the road.
• Glad to see JoePa supporting DC17 during the infamous “locker-room-trot-interview” when questioned on Clark’s ability to bounce back following his sub par Iowa performance.
  Not-so-orange-out. Illinois’ attempt to “Orange-Out” Memorial Stadium was suspect at best, not to mention the fact that fans should be wearing Orange EVERY game at Memorial stadium.
  Field Turf…coming to a stadium near you. In 2008, Illinois installed the popular and state-of-the-art synthetic grass “Field Turf”. Several college teams are making the transition to field turf due to its durability and safety ratings. Penn State and Northwestern are currently the only two Big Ten schools with natural grass playing fields. Makes you wander, will PSU ever make the transition? Highly doubtful.
• JoePa’s Jackets – Through five games, Joe has sported three different Nike jackets while pacing the sidelines. Some new, some old. I’m not entirely sure what the selection process is, but I’m surprised both SuePa and Nike let him get away wearing this black jacket.
• TV Timeouts – Once again, ESPN found it necessary to kill the momentum with excessive TV timeouts. Following completion of the first quarter and a full media timeout, the second quarter began with an incomplete pass followed by an Illini punt and another media timeout.
• Have to give it up to Punter Jeremy Boone once again for earning Big Ten special teams player of the week. I hate to take anything away from the kid, but has anyone noticed how far Boone steps into his punts? Not to say the blocked punt against Iowa was in any way his fault, but there have been several punts too close for comfort.
• Someone needs to send AJ Wallace a message to remind him what state he is in let alone whether or not he should bring the ball out of the end zone.
• Is anyone else getting tired of the ESPN's midday analysis bro-mance between Mark May and Lou Holtz?

Don’t anticipate any major changes for the Eastern Illinois game, and its likely DC17’s legs will go dormant once again. I’d like to see Green get some more carries and let Royster’s legs get a break. As far as I’m concerned, the Lions would be smart to leave both #11 and #45 out of the lineup in preparation for Minnesota on 10/17.