The Penn State Football Show

You can never take much away from these early season cupcake games, but there were a few things that caught my attention:

The most promising thing I saw on Saturday was Drew Astorino finally back to playing like he did freshman year. As a true freshman the kid was like a heat seaking missile, flying to the ball making big plays whenever he got on the field. Naturally I had high expectations for him after that, and he has been a tremendous let down in each of the last two seasons. After his sophomore year people said it was because he was hurt all year, but then he wasn't very good last year either. Some people insist he was still hurt. Whatever the case may be, Saturday was the first time he looked like he did freshman year. If he continues to play that way all year, that will be great news for this defense.

Running backs were impressive, especially Redd who is a bona fide stud.

Bolden has yet to get into a nice rhythm with the offense, and that concerns me. He clearly has a great arm, and seems relatively poised, but he has yet to put it all together into a methodical drive. Until he does, I won't be sold on him. But the potential is certainly there. As much as I want to him to be the guy and win the job, I can't help but agree with Jason that it seems like McGloin gives the team the best chance to win. Both will play, but if Bolden struggles, they need to get McGloin in the game to move the offense.

The offensive line looked great in the run-blocking (against a weak opponent), but terrible in pass-blocking (against the same weak opponent). We will get a better idea how the o-line is after this week.

Amos the freshman looked impressive. Surprised to see a true freshman get action in the first game of the year at a position with so much depth. Keep in mind it took Posluszny about half the season before they decided to burn his redshirt because he was too good to keep off the field. And that was on a team that went 3-9...

I loved the use of the fullbacks, both Suhey and Zordich. I hope that keeps up all year. Zordich is a player.

This team needs Anthony Fera back badly.


Now on to the big game this weekend against #2 Alabama.

I do think Penn State has a chance in this one, but they need a lot of things to go their way if they want a chance to win. I don't see the PSU offense putting up a lot of points against the Bama defense. So I really think the Lions will need to score either on special teams or on defense in order to win this game.

As with most people, I'm not very confident about Penn State's QB situation going into this game. However, what some people don't realize is that Alabama is in a similar position. McElroy is gone, and they aren't settled at QB either. They played two different quarterbacks last week, and each threw a pair of interceptions. If Penn State is able to stop Trent Richardson and the Tide running game, and force the inexpeirenced QB's to throw the ball, Alabama could be in trouble. So that will be the key, can PSU stop the Bama running game? They couldn't do it last year. We will see if that changes this year.

Like I said, I don't really like the match up of the PSU offense against the Alabama defense. Out of Penn State's 11 offensive starters, I think only two guys would start for Alabama: Silas Redd and Derek Moye. It is rare that Penn State is outclassed in talent on the field, but against this team, I think that's the case. But Redd could be a perfect weapon... He is electrifying and is one of those backs that doesn't need that big of a hole to turn a run into a nice gain. The way he hits the whole with such speed and explosiveness he reminds me of a smaller Adrian Peterson. If Penn State is going to win this game, they need Redd to carry the offense.

Penn State has home field advantage in this one, which could help out tremendously when Alabama's untested QB's take the field. If the Lions come out and play with confidence, and catch a few breaks, they can win this game. But if I have to make a prediction, I'm taking Alabama in a low scoring game, 17-13.