Can you feel it in the air? Football is right around the corner.
The Pittsburgh Steelers begin training camp this week and soon enough, Penn State will begin its late summer practice schedule when the players return to campus in early August.
It’s never too early to start looking ahead, so in this week’s edition of Morelli OnLion, we’ll look at Penn State’s schedule and break down the fullback spot. We’ll also have our No. 6 moment in our countdown of the year that was and another question for athletic director Tim Curley.
Let’s start on the gridiron.
(Michigan RB Mike Hart has given the Lions fits.
Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated)
The Schedule
When one looks at Penn State’s schedule, it certainly appears favorable. The Nittany Lions begin the season with three home games (Florida International, Notre Dame, Buffalo) before traveling to Ann Arbor for the Big Ten opener.
After that, it’s on to Illinois before returning home for tough games with Iowa and Wisconsin. PSU then visits Indiana before back-to-back home games with Ohio State and Purdue.
The season wraps up with trips to Temple and Michigan State.
Penn State should start 3-0. Notre Dame is down this year and the Lions will be poised for revenge after last season’s 41-17 debacle in South Bend.
But there are a few tricky turns the Lions will have to negotiate if they want to win a Big Ten title.
Let’s look a little closer:
Road tough — Penn State has two tough trips to Ann Arbor and Illinois. If it falls at Michigan (again), life could get tough at Champaign. Remember, the Fighting Illini nearly pulled off a shocker in Happy Valley last season and Juice Williams is a year older and a year wiser.
Cupcakes — After Florida International (0-12 last season) and Buffalo (2-10), one wouldn’t expect many cupcakes left on the slate. But there are a couple:
Temple is terrible and Indiana lacks the playmakers it needs to upset a team like Penn State.
Home-field advantage — Penn State will need it against Ohio State and Wisconsin. The Lions fell to both of those squads last year and they have truly lacked that knockout punch against the top dogs in the Big Ten.
The bottom line: There are some easy games, some not-so-easy games and a few dogfights.
I’ll save my prediction until closer to the season. You never know what can happen between now and then.
(PSU starting fullback Matt Hahn.
Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated)
Breaking It Down: Fullback
This is a position that Penn State, in this writer’s opinion, has never used properly. The fullback is an integral part of the offense. There are plenty of college teams that have recognized this and used the fullback to help make their offense go.
At Penn State, it’s always an afterthought.
That’s the case again this season as senior Matt Hahn (6-0, 236) and junior Dan Lawlor (6-2, 244) will try to fill the spot. Neither player is an accomplished blocker, so that could make life tough for either Austin Scott or Rodney Kinlaw.
In any event, until the Nittany Lions go out and recruit a blue-chip fullback, this spot will continue to be an Achilles’ heel for the offense.
A proven blocker would also be an asset to QB Anthony Morelli, who might just need all the blocking help he can get with a revamped offensive line.
Top Moment No. 6
This week’s top moment as we look back at the year that was at Penn State is a sport that put the wraps on its season not too long ago.
It’s the Penn State baseball team’s dramatic run at the end of the season that almost gave the Nittany Lions a Big Ten title.
The Lions got off to a dreadful 2-12 start, but head coach Robbie Wine turned it around and his squad made a nice run through the Big Ten Tournament before being ousted by Minnesota, 4-3, in 11 innings. The Lions finished the season at 31-26 overall and 17-9 in Big Ten play. Following the season, the Lions had a record number five players selected in the Major League Baseball Draft.
Pitcher Drew O’Neil was taken by the Cincinnati Reds, shortstop/pitcher Scott Gaffney was also taken by the Reds. Craig Clark was selected by the San Francisco Giants and both Matt Cavagnaro and Gary Amato were selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Cavagnaro has been a key player for the Pirates’ New York-Penn League affiliate, the State College Spikes.
Questions With Curley
This week’s question with Penn State athletic director Tim Curley has to do with basketball attendance. The Penn State men’s basketball ranks near the bottom in Big Ten attendance figures.
CM: As difficult as it must be for the athletic department to remain autonomous financially, does filling the Jordan Center become more and more important?
TC: Absolutely. We have three primary revenue streams — football and everything that goes around football (the television, the ticket sales, the bowl games, the concessions and everything that surrounds football), then we have men’s basketball and certainly, gate receipts are a big portion of that revenue stream opportunity, and we’re not maxed out there right now. So we have tremendous opportunity for revenue growth in the men’s basketball program. And then on the women’s program there’s an opportunity to continue to grow the revenue pie for women’s basketball as we continue to move forward. Then, the third revenue stream is the Nittany Lion Club.We’ve talked about the Nittany Lion Club and fundraising. We’ve had a lot of success there as well.
Also, if you look at football and basketball, and then the Nittany Lion Club, we need to have all three of those healthy in order to maximize our financial abilities.
Right now, we do have an opportunity to gain a little bit more in men’s basketball.
In addition to writing for gantnews.com, Chris Morelli is the editor of Blue White Illustrated, a sports publication devoted to Penn State sports. He is also a regular on “Front and Center,” which airs on ESPN Radio in State College and Altoona. E-mail him at morellionlion@gmail.com.