Another week, another player in trouble at Penn State.
By now, you probably know that senior running back Austin Scott did not play in Saturday’s 27-7 win over Iowa at Beaver Stadium. He did not dress for the game, and according to several sources close to the football program, his locker has been cleaned out.
In this week’s edition of Morelli OnLion, we’ll take a closer look at the Scott situation, look back at the 20-point win over the Hawkeyes, look ahead to this week’s game with Wisconsin and have our new weekly feature, the non-rev roundup. 
(Austin Scott is off the team, according to several sources. Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).
More Woes
Penn State coach Joe Paterno didn’t talk much about the Scott situation during Saturday’s news conference. There are plenty of stories on the Internet, but we won’t address those here until reports are confirmed by Penn State.
Penn State Sports Information did say that Scott was not with the team for an “unspecified violation of team rules.” Whatever this is, it is disturbing.
It is yet another sign that Paterno has lost control of this program and that his players don’t respect him. If they respected him, there would not be events like the night at Meridian II and a fistful of underage drinking citations (reserves Joey Suhey and Ryan Breen were the latest Nittany Lions to be cited).
Certainly, the Penn State brass cannot allow this behavior to continue. If it does, perhaps Penn State should be re-named Miami East.
Looking Back: Iowa
There was plenty of good to come out of Saturday’s win over Iowa.
Despite the loss of Scott, the ground game finally produced some big numbers. Anthony Morelli played better, too. And the defense, well, it was the Penn State defense that we all know and love.
Let’s take a closer look at OnLion’s three stars of the day:
3. Anthony Morelli — OK, so he wasn’t perfect, but the senior stepped up and completed 18-of-31 for 233 yards and one touchdown. He showed more pocket presence and he was able to spread the ball around, hitting seven different receivers. He also spoke to reporters for the first time since the loss at Michigan. He still has some fine-tuning to do. He took a couple of bad sacks and threw a pair of ugly interceptions. But remember, the season is only at the midpoint. And it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
2. Evan Royster — Forced into action, the redshirt freshman running back responded with several big plays. He finished the afternoon with
86 yards on 16 carries. We saw what this kid could do at the Blue-White Game. Now, he’s going to get a chance. Plenty of chances, actually.
1. Rodney Kinlaw — Although he fumbled once, Kinlaw was the big dog on Saturday, carrying the rock 28 times for 168 yards and two TDs. With Scott out of the picture, Kinlaw gets the chance to be the Nittany Lions’ feature back. If Saturday is any indication, he’s going to make the most of his chance.
(Rodney Kinlaw was the top dog on Saturday. Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated)
Looking Ahead: Wisconsin
The Badgers (5-1 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) are coming off a disappointing loss at Illinois on Saturday. It was just the second loss ever for second-year coach Bret Bielema. Bielema, you’ll remember drew the ire of fans last season when he kicked out of bounds twice in an attempt to run out the clock before the half during the Badgers’ 13-3 win over Penn State at Camp Randall Stadium.
Guess what? It was allowed and it was a brilliant strategy. But that’s neither here nor there. The Badgers will be fired up Saturday when they roll into Beaver Stadium. Michigan’s Mike Hart ran roughshod over the Lions. Wisconsin’s P.J. Hill is even better.
Gantdaily.com prediction: Wisconsin 21, Penn State 13.
Non-rev roundup: Men’s Soccer
The Penn State men’s soccer team did not enter the Big Ten season on a wave of momentum. In fact, it was just about the opposite.
The Nittany Lions battled Michigan State to a tie in their conference opener on Sept. 23 and had won just one game in their last four matches and three of their last eight heading into their Big Ten home opener with No. 3 Northwestern on Sept. 29. The team had even lost their final Big Ten game from last year, so Penn State couldn’t look to 2006 as a starting point either. But all that disappeared last Saturday when the unranked Lions upset the previously unbeaten Northwestern Wildcats, 2-1, in front of 2,637 fans at home on Jeffrey Field.
Reserve midfielder Vincent Salvatico provided the drama, coming off the bench in the 60th minute to score the game-winning goal for the Lions just six minutes later.
“This was a huge win for us,” said Salvatico. “We knew we had it in us. It was just a matter of coming out playing. I think tonight we definitely showed what we are capable of doing if we all play our games and mesh together. It doesn’t matter who is on the field at what time, we can play together because we have such a strong and deep team. It was a good showing for all of us.”
After Northwestern junior midfielder Tyler Voigt knotted the game at 1-1 at the 57:43 mark Penn State (4-4-1, 1-0-1) rallied back, beginning with senior defender Stephen Reihner’s cross to Salvatico, who was positioned with his back to the goal in the middle of the field 16 yards out. He quickly spun and booted an off-balance shot that caught Northwestern goalie Misha Rosenthal off-guard and rolled into the lower corner of the net. The goal was his team-high second game winner of the year.
Penn State took the early 1-0 lead when senior defender Grady Renfrow scored his first career goal, a score that came off a Jacobo Vera pass inside the box. The goal abruptly ended Northwestern’s stretch of over 530 minutes of scoreless defensive work and its five-game shutout streak.
Women’s Soccer
While the men entered the conference season as the lurking underdog, the Nittany Lion women couldn’t kick around a soccer ball in Big Ten country with any bigger of a target on their backs.
Winners of the last nine straight conference titles, the Nittany Lions will be the team that everyone is shooting for in 2007. Penn State, however, lived up to its billing on Sept. 30, knocking off Illinois, 2-1, in its Big Ten opener in Champaign. The win, which brought Penn State’s record to 7-2-1 on the year, was also new head coach Erica Walsh’s first-ever Big Ten victory.
“It feels great to win this game and have it under my belt not just because it’s my first Big Ten win, but also because of what a great team Illinois is,” Walsh said.
Penn State started the game off quickly with an early goal by sophomore Katie Schoepfer in the fifth minute. Midfielder Sheree Gray started the play when she passed the ball through the middle of the field. Schoepfer collected the pass and edged past the last Illini defender, allowing her to deposit the ball low in the goal for the 1-0 Penn State lead.
Midfielder Zoe Bouchelle added to that lead right before halftime with a goal in the 43rd minute to put Penn State up by two scores at the break. Illinois broke the shutout with a goal off a corner kick in the 52nd minute.
That’s it for this week. If there’s something you’d like to see, shoot us an e-mail!
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.