Well, the preseason is over.
The Penn State Nittany Lions wrapped up the early portion of their non-conference games with another workmanlike win on Saturday, as they defeated Temple, 31-6, before another non-sellout crowd at Beaver Stadium.
Penn State is now 3-0 and ranked No. 5 in the country. In today’s edition of Morelli OnLion, we’ll have some random thoughts about the first three weeks of the season, look back at Temple and look ahead to Saturday night’s primetime showdown with Iowa.
Non-con thoughts
Some non-conference random thoughts:
1. Clark is fine — There’s been a lot of criticism of QB Daryll Clark on message boards around Nittany Nation. I don’t understand where this is coming from. Sure, Clark has thrown three picks in three games. He only threw four during the regular season last year. But the bottom line is this: Clark is throwing to an inexperienced corps of receivers and you have to take that into account. Against Syracuse, the ball was tipped. Against the Owls, Clark was under a heavy rush and was simply trying to get rid of the ball. Believe me, Clark is the least of this team’s troubles. Fans need to get off his back. He’s 14-2 as a starter.
Daryll Clark has thrown three interceptions in three weeks, but he’s the least of the Nittany Lions’ problems.
2. Royster gets it in gear — Evan Royster finally got on track against the Owls, rushing for over 100 yards for the first time this season. Why? The offensive line figured out how to run block (a little) and when there wasn’t anything up the gut, Royster bounced it outside. It was a good sign, especially when you consider that he was suffering from a case of the flu.
3. Linebacker trouble — With Navorro Bowman nursing a groin injury, fellow linebacker Sean Lee went down with an unspecified knee injury on Saturday. If the Lions don’t have Bowman or Lee for the Big Ten opener with Iowa, there could be trouble. Josh Hull has been better than average. If Lee and/or Bowman do not play, Hull will have to be the leader in the linebacking corps.
4. O-Line a work in progress — The offensive line continue to be a work in progress and center Stefen Wisniewski has really been the only player worth noticing along the line. The first three games were supposed to help the Lions get the kinks out. Believe me, the kinks are still there and that’s a reason for concern.
5. Enough gimmicks — Thank goodness it’s not “Classic Day” or “Favorite Jersey Day” on Saturday night. Jeez, what a joke. We realize that the Penn State marketing machine was simply trying to make those first three cupcake games watchable, but Classic Day without throwback helmets? And Favorite Jersey Day? Hey, there’s an idea! No one ever wears a Penn State jersey to a Penn State game! Oh well, at least this week’s gimmick is creative — sort of. The only bad part is that the fans will have to supply their own white.
I guess handing out 100,000 white T-shirts would be too much to ask.
Looking Back: Temple
Saturday’s 31-6 win was not a thing of beauty (again), but the Lions got it done (again).
There were some sloppy mistakes — penalties and some dropped passes, but overall, the play was OK. The offensive line is doing a better job of run blocking, but the protection for Clark broke down time and time again vs. the Owls. Over the first three games, the O-line appears to be the biggest trouble spot for this team.
Still, the Owls were probably the best of the three non-con opponents and the Nittany Lions cruised to a relatively easy win. On the other hand, Al Golden is now 10-28 as a head coach. It’s hard to imagine he will be the coach much longer at Temple with a record like that. There’s talent on this Owls’ team and losing to Villanova is truly a head-scratcher.
Looking Ahead: Iowa
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz has owned JoePa and the Nittany Lions, winning six of seven.
This is the week Penn State fans have had circled on their calendars since last November — or have they?
If you are a Nittany Lion fan, you know that Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz owns PSU coach Joe Paterno. Seriously. Did you know that Ferentz has won six of seven against the iconic coach? Last year, of course, the Hawkeyes got a last-second field goal to smash the Nittany Lions’ undefeated season. The 24-23 loss ended any hopes that PSU had of making it to the BCS title game.
The bad news for Penn State is that it could be without both Navorro Bowman and Sean Lee. Look for Iowa QB Ricky Stanzi to test an inexperienced PSU secondary. Remember, Stanzi picked the Lion secondary apart last year, but people forget that the Lions would have gotten off the field if not for an undisciplined play by Anthony Scirrotto, who was flagged for pass interference.
This game, though, is in Happy Valley. At night. It’s a White Out. Look for PSU to come out fired up. But this one will be much closer than the experts think.
Gantdaily.com prediction: Penn State 22, Iowa 17.
Chris Morelli is the award-winning editor of Blue White Illustrated, a weekly publication devoted to Penn State athletics. He is also a regular on “Sports Central,” which airs on ESPN Radio in Altoona and State College. E-mail him at morellionlion@gmail.com. This column does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of BWI’s writers or publisher.
