The preseason magazines are out on the streets.
From Athlon to Street and Smith’s, the college football preseason editions have made their way to the newsstands. There are a lot of differing opinions about the Nittany Lions, depending upon which publication you check out.
In today’s edition of Morelli OnLion, we’ll look ahead to the 2010 season by taking an early look at the schedule. We’ll also begin breaking the Nittany Lions down, position-by-position.
Let’s begin with the 2010 schedule.
Looking Ahead
Although the start of the 2010 season is still several months away, we can begin looking at the schedule and what it holds for the Nittany Lions.
As I took an in-depth look at the schedule, I see three automatic losses — at Alabama, at Iowa and at Ohio State. You can mark those down in red ink. Look, it would take an act of God for the Nittany Lions to win in Tuscaloosa. With what basically will amount to a freshman quarterback — it will be just the second start for either Kevin Newsome or Matt McGloin — Penn State will be double-digit underdogs at Alabama. Expect a big loss there.
The other losses I see will come at Iowa and Ohio State. Penn State usually tanks in Iowa City, and the win at Columbus in 2008 was Penn State’s first since 1978. You can sprinkle in a fourth loss somewhere along the line. It will come somewhere unexpected — perhaps in Minneapolis or home against either Illinois, Michigan or Michigan State.
That leaves Penn State with an 8-4 record. Not very good, in this writer’s opinion, but probably still good enough for a New Year’s Day bowl.
Breaking down the Lions: Quarterback
Daryll Clark led the Lions to a 22-4 overall record over the past two seasons, and he won’t be easy to replace. Penn State coach Joe Paterno has said on numerous occasions that the QB job is wide open and it certainly appears that way.
Kevin Newsome, a sophomore, appears to have the inside track for the starting slot. However, Paterno is very high on Matt McGloin, a walk-on from West Scranton High School in Pennsylvania. Paul Jones, a true freshman, tossed a pair of touchdowns in the annual Blue-White Game. It’s unlikely that Paterno would start a true freshman, especially with a road date at national champion Alabama looming on Sept. 11.
As the only quarterback entering spring practice with any real game experience, Newsome is certainly a strong candidate, albeit an inexperienced one.
Newsome appeared in 10 games last season, completing 8-of-11 passes for 66 yards while carrying the ball 20 times for 95 yards and two touchdowns.
McGloin failed to complete his two pass attempts last season.
Neither quarterback was especially impressive in the Blue-White Game. Newsome completed 5-of-12 passes for 50 yards. He did not make any mistakes, though. He did not throw an interception or put the ball on the ground. McGloin had completed 10-of-23 passes for 110 yards, but threw a pair of bad interceptions.
If Paterno has his mind made up as to who the starting QB will be come fall, he isn’t tipping his hand.
“I think we’ve made progress, I really do. We’re not there yet. We’ve got a long ways to go, but they’re making progress and they’re working at it and there’s certainly some potential there and we’ll see what happens,” Paterno says. “But I have no clue. If you said to me, who’s going to be the starting quarterback in the fall, I couldn’t tell you.”
Still, it’s hard to imagine anyone but Newsome behind center when the season begins. Expect McGloin to be the backup with Jones and Bolden fighting for the right to hold the clipboard as the No. 3 quarterback.
Questions with Curley: Part III
In a recent interview with Penn State athletic director Tim Curley, we asked if there are any changes coming to Beaver Stadium.
GD: If the STEP works and helps the program, are there any plans to renovate the press box or add suites to that side of the stadium?
TC: Yeah, well we’re hoping that the program is going to be successful so that we can continue to reinvest in the stadium, and that’s in a lot of different areas. The maintenance of the stadium and just keeping the current facility up to date and safe. We’re going to continue to invest there, and then we have some upgrades that we need to make. We have the West press box that needs a lot of attention and we are hopeful that we can be in a position here soon that we can do something with the West press box. We have a lot of fan amenity items that need to be done – rest rooms, concessions, how you get in and out of your seats needs to be addressed, the scoreboards need to be updated. So, it’s a never-ending list, and that’s another part of this. You’ve gotta invest in your infrastructure and in our particular case, the stadium is so important to us, so a lot of the money will go toward those types of improvements and enhancements and try to make the game day experience even better for our fans.
Chris Morelli is an award-winning writer/editor who lives in Centre County and covers 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.