Deon, Derrick and Jordan. Who?
At least one question was answered by the Nittany Lions’ 31-7 season opening victory before 104,968 sun-drenched fans in Beaver Stadium Saturday: How was the 2009 team ever going to replace the record-breaking class of wide receivers who graduated in the past year?
Deon Butler’s school-record 179 receptions, Derrick Williams’ 161 and Jordan Norwood’s 158 in the four years they spent as Penn State’s starting wide receivers were quickly forgotten, as heretofore unheralded underclassmen Derek Moye, Chaz Powell and Graham Zug combined for 18 catches, 265 yards and three touchdowns against the visiting Zips.
The jury is still out on the other two questions most often raised by Penn State fans this summer—the offensive line and the defensive secondary.
With three All-Big Ten linemen—center A.Q. Shipley, guard Rich Ohrnberger and tackle Gerald Cadogan—spending their summer in NFL camps and returning starters Stefen Wisniewski and Dennis Landolt moving to new positions, could an inexperienced line protect All-Big Ten quarterback Daryll Clark and open holes for leading returning Big Ten rusher Evan Royster?
Yes and no seemed to be the answers from the first game of the 2009 season.
The line gave Clark plenty of time to throw a career-high 29 completions to 10 different receivers for a career-high 353 yards, but the holes were few and far between for Royster, who gained only 61 yards—well below his 100-yard per game average last fall.
Junior Academic All-American Wisniewski moved from his right guard position to replace Rimington Award-winning center Shipley and did a good job calling signals for his O-line mates, while Landolt protected Clark’s blind side, after moving from right to left tackle. But they are still working on their coordination and consistency with newcomers DeOn’tae Pannell at tackle and Lou Eliades and Matt Stankiewitch at the guards. Junior Eliades and sophomore Pannell got a little experience as back ups last year, but freshman Stankiewitch saw his first game action Saturday.
The fans’ third pre-season question related to the all-new defensive secondary, where replacements had to be found for departed veteran starters Anthony Scirrotto and Mark Rubin at safety and Tony Davis and Lydell Sargeant at cornerback. In addition, the returnee with the most playing time—A.J. Wallace—was demoted for cutting a class this summer.
Sophomores Drew Astorino and Nick Sukay started at the safeties, while soph D’Anton Lynn and senior Knowledge Timmons manned the corners. They shut down Akron’s three-year starting quarterback Chris Jacquemain in the first half, allowing only 25 yards on four completions. But the senior slinger connected on nine of 13 attempts in the second half for 133 yards, including a 40-yard TD toss to wide receiver Deryn Bowser for the visitors’ only score.
The late summer temperatures and magnificent blue-and-white sky proved that God is a Penn State fan, as the Nittany Lion faithful enjoyed a September afternoon on Beaver Beach. Tried and true tailgaters downed their fare long into the evening, while expressing their excitement over the first-half play of their Lions—and trying to forget their second-half stumbling.
Penn State scored on five of eight possessions in the first half and missed a field goal on another. After intermission, the Lions’ first possession ended in a fumble and a quick Akron touchdown. Another missed field goal and two punts stymied the other possessions.
Junior tailback Royster, whose 1,236 rushing yards last season made him the leading returning runner in the Big Ten this year, tallied State’s first touchdown on a five-yard dash off left tackle, climaxing the game’s opening drive of 84 yards on just seven plays. Royster, a fast but patient runner, cut between the blocks of Mickey Shuler, Lou Eliades and Andrew Quarless.
Four Lion runners totaled 90 yards on 18 carries before intermission.
Clark, State’s undeniable offensive leader, set a school record with 254 passing yards in the first half, as he completed 17 of 25 attempts—three of which went for touchdowns.
Sophomore wide receiver Moye used his 6-5 frame to great advantage, catching five passes for 118 yards and one TD before halftime, while his sophomore mate Powell had five of his seven receptions (including his first-ever TD catch) in the first 30 minutes.
Moye had to out leap a defender in the corner of the south end zone to pull in the pass, then hang onto it as he was being slammed to the ground. Powell wisely crossed from right to left along the end line, when he saw Clark roll left to escape pressure from the Akron defense, and gave his QB a target for a laser shot in the north end zone.
Junior wideout Zug caught a 19-yard touchdown pass in heavy traffic just 30 seconds before halftime to climax a hurry-up, 66-yard Penn State drive in 37 seconds and give the home team a commanding 31-0 advantage.
Sophomore backup safety Andrew Dailey grabbed the fans’ attention with a nifty interception and 12-yard return in the first quarter, followed by a scintillating 37-yard dash on a fake punt in the second quarter to set up Collin Wagner’s 29-yard field goal. The junior place-kicker converted all four extra point attempts, but missed a second field goal try of 49 yards in the final frame.
The Penn State defense designed by coaches Tom Bradley, Larry Johnson, Ron Vanderlinden and Kermit Buggs stifled the Akron offense throughout the first half, holding the Zips to eight total yards on 22 plays, surrendering no first downs and no points. Jacquemain was limited to just four completions in nine attempts for a mere 25 yards, while the Zips rushing attack was pummeled to minus yardage (minus 17 to be exact).
All-Big 10 defensive tackle Jared Odrick and veteran Ollie Ogbu jammed the rushing lanes, while defensive ends Jack Crawford, Jerome Hayes, Eric Latimore and Kevion Latham threw the runners and quarterback for multiple losses.
After halftime, Walt Harris, former head coach at Pitt who is now the quarterback and passing coach at Akron, unveiled a no-huddle offense, so he could survey State’s defensive alignment before signaling in the play to Jacquemain. This allowed the visitors to make their only sustained drive of the day, gaining three first downs and 56 yards on 11 plays, before the Lions put up a goal-line stand. Sophomore linebacker Nate Stupar got the final stop, bringing down Jacquemain on a quarterback keeper on the one-yard line.
The home team looked like it was going to continue the rout by methodically moving the ball in the opposite direction until disaster struck.
Clark fired his first pass to 6-6 junior wide receiver Brett Brackett, who entered the game as the Lions’ leading returning receiver with just 14 catches for 176 yards. Brackett made the grab but was immediately smashed by Zip cornerback Manley Waller, causing a fumble that bounced seven yards backwards until being recovered by Akron at the PS-40.
Jacquemain immediately capitalized on the turnover by firing the scoring strike to Bowser on a deep post pattern.
After that the fans gradually filed out to resume their tailgates, as neither team could muster another scoring drive.
Stupar, a State College native and son of former Penn State player Steve Stupar, led the team with 10 tackles, after stepping in when All-Big Ten linebacker Navorro Bowman went out in the middle of the first quarter with a groin pull.
Defensive captain Sean Lee was ecstatic to be back on the field, after missing all of last season following surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament. He had six stops and two tackles for four yards in losses, while directing his defensive mates to four quarterback sacks and a total of 13 tackles for loss. Senior LB Josh Hull ably manned the middle in his second year as a starter.
Eschewing any comments about the Lions’ stellar first-half play, Coach Joe Paterno said the team “got soft” and was “not very sharp in the second half.” He added, “There are a lot of young kids, and they thought the thing was over at halftime, and we just didn’t have any consistency in the second half.”
Indeed, State had five first-time starters on offense and five on defense, while six true freshmen made their collegiate debuts. The young players need to mature in a hurry to face a graduate student All-American, who will bring old rival Syracuse into Beaver Stadium next Saturday for a noon kickoff on the Big Ten network.
Greg Paulus, an All-American point guard on Duke’s basketball team, has brought new life to the Orange by resuming his interrupted high school All-American football career to quarterback Syracuse in his final year of eligibility.
For the glory,
