Another game. More of the same.
Blue Band Drum Major Matt Sabo successfully completed both front flips, as a harbinger of what was to come on the gridiron—a 28-7 triumph over erstwhile rival Syracuse to ruin its first trip to Happy Valley since 1990.
The Nittany Lions marched down the field with the opening kickoff on a long drive to paydirt just as they did last week against Akron.
The Penn State defense dominated the opponent, allowing the only score on a quick pass after a turnover by the Lion offense, when a Penn State victory was already assured.
State found an opposing defense stacking eight men in the box to focus on stopping its rushing attack.
The Penn State passing offense clicked for three touchdowns, and the running attack managed one, while struggling to gain significant yardage.
The offensive line protected quarterback Daryll Clark well but was ineffective in opening holes for the Nittany Lion runners.
Fifth-ranked Penn State scored early, and the outcome of the game was never in doubt, but the defending Big Ten champs did not show the intensity and consistency that will be necessary if they are to have any chance of repeating.
However, there were some differences.
The fans did not have to lather up with sunscreen like they did for the season opener, because overcast skies followed the two-day rain that thankfully stopped before kickoff.
The new Nittany Lion mascot upstaged the drum major by making a grand entrance with a cartwheel and round-off back handspring.
Junior wideout Graham Zug led the wide receivers in place of sophomore Derek Moye, and tight end Andrew Quarless got into the act with four receptions for 35 yards, while Mickey Shuler became the first tight end to catch a touchdown pass this season, and Evan Royster was the first running back to do the same.
The Lions’ pass defense intercepted twice as many passes, and one of them set up a short Penn State touchdown drive.
A Big East defense limited the home team to 200 fewer yards than a Mid-America defense did last week.
Syracuse more than doubled the rushing yardage of Akron against the Lions. The Orangemen nearly doubled their 2008 passing percentage of only 37 percent against the Lions.
A new head coach and a new quarterback appear to have stirred new life into a Syracuse team that floundered last year.
Coach Doug Marrone, a starting offensive lineman for Syracuse from 1983–85, left his job as offensive coordinator of the NFL’s New Orleans Saints to try to resurrect the football fortunes of his alma mater. Greg Paulus, who completed his basketball eligibility at Duke this spring, enrolled as a grad student at Syracuse so he could try to fulfill the promise he had as an All-American high school quarterback in the Syracuse area five years ago.
Marrone has not tasted victory over Penn State as a player or coach, but his team took Minnesota to overtime last week before losing by a field goal and appears to be vastly improved over the squad he inherited.
Paulus is 0-2 in collegiate football, but with only three weeks of pigskin practice in the last four years, earned the starting job and has transferred to Syracuse the strong leadership skills that he displayed as a Duke point guard and captain.
Saturday’s theme in Beaver Stadium was Classic Day in honor of the storied, 70-game history between the two schools—Syracuse has played Penn State more than any other school, while Penn State has gone up against only one team more, Pitt. The Lions own the Orange with a 42-23-5 record. Nonetheless, ’Cuse is looking like it can be more of a competitor in the Big East than it has been for a while.
Classic Day also honored the past with All-Pro Lenny Moore ’56—who terrorized opponents as a star of the Nittany Lions from 1953-55— named State’s honorary captain for the day and accompanied current co-captains Sean Lee and Daryll Clark for the opening coin toss.
The 50th reunion of Penn State’s 1959 team—which won the first Liberty Bowl by shutting out Bear Bryant’s first bowl squad, 7-0—was honored at halftime and was celebrated throughout the weekend.
Fans came dressed in tie-dyes, headbands and peace signs, while vintage black-and-white football clips of the ’50s and ’60s were shown on the Jumbotron, the Nittany Lion danced like a Blues Brother, cheerleaders twisted like their grandmother’s did 45 years ago and the Blue Band played Beatles music.
The 2009 Lions quickly demonstrated how much faster and more wide open the play has become in the last half century when they marched 79 yards on the game’s first seven plays for the opening touchdown. It was scored by tailback Royster, not on a run, but on a 49-yard pass that he caught in full stride between two Orange defenders, after moving out to the right flank before the snap and grabbing a quick slant pass from Clark for his first career touchdown reception.
Before halftime, Royster tallied his second TD of the day—this time in traditional fashion on a 12-yard run around left end. Tackle Dennis Landolt sealed off the corner, fullback Joe Suhey ran interference and wide receiver Brett Brackett knocked the Syracuse cornerback clear back into the end zone to open Royster’s path to paydirt.
After intermission, State doubled its lead to 28 points on TD passes from Clark to Zug and Shuler, before the visitors’ sacked freshman quarterback Kevin Newsome and forced a fumble, which they recovered at the PS-16 with less than five minutes remaining in the game.
Paulus brought his offense onto the field and immediately tossed a 16-yard touchdown pass to Donte Davis to ruin State’s shutout attempt for the second week in a row.
Clark, who was named the Big Ten’s Co-Offensive Player of the Week for his career-high 353 passing yards and three TD tosses against Akron, completed 20 of 31 passes to eight receivers for 240 yards and three touchdowns Saturday.In addition to his 49-yard connection with Royster in the first quarter, he passed 20 yards to Zug in the end zone to climax the Lions’ opening drive in the second half. His last scoring toss covered just one yard in the final frame, when he froze the Syracuse defense with a fake handoff to Royster in the middle then rolled to the right and flipped the ball over the remaining Orange linebacker to Shuler. Clark suffered one interception, when Orange cornerback Kevyn Scott leaped just as high as intended receiver Moye and ripped the ball from Moye’s hands as they fell to the turf at the SY-31.
Zug, the former walk-on, led the Lion receivers with six catches for 79 yards, followed by Quarless with four for 35 and Moye with three for 35.
Royster was held to 41 yards on 12 carries and his backup, Stephfon Green, netted just 26 on eight lugs of the pigskin.
Senior punter Jeremy Boone helped Penn State maintain good field position most of the afternoon with three booming punts that averaged 50 yards each and either pinned the visitors deep or got the Lions out of a hole.
Defensively, co-captain Lee showed he has fully recovered after the ACL surgery that kept him out of the 2008 season by leading all tacklers with 13, including three for losses of 17 yards. Fellow linebacker Josh Hull tied his career-high with 11 tackles and the second interception of his career—a spectacular diving snare of a pass that bounced off the pads of a Syracuse receiver at the PS-34.
Outside linebacker Nathan Stupar grabbed his first career interception at the SY-19, after defensive tackle Jared Odrick tipped a Paulus pass, and returned it to the two-yard line to set up State’s final touchdown.
Coach Joe Paterno told the media after the contest, “We have played well enough to win two games, but we must get better.”
The Lions, who are now ranked fifth in both major polls, have another non-conference contest with Temple next Saturday on the Big Ten Network, before opening conference competition in a prime-time matchup against Iowa on ABC or ESPN.
For the glory,
