Phryday Penn State Preview

Yinzers,

It is the eve of perhaps the biggest game on Penn State's schedule this season (the only other game that comes close is against #2 Ohio State). Tomorrow, Joe Paterno's Nittany Lions make their way to Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama to take on the defending national champion Crimson Tide. This year and next year's "home-and-home" series is residual from a contract between these two institutions from way back in the early 1990s. In 1990 when the Tide was low, Penn State shut out the Tide 9-0. The contract between the two schools needed two more games to be completed. The institutions arbitrarily picked 2010 and 2011 to finish off the series. Who would have known that when the time came, the Tide would be defending their national championship and the Nittany Lions would be actually in an NCAA conference? Well that time has come and it's tomorrow at 7:00 pm.

The Alabama Crimson Tide
The Tide has had its share of coaches since the 1970s were dominated by Bear Bryant. This go-around is with Nick Saban and he has already won himself a national championship, though not with his own recruiting class. This year's Tide looks both the same and different, depending on which side of the ball you're looking. Boasting a #1 ranking, Alabama is led by senior quarterback Greg McElroy who played in every game last season. His experience will be a major factor in this week's game against Tom Bradley's defensive schemes. McElroy spreads the ball around very well, posting 218 yards and 1 touchdown last week and is even better at handing the ball to the defending Heisman Trophy winner, Mark Ingram. The big news, however, is that Ingram will not be playing this week, still recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery prior to week 1. Picking up the duty this week will be Trent Richardson who was first team all SEC in his own right. Historically speaking and currently speaking, Alabama is a very run-heavy offense utilizing their ENORMOUS offensive line. The Penn State defense will have to use their speed to their advantage if they want to force McElroy to pass.

On the defensive side, the Tide are returning almost nobody from last year's national championship team. One of the returning players on defense, defensive tackle Marcell Dareus, defensive MVP of the national championship game, will not be joining the team this weekend. Dareus was investigated for accepting nearly $2000 in improper benefits, which is obviously against NCAA regulations. Alabama is not appealing the case since it is quite obvious that Dareus accepted the benefits. Dareus is suspended for the first two weeks of the season and must pay out $1700 to the charity of his choice as penance. Alabama says that Dareus did not knowingly accept the benefits, but that's what every institution falls back on. I'm sure Penn State would say the same thing if it were to happen here, I'm not bias in that regard. At any rate, this year's Tide defense is still trying to find themselves. If their secondary can bait the true freshman Robert Bolden into one-looks, they can cause havoc for Penn State's offense.

Nittany Nation
As I said before, this is perhaps the biggest test of Penn State's season. True freshman, Robert Bolden, will be starting again this week and will have the task of leading the Nittany Lions against the defending national champions. Bolden looked good against Youngstown State, but it's the fact that it was Youngstown State that bothers me. Bolden did a lot of staring down of receivers, but in his defense, YSU left option #1 open nearly all day so he never had to check down. If Bolden is to be successful against Alabama, he will need to utilize all his options to move the Penn State offense down the field efficiently. The one advantage is that even though Bolden is young, so is the Alabama defense. Other contributions need to come from Evan Royster, who had possibly his worst game in the past two years against YSU with only 40 rushing yards. Royster is the type of back that a bad day like that will eat at him until he breaks out something big...which will hopefully be this week. Penn State is undefeated when Royster runs for 100+, so let's get him there tomorrow.

Linebacker U will also have a tough task tomorrow. The Penn State defense is not quite as big as last year at linebacker, but these guys can flat out fly. This will come in handy since a lot of Alabama's offense comes from the running game and the shifty Trent Richardson (in the absence of Mark Ingram). The mix of speed and strength up front could play into the hand of Penn State if they can keep Richardson contained within the tackle box. If the Penn State defensive line can get some penetration to the backfield, not necessarily sacks, they can throw off the timing of McElroy and Richardson just enough to cause trouble. A big burden will be on the Penn State secondary because if the front 7 can stuff the run, Alabama will most likely look to play-action. I believe the Penn State secondary will be the deal-breaker in how many points the Tide will score.

Two legendary programs whose rivalry started way back in 1979 when Bear Bryant and Joe Paterno squared off for the national championship will go head-to-head tomorrow. The spread is 12 points and the over-under is 44, for those of you who like to gamble. Personally, I think this one will be slow in the first half and then open up in the second. Both programs have their ups and downs, but game day is all that counts. In college football, anybody can beat anybody on any day ***cough***Appalachian State***cough***. Let's see if JoePa and his 2010 Nittany Lions have some magic rolled up under the pant legs to pull the upset.

For the Glory,
B Brog

P.S. Truck, no hard feelings, but we are NOT friends this weekend.