Penn State 34 Akron 16

College Football has returned. Finally! It doesn’t seem like that long since the Orange Bowl, I guess because that game seemed as if it was never going to end. Penn State started off this year with Akron.

That game didn’t look like a whole lot of fun to attend. The previous five seasons I had only missed the first two home games last year and I don’t think any game had weather that bad. It was like the OSU game last year where it was chilly and rained all day, but by the time we went in the rain had stopped.

Can’t we get someone to dry off Joe Pa’s glasses for him? That’s all he was doing the whole game. That job is worth a scholarship. I’m surprised ESPN wasn’t counting the number of times he did it like they did for the number of steps he takes.

The team looked just about unstoppable until the roughing the punter penalty that lead to the Akron Field Goal. Akron’s Freshman punter took a beating but hung in there the whole game.

AJ Wallace is this year’s Justin King. He’s a defensive back who doesn’t have anywhere to play right now. He looks like the might be better than JK offensively, getting him the ball should be a priority. I’d like to see him as the punt returner. I don’t like Derek Williams out there on the punts and kickoffs, probably because he broke his arm on that kick return at Michigan last year.

Norwood still has the best hands on the team. I said this all last year. It looks like he’s going to see the ball a lot this year.

Chis Bell looked solid. Pretty soon we are going to have to go with an 8 receiver set.

I want to see more Terrell Golden.

One knock I had on D-Will last year was that he seemed like he got knocked off his feet a little too easily. I thought he looked more sturdy in this game and that’s saying something with the rain.

I’ve been excited for the Morelli Era for the last 2 years because he can throw an out. Did I hear Gottfried say he might be the best QB in the country when it comes to throwing an out? Maybe wait a little on that statement. Still, he seems like the complete package as a passing QB. The O-line just needs to give him the chance.

Speaking of the O-Line, it needs work. We are going to need a running game in a few weeks. Tony Hunt is going to get worn out, hopefully Austin Scott gets back to 100% real quick.

Another Ganter holding? If he didn’t slip on that fake FG I think he had some room. I’m not sure what happened on that other dropped snap. The rain is getting the blame for a lot of these mistakes.

Sean Lee makes me want a 3-4 more often. He is going to be real good.

JK needs to work on his tackling. He weighs nothing so he needs a better approach.

I’m glad I have a Scirrotto jersey.

Akron moved the ball nicely. I’m curious to see how they play the rest of the year, especially at NC State next week. Seems like they are Pitt Jr, but could possibly beat Pitt. Luke Getsy left Pitt because he wouldn’t start over Palko. I think Getsy might be better.

Player of the Game: Anthony Morelli. No one stood out from the crowd but in his first start, in the rain, he got the job done. I’d put Norwood right behind him. Conner had a good game but that’s how I feel he should play.

Post-Game Quotes (my favorite post game activity, from gopsusports)
JoePa on the O-Line: “I think they got their ears kicked in today.”

As for the announcers. Pam Ward usually turns in a pretty solid job. Her biggest challenge has to be to keep Mike Gottfried from talking. The sideline reporter turned in an outstanding performance. You can’t be too hard on the announcing crew when Penn State is involved. I’ve seen just about every play over the past few years, I am a little more familiar with the program than they are. I’m looking forward to next week when (hopefully) I don’t have to hear about the rule changes every two seconds. At least they only showed the end of the Michigan clip once and didn’t talk about Notre Dame until the end of the game. Plus, it was in HD! That was a pleasant surprise today.

The Penn State Football Story isn’t listed on CN8. Its on WFMZ and CSN now. I’m very pleased that its on CSN since I can DVR it on CSN-HD and it will look a little better.

Notre Dame next week.