Three Alabama junior starters jumping to the NFL

Penn State actually held Julio Jones in check last season.
But it's sure better not to even have to worry about him
for 2011's matchup in University Park.
(Photo: Getty/Kevin C. Cox)

When your team is stacked with All-America talent all the way down to the scrub team, losing a handful of juniors early to the NFL Draft isn't so devastating as it would be for another average team.

But Penn State fans can't be disappointed to see that the Crimson Tide will lose 2009 Heisman winner Mark Ingram, receiver Julio Jones, and end Marcel Dareus--all three All-Americas--early to the 2011 NFL Draft.

Preview: Penn State at Alabama

THIS WEEK		#18 AP / 1-0, 0-0 Big Ten	@		#1 AP / 1-0, 0-0 SEC
9/11, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN		Wk 1 - W, 44-14 vs YSU			Wk 1 - W, 48-3 vs SJSU
Full Game Preview / Staff Predictions / Penn State Depth Chart / Live Blog

Welcome, Mr. Bolden... make yourself comfortable.

I'll ditch the formalities. Let's just start digging and see where it all ends up.

Optimistic as I am (to a fault, most of the time), the opportunities for the Nittany Lions to pull out a shocker in Tuscaloosa are so slight, even a team like Alabama would have trouble if faced with the same situation.

As the season goes on, I'll deal more with season stats and numbers. But with only one game in the books--most likely against a far inferior opponent--teams like Penn State and Alabama are still relatively shrouded in mystery. Alabama won't have two of its best four players (Marcell Dareus and Mark Ingram), while its entire defense is new. For Penn State, no one knows what Rob Bolden will do against a real defense, while the Nittany Lions defense will face a drastically different offense down in Tuscaloosa.

So, for all we don't know about these two teams, here are a few things we do know...

Joe Paterno Press Conference Recap: Alabama Week

Joe Paterno took questions from the media today,
as Penn State prepares to travel for its game
against the Alabama Crimson Tide, 2009 national champions.

Here's the long and short of what happened today at Joe Paterno's Alabama game week press conference. Let's just say, Joe is grounded going into this one...

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