Review: Penn State 44, Youngstown St 14

Collin Wagner (36) put on a distance-kick
clinic against Youngstown State.

It was a very iffy start, but the biggest question facing the Nittany Lions going into the season opener--"Can Rob Bolden do the job?"--was answered in the most definitive of means.

That and more in today's review of Penn State's 44-14 win over Youngstown State in the season opener. Expect this to be the main format throughout the season for game reviews, with things like players of the game, best unit performances, things that need work, etc. At the end, I'll just go through a few miscellaneous points in the order I noticed them re-watching the game today. On regular game weeks, this post will most likely be done earlier on Sundays. But I had a long travel weekend, which kind of screwed up my timing. Plus, with the extra day off tomorrow, we're delaying some of our stuff until Tuesday, when you're all back at work needing something to read.

Players of the Game

Rob Bolden -- Who else would you pick first? The true freshman did everything (and more) anyone could have dreamed for his collegiate debut. He completed 70 percent of his pass attempts for 239 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception that wasn't completely his fault (Derek Moye fell down mid-route). Bolden never once looked spooked in the pocket, even when defenders breached the offensive line. Granted, Youngstown State isn't Alabama, but Bolden's performance was extremely encouraging going into next week.

Photo Gallery: Youngstown State at Penn State

I will add more photos as the weekend wraps up. For now, enjoy a few shots from Penn State's opening day 44-14 victory over Youngstown State. Remember to check back here later this weekend for more photos.



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11th Hour Depth Charting: Youngstown State Edition

Garry Gilliam (89) will be the No. 1 tight end this week.

The latest depth chart for this week's game, with some complementary notes...

-QB Robert Bolden has now been named the starting quarterback, with Newsome and McGloin as the backups.
-TE Andrew Szczerba will be out indefinitely, so Garry Gilliam gets the nod as starting tight end. Kevin Haplea has moved to the No. 2 spot, with Mark Wedderburn the reserve.
-The offensive line hasn't changed since mid-August.
-K/P Anthony Fera is now handling kickoff duties, as well as being named starting punter.
-CB Shelton McCullough returned to the team this summer, so moved into the reserve DB spot previously held by Evan Lewis, who is now listed as a WR on the roster.
-CB/WR Chaz Powell will remain on the defensive depth chart, since Paterno said he could end up back there, depending on the injuries on offense; but for now, he will mostly play WR.

If anything else comes up between now and kickoff, we'll change it here.

Also, here is the most up-to-date roster, which hasn't changed since last week.

LBU Staff Predictions: Youngstown State, PSU's 2010 Overall Record

What, you thought we weren't going to do this? Shame on you. We have far too much smuggy blogger pride to forego laying it all on the line with some score predictions for the game tomorrow.

Say it with us... "backups"

Full Game Preview: YSU @ PSU

Galen

Youngstown State:

Preview: Youngstown State at Penn State

TV: 12 p.m., Big Ten Network
Weather: Mild, sunny, strong breeze
Series: PSU leads 1-0
Last meeting: Sept. 16, 2006... PSU 34, YSU 3

Visitor: Youngstown State Penguins (FCS)
Rank: N/A
Record: 0-0 (0-0 Big Ten)
Head Coach: Eric Wolford, 1st Year at YSU
Returning Starters from '09: 6 offense, 7 defense
Starters Injured this week: (all our for ssn) WR Jelani Berassa; LB Kevin Johnson; OT John Sazdanoff; DT Roger Gillum
Season Stats to Date...
Offense: N/A
Defense: N/A
Turnovers: N/A

What Youngstown has going for it -- After a decade leading the Penguins, John Heacock--Jim Tressel's replacement--stepped aside this off-season with a 60-44 record at YSU. First year head coach Eric Woldford brings new energy to a traditionally successful football program, which could end up surprising some in the Missouri Valley Conference this fall. The problem for YSU, there won't be many surprises this Saturday in Happy Valley. In 2009, YSU had an offense that could move the ball well enough, but fell far too short when inside the red zone, converting only 85% of trips into points, and couldn't hold onto the ball, committing 17 turnovers. With a first-year starting quarterback in 2010, things could get shaky early.

Joe Paterno Press Conference Recap: Youngstown State

Chaz Powell could play offense
or defense this Saturday, depending on
some key injuries in the Penn State secondary.

Here's the long and short of what happened today at Joe Paterno's first game week press conference. The season opener against Youngstown State is four days away (!), and the quarterback situation isn't getting any better. But more on that in a minute.

Quick hits:

• Being a team captain is a lot like being an officer on Omaha Beach. Yikes.
  
• Andrew Szczerba's back isn't any better, and might not play for a few weeks. (I guess injury information isn't secret after all)
• Chaz Powell is moving back to offense. This is due to an unusually high number of injuries at the wide receiver position--Curtis Drake's broken leg, and Christian Kuntz's knee injury this past weekend. And with Szczerba's absence, they may take some time working in a sufficient gameplan for TE Garry Gilliam, meaning more WR sets.
• Linebacker will be a strength of the team, despite what the pundits are saying. Mike Mauti is fine.
• Stephfon Morris might be out, but it depends on how his neck injury heals. Powell can be moved back to defense if Morris can't go.
• Drew Astorino is doing alright, and should go.
• The offensive line is getting better. Joe and the staff are "very encouraged," which means they might actually be good. Joe doesn't praise units that aren't doing remarkably well. If they weren't, the wouldn't remark on them, right?
  
• Joe Paterno was asked about the quarterbacks, a lot. The gist of it all? Everything is fine, but unknown.
• Paul Jones was redshirted because of academics. Joe's worried about a few players, but wouldn't name them, and asked the guys not to ask about them.
• Both quarterbacks, Newsome and Bolden, can play. But they're obviously young.
• Hopefully a starter will be named tomorrow night.
  

So how many questions did Joe get about the quarterbacks? This many...

TMI: Youngstown State Edition

Welcome to Too Much Information, a weekly look at each team on the Penn State Nittany Lions schedule. Oh, this won't be one of those 'way too early' looks at each football team and in depth analysis on Penn State's chances of victory, no at Linebacker-U we realize that anything we say in June will be long forgotten in August when things get real. We'll save the stats and breakdowns for the season when we can be scrutinized on a weekly basis without taxing your memories. No, TMI is a whimsical look at the University behind the football team because after all, it's all about higher education right?

With that in mind I give you Youngstown State.

History

Quite frankly I wasn't even aware there was a state named Youngstown but then again, I did flunk geography. The state of Youngstown is nestled just 10 miles west of the Pennsylvania line and just 61 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. Youngstown sits midway between New York City and Chicago and has a population of around 80,000 people.



Here's a close-up of the districts of the state of Youngstown.



Youngstown is named after New York native John Young who surveyed the area in 1796. On February 9, 1797, Young purchased the area of 15,560 acres (63 km²) from the Western Reserve Land Company for a wooden nickel and a bottle of Clark Stanley's finest.



While many of the area's early settlers came from Connecticut, Youngstown attracted a significant number of Scots-Irish settlers from neighboring Pennsylvania. Consequently, alcoholism and despair were Youngstown's main exports until coal was discovered in the early 1800s which paved the way for Youngstown's inclusion on the network of the famed Erie Canal. The discovery of coal added black lung to Youngstown's already impressive export portfolio.

Just like surrounding areas, Youngstown thrived during the steel industry boom and then fell on hard times during the industry collapse of the 1970's. The decline of Youngstown's steel industry and its adverse effects on local workers were the subjects of Bruce Springsteen's ballad, "Youngstown", featured on his The Ghost of Tom Joad album. To date, Springsteen's song is Youngstown's single greatest achievement.
The state of Youngstown is governed by a velociraptor named Jay Williams.

I am ready to break free from the politics of the past. RAWR*

Williams is much like Pennsylvania's own governor Ed Rendell but slightly less aggressive and with far fewer mob ties. Much like Rendell, Williams was elected under suspicious conditions; while in a heated debate, Williams bit the head off of his top opponent. Rendell just had his opponent whacked.

About the University

The university's origins trace back to 1908, when the local branch of the YMCA established a school of law within the Youngstown Association School. Students would learn valuable skills such as reciting law while swimming laps and citing precedent while arguing foul calls in basketball. On September 1, 1967, after becoming a public institution, Youngstown University became officially known as Youngstown State University. Even today, YSU is still haunted by the sounds of the Village People.

Youngstown State plays football in the Missouri Valley Football Conference which changed its name from the Gateway Football Conference in 2008 which was a combination of the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference and the old Missouri Valley Conference. Got that? Good. YSU is nicknamed the Penguins and have a mascot named Pete the Penguin who oddly enough, looks like a pissed off Arby's patron.

Where's my curly fry bitch!?!?

Football related data

Last year's Record: 6 – 5 (6^th in the MVC)
YSU has won four national championships, with all of them coming under former head coach Jim Tressel. The Sweatervest, who left the university following the 2000 season to coach at Ohio State, helped the Penguins claim titles in 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1997, as well as runner-up titles in 1992 and 1999.

Cool Fact

YSU is associated with longtime coach Dwight "Dike" Beede, who, after noticing on-field confusion due to officials using whistles to signal a penalty, invented the penalty flag during a game in 1941.

Other pertinent info

YSU plays its home games at Stambaugh Stadium, nicknamed "The Ice Castle", which has an official capacity of 20,630, one of the largest in Division I FCS. Yes I said "20,000" and "largest" in the same sentence, feel free to snicker. YSU has a long time rivalry with the Akron Zips which ended in 1995. Each year from 1940 until the rivalry ended, the Zips and Penguins would play for the Steel Tire, a trophy named for the two cities main products: Akron for its rubber and Youngstown for its steel. Youngstown State leads the overall series with a record of 19-14-2.

The Penguins have sent 20 players to the NFL, two of which are currently playing. In addition to Tressel, Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio began his coaching career at YSU. Former Notre Dame head coach Bob Davie played for the Penguins, but if I were a YSU fan I probably wouldn't mention that.

Famous alumni

Billy Clapper the college basketball head coach for Penn State Altoona graduated from YSU. Ron Jaworski and Mark Mangino were Penguins. Ed O'Neill graduated from Youngstown. That's right, freakin' Al Bundy was a Penguin. But it's not all good, douchebag and convicted criminal James Traficant called YSU home.

*RAWR means I love you in Dinosaur

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ESPN: Penn State at Alabama kickoff set for 7 p.m.

After months of speculation (and virtual certainty) that Penn State would face Alabama in a night game, ESPN today finally announced the official kickoff time, 7 p.m. eastern.

If you're expecting any sort of analysis of this news, I'm not sure what you're looking for. Because I'm a complete Penn State homer, I will never say the Nittany Lions are 100 percent doomed. But things aren't looking so hot for this one.

More schedule stuff: We didn't really "report" this last week (or whenever it was), but Penn State's first two home games against Youngstown State and Kent State will both be noon kickoffs--ugh! The opener will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network, while Kent's visit will be, surprisingly enough, on ESPN2.

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