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MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS FOR PENN STATE AT HALFWAY POINT
Is it possible that exactly half way through the 2009 season, we still don’t really have an accurate grasp of just what kind of a football team Penn State has?
Nittany Lions head coach Joe Paterno, and his son Jay, the PSU quarterbacks coach, seem to think so.
“I wish I could (assess where we are),” JoePa said after steamrolling Illinois State 52-3 on Saturday. “I don’t know. I think we’ve got to play a couple tough games coming up. Minnesota’s a good football team. We’ll have to see where we are when we play them.
“We’ve got six tough games now. We’ll take them one at a time and see where we are. We’re not anywhere near as good as we will have to be, but we are getting better. I think we are better football team today than we were three or four weeks ago.”
It’s mid-October. How can the jury still be out on the Lions? Well, the lineup of non-conference patsies revealed next to nothing, and five of the six games have taken place in the friendly confines of Beaver Stadium.
Penn State outscored Akron, Syracuse, Temple and Illinois State by a combined 142-23, and downed an Illinois squad that has been one of the nation’s biggest disappointments. But in the season’s only contest against a quality opponent, the Nittany Lions blew an early 10-point lead and fell to Iowa, 21-10. And even though the Hawkeyes are now ranked 11th, they were unranked when they beat PSU.
“We’ve still got to get in a tough fourth quarter game and win,” said Jay Paterno. “We haven’t done that yet. Part of it is because five of them we’ve been in control of the game. And the sixth game we didn’t win, we just did not compete in the fourth quarter like we should have.
“Right now, we have to get in a dog fight and come out and win it. And I think we will -- that’s coming.”
It opportunity will likely be on Saturday, when the Golden Gophers (4-2) provide the Homecoming opposition. Minnesota is a half-game ahead of Penn State in the Big Ten standings at 2-1, with wins over Northwestern and Purdue, and also has non-conference victories against Air Force and Syracuse. The Gophers are 2-0 in road games this season. – NEIL GEOGHEGAN.
Nittany Lions head coach Joe Paterno, and his son Jay, the PSU quarterbacks coach, seem to think so.
“I wish I could (assess where we are),” JoePa said after steamrolling Illinois State 52-3 on Saturday. “I don’t know. I think we’ve got to play a couple tough games coming up. Minnesota’s a good football team. We’ll have to see where we are when we play them.
“We’ve got six tough games now. We’ll take them one at a time and see where we are. We’re not anywhere near as good as we will have to be, but we are getting better. I think we are better football team today than we were three or four weeks ago.”
It’s mid-October. How can the jury still be out on the Lions? Well, the lineup of non-conference patsies revealed next to nothing, and five of the six games have taken place in the friendly confines of Beaver Stadium.
Penn State outscored Akron, Syracuse, Temple and Illinois State by a combined 142-23, and downed an Illinois squad that has been one of the nation’s biggest disappointments. But in the season’s only contest against a quality opponent, the Nittany Lions blew an early 10-point lead and fell to Iowa, 21-10. And even though the Hawkeyes are now ranked 11th, they were unranked when they beat PSU.
“We’ve still got to get in a tough fourth quarter game and win,” said Jay Paterno. “We haven’t done that yet. Part of it is because five of them we’ve been in control of the game. And the sixth game we didn’t win, we just did not compete in the fourth quarter like we should have.
“Right now, we have to get in a dog fight and come out and win it. And I think we will -- that’s coming.”
It opportunity will likely be on Saturday, when the Golden Gophers (4-2) provide the Homecoming opposition. Minnesota is a half-game ahead of Penn State in the Big Ten standings at 2-1, with wins over Northwestern and Purdue, and also has non-conference victories against Air Force and Syracuse. The Gophers are 2-0 in road games this season. – NEIL GEOGHEGAN.
posted by Nittany Lines at
6:36 PM
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