Penn State Looking to Answer Questions Heading into Big Ten Opener

Story posted October 1, 2011 in CommRadio, Sports by Mike Esse

After an offensive explosion last Saturday against Eastern Michigan, Penn State (3-1, 0-0 Big Ten) faces a mightier challenge as they go on the road to Bloomington this weekend to open Big Ten play against Indiana (1-3, 0-0 Big Ten). As always, the quarterback situation remains in question, but there is another storyline for the Lions going into this weekend before the play the Hoosiers at noon broadcasted live on ComRadio.

Penn State will be without arguably two of their biggest leaders on defense, senior cornerback D’anton Lynn and junior linebacker Michael Mauti, who both suffered injuries on Saturday against Eastern Michigan. Mauti suffered an ACL tear which will likely put him out for the season and Lynn was carted off the field after a nasty hit late in the game while going in for a tackle attempt, but is questionable against the Hoosiers.

The main question is: how will these two players be replaced? Mauti is the biggest vocal leader for Penn State and saved the Lions from having another loss in the loss column with his interception against Temple, and Lynn is one of the steadier defensive players Joe Paterno has.

Although there is reason for concern, Nittany Lion fans shouldn’t be too worried, not for this week at least. Senior linebacker Nate Stupar, who had seven tackles against Eastern Michigan, will replace Mauti against Indiana. As for Lynn’s replacement, either sophomore Mike Wallace or sophomore Derrick Thomas will have to step up in his absence.

Luckily, the Lions are playing the 71st ranked scoring offense in the country, which didn’t have enough offense to beat Ball State or North Texas, both non-automatic qualifying schools. Indiana has played two quarterbacks so far this season, Edward Wright-Baker and Dusty Kiel, neither of whom has been able to lead their team to consistent play thus far.

Defensively for Indiana, they have allowed the 73rd most points in the nation and could not prevent North Texas or Ball State from scoring 20 plus points, which presents a major advantage for Penn State in the passing game.

Although Joe Paterno will once again be playing both quarterbacks and is unsure as to who will start, Matt McGloin had a promising performance against the Eagles Saturday. The redshirt junior threw for 220 yards and three touchdowns against the MAC opponent, but also hasn’t been able to play well in big games similar to what he will see down the road in Big Ten play.

Bolden, on the other hand, hasn’t had a very impressive past two games with only 207 passing yards, 71 of which that came off of a screen pass to Devon Smith against Eastern Michigan. The true sophomore hasn’t played consistently all year and McGloin has looked better in the past two games, making it an interesting decision for Joe Paterno as it seemed though Bolden had the job secured going into week two against Temple.

Another aspect of the Lion offense that hasn’t shown up in every game this season is the running game. Silas Redd has slowed down since his breakout performance against Indiana State and Brandon Beachum has been limited by injuries.

Both quarterbacks will need a breakout performance from Redd or one of the running backs in order to take pressure off themselves and the wide receiving core. Derrick Moye has put up outstanding numbers in the past two games and Justin Brown has become more comfortable with the Nittany Lion offense, getting them one step closer to becoming a complete offensive threat.

However, come Saturday, the storyline will be if the Nittany Lion defense can overcome adversity without their two leaders and if Silas Redd can have a break out game before the Big Ten schedule gets much tougher down the road.

Mike Esse is a freshman majoring in Broadcast Journalism. To contact him, email mje5164@psu.edu.