What started as a beautiful day for tailgating and football ended a little sloppy weather wise and on the field. For those that have not attended a Blue White Game in a while, you would be pleasantly surprised by the changes that have taken place over the years. It has become more of a celebration of spring in Happy Valley, and a glimpse into the football crystal ball, more than an important football event to used to predict the future.
The University has really catered the event to the family experience for Blue White Weekend, including events such as “Penn State Idol”, “Wingfest", and a fairly large carnival that brings in folks from all over the area. Of course it was a beautiful Friday so in most folks eye this may have been the star of the show.
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Now on to the game, I am not sure how much we learned as a result of the scrimmage on the field but there were a few things that I believe stuck out. Here is a summary:
- The Defense may be better than last year. The front 4 were all over the place, Lattimore seemed to be unblockable coming off the edge, Stupar, Badyu, Colasanti all had plays that made them stand out, and the secondary had good coverage all day. Perhaps the player that looked the most comfortable in the secondary was Derrick Thomas, he seemed to be flying to the ball on every break
- The QB’s…oh boy. Not sure what to think here other than that in 2 or 3 years we may have the best QB in the Big 10. All three struggled a little bit, I heard Paterno later say that he is having a tough time convincing all three of them that Second and Ten is ok. Rather than throwing a pick, or forcing it, it is okay to throw it away. I do think it will take as many as 4 games for us to learn what the go forward strategy is going to be.
- The running game. This was a pleasant surprise and it was obvious the reason that Royster did really not play, he was not needed. It seems that the line was run blocking fairly well, and the running backs were doing a good job getting in and hitting the holes. I was impressed with the transfer from Old Dominion. He and Dukes packed a nice punch coming out of the backfield.
- Yes that was Graham Zug Punting. With the issues of Anthony Fera yet to be resolved Graham Zug has apparently cracked the 3 deep at punter, reminds me a bit of Joe Jurevicius.
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Believe it or not this was really all that you could get out of this game, and even this stuff may be a stretch. Hopefully the 40,000 or so on hand will be treated to better football and more excitement in the fall.
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