It would appear as though the powers that be at Penn State are setting themselves up for a run at the National Championship in 2012. Their Non-Con schedule, (Ohio University, Temple, Navy & Virginia) while not really imposing, is not built up with extreme cupcakes like Coastal Carolina either, which should bode well for pre-season placement in the polls, if they do well in 2011. Given the talent raised from the last two years of recruiting, which by the way, in 2012 these guys will be juniors & seniors, and our quarterback should have 2 years experience going in to the season.

Short observation predictions of these games:

Ohio always plays everyone tough and seems to be in the running to win the MAC. They always give Ohio State fits.

Temple is an up and coming program. Al Golden is doing a great job there and I suspect they will be quite competitive.

Navy is a program that has made it back. This year they are ranked, last year did well and like Al Golden, Ken Niumatobolois (hope I spelled that right)  is doing wonders. Besides they give everyone trouble because of the way their offense runs and runs.

Virginia is an enigma, this year not so much, in two years, I think their recruiting will catch up and Mike London is a fine coach who should energize that program. 

In other words, we will have a talent rich, experience d squad of upper classmen. Obviously, there is a lot of time between now and then, the upcoming chaos from expansion and they still have to play the games, but it seems as though they are priming the pump a little bit.