Nitt Picks Is Award Worthy

by Adam Bittner on Sep 6, 2010 1:30 PM EDT in Link Dumps

Needless to say, one Robert Bolden opened some eyes this weekend with his outstanding performance against Youngstown St. Sure, the Penguins were an FCS team, but not even Evan Royster appeared to really get going against them, proving the defense was not a total patsy.

Bolden's big game earned him recognition Monday as the Big Ten Co- Freshman of the Week with Michigan State's Le'Veon Bell.

Bolden became the first true freshman quarterback to start Penn State’s season opener since 1910 and excelled, completing 20 of 29 passes (69.0 pct.) for 239 yards and two touchdowns in a victory against Youngstown State. His performance was the best by a true freshman in school history, surpassing Tony Sacca’s mark of 15-of-27 for 215 yards in 1988.

Michigan's Denard Robinson was named Offensive Player of the Week after a big day vs. Connecticut, setting a school record for total offense in a game. Ohio State's Tyler Moeller took home defensive honors and Iowa's Paki O'Meara took home the special teams award.

Cookie On College

Speaking of Denard Robinson, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Ron Cook chronicles Michigan's domination of the Big East's Connecticut on Saturday as part of a trend of Big East schools getting a whooping laid on them by BCS programs. Overall, the league went 4-4, including Pittsburgh's loss to Utah Thursday night, and two-time defending champ Cincinnati's defeat against Fresno State.

I have another record to point out this morning: 0-3. That's how the Big East did on the opening weekend of the college football season against opponents from the six primary Bowl Championship Series conferences.

And the Big East has the nerve to complain about a lack of respect nationally?

Please.

Anyone still talking about these schools as good fits in the Big Ten?

Cook also talked about Evan Royster on Sunday morning, and said what we're all thinking.

A kid will lead the Nittany Lions into Bryant-Denny Stadium. "He exceeded the expectations today," Royster said of Bolden, 18. "Everyone told him, 'Act like it's practice.' And he did ... It had to be real nerve-racking for him. I couldn't imagine going out there like that. I was nervous going to practice as a freshman."

But a man will have to lead the Nittany Lions on the field if they're going to have any chance of winning. Royster, 22, really will have to do some running that night. Another 40-yard game simply won't get it done.

We can wax poetic about Robo all we want, but if the line doesn't open holes for Royster on Saturday, and if he trips through them when they do, Penn State isn't going to beat Alabama. Period. As we talked about in our offensive grades, the run blocking was average against a below average opponent. Anyone deriving confidence from that performance is probably a little too optimistic for success Saturday.

Whaaa?

Roll Bama Roll is talking Penn State already on this Monday, and sure had an interesting analysis of the Nittany Lions' special teams:

Another thing to keep your eye on, it seems, is the seemingly strong quality of special teams for the Nittany Lions. Kicker Collin Wagner hit three field goals from beyond 44 yards out, Anthony Ferra netted 45 yards on his only punt, Youngstown State averaged only 16 yards per kick return, and there was the aforementioned kick return for a touchdown by Powell. Never overestimate one game against a cupcake, of course, but admittedly that sounds indicative of strong special teams in every phase. Given our question marks on special teams, it seems like you have to give the early edge to PSU on that front.

RBR, Adrian Clayborn on line one.

In all seriousness, Penn State's special teams did look pretty good on Saturday, but let's be real here. This is the unit that likely cost Penn State a Big Ten title last year. Between the punt block against Iowa and the costly return surrendered to Ohio State, thing could be quite different if this group had performed well in big games last year. There is still a lot of uncertainty at punter, and making big kicks in Tuscaloosa is a different animal entirely from making kicks with the comforts of home. Cautious optimism.

In Scores Of Other Games

Boise State plays Virginia Tech tonight. Here's your preview. [Rivals]
In case you missed it, here's some video from Football Eve [Collegian]
RUTS has your Saturday lines. Penn State is an 11.5 point dog. [Slow States]
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Comments

I owe an apology to this kid.

Because I totally didn’t think a freshman could look that put together. Sorry, RoBo. And sorry, coaches. For a second there, I thought you’d went off your collective nut. This is why you are coaches, and I’m paying 200 dollars for season tickets.

by dwf5095 on Sep 6, 2010 1:38 PM EDT reply actions

You may be right, I may br crazy

But I’m happy we showed so poorly on rushing. Our road to victory at Bama was never running through them, but passing over them. See Bama scrimmages.

The only thing we need the run for is to draw the safeties in a little. We were never gonna have 150 yds rushing, our OL sucks. They just can’t pull an Iowa 2009 performance.

That is all.

"Every player we have, someone-maybe a parent, a grandparent, someone-poured their soul into that young man. They are handing that young man off to us. They are giving us their treasure, and it's our job to make sure we give them back that young man intact and ready to face the world."

-J.V.Pa.

by psume06 on Sep 6, 2010 2:55 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

Is there going to be a live ~~parody~~ thread later tonight for Boise State where we mock the greatness of Kellen Moore, and the offense of Virginia Tech?

Wait…Virginia Tech has played offense since Marcus Vick left? Really?

Can Abbrederis shoot the long three and effectively distribute the ball to his big men?
"Because one of the great minds of the 21st century is raising glow-in-the-dark fish and weaving serapes..." -Leonard Hofstadter from The Big Bang Theory
For all the crap we give Wil Wheaton, he can still tackle better than Asante Samuel...

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Sep 6, 2010 3:00 PM EDT reply actions

I'm not sure who to root for

VaTech gets showered w/ praise for no apparent reason, Boise’s going to have to earn that top 5 ranking… I’ll likely root for Boise. They’re like PSU circa 1970.

McGloin Despite Them

Preaching the McGospel since Aug. 2nd, 2010

by millzners on Sep 6, 2010 3:02 PM EDT up reply actions

Except they have a nauseatingly colored home field

and they don’t have an unbelievably amazing volleyball team or Talor Battle.

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Sep 6, 2010 3:08 PM EDT up reply actions

or, most importantly, JoePa

by The JuggerNitt on Sep 6, 2010 3:40 PM EDT up reply actions

Well, that goes without saying.

I’d hate to see how Penn State would have done from 1970 to 1990 with the normal rates of coach attrition present at other schools (Wisconsin cycled through 4 coaches in that span; John Jardine, Dave McClain, Jim Hilles, and Don Morton).

JoePa is immortal.

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Sep 6, 2010 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions

Ugh

I absolutely despise Boise State. I think their field is ugly, their fans are unruly and their team is obnoxious cocky jerks that run their mouths too much (see Oregon game last year). They boast about how they haven’t lost a game at home in like 5 years or something, when only ONE ranked opponent has played them at home in that time span. Sorry, i think they are nothing like Penn State.

by RoBo_Cop on Sep 7, 2010 2:12 AM EDT up reply actions

They're like PSU circa 1970 except with a beyond abysmal schedule

I honestly don’t watch ESPN enough to know if this ever comes up, but last year when everyone in the country was flipping sh*t about our schedule being so abysmal (which it was), did the argument against TCU and Boise ever come up? Does it come up now? Because it didn’t seem to hurt their chances of getting into a BCS bowl last year.

Look, I know we have a history of disrespect as a football program in the early Paterno era, but does it truly and honestly compare with the schedule that BSU plays aside from the aspect that few respect them going undefeated? And enough so that they deserve a #3 ranking? This year their two decent games are VTech (who always lives up to their hyped ranking) and Oregon State (whose defense was atrocious if you watched that TCU game). The rest of their slate: Wyoming, New Mexico State, Toledo, San Jose State, Louisiana Tech, Hawai’i, Idaho, Fresno State, Nevada, and Utah State. Not exactly MNC-worthy IMO.

But here they sit at #3 in the country. Should they come out of their OOC games undefeated, all they have to do is dominate their cupcake conference schedule, sit on their hands, and wait for one of the top two teams to blow it, and they’re playing for the MNC thanks to the pre-season polls.

by dawsonPSU10 on Sep 6, 2010 5:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Maybe other teams don’t want to play a home-and-home with Boise (For Boise to ask for that is not unreasonable). The fact that they’re playing VT is proof that they’re not…