The hard part here is to remember the context, it was Coastal Carolina.  Penn State was charged with replacing a two year QB and 1300 yard rusher, it looks like they did a good job.

Offensive Line

The one thing people weren't worried much about was this unit.  They are starting four seniors and played like it.

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We were all pleased with the results on Saturday I'm sure, but there were definitely some things to work on. Let's take a look at the defense and see how each unit did.

Defensive Line

You would be hard pressed to ask for a better game from the defensive line. The Chanticleers were held to just 52 yards on 32 attempts for a puny 1.6 yards per carry. The defensive tackles were stuffing the middle and the ends were getting good pressure off the edge. Aaron Maybin was a beast coming around the left tackle all day like the kid was standing in a foot of mud. He recorded 2 sacks and five tackles. Not bad for a guy that wasn't even listed on the depth chart earlier in the week. Jared Odrick was credited with a sack, though I could have sworn he had two by my count. Redshirt freshman Eric Latimore also got a sack on the day.

The only knock I have on them is they were a little too aggressive at times. The Chants were letting them go on the jailbreak screen and we were still falling for it late in the game. The quarterback sucked them in and dunked the ball over their heads for a 15 yard gain. They have to learn to read that and adjust. That guy in front of you isn't putting up a fight for a reason.

Final Grade: B+

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Yes, I'm spending a sunny holiday by doing some work that I took home on Friday afternoon and re-watching the Coastal Carolina game.  Some thoughts on the latter:

• The quarterbacks were great.  Daryll Clark was precise.  Pat Devlin threw one of the nicest passes I've seen in 10 years at Penn State.  It's just Coastal Carolina, but I think we're going to be fine at QB.  By the way, rushing yards for Daryll Clark?  Zero.  Rushing attempts?  Zero.  The flavor of the day was vanilla.
  
• He was the almost-savior at Michigan State last season, but I think we have enough evidence now.  Brent Carter is a better running back than we thought.  Also nice to see Stephfon Green getting carries inside the tackles.  And of course, Evan Royster is still amazing.
  
• After that Derrick Williams touchdown, Coastal's brief hopes were crushed.  The Nittany Lions could've named the score at that point.  Penn State's offense managed to keep throwing the ball and getting Devlin passing reps  without blatantly running it up against Coastal Carolina. 
• Defensively, there were some issues.  Coastal provided future Penn State opponents with a blueprint.  They began by attacking Mark Rubin and (to a slightly lesser degree) Josh Hull in the passing game.  Halfway through the first quarter, Coastal figured it out.  They lined up quickly, which allowed the quarterback to see where Penn State's cornerbacks were playing.  If they were providing a large cushion, Coastal threw the easy eight-yard out patterns that have driven Penn State fans insane over the past few years.  If the corners were up on the line of scrimmage, Coastal went after Hull in the middle of the field.
• They used the strategy successfully on one drive, but it was derailed by consecutive false start penalties.  They stayed with it on the ensuing drive, and it resulted in Coastal's only touchdown.   The corners were up, QB Zach MacDowell called the crossing pattern going after Rubin, all three LB blitzed (why? why are they blitzing there?), and the Rubin/Scirrotto tandem didn't handle the crossing receivers properly.  Nobody home in the middle, perfect play call, easy touchdown.  It was the culmination of a period which was easy pickings for the Chants offense.  Didn't last long, but the point was made.

That issue aside, a fun day of football.  Lots of true freshmen played, including Brandon Beachum, Michael Mauti, and Jack Crawford, who made a surprise appearance at defensive tackle.

What does it mean for next week?  Oregon State's defense isn't much to worry about.  Stanford ran all over them, and they don't tackle particularly well.  However, Mike Riley is an advanced offensive coach and Oregon State is going to bring significantly better players to Beaver Stadium next week.   The Beavers attacked the middle all night long against Stanford and have multiple deep threats at receiver.  If they get the right mismatches and limit QB Lyle Moevao's brainfarts, we could be looking at a wild shootout on Saturday afternoon.

One variable people aren't discussing yet -- the weather.

We'll have more analysis to follow in the coming days, but I wanted to give you some of my immediate impressions following the game. We're also approaching nearly 500 comments in the open thread so feel free to use this as a new thread to discuss the other games going on today.

Overall I came away very impressed, or at least as impressed as you can be in a blowout win over a Div. I-AA team. The offense had 59 points, 260 yards passing, 334 yards rushing for 594 total yards. But most importantly no turnovers.

I thought both quarterbacks looked solid. I'm comfortable with either one of these guys leading the team.

The running backs are deep and very good. We'll be just fine there. And the offensive line paving the way did an excellent job. I can't recall a single sack all day.

The defense was ok, but they gave up 250 yards and a few big plays. I was hoping for more than just one turnover. They certainly had their opportunities.

No injuries to report so this is good.

We'll take a few days to let this sink in and pick apart. Then we'll move on to Oregon State. For now enjoy the rest of the games today!

Here is your open thread to discuss the game. Have at it.

We tracked down Travis Sawchik (Ohio State graduate!), who covers Coastal Carolina for The Sun News in South Carolina, and asked him three quick questions about the Chanticleers.

1.  CCU head coach David Bennett recently said, "That's a tall task, Coastal Carolina going to beat Penn State … It would be nice at halftime not to be getting obliterated." Is that a reasonable goal for the Chants on Saturday, or is Coach Bennett trying to lock his team into a "nothing to lose" mentality?

Coastal is talking about winning little battles …. Picking up first downs, forcing Penn State to punt … CCU is well aware of what it is up against. Even Bennett will tell you that this CCU squad is not up the level of Appalachian State.

2.  Which Coastal players are likely to give Penn State the most trouble?

Marrio Norman is an excellent corner with the potential to play on Sunday. Right tackle Britt Leggett is also of interest to NFL scouts.

3.  Any idea on a starting quarterback yet?

No official word. My guess would be that Zach MacDowall starts, but both MacDowall and Will Richardson will play.

For more on CCU's game preparations, head over to his "Inside CCU Sports" blog.  He's reporting from State College right now ("Wet and gray" in Happy Valley?  Never!) and has some additional tidbits regarding CCU's personnel.

See you tomorrow morning in the game thread. 

The day has finally arrived. This will most likely be the last post on BSD before the game day open thread. It's been eight long months, but we made it. Penn State football has arrived. Although we expect nothing short of a complete blowout tomorrow, there are still a lot of things to look for. The staff here at BSD has put together their thoughts on our expectations for tomorrow.

Kevin Says...

While I'm of course excited for an actual football game, it probably doesn't get any less exciting than Coastal Carolina.  Now that we have a starter, the next big question mark is about the offensive system.  How will it work?  Is it really a "glorified wishbone"?  Or just an adaptation of the Run n' Shoot?  How much will it look like 2005? 

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"I don't read blogs.  I don't have time for blogs.  I don't have time for that stuff...I'll talk to you on the phone.  I'll talk to you in person.  I don't care to talk to nobody on the internet.  Better watch out, that internet will ruin your life." -- Coastal Carolina Head Coach David Bennett

Who Shot Who In The What, Now?  Coastal Carolina (0-0) at Penn State (0-0).  Some quick math and shallow logic indicates that this is the first game of the season for both teams.  Kickoff is at 12:00 p.m. at Beaver Stadium.

Who Are These Friggin' Guys?  The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, 5-6 last season.  That losing season followed a very good stretch of football for the Chants -- from 2004 to 2006, they were 28-6 and made the 1-AA playoffs once. So they're a new program, but a very successful one.  Their coach is David Bennett, who based on this unbelievably entertaining audio press conference, should immediately be considered for Penn State's head coach position when it becomes vacant in fifteen years.

"Anybody says anything negative about Paterno, they're an idiot."  -- David Bennett

Where Can I See It?  Big Ten Network.  Use this handy tool to find out what channel it'll be on.  And don't forget to stop by Black Shoe Diaries throughout the game.  We'll be hosting a game thread for your ongoing commentary about the greatest new offense since the first forward pass.

Weather:  Mildly promising.  National Weather Service says 80 degrees, 20% chance of rain before noon and light wind.  Accuweather is equally vague, predicting partly sunny and 78 degrees, with a thunderstorm around.

"One of our players, one of them Einsteins that look at figures and stuff, came in my office a week ago and he said, 'Coach, we're going to play in front of more people in this game than we did all last season, all eleven combined.  And I said, 'Wow, that's pretty good.'"  -- David Bennett

While You Wait:  Future Penn State opponents take the field tonight and tomorrow night.  Oregon State plays at Stanford tonight (9 p.m., ESPN2).  Temple opens the season against Army on Friday night (7 p.m., ESPN Classic).

What Will We Learn?  Next to nothing, but there are a few things to look for.  Crispness on offense and special teams.  Coaches getting the plays to the huddle on time.  Daryll Clark's comfort in the pocket.  But let's not kid ourselves, a forty-point victory over Coastal Carolina isn't going to make next week's game against Oregon State any less stressful.  I'm actually more interested in tonight's OSU-Stanford game than the impending PSU-Coastal slaughter.

What Are The Chances Of A Penn State Victory?  99.5%.  For those of you worried about Coastal Carolina being another Appalachian State, here's one last quote from Coastal's fearless comedic leader.

"You talk about David vs. Goliath. Everybody's talking about, 'well App beat Michigan last year.'  App had more speed than Michigan.  App was in better shape than Michigan.  Their quarterback ran 4.3.  Our quarterback don't run 4.3." -- David Bennett

And seriously, listen to that Bennett press conference.  Not only is he wildly entertaining, he's brutally honest about his team's goals and provides excellent perspective on Joe Paterno and exactly what we have here at Penn State.

Almost forgot, didn't you?  You're wasting time in Blogfrica (Blogbabwe?  Blogistan*?).  It's a Wednesday.  It's football season**.  That means it's time for the 8,395 Penn State blogs to put their pasty heads together for Blue & White Roundtable. 

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The season is almost upon us which means in a few days we'll have actual football games to break down and discuss. So Ron Cook has to get his last ditch jab at Joe Paterno in just under the wire.

It's not hard to imagine Spanier and Curley having to change the locks to keep Paterno out of the school's football complex when they replace him.

Even then, Paterno probably would bang on the door and scream, "Let me in, damn it. I'm still the coach here!"

Sadly, Paterno appears to be that out of touch with reality.

That's why a 6-6 season might be better this season. Not even Paterno's most loyal supporters could back him after that. Many, if not most, already think he has stayed on too long and that the football program needs a new beginning. It's not just the 46 player arrests since 2002 and the embarrassment they caused, especially in a damning ESPN report on "Outside The Lines" earlier this summer. It's that Penn State is a mediocre Big Ten Conference program. It is 32-32 in league games this decade, including 2-6 against Ohio State and an abysmal 0-6 against Michigan.

So be careful what you root for, Penn State fans.

A big season might mean three, four, maybe five more years of Paterno.

Even one more year of Paterno would be one too many.

The funniest thing about this article is how Cook contradicts himself. In the early part of the article he says this.

A bad year would make it a lot easier to get rid of Joe Paterno.

That's what Penn State administrators want, isn't it? That became clear when they refused to give Paterno, 81, a contract extension in the offseason.

And then later Cook says this.

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Another large list of game times were released today by the Big Ten, making you realize just how much longer we have to wait until the often anti-climatic week one.  There are a couple pieces I'd like to cover, but we'll start with the updated Penn State schedule:

08/30 Coastal Carolina (noon) Big Ten Network
09/06 Oregon State (3:30pm) ABC
09/13 at Syracuse (3:30pm) ABC
09/20 Temple (noon) Big Ten Network
09/27 Illinois (8pm) ABC/ESPN/ESPN2
10/04 at Purdue (n/a) n/a
10/11 at Wisconsin (8pm) ESPN/ESPN2
10/18 Michigan (4:30pm) ESPN/ESPN2
10/25 at Ohio State (8pm) ABC/ESPN/ESPN2
11/08 at Iowa (n/a) n/a
11/15 Indiana (n/a) n/a
11/22 Michigan State (n/a) n/a

So Coastal Carolina and Temple will be played a noon...

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