Emu-lator

He'll Be Back!

Penn State took care of the Eastern Michigan Eagles 34-6 before an alleged crowd of 95,636.  But the victory did not come without a price.  Linebacker Michael Mauti left the game with an ACL and is out for the rest of the season.  D'Anton Lynn suffered a neck stinger which looked serious at the time, but he was released from Mount Nittany Medical Center after x-rays cleared him of any significant neck injury.  We don't know when he will be able to play again.

Penn State found some passing offense and threw its first touchdown pass of the year, followed by three others.  Special teams are better with Fera in the lineup, but Ficken kicked a 43 yard field goal in the second half and a couple of knuckle ball kick-offs as well.

Just like the Indiana State game, the stats from this game don't mean a whole lot.  In fact, the best stat of the day may have been Temple's 38-7 wood shed beating of the Terps.  Using the transitive property of football, PSU > Temple > Maryland > Miami (FL) > Ohio State.  Hey, it works for me.

Like most noon starts, the Nittany Lions took a while to get things rolling.  On their second possession of the game, they mounted a decent drive highlighted by passes from Bolden to Drake and Brown but the drive bogged down after an illegal procedure call inside the ten.  The crowd held its breath as we attempted a field goal.  Seriously, you could almost feel the air being sucked from the stadium into our collective lungs as we expected the worst from our special teams.  But Fera nailed the kick.  Hopefully, he didn't celebrate with a Miller Light.

Penn State would nurse a 3-0 lead into the second quarter before the gunslinger, Matt McGloin threw two touchdown passes to give the Lions a comfortable 17-0 lead going into the half.  Zordich fumbled another opportunity through the end zone which gave EMU a touchback and stopped the second half bleeding for the green and white birds.

With THEM beating EMU 31-3, our win puts us on par with the wolverines (here we use the substitutive property of football) which isn't saying a whole lot.  McGloin definitely scored more points and his stats looked better than Bolden, but neither quarterback alone has established himself as a starter/leader and that is not good entering Big Ten play.

When Bolden is in the game, the play calling seems more conservative.  He doesn't get the opportunity to throw the type of passes McGloin does.  Is that play calling, or is McGloin checking down and finding the open receivers?  However, McGloin had tons of time and it almost seemed like Eastern Michigan was afraid to pressure him.  McGloin has not performed well against better defenses (Alabama and Florida in the bowl game) but he seems to excel against inferior or middle-of-the-pack competition.

I hate to say it, but the platoon system may be the best thing for Penn State right now.  Who knows what might have happened in the bowl game had we allowed Bolden to get some snaps?  But then again, both played against Bama with poor results.  But let's face it:  Bama is the better team.

At any rate, I expect we'll see the two headed monster at QB for most of the season.

BY THE NUMBERS:

From GoPSUsports:

Turnovers really kept EMU in this game, if you can argue that a 28 point spread is being in the game.  The fumble through the end zone cost some bettors some money, or perhaps it was the INT of Bolden that set up the first field goal for EMU. 

Penn State's D continues to dominate, but the injury losses are going to hurt us down the road I fear.

INTANGIBLES:

Penn State won the toss and deferred.

The drum major stuck both flips.

Paterno notched win number 404.  Penn State is 2-0 all-time against the emus.

Lots of empty seats in the stadium.  I'm too disgusted to talk about that.

The slow wave and the wave on Red Bull are just simply cool to watch, if they are not over done.

THE BIG (TEN) PICTURE:

Winners this week include:

Brady Hoke coached his new team over his old one, San Diego State, 28-7.

The Badgers rolled over South Dakota 59-10.

The Cornhuskers beat Wyoming 38-14.

MSU beat Central Michigan 45-7.

The Cheateyes rebounded against Colorado 37-17.

Illinois squeaked one out over Western Michigan 23-20.

And the losers are:

Indiana fell to North Texas 24-21.

Minnesota dropped another game to North Dakota State 37-24.  Note to Gopher A.D.:  Don't schedule the Bisons again.

Purdue and Northwestern enjoyed bye weeks.

SHEDDING TEARS:

1.  WVU--lost to LSU at home 47-21.
2.  Pitt lost in the fourth quarter a second week in a row, 15-12 to the Irish.
3.  Toledo lost to Syracuse in OT, but should have won in regulation because the refs called a missed PAT good when it was not.
4.  F$U--Clemson handed them second loss in a row
5.  Texas A&M--came up short against the cowpokes.

LOOKING AHEAD:

Penn State opens conference play on the road at Indiana.

The Hoosiers are 1-3:

Lost to Ball State 27-20
Lost to Virginia 34-31
Beat South Carolina State 38-21
Lost to North Texas 24-21.

Despite our troubles, we are not THAT bad.  But it will be an early game, and we start slow.  I still don't think we will have too much trouble coming away with a win.  Indiana has never beaten Penn State in football.  It won't happen this week either.