Our PSU correspondent Alison writes in with her report from Happy Valley.
Well at least we know Sean Lee is back.
The linebacker made 13 tackles in the 28-7 victory against Syracuse
in their first visit to Beaver Stadium since 1990. Lee played without
the help of Navarro Bowman, but Josh Hull stepped up and was all over
the Orange offense.
The O-line has been the biggest question
mark for a lot of people, and they didn’t do much to answer them.
There was no push from the line to get the running game going, and the
pass blocking was just ok. Despite Clark’s numbers, I didn’t think
he looked too sharp. But the receivers continue to impress me.
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Defensively, the Nittany Lions looked
good but the line didn’t have enough consistent pressure on the QB
and the secondary got some help from Syracuse receivers dropping passes.
Malvern alum Ryan Nassib saw some minutes for the Orange and went 4-5
at QB.
After last week’s game, I chalked
up a lousy 2nd half to it just being the first game and things
will improve, but now I’m not so sure. Next week against Temple shouldn’t
be too much of a test, but the Lions have a lot to work on if they want
to win another Big Ten championship.
The Classic Day theme yesterday wasn’t
a huge success. Although a good amount of people wore tye dye, they
were definitely the minority. During breaks in the game, a clip of events
from every year in the 60s played, highlighting some of Penn State’s
best moments from the decade. The Blue Band did a 60s themed halftime
show, playing the Beatles and Aretha Franklin, but my favorite part
of the day was the ovation JoePa got as he jogged into the tunnel at
halftime.