Jan. 3, 2011
By Tony Mancuso, GoPSUsports.com Media Specialist
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - For the first time in five months, the Nittany Lions are not preparing for another game on the 2010 football schedule.
The Outback Bowl is now two days old, and Penn State football is officially in the offseason. With the season in the rearview mirror, it is a good time to take a look back at how the 2010 campaign unfolded.
When practice officially opened on August 5, the Nittany Lions had a number of question marks on the depth chart after the graduation of a talented senior class. But none of the holes in the lineup was bigger than the void left by Daryll Clark under center.
It was a question asked more often than any other throughout the offseason leading up to the 2010 opener. Who was going to be the next starting quarterback for the Nittany Lions?
Rob Bolden, Matt McGloin and Kevin Newsome engaged in a three-way battle for the starting job throughout preseason camp before Bolden got the official nod as the game one starter on Sept. 1, three days prior to the season-opener against Youngstown State.
The Nittany Lions ousted the Penguins in week one before ramping up preparations for a trip to defending national champion Alabama. It was a tall task for a young squad and an inexperienced quarterback. The Lions moved the ball on offense, but fell short in a 24-3 decision on a steamy night in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
After a commanding win over Kent State and a strong fourth quarter against Temple, the Nittany Lions opened the season 3-1 before traveling to then 17th-ranked Iowa. Despite trailing 17-3 at halftime, the Nittany Lions were stopped inches short on fourth and goal during the opening drive of the second half. A touchdown on that drive would have drawn the Lions within seven in Iowa City. From there, the Hawkeyes posted a 24-3 victory.
With Illinois on the horizon in week six, the Nittany Lions wanted to rebound from the loss at Iowa with a victory heading into a much-needed bye week. But a deflating 33-13 setback to the Illini sent the Lions into the bye with a 3-3 record.
"When I looked at the schedule before that started, I worried whether or not we could handle Alabama on the road with a young team, Iowa on the road and we had Ohio State on the road," Coach Paterno said at his season-ending press conference on Sunday. "Michigan and Ohio State both had open dates before we played them. They both had open dates.
"So, I looked at that thing and the game that is most disappointing game is the Illinois game because Illinois was struggling at that time. You've got to give that coach (Ron Zook) credit because he kept them together. They ended up being a pretty good football team. But when we played them, they were all over the board and we were terrible. We had not recovered from the games we had lost, the Iowa game and so forth. I knew we had a tough schedule."
The bye week came at a very opportune time for the Nittany Lions to get healthy before traveling to Minnesota for their first visit to the new TCF Bank Stadium. After a hot start from Bolden handed the Lions an early lead, the freshman signal caller was knocked out of the game with concussion-like symptoms.
Nonetheless, McGloin tossed a pair of touchdown passes in relief to lead the Lions to a road victory (33-21) in Minneapolis. The Scranton native then fueled a 41-31 win over Michigan in front of an electric primetime crowd at Beaver Stadium the following week to give the Lions five wins on the season.
Without question, the game of the season came in Beaver Stadium on Nov. 6 against Northwestern. Trailing 21-0 with 56 seconds to play in the first half, Penn State needed a spark heading into the locker room.
A great catch and nifty footwork from Brett Brackett in the back of the north end zone put the Nittany Lions on the board with three seconds to play in the half. From there, the floodgates opened as Penn State played its most spirited half of football during the 2010 season en route to 35 unanswered points.
The 35-21 triumph over the Wildcats marked the Hall of Fame head coach's 400th career victory. The celebration on the field is something Penn State fans will never forget.
The comeback victory guided a confident group of Lions into Columbus for a showdown with rival Ohio State. A pair of first-half touchdown passes from McGloin sent the Nittany Lions into the locker room with a 14-3 lead over the eighth-ranked Buckeyes.
However, two costly interception returns for touchdowns ignited a second-half rally from the host Buckeyes, who went on to post a 38-14 victory. Despite the setback, Penn State prepared for a neutral site game in Washington, D.C. with a 6-4 record.
A special teams touchdown proved to be the play of the game in the Lions' 41-24 win over Indiana on an unseasonably warm November day inside FedExField. Jamie Van Fleet returned a blocked punt 21 yards in the fourth quarter to put the Lions up 10 (34-24), and the rest was history.
The win over Indiana set up a high stakes senior day clash with Michigan State. The Spartans came to Happy Valley in search of a share of their first Big Ten title in 20 seasons. Michigan State jumped out to a 21-3 lead in the third quarter before a valiant Penn State comeback fell just short in a 28-22 MSU victory.
Penn State finished the regular season 7-5 before being selected to play in the 25th Outback Bowl against Florida. After two good weeks of practice in the Florida sunshine, the Nittany Lions clashed with the Gators inside Raymond James Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Nittany Lion defense played its most complete game of the season, allowing Florida to gain just 279 yards while forcing two turnovers.
"This game (Outback Bowl), we had everybody healthy and look how they played," Coach Paterno said of the defense.
However, five turnovers from the Penn State offense, including a game-clinching interception return for a touchdown with less than a minute to play hindered the Lions in a 37-24 New Year's Day setback.
Looking at the numbers, Penn State finished 7-6 on the season, but the record is not indicative of the progress the team made from week one to week 13. As Coach Paterno noted, the Lions faced a daunting schedule in 2010. Penn State became the first team to face three BCS winners (Alabama, Iowa and Ohio State) from the previous season on the road.
Additionally, the Lions had 20 different players miss time with an injury during the season. From Curtis Drake's broken leg in preseason camp to Drew Astorino's leg injury during the bowl game, injuries played a big role in Penn State's season. As a result, 20 different players made their first career start in 2010.
"I thought we started out the season not knowing where we were going," Coach Paterno said. "I thought as the season went on, we got to playing pretty good football...I think we made progress. Whether we made enough, with the kind of schedule we are talking about, (I don't know)."
The coaching staff was pleased with the progress the team made. As Coach Paterno said, the squad would have liked to win a few more games, but given the injuries and youth on the roster, 2010 was a season marked with good growth.
"We had our moments where I was disappointed we didn't play a little better," Coach Paterno said. "But other times, kids snapped back. They stayed with us. I thought, in a lot of ways, it was a very rewarding season...I'd like to have three more wins, but that's the way it goes."
The playing time and experience gained by Penn State's youthful personnel was invaluable in 2010. The Lions took a significant step forward in building towards the 2011 season this fall. Just eight regular starters from the 2010 season were seniors (4 on offense, 3 on defense and kicker Collin Wagner). Coach Paterno is looking forward to the 2011 season.
"I told them `get your heads up' and go home and take it easy for a couple of weeks and then we'll start thinking about what we want to get done for spring practice," Coach Paterno said after the Outback Bowl. "We're obviously way ahead of where we were at this stage a year ago. We played a lot of young kids today. Some of them got themselves into some situations that they shouldn't have, but that is all part of experience and playing. I think we learned from this. It was a good experience."