March 18, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; - The Penn State football team will begin on-field preparations for the 2011 campaign on Saturday with the opening of spring practice.
Since classes resumed in mid-January, the Lasch Football Building and Holuba Hall have been hubs of activity, with the Nittany Lions hard at work with off-season weight training and conditioning. Penn State will culminate its 15 allotted spring practices with the highly-anticipated Blue-White Game presented by AAA on Saturday, April 16. Kickoff is at 2:00 p.m. in Beaver Stadium. The contest will air on the Penn State Sports Network and www.GoPSUsports.com.
Admission and parking for the Blue-White Game presented by AAA are free as in previous years.
A little more than four months after the Blue-White tilt, Joe Paterno's 46th Penn State squad will open the Nittany Lions' 125th campaign, hosting Indiana State on Sept. 3. The Lions will then welcome Alabama to Beaver Stadium on Sept. 10 for the first time since 1989.
Penn State's 19th season of Big Ten Conference competition will bring significant changes. Nebraska officially joins the Big Ten on July 1 and will begin football play this fall, with the 12 institutions split into the Leaders and Legends Divisions. The Nittany Lions are in the Leaders Division with Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Purdue and Wisconsin and will play their division foes every season, as well as crossover opponent Nebraska. Penn State will play two other teams from the Legends Division each season on a rotating basis, with Iowa and Northwestern set for the 2011 and '12 seasons.
The Nittany Lions will open Big Ten play on Oct. 1, visiting Indiana, and the conference home opener is Oct. 8 vs. Iowa. Penn State's Homecoming game is Oct. 15 vs. Purdue and Senior Day is Nov. 12 when the Cornhuskers visit in the 14th all-time meeting between the national powers. Penn State leads the series, 7-6, and the squads will be meeting for the first time since 2003.
The winners of the Leaders and Legends Divisions will play in the inaugural Big Ten Championship game, Dec. 3 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
The Nittany Lions return 42 letterwinners and 16 starters for the 2011 season (7 offense, 8 defense, 1 specialist), as well as 17 players that have starting experience. The 17 additional players with starting expereience have a combined total of 86 starts (47 def./39 off.) among them.
Among the returnees are five Nittany Lions who earned honorable All-Big Ten recognition in 2010: senior safety Drew Astorino (Edinboro), senior tackle Quinn Barham (Durham, N.C.), senior cornerback D'Anton Lynn (Celina, Texas), senior wide receiver Derek Moye (Rochester) and senior defensive tackle Devon Still (Wilmington, Del.).
A member of the Penn State coaching staff since 1950, Paterno is the all-time wins leader among major college coaches, owning a career record to 401-135-3. He ranks fourth in winning percentage (74.7) among active Football Bowl Subdivision coaches with 10 or more years as an FBS head coach.
Since Paterno became head coach in 1966, there have been 883 head coaching changes in Division I-A football, an average of more than six changes per institution, including 23 changes after the 2010 season.
Since the start of the 2005 season, Penn State has earned a 58-19 (75.3) record, tied with Oregon for No. 12 in the nation. Over the past six years the Nittany Lions have won two Big Ten Championships, won four bowl games and played in five New Year's or Bowl Championship Series (BCS) games, the nation's third-highest total.
Season tickets are available for the 2011 season. The Nittany Lions will face seven teams that played in bowl games last year, including four at home. Among the teams coming to Beaver Stadium this fall are: Alabama (Sept. 10), Iowa (Oct. 8), Purdue (Oct. 15-Homecoming), Illinois (Oct. 29) and Nebraska (Nov. 12).
The Nittany Lions will visit Temple (Sept. 17) and Big Ten foes Indiana (Oct. 1), Northwestern (Oct. 22), Ohio State (Nov. 19) and Wisconsin (Nov. 26) to close the regular season.
For information on joining the Nittany Lion Club and purchasing season tickets, as well as club seating in Beaver Stadium, fans can call 1-800-648-8269 (1-800-NITTANY).