No. 10/9 Penn State opens its 2018 season at home in Beaver Stadium, welcoming Appalachian State for the first time. The telecast begins at 3:30 p.m. on BTN.
The Nittany Lions are coming off their second-straight 11-win season, which concluded with a Fiesta Bowl victory, and seek to extend a 14-game home winning streak. Two close loses on the road by a combined total of four points were the only blemishes last season.
Preseason All-American and Heisman hopeful Trace McSorley returns for his third season as the starting signal caller and will join seven other returning starters on offense. An experienced offensive line is poised to be a cornerstone of the unit, which has been among the most prolific in the nation the past two seasons. The Lions only lost four offensive starters, but it was a very productive quartet that will now suit up on Sundays in the NFL. However, running back Miles Sanders, wide receivers Juwan Johnson and DeAndre Thompkins and others are hungry to fill the production void.
The Penn State defense will look different up the middle with last season's starters at the defensive tackle, mike linebacker and safety positions all moving on to NFL training camps. The edges boast the most experience with the return of All-Big Ten corner Amani Oruwariye and redshirt junior John Reid, who missed the 2017 season due to injury. Defensive end Shareef Miller is a preseason watch list staple who will look to anchor the defensive line.
Appalachian State enters 2018 with high expectations, receiving votes in the Amway Coaches Top 25 preseason poll. In three FBS seasons, the Mountaineers have reached bowls in each and have claimed the Sun Belt Conference Championship in the past two. App State has already solidified its place in Big Ten history. In 2007, it spoiled No. 5 Michigan's season opener, becoming the second FCS team to defeat a ranked FBS team.
HEAD COACH SCOTT SATTERFIELD
- The 2018 season will be Scott Satterfield's sixth as Appalachian State's head coach and 23rd as a player or coach with the Mountaineers.
- Satterfield guided the Mountaineers into FBS, winning their final six games to close out their first FBS season in 2014, and then led App State as it posted a Sun Belt Conference-record 11 overall wins during the program's first bowl-eligible season in 2015, captured their first Sun Belt championship during a 10-win season in 2016 and won another Sun Belt title during a 2017 season in which a Dollar General Bowl shutout of Toledo capped a nine-win campaign.
- Those postseason victories have allowed App State to become the first program in FBS history to win bowl games in each of its first three eligible seasons.
- In 17 seasons as an App State player (five seasons from 1991-95) and assistant coach (1998-2008, 2012), he helped lead the Mountaineers to three NCAA Division I FCS national titles and eight conference championships.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
- Appalachian State totaled 16 voting points in the Amway Coaches 2018 Preseason Poll, effectively ranking the Mountaineers 39th.
- App State returns six offensive starters and five defensive starters from 2017's Sun Belt Conference and Dollar General Bowl champion team that finished with a 9-4 record.
- Appalachian has won the last two Sun Belt Conference championships and was picked to win league's East Division this season.
- Appalachian State junior cornerback Clifton Duck was tabbed the Sun Belt Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, and he was joined on the preseason All-Sun Belt first team by senior running back Jalin Moore, junior offensive lineman Victor Johnson, junior tight end Collin Reed and senior linebacker Anthony Flory. Second-team picks included senior defensive back Tae Hayes and senior defensive lineman Myquon Stout.
- Duck is on the Jim Thorpe watch list, Hayes is on the Nagurski Trophy watch list and Stout is on the Wuerffel Trophy watch list.
PENN STATE-APP STATE CONNECTION
- Penn State sophomore LB Ellis Brooks and Appalachian State redshirt freshman OL Gage Blackston played together at Benedictine College Prep in Richmond, Virginia.
- Graduate assistant Matt Fleischacker was a graduate assistant for the Mountaineers in 2016.
NITTANY LIONS FROM NORTH CAROLINA
- LB Brelin Faison-Walden - Greensboro/Grimsley
- WR DeAndre Thompkins - Huber/Swansboro
PENN STATE VS. THE TAR HEEL STATE
- Penn State is meeting Appalachian State on the gridiron for the first time and is facing and hosting a North Carolina school for the first time since 1986.
- Penn State is 19-3 all-time against three different North Carolina schools with the majority played against NC State from 1920-82. The Nittany Lions hold a 17-2 record in that series.
- Penn State lost to the University of North Carolina on the road in 1943, 19-0.
- Most recently, Penn State hosted East Carolina in back-to-back seasons, winning 17-10 in 1985 and 42-17 in 1986.
- None of the 22 previous games against North Carolina schools were season openers.
PENN STATE VS. THE SUN BELT
- Penn State is playing a Sun Belt Conference team for the fourth time in its history and for the second time in as many years.
- Last season, Penn State hosted Sun Belt member Georgia State and won 56-0.
- The two other Sun Belt teams the Nittany Lions previously played, FIU and Louisiana Tech, are now members of Conference USA. When they were members of the Sun Belt, Penn State defeated FIU, 59-0, in 2007.
- The Nittany Lions have one previous game against the current alignment of the Sun Belt, defeating Coastal Carolina, 66-10, in 2008. The Chanticleers were an FCS school at the time and joined the Sun Belt last season.
- Penn State will face a former Sun Belt team (Idaho) to open the 2019 season.
PENN STATE SEASON OPENERS
- The 2018 season marks the 132nd in Penn State history, with the Nittany Lions owning a record of 108-21-2 in opening games.
- The 2018 opener is the third of four consecutive season openers at home: Kent State (2016; W, 33-13), Akron (2017; W, 52-0), Appalachian State (2018) and Idaho (2019).
- The Lions have won 14 of their last 16 season openers and their last five consecutive.
- Penn State's longest streaks of winning their season openers are: 12 (1919-30), 11 (1893-1903), 10 (1973-82; 2002-11), 9 (1909-17) and 7 (1942-48).
- Penn State has only lost consecutive season openers
- The Nittany Lions went unbeaten from 1909-30, winning 20-of-21 season openers. They tied Wissahickon Barracks, 6-6, in 1918 and the streak was stopped by Waynesburg, a 7-0 setback, in 1931.
HOME OPENER HISTORY
- Penn State's all-time record in home openers is 117-13-1 and 49-9 in Beaver Stadium.
- Penn State has won 15 out of its last 16 home openers and its last five consecutively, defeating Akron in 2014 (21-3) and 2017 (52-0), Kent State (2016; 33-13), Buffalo (2015; 27-14), and Eastern Michigan (2013; 45-7).
- This is the first home opener featuring a North Carolina-based opponent, the first against an active member of the Sun Belt Conference and the third against the current alignment of the Sun Belt Conference (FIU, 2007; Coastal Carolina, 2008).
MILLEN ON BTN BROADCAST TEAM
- Former Penn State and NFL standout Matt Millen will be calling Saturday's meeting between the Nittany Lions and Mountaineers.
- Millen earned first-team All-America honors as a junior in 1978, helping the unbeaten and No. 1 ranked Nittany Lions earn a berth vs. Alabama in the dramatic 1979 Sugar Bowl for the national title. Millen was a team co-captain in 1979, but missed most of his senior year with an injury. He also helped Penn State earn the first of two consecutive 11-1 records in 1977, capped by a win in the Fiesta Bowl.
- The Oakland Raiders selected Millen the second round of the 1980 NFL Draft to begin a 12-year career that would see him earn four Super Bowl rings. Millen played for the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders (1980-88), San Francisco 49ers (1989-90) and Washington Redskins (1991). He was a Pro Bowl selection in 1988.
- Millen began his broadcasting career in 1992, working NFL games for CBS and then FOX. The Lehigh Valley native left broadcasting in 2001 and was team president of the Detroit Lions for the next eight years. Millen returned to broadcast booth as a college football and NFL analyst with ESPN and the NFL Network in 2009. He joined FOX Sports and BTN in 2015.
HOME IN HAPPY VALLEY
- Penn State completed its home schedule with a second consecutive perfect 7-0 record. It is the first time the Lions have posted back-to-back undefeated home seasons since 1985 (6-0) and 1986 (7-0).
- The Nittany Lions have gone 7-0 at home six times in the Big Ten era (1994, 1998, 2005, 2008, 2016, 2017).
- Penn State's 14-game home win streak is the third-longest active streak in FBS.
- Dating back to 2015, Penn State has won 20 of its last 21 home games.
TOP 10 AGAIN
- After a pair of back-to-back 11-win seasons, Penn State starts the 2018 ranked No. 9 in the Amway Coaches Poll and No. 10 in the Associated Press poll.
- This is the second-straight season the Nittany Lions have started the year in the Top 10.
- The Nittany Lions ended the 2017 season 11-2 with a 35-28 win over No. 11 Washington in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl. Penn State finished No. 8 in both polls, marking the second-straight season with a Top 10 finish for the first time since 2008 and 2009.
- Penn State was No. 9 in the final College Football Playoff rankings.
- The 11-win season was its 16th overall and seventh since joining the Big Ten.
- The Nittany Lions finished in the Top 10 of the Amway Coaches poll for the ninth time in program history.
- Penn State has been ranked in the last 11 CFP rankings, dating back to its first-ever appearance in the first poll of the 2016 season.
- Penn State's 24-straight weeks in the AP Top 25 is the eighth-longest active streak in FBS.
STREAKING
- With a win over Nebraska, Penn State extended its home winning streak to 14 games, tied for eighth-longest in the school annals. It is the longest home winning streak since a 14-game streak from 1990-92.
- The Nittany Lions have scored 20 or more points in 23 consecutive games, which is the longest streak in program history, breaking the record of 20-straight games from 1993-95. It is also the third-longest streak in Big Ten history behind the 25-game streak by Michigan State (2013-15) and 46-game streak by Ohio State (2006-14).
- QB Trace McSorley has thrown a touchdown pass in 28 consecutive games, dating to the 2016 TaxSlayer Bowl, extending his school record. He begins the 2018 season with the longest active streak in FBS.
MILESTONE WATCH
- Trace McSorley is 161 yards shy of 1,000 career rushing yards.
- McSorley is 631 yards shy of 8,000 career passing yards.
- McSorley is 72 completions shy of 600 career completions.
- McSorley is 146 attempts shy of 1,000 career pass attempts.
- McSorley is 732 yards shy of 9,000 career yards of total offense.
- McSorley is 23 touchdowns shy of 100 career touchdowns responsible for.
- Tommy Stevens is 112 yards shy of 500 career rushing yards.
- Miles Sanders is 140 yards shy of 500 career rushing yards.
- DeAndre Thompkins is 123 yards shy of 1,000 career receiving yards.
- Thompkins is 1 yard shy of 500 career punt return yards.
- Juwan Johnson is 295 yards shy of 1,000 career receiving yards.
WINNING WAYS
- Penn State finished with an 11-2 record for its seventh 11-win regular season since joining the Big Ten (12 wins in 1994; 11 wins in '96, 2005, '08, '09, '16, '17) and 16th overall.
- Penn State posted back-to-back 11-win seasons for the first time since the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
- Penn State is 20-3 in its last 23 games, the best span since going 20-3 from 1993-95.
- Penn State is 22-5 over the past two seasons, tying for the eighth-best record in FBS.
- Penn State completed its home schedule with a second consecutive perfect 7-0 record. It is the first time the Nittany Lions have back-to-back undefeated home seasons since 1985 (6-0) and 1986 (7-0).
- Penn State started the season 7-0 for the first time since 2008, when it started 9-0.
- Penn State's 4-0 start in Big Ten play marked the first such start since 2011, when Penn State began 5-0.
- Penn State and Wisconsin are the only Big Ten teams to have posted a winning season in the last 13 consecutive years.
- Penn State is one of eight teams (USC, LSU, Florida State, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Oregon, Virginia Tech) in the Autonomy Five to have a winning record each of the last 13 years.
- Overall in the FBS, Penn State is one of nine teams with a winning record in each of the last 13 years (Boise State).
SIX BOWL TEAMS HIGHLIGHT SCHEDULE
- The Nittany Lions will face six teams that participated in a bowl game during the 2017 campaign.
- Five of the six teams won their bowl games last season, including a pair of teams that won New Year's Six bowl games.
- Appalachian State shut out Toledo in the Dollar General Bowl (34-0), No. 5 Ohio State stymied No. 8 USC in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl (24-7), No. 16 Michigan State defeated No. 18 Washington State in the San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl (42-17), Iowa downed Boston College in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl (27-20) and No. 6 Wisconsin topped No. 10 Miami (Fla.) in the Capital One Orange Bowl (34-24).
- Additionally, Michigan fell to South Carolina in the Outback Bowl (26-19). It was the only loss by a B1G team in the bowl season.
FANS FLOCK TO BEAVER STADIUM
- The Penn State Student Section sold out more than 21,000 tickets in just 48 minutes, highlighted by the sold-out allotments of the senior (3), junior (4), sophomore (6) and freshmen (9) classes in less than 10 minutes each.
- The Penn State Student Section has consistently sold out for four decades, showing the unwavering passion and dedication of Penn State students.
- Penn State has sold more than 6,300 new season football tickets for the 2018 campaign.
- The Penn State football team averaged 106,707 fans per game in the 2017 season to rank third in the NCAA in attendance.
- The increase of 6,450 fans per game ranked fifth in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
- Penn State's 106,707 average attendance is the highest for the program since 2009 when the Nittany Lions had 107,008 fans come through gates on average.
- The No. 3 national ranking is the highest since the 2010 season when Penn State also finished third in FBS with an average home attendance of 104,234.
- Additionally, the increase of 6,450 fans per game is the highest since a 10,642-average jump in 2001 when the stadium capacity increased by more than 12,000 seats to 107,282.
- Recognized as one the nation's premier game day atmospheres, the passionate and loyal students, alumni and fans filling Beaver Stadium have Penn State bucking the attendance trends among FBS games nationally, which saw an average per game decline of 1,409 fans this past season.
- The 2017 season saw the largest home crowd in Penn State history as a record-breaking 110,823 fans filled the stadium in a 42-13 victory over No. 19/15 Michigan on Oct. 21.
PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN AND MORE
- Senior quarterback Trace McSorley drew several preseason accolades.
- McSorley was listed on the Preseason All-America teams from Sporting News (first team), the Associated Press (second team), CBS Sports (second team) and Athlon Sports (fourth team).
- USA Today tabbed McSorley as the No. 1 quarterback entering 2018.
- Overall, ESPN listed McSorley No. 9 on its Top 50 list, and Sports Illustrated listed him No. 15 on its Top 100 list.
- McSorley is one of 10 Big Ten student-athletes named to the preseason first or second team.
B1G PRESEASON HONORS
- Senior quarterback Trace McSorley was the only unanimous selection among the 10 players named to the Big Ten preseason honors list, as selected by the conference's media members.
- In 2017, McSorley became just the second player in Big Ten history to have 25 passing touchdowns and 10 rushing scores in the same season, joining Ohio State's J.T. Barrett (2014 and 2017). He is also one of seven players in Big Ten history to record back-to-back 3,000-yard passing seasons. Last season, McSorley earned his second consecutive berth on the All-Big Ten second team as selected by the coaches and media.
BIG TEN PRESEASON HONOREES
EAST DIVISION
Rashan Gary, Jr., DL, MICH
Brian Lewerke, Jr., QB, MSU
Nick Bosa, Jr., DE, OSU
J.K. Dobbins, So., RB, OSU
TRACE McSORLEY, SR., QB, PSU
WEST DIVISION
Noah Fant, Jr., TE, IOWA
Stanley Morgan Jr., Sr., WR, NEB
Paddy Fisher, So., LB, NU
T.J. Edwards, Sr., LB, WIS
Jonathan Taylor, So., RB, WIS
NITTANY LIONS CLAIM "HERBIES"
- ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit held the Nittany Lions in high esteem in his annual preseason "Herbie Awards" show.
- Herbstreit tabbed two Penn State quarterbacks for awards. He selected Trace McSorley as the "Most Exciting Player" in college football and fellow signal caller Tommy Stevens as the "Most Unselfish" player in college football.
- Penn State's incredible fans also got in the action, as Herbie recognized the Penn State White Out as the "Best Atmosphere" in college football, while the student section was recognized as the best in college football, as well.
- Herbstreit also picked the Lions to win the Big Ten Championship and reach the College Football Playoff.
THIRTY-NINE 2017 LETTERWINNERS RETURN
- Penn State returns 39 lettermen from last year's Fiesta Bowl championship squad – 21 on offense, 16 on defense and two on special teams.
- A total of 41 lettermen are returning for the Nittany Lions. In addition to the 39 lettermen returning from 2017, Mark Allen (2015) and CB John Reid (2015 & 2016) also have letterman status
- Of the 41 overall lettermen returning, 23 have starting experience – 11 on offense, 10 on defense and two on special teams.
- The Nittany Lions lost the services of 22 lettermen – nine on offense, 11 on defense and two specialists.
THIRTEEN STARTERS RETURN
- The Nittany Lions return 13 starters – eight on offense, three on defense and two on special teams.
- Ten additional Penn Staters have starting experience – three on offense and seven on defense.
- Among the returning starters are 2017 All-Big Ten second team selections Trace McSorley and Blake Gillikin, as well as third-team All-Big Ten honorees Ryan Bates and Shareef Miller.