Scouting the Nittany Lions

QB
The offense is led by first year starter, junior Daryll Clark, with the spread HD (high definition) offense. He played in eight games behind Anthony Morelli last year, with 47 snaps, 31 passing yards, and 80 rushing yards. This season he has completed 63% for 1531 yards, eleven touchdowns, and two interceptions. His best game was against Wisconsin with 244 yards.

Running game
Leading the running game is third year sophomore Evan Royster with 893 yards and ten touchdowns. He had 174 yards against Michigan last week and over 100 also against Oregon State, Syracuse, Illinois, and Purdue. Royster's numbers would probably be higher if he didn't share time with red-shirt freshman Stephfon Green. Green is smaller and faster than Royster, so his game complements Royster quite well. Green has 411 yards and four touchdowns, and he had over 100 yards against Temple, and he has only topped 50 yards in four games. QB Clark also runs the ball and has 190 yards and eight touchdowns. He typically has between five and ten carries in a game, only getting 50 or more yards in two games, with a season high of 61 against Oregon State.

O-Line
This O-Line bullies opponents to allow the team to average 234 rushing yards/game. Leading the effort is AQ Shipley at center. He has started the last 34 games at center and has played in every game for the last three years.

Receivers
There is a lot of experience at reciver with Deon Butler leading the way with 486 yards and three touchdowns, Jordan Norwood with 405 yards and five touchdowns, and Derrick Williams with 282 yards and one touchdown. As a key element in the spread HD offense, the speedy RB Green has 142 yards and one touchdown. Both Butler and Norwood are Bilentikoff Award candidates. Butler averages 16.2 yards/catch, is only six catches away from becoming the all-time PSU receptions leader, second in all time PSU yardage. Norwood would have even higher states if he hadn't missed the Illinois and Purdue games due to a hamstring injury, but he has been healthy for the two recent games.

Defense
Linebacker University lost a key player when All-American LB Sean Lee tore his ACL in spring practices. The LB unit has less experience than normal, but LB Navorro Bowman leads the team in tackles with 71, including 40 solo. He had three sacks versus Temple. The D-Line is solid with defensive end Aaron Maybin second in the nation with 10 sacks and third in tha nation with 14.5 tackles for loss. He has forced three fumbles so far this season.

Special Teams
Receiver Williams leads the team in kick returns, with three kicks returned for TDs this year and averages 33.2 yards/kickoff. He has five career kick returns for TDs. Place kicker Kevin Kelly is 12 of 14 with a long of 52 and he has also hit a 50 yarder. He is 43 of 43 on PATs. He is the Big Ten all-time kick scoring leader with 378 points.

This Season
The non-conference games for Penn State were not very revealing, in particular Coastal Carolina, Syracuse (Sorry Ari), and Temple. The Oregon State game was not interesting at the time, but after USC fell to them, the win by Penn State looked pretty good, although I still don't think it is fair to compare. Oregon State has been up and down this season, and they played at Penn State and hosted USC, with USC having collapsed at Oregon State two years ago as well. Within the conference the wins over Illinois and Wisconsin stand out, although both teams have had disappointing seasons. In the Illinois game Penn State took control of the game with a returned kick for a TD early in the fourth quarter. PSU dominated Wisconsin, scoring 21 in the second quarter and 17 in the third quarter, with a final score of 41-17. It is fair to draw comparisons to the OSU victory in Madison, which came down to a fourth quarter drive by OSU. Penn State played a far superior game to OSU in Madison.