Penn State Nittany Lions 2010 NCAAF Preview, Schedule, Odds, and Predictions: Well head football coach Joe Paterno finally outlasted FSU’s Bobby Bowden and will be the winningest coach in FBS College football history for a long time. The question is can he keep up the 10 win average he’s had over the past five resurgent seasons? Joe Paterno’s health was the story of the summer at Penn State and could be one of the big stories in college football this season. “What did Mark Twain say?” An 83 year old Paterno told reporters. “‘Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated’ or something? “I didn’t miss any time,” Paterno said. “The problem I had was not having control over some things, and I had to be careful I didn’t get into a situation where I would embarrass myself. I couldn’t make some public appearances. I didn’t want to be standing up here and then have to leave.” Vegas odds makers have the Penn State Nittany Lions +2100 odds to win the 2011 BCS National Championship.
Inexperience is the keyword at quarterback for the Nittany Lions offensive leader with four players that have combined to throw only 13 passes looking to earn time in preseason practices. Two of the four are just true freshmen. Kevin Newsome played in 10 games as Daryll Clark’s backup last year and was a track star in high school, so he has speed and quickness to outrun defenses. At 6’2″, 220 pounds, he appears to be more mobile than Clark, who was mostly a drop-back quarterback. To lighten the load for the Qb is running back Evan Royster who needs 481 yards in his senior season to pass Curt Warner and become Penn State’s career leading rusher with 3,399 yards. The odds makers at Diamond have the Penn State Nittany Lions +650 to win the Big Ten Conference.
Penn State will have a tough time replacing Jared Odrick, last season’s Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. The Lions do have a vet returning at nosetackle in Ollie Ogbu and will hope that junior Devon Still plays well at the other inside line position. Paterno stated in spring drills that he wasn’t too concerned with watching the team’s linebacker unit in practice because, he said, “I think we’re in pretty good shape there.” After all this is linebacker U. The one spot the Lions are deep is in the secondary. The odds makers at Diamond have the Penn State Nittany Lions middle number listed at over/under 8 1/2 wins for the 2010 NCAAF regular season.
“As long as I enjoy it, I’ll continue to coach. Right now I have no plans whatsoever as far as whether I’m going to go another year, two years, five years or what have you.” — Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, who will enter his 45th season this fall. As long as he’s there, the Lions have another chance for great success, but with week 2 at Alabama an early season loss could hurt those chances. I predict a 10-2 regular season and a nice bowl, but no BCS National Championship.
2010 Penn State Nittany Lions Football Schedule
Sat, Sept 4 vs Youngstown State 12:00 PM ET
Sat, Sept 11 @ #1 Alabama 7:00 PM ET
Sat, Sept 18 vs Kent State 12:00 PM ET
Sat, Sept 25 vs Temple TBD
Sat, Oct 2 @ #9 Iowa 8:05 PM ET
Sat, Oct 9 vs Illinois 12:00 PM ET
Sat, Oct 23 @ Minnesota TBD
Sat, Oct 30 vs Michigan 8:00 PM ET
Sat, Nov 6 vs Northwestern TBD
Sat, Nov 13 @ #2 Ohio State TBD
Sat, Nov 20 vs Indiana* TBD
Sat, Nov 27 vs Michigan State TBD