A New Senator of State College? Bolden Shines as Penn State Goes 1-0

By all accounts, Penn State was awful during the first quarter of the Youngstown State game, then got their act together and beat the crap out of the Penguins to finish 60 minutes with a 44-14 victory.

But regardless of the score - and the fact that Penn State are 1-0 after whipping their usual no-name opponent at Beaver Stadium on the first game of the season - everyone's actually talking about a star in new quarterback Robert Bolden.

If we're honest, we didn't really give Bolden a thought. After all, Joe Paterno didn't like starting freshmen, and Kevin Newsome and Matt McGloin looked as though they were the guys that were battling the two horse race to see who would start the season.

But Bolden took over the reigns, and 239 yards of passing and two beautifully thrown touchdowns later, and everyone's talking about the new star in State College.

Personally, we'd like to take this on a game by game basis. Next week Penn State goes down to hot and sultry Alabama, where the National Champion Crimson Tide will be in the mood to show that even without Mark Ingram (we predict) and Marcell Dareus (who apparently prefers South Beach, anyway!) that they can beat anyone in their way. We predict that Penn State - despite our dream a couple of months ago (and Michael Robinson) saying otherwise, will get totalled.

Why? The offensive line still isn't that good, by all accounts. Evan Royster - against a team that he should have put up 100 yards rushing against - only managed 40-odd on 11 carries. Urghh...

But you know what? Let's show some love to the Nittany Lions. They've 1-0, they have the best student section in college football, they put up some points, their special teams - highlighted by Chaz Powell's beautiful 100-yard run is much-improved, and they have a pretty good freshman quarterback.

On another note: can someone name the tune on this version of the Penn State Football Story, chronicling Saturday's victory?