Penn State Football: Is a 7-1 Start Such a Surprise?

Penn State is off to a 7-1 start and around the nation the college football world seems to be surprised by the start. But, should they be?

When the season got underway things looked to be pretty favorable leading up to this point in the schedule. Other than Alabama, Penn State was expected to pick up wins against Indiana State, Eastern Michigan and Indiana. Joe Paterno has never lost to Temple, so the trend against the Owls appeared to be very favorable. Purdue is a team that is still a few steps away from being a legitimate threat in the Big Ten, so a win against the Boilermakers should have come as no surprise. The biggest question mark may have been the Iowa game, but Penn State's defense flexed their muscle in that one. And this past weekend's game at Northwestern may have been considered by some to be a wild card, but certainly not an expected loss when the season started.

Penn State's defense is allowing 13.1 points per game this season, and that is after giving up 24 points to Northwestern. Running back Silas Redd has taken the lead in the Big Ten in rushing, proving that he is on his way to becoming a household name, as I suspected he would as the season progressed.

The quarterback situation has been a bit of a messy situation, this cannot be argued, so perhaps this is why Penn State's 7-1 record is deemed a surprise.

The truth is, we are about to find out a whole lot about the character and potential of this team over the next month, starting this week against Illinois. Penn State was embarrassed by Illinois last season, in a game Joe Paterno still recalls as one of the worst of his career. The Illini showed no signs of intimidation from the start of last season's homecoming game, going for it on fourth and short on their own side of the field early in the game, and roughing up the Nittany Lions to the tune of 33-13.

After this weekend's matchup Penn State heads in to the bye week. Getting there at 8-1 would put Penn State in great position in November, with three games to play at home against Nebraska and on the road at Ohio State and Wisconsin. As it stands now, Penn State is in front of the pack and everyone else is catching up to them, following Wisconsin's Hail Mary loss at Michigan State.

The team seems to be focused on the mission at hand right now, but checking the tweets following Saturday's win in Evanston shows that they are out to silence the critics and prove the doubters wrong. Even at 7-1, few people are placing faith in Penn State. Will they hop on board if Penn State picks up a win this weekend to improve to 8-1, and 5-0 in Big Ten play?

Kevin McGuire is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand or via official interview materials from Penn State University. 

McGuire is the national college football writer for Examiner.com. Follow his college football discussion on Google+ and Twitter. Become a fan of him on Facebook.