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Sports

Penn State vs Kent State preview

Posted by Joe Chuba on 09/13 at 03:31 PM

Time to move on for the Nittany Lions… Steve Jones details the lessons learned for the young team and previews this week’s match-up with Kent State.

Penn State will not be the only football team to go to Tuscaloosa this season and have that happen to them.  I will say this… freshman quarterback Rob Bolden and his teammates were not in awe of the opponent or the surroundings.  Mistakes and poor tackling cost the team in this game.
Penn State drove into the red zone four times and came away with a total of 3 points.  The turnovers were in the worst possible spots.  Alabama forced three of them…two with pressure on Bolden and the other with great tackling on Chaz Powell.  You rarely win games when you have three red zone turnovers… and you won’t beat number one on their field like that. 
I will say this…teams intimidated by the opponent and the surroundings do not repeatedly drive into the red zone. 
As for the tackling…Trent Richardson ran for 144 yards… 93 of the yards were after contact.  In other words… they were in the right position but did not wrap him up.  With that said, he may be the best running back they see this season.
The bottom line is… you can’t let Alabama beat you twice… in other words… no hangover… push on.  This may be an extremely young football team but there is so much season in front of them and if they handle it right, Saturday night will be a learning experience they can draw from.
Kent State is also 1-1 and gave Boston College a heckuva fight at The Heights Saturday.  Quarterback Spencer Keith is off to a very good start.  He has hit 66 percent of his passes and is averaging 238 yards per game.  He has four touchdown passes and three interceptions.  Sam Kirkland and Tyson Goode are his top targets with 22 receptions between them.
Eugene Jarvis has come back and ran for 45 yards against BC.  The Kent State ground attack averages 70 yards per game. 
On special teams Anthony Bowman already has a 92 yard kickoff return for a touchdown.  Placekicker Freddy Cortez has not missed a kick yet and punter Matt Rinehart is averaging nearly 44 yards per punt. 
Middle Linebacker Cobrani Mixon is the leading tackler with 23 and safety Brian Lainhart is right behind him with 21 tackles. 
The bottom line is… go back to work and make sure Alabama does not beat you twice.

The series history:
Penn State leads 2-0, the last meeting was a 32-10 win in 2003.