If the preseason rankings are any indication, Penn State will play one of the nation’s toughest road schedules.
With Friday’s release of USA Today’s Top-25 coaches’ poll, the Nittany Lions head into the 2010 season ranked No. 14. Though it’s a drop in the poll from last season’s No. 8 finish, the Lions will have plenty of opportunities to prove whether or not they are deserving of a higher ranking.
The Lions face three of the nation’s top-10 teams, and in doing so become the first team to play road games featuring three Bowl Championship Series winning teams from the previous season.
“You never know how schedules are,” Penn State historian Lou Prato said. “Right now it looks like Penn State’s away game schedule is pretty tough, with Iowa who seems to have our number, defending national champions and preseason No. 1 Alabama and Ohio State, the nation’s No. 2 team and the Big Ten favorite.”
Add a new starting quarterback into the mix, and the Lions will surely be tested during their road schedule.
The new quarterback will have to deal with more than his share of crowd noise early on as the Lions head to Alabama — which just finished stadium expansion pushing seating capacity to more than 100,000 — on Week 2.
As expected, the Crimson Tide claimed the No. 1 spot in the poll. With 55 first-place votes and returning Heisman Trophy winner, running back Mark Ingram, the Tide took the top spot and left No. 2 Ohio State with just four first-place votes.
Iowa and Wisconsin were the other Big Ten teams that helped round out the top-15, ranked No. 10 and No. 12, respectively.
Just because the Lions are set to face three top-10 preseason teams, Prato said it’s too early to gauge whether or not the opponents will live up to their preseason rankings.
“What could start off as a tough schedule could turn out to be a real different schedule because at the end, the teams could be disappointing,” Prato said.
Using the 2002 Penn State-Nebraska game as an example, the then-No. 25 Lions beat the then-No. 7 Huskers 40-7. But, the game’s significance lessened once the Huskers lost six more times and finished the season 7-7.
The same could be said in 2007 with the Lions’ 31-10 win against Notre Dame. After finishing the 2006 season with a loss to LSU in the Sugar Bowl, the Irish opened the season with five consecutive losses en route to a 3-9 season.
A major reason for Notre Dame’s struggles in 2007 is something the Lions hope to quickly conquer this season — an inexperienced quarterback.
Freshman Jimmy Clausen was named Notre Dame’s starting quarterback the second week of the season, just before playing at Penn State.
Prato recalled several years where Penn State went through similar player transitions, and though the Lions looked like a tough preseason opponent, once the season started, “the lion became a kitten.”
The uncertainty at quarterback and a reshuffled offensive line, coupled with a top-notch road schedule, are what make this season tougher to predict, Prato said.
“Most people think that the problem with the schedule is that we don’t have the team capable of matching that,” Prato said. “The team has too many questions and holes in it. On paper it seems like a lot of good players, but we lost a lot of people. I think that’s the question with the schedule.”