Throughout the entire offseason, the Penn State media contingent lobbed football players questions about this Saturday’s game against Alabama.

Throughout the entire offseason, those players’ responses usually revolved around not looking past their season opener against Youngstown State.

But with the Nittany Lions having easily dispatched the Penguins on Saturday, 44-14, postgame interviews were finally free of the obligatory “one game at a time” response.

“Now it’s time,” said redshirt sophomore linebacker Michael Mauti, who made his first appearance since 2008 after missing last season with a torn ACL. “We’ve been waiting for this time to where we could just strictly focus on them. We didn’t want to look past Youngstown. They’re a good team. Now we can 100 percent focus on Alabama.”

Given the Lions early struggles Saturday, Evan Royster said he was worried what might happen if the Lions start the game sluggish for a second week in a row.

“We need to come out stronger,” Royster said. “We can’t have the slow start, get behind and get down on ourselves. We really need to come out strong and put some points on the board early so we don’t catch ourselves behind.”

The No. 1 Crimson Tide are the defending national champions, and even without Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram in the lineup because of a knee injury, the offense managed to put up 48 points against San Jose State.

Redshirt junior wide receiver Chaz Powell said he isn’t intimidated by the Tide’s reputation, and neither should the rest of the Lions.

“They put their pads on the same way we put our pads on,” Powell said. “They have a ring, but that’s from last year. This is a new year. Anything can happen. We just gotta practice hard and come ready to play.”

Day to remember:

Offense: Senior receiver Brett Brackett, who was named offensive captain last week, set career highs in receptions with eight and yards with 98. In fact, in one game this year he has eclipsed his three catches for 13 yards from all of last season. After struggling being split wide last year, Brackett thrived in the same slot role he played during his sophomore campaign.

Defense: Brackett’s fellow captain, Ollie Ogbu, was the only down lineman consistently breaking through into the Penguins backfield. He recorded six tackles (one for a loss) and was a big reason linebacker Chris Colasanti led the team with 13 stops. Ogbu commanded double teams all afternoon, freeing Colasanti to make plays.

Day to forget

Offense: It could be anyone on the offensive line, but DeOn’tae Pannell stands out because he was the biggest question mark heading into the game. Pannell’s struggles led to a rotation between him and backup Johnnie Troutman. None of the linemen were able to free any holes for running back Evan Royster.

Defense: The first team really only allowed one bad play, so we’ll go with Nate Stupar here. He played all right, recording three tackles and the Lions’ only sack, but he fell while overpursuing on a first quarter screen pass, leading to Dominique Barnes’ 80-yard touchdown.

Did you notice?

No more Blue Royster Cult in the student section, but RoBo’s Cops were on display. Looks like they could occupy that corner for a few more years … Feature twirler Matt Freeman took PJ Maierhofer’s spot for the first time.

Extra point

At Joe Paterno’s press conference a week ago, he said running back Stephfon Green was hindered by a neck injury.

This was news to Green.

“My mom called me and told me why didn’t I tell her I had a neck injury,” Green said. ” ‘What are you talking about Mom? I didn’t even know I had a neck injury. This is news to me.’ So, no. It was a concussion.”

Green said he is fine and wasn’t hindered during the game, where he averaged 5.3 yards on his six carries for 32 yards.

He said he was quiet about the concussion for fear of an overreaction, but instead he began hearing rumors about a neck injury.

When asked about it Green laughed and quelled the discussion.

“That is a false statement,” he said. “I did not have a neck injury. I had a concussion. It was a concussion. I was out maybe two or three practices. I’m back. I played today, and I’m perfectly fine. I’m 100 percent. Nothing is wrong with me.”