Sure, Beaver Stadium was only filled to about half-capacity and the energy level was less than average. After all, Penn State was playing itself.

But this time, he was the head coach as the defense (blue) beat the offense (white), 77-65, in the annual Blue-White game.

After the game, O’Brien was pleased with what he saw.

“I thought it went well,” O’Brien said. “There’s a bunch of points up on the scoreboard. The one thing I wanted to do is reward the defense for good plays. Obviously they made a lot of good plays today.”

The defense nabbed five interceptions and sacked the quarterback eight times, although they weren’t allowed to bring the quarterback to the ground. Redshirt sophomore defensive end C.J. Olaniyan had three of those sacks.

Many were watching the quarterbacks, though.

All three of the top competitors for the starting job — Rob Bolden, Matt McGloin and Paul Jones — had at least one pick. Bolden had the most with three. He did complete 50 percent of his passes, however, the best of the quarterbacks with more than 10 attempts.

O’Brien said that the offense used only about 10 percent of its playbook, but he thought the game was useful from an organizational standpoint.

“It wasn’t perfect, but it was a great opportunity for the players to get a feeling of how the game is run under our leadership,” he said.

Running back Silas Redd’s carries were limited. He said last week he had some tendonitis in his right knee, but he considered it a minor injury that wouldn’t affect his performance. Sophomore Bill Belton had an impressive afternoon in his first game as a full-time tailback. He had seven carries for 50 yards to lead the team, averaging 7.1 yards per carry.

Sophomore receiver Allen Robinson was a popular long-ball target with three receptions for 87 yards. He was happy with the way the offense executed, even with the limited number of looks it used.

“We do stuff in practice, but to translate everything we’ve worked on to a game, it’s exciting,” Robinson said. “We did run things at 10 percent today, and we still looked good at that. It leaves everybody excited going into the fall.”

None more so than O’Brien, who joked with the media to lighten up after the game. He was quick to emphasize that this was a practice for the team if the fans found the game a little dry.

“I think it was exciting for the fans at times,” O’Brien said. “I’m not saying it was the most exciting game in the world, but I said it wasn’t going to be the most exciting game in the world.”

It was very different from a typical college football game as contact was limited on the quarterbacks and on special teams. There were also two Penn State coaches on the field at all times taking notes on their clipboards.

O’Brien showed no inclination he was bored, however, as Bolden said his coach couldn’t stop smiling.

“Coach O’Brien is going to be coach O’Brien,” senior defensive tackle Jordan Hill added. “He’s not going to change for anybody. That’s who he is, that’s his way and that’s how he’s going to do it.”

So now it’s back to the drawing board for O’Brien and the coaching staff. They will watch and evaluate film of the game and make decisions from there.

Even if the game was meaningless on a competitive level, it means something for O’Brien. He said the team now has a better idea of “how the game is run under our leadership.”

“He’s a very humble, competitive guy,” Robinson said. “Regardless of whether it’s 100,000 people out there or one person out there, he’s going to coach how he coaches. He’s going to coach toward perfection.”