PSU Nittany Lions

Five lessons from the week that was in Big Ten football.

1. The Ineligibles overachieved under great coaches: We won't see Ohio State or Penn State until next fall, but both teams went out on positive notes to end seasons in which they overachieved. Aside from die-hard Buckeyes believers, who expected Ohio State to go 12-0 and record just the sixth unbeaten, untied season in team history? Even fewer people expected Penn State to go 8-4 after a tumultuous offseason that featured the exodus of running back Silas Redd and other key players. And when the Lions started 0-2, most folks wrote them off. But Bill O'Brien and his team never lost faith and surged through most of the Big Ten season. It was fitting that kicker Sam Ficken, whose struggles at Virginia led to Penn State's loss, had the game-winning field goal Saturday as the Lions beat Wisconsin in overtime. O'Brien exceeded all expectations in his first season as a head coach, recording the most wins ever by a first-year Lions boss. Will he be Big Ten Coach of the Year? The only other worthy candidate is Urban Meyer, who took a seven-loss Buckeyes team with significant depth issues and transformed it into one of the nation's best.

2. Michigan isn't really back: Sure, the Wolverines have dug themselves out from the Rich Rodriguez-created crater, and they had a charmed season end in a Sugar Bowl title last season. But in terms of beating really good teams, the ones that signify Michigan once again has a place among the nation's elite, Brady Hoke's crew is still looking for a breakthrough. Michigan won a respectable eight games, but its four losses in the regular season -- Alabama, Notre Dame, Nebraska and Ohio State -- came against the best four teams it played. The Wolverines were extremely fortunate to beat a good Northwestern team and a mediocre Michigan State squad on their home field. While it was nice to end the losing streak against Ohio State last season, Michigan beat the worst Buckeyes team we've seen in more than a decade. The offense still seems hamstrung in some ways by the Denard Robinson era, though the emergence of Devin Gardner is promising for the future. There are signs Michigan is close, and the renaissance on defense under Hoke and Greg Mattison can't be denied. But it'll take a bit longer for Michigan to truly claim it is back, although a Jan. 1 bowl victory against an SEC foe would help.

3. Rex Burkhead still can make an impact: This hasn't been the season the Nebraska senior running back envisioned, but he can still play a major role in how it turns out for Big Red. Burkhead returned to the field in the second half Friday against Iowa after Nebraska's offense stumbled and fell behind 7-3. In his first appearance since Oct. 20, Burkhead racked up 69 yards and Nebraska's only touchdown on 16 carries. He might not be 100 percent, but he showed the skills that make him beloved in the Cornhusker State, particularly on a grinding 9-yard run to pick up a first down after Nebraska was pinned inside its own 1-yard line early in the fourth quarter. Nebraska had hoped to get through the Iowa game without Burkhead, but when the team needed him, he delivered. He likely will play a bigger role this week against Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game. Burkhead had 86 rush yards against the Badgers in the Big Ten opener, the only full game he has played this season. He could be the boost Nebraska needs to win its first league title since 1999 and possibly win the Rose Bowl, too.

4. Danny Hope's players didn't quit on him: Many Purdue fans have seen enough of fourth-year coach Danny Hope, but Hope has plenty of allies in his locker room. The Boilers easily could have quit after dropping their first five Big Ten games -- four blowouts (three at home) plus the heartbreaker at Ohio State. Some teams projected to do much more would have gone in the tank. But Purdue rallied behind Hope and gutsy quarterback Robert Marve, who played despite a torn anterior cruciate ligament, and won its final three games to secure a bowl berth. The product rarely looked pretty, and even Saturday's Bucket game against Indiana featured some bang-your-head-against-the-wall moments. But Purdue's players never stopped fighting and will head somewhere warm for the holidays. Whether Hope joins them remains to be seen, but he deserves some credit for keeping the team afloat during such a difficult stretch.

5. Bowl practices will be crucial for Big Ten teams: We don't know the bowl matchups yet, but they will be daunting for the Big Ten, which will be without two of its best teams (Ohio State and Penn State) in the postseason. For the league to avoid another bad bowl performance, several teams must take significant steps during bowl practices. Michigan State has the defense and the running back (Le'Veon Bell) to win its bowl game, but it needs quarterback Andrew Maxwell and a young receiving corps to develop. Coach Mark Dantonio hinted this week that his offense needed an update to keep up with the times. Maybe that can start next month in earnest. Minnesota has to get healthy and re-establish its offensive identity behind true freshman quarterback Philip Nelson, who will benefit from the 15 practices. Wisconsin also will have a chance to iron out its offensive issues, while a young Northwestern team that made major strides this fall must make another before facing what should be a heavily favored SEC foe in Florida. Michigan also gets some extra time to figure out its vision on offense with Gardner and Robinson.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Michael Mauti bowed his head slightly and choked back tears before Saturday's game. Jordan Hill embraced a line of fans once he stepped off the blue bus.

Seniors lingered on the field and tugged one last time on the victory bell -- shortly after Bill O'Brien whispered a Hail Mary and the team watched Kyle French push a 44-yard field goal wide left in a 24-21 overtime win. Before, during and after the game, the emotions of the last 13 months -- a scandal, a coach's death, the sanctions -- were painted on the faces of Penn State's players and worn on their helmets.

This game embodied the Nittany Lions' tumultuous season. Few expected them to come back, but they quickly showed -- after the first two scores -- they wouldn't surrender. They pressed, they pushed and they out-fought Wisconsin.

"I think this says that you can take bowl games and you can take external things from people," defensive coordinator Ted Roof said. "But you can't take a warrior's heart. And our kids got warriors' hearts."

An oversized, almost goofy grin was glued to John Urschel's face, but he didn't mind -- even when it was pointed out. Urschel shook his head, recalling how everyone counted Penn State out before the season.

Some columnists opined how 80 fewer scholarships, no postseason and lax transfer rules would bury Penn State with a fate worse than SMU's death penalty. This was cruel and unusual punishment, some said. Silas Redd transferred; Justin Brown followed. And with 10 new offensive starters, it seemed as if Penn State's hopes might have gone with them.

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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Offensive guard John Urschel rubbed his chin and just smiled at the questions Saturday afternoon.

How could Penn State lose 10 offensive starters in one offseason and somehow average 10 points more every game? How could Penn State set several offensive records Saturday with so many new starters?

Urschel, a man who often responds to news conference questions with, "Let me ponder that for a moment," didn't hesitate. He just smiled and said two words after the Nittany Lions toppled Indiana 45-22.

"Bill O'Brien."

He didn't need to say anymore. He didn't elaborate, didn't shrug. There was no more to add. O'Brien's been the coach this Penn State team has needed -- not just to bring the team together after the Jerry Sandusky scandal or past the sanctions. But to update an inefficient offense that seemed about as cutting-edge as a disco ball.

Penn State's just always been an old, throwback run-first team. Since the very beginning of its 126-year history.

Seven years before the topic of a forward pass was even broached -- before Penn State was known as the Nittany Lions -- Penn State ran. They ran when football first appeared live on fuzzy televisions. And they even ran the last time they had a first-round NFL quarterback in Kerry Collins.

They ran and ran until now. Until the Bill O'Brien era and the era of weekly changes.

O'Brien's taken Allen Robinson, an offensive afterthought who finished with three catches last season, into the record books with the most catches by a PSU player in a single season. He's taken last year's third-string fullback, Zach Zwinak, and helped him become a player who could finish the season with more rushing yards than USC transfer Silas Redd.

And he's coached up Matt McGloin, who spent more time fuming on the sideline last season than behind center. McGloin also sent the record books back to the printing press by passing for more yards in a season (3,066) and the most career touchdowns (45) than any other Penn State quarterback.

"[O’Brien] and Coach [Charlie] Fisher have done a great job of teaching me how to play quarterback the correct way," McGloin said. "They've been doing such a good job of it. They have so much experience that it can't help but rub off on you."

Read between the lines there. McGloin never ever said the same of Jay Paterno, whose legacy of PSU quarterbacks seems to be that a majority regressed (See: Bolden, Robert and Morelli, Anthony). Jay Paterno knew McGloin for four seasons before he was dismissed from his coaching post -- but he never saw enough of the signal-caller to name him the indisputable starter.

O'Brien needed one spring.

The dimple-chinned coach smiled Saturday when he recalled the first time he knew McGloin was something special. He asked McGloin to draw up a play -- the read, the coverage, the protections. Everything.

McGloin strolled up to the white board and, O'Brien said, completed everything in about three seconds.

"It was Gun Trips Right 64 Special H-Sneak, I'll never forget that," O'Brien said. "And it was bang -- and I just knew at that point we had a kid who was working out, who wanted to be the starting quarterback."

The outspoken McGloin thought Robinson didn't get a fair shake last season. And it's clear -- by the benching of Bill Belton -- that O'Brien doesn't mind re-evaluating talent on a weekly basis. He's taken last year's scraps and turned them into star performers, coveted by every Big Ten team.

McGloin passed for 395 yards against Indiana, and Robinson caught 10 passes for 197 yards. With the old staff, those two could still be riding the bench right now. At best, those stats might be spread over two or three games. But O'Brien has taken a group of unwanteds -- a group with a strong bond fighting to rebuild the university's reputation -- and turned them into something drawing praise and respect from every corner of the country.

Urschel wasn't asked what Penn State's recipe to future success might be. But his past answer would fit just fine right here.

"Bill O'Brien."

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Zach Zwinak speaks in a hushed voice, as if he's talking to schoolchildren. He crosses his arms, uncrosses his arms, and fidgets as though his cowboy boots are a size too small.

News conferences aren't the domain for this soft-spoken redshirt sophomore. He seems shy and hesitant in front of a dozen people. But put him in shoulder pads and hand him a helmet and he seems like the second coming of Tony Hunt as he steps on the gridiron -- even if he does perform for crowds larger than his hometown.

"When you get on the field, the fans are there, but I tend to tune them out. I'm always nervous. Coming into a game, I'm a nervous kind of guy," said Zwinak, who hails from Frederick, Md. (pop: 66,129). "But once the game starts, I don't notice anything anymore. It's just playing football like you have your whole life."

Zwinak's parents nudged him into football by the age of 8, after the shy redhead sprinted around the soccer field and continually knocked over his opponents. Zach didn't mean to; he just tended to focus on the ball and often bee-lined toward it -- and into whomever stood between it and him.

Substitute that soccer ball for the end zone, and Zwinak's mentality hasn't changed much. He'll run through and over his opponents, straight-arm or juke, to get nearer to that first-down marker. In his last 96 carries, he hasn't once been tackled behind the line of scrimmage. Zwinak's opponents might stand a better chance slowing a locomotive.

"Oh, his success doesn't surprise me," said Rich Conner, his high school coach. "He changed the way we did things. Our two-minute offense was the fullback trap. Give it to Zach, and he would go 60 yards. 'Code Red.' It was a great play."

Zwinak, a bruising 232-pound tailback, didn't enter this season as the starter. Or as the backup. Or the backup's backup. Or as the ... well, you get the idea. When Silas Redd transferred to USC and Penn State coach Bill O'Brien watched four other tailbacks crumple to the turf with injuries, Zwinak's number was finally called. In the second half against Temple, there was no one else left.

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Penn State tailback Curtis Dukes will finish out this season, but he's considering leaving afterward because of limited playing time, his high school coach told ESPN.

"We talked just 10 minutes ago, and he's still weighing his options," Indian River (N.Y.) coach Cory Marsell said. "There's a chance he can get his degree soon and then figure out what options he has."

Those options include staying with Penn State, transferring to another college or declaring for the NFL draft. Marsell believed the redshirt junior's size -- 6-foot-1, 245 pounds -- could translate well to the next level.

Dukes, who has just 69 career carries, first told the Watertown (N.Y.) Daily Times he was unhappy with his playing time.

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Matt McGloin chuckled when asked whether this offense was an improvement over last year.

He didn't point out his conference-leading nine touchdown passes or argue how the Nittany Lions are spending more time in opponent territory than in the locker room. No, he just stifled a laugh.

"What kind of question is that, man? You can't compare the two," he said in a light-hearted prodding Wednesday. "It's different philosophies. All I'm saying is that I'm happy to be in the offense this year."

Despite four new starters on the offensive line, starting four different tailbacks in four weeks and watching three wideouts leave since the spring, this offense has transformed from a run-up-the-middle slumber party to one where adjectives such as "exciting" and "high-powered" are no longer used ironically.

Former quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno struggled building offensive foundations with four- and-five star talent (Kevin Newsome, Paul Jones, Rob Bolden). But Bill O'Brien and Charlie Fisher have molded an above-average Big Ten quarterback out of a former walk-on.

Penn State's leading receiver, Allen Robinson, was a third-string afterthought last season. Zach Zwinak was the third-string fullback. Against Temple, the two led the team in rushing and receiving.

O'Brien has taken a patchwork offense and stitched it into something that's attracted the top high school offensive talent in the country.

"I'm looking forward to working with that system," said ESPN's No. 1-rated passer, Christian Hackenberg (Fork Union, Va./Fork Union).

McGloin boasts one more yard passing right now than USC's Matt Barkley. No one is saying McGloin's the better signal-caller, but no one thought he'd be ahead of Barkley at this point either. Penn State's offense still has a long way to go before it can call itself one of the best in the Big Ten, but the fact it somehow seems improved is a feat in itself.

The Lions averaged less than 20 points a game last season with stars like Silas Redd, Justin Brown and Derek Moye. Through four games -- against three teams that played in bowls last season -- Penn State's put up an average of 22 points on the scoreboard and left a lot more points on the field.

Against Temple, Penn State's first eight drives entered opponent territory. Against Virginia, the Lions drove close enough to attempt five field goals.

They've been close to scoring, breaking out of mediocrity, and they're getting closer every game.

So, near the end of McGloin's teleconference call Wednesday afternoon, the quarterback wasn't in the mood to discuss whether this offense was better. He admitted the passing game struggled in the past and labeled it "successful" this season ... but he wasn't answering that question.

"Come on, dude, asking stuff like that," he said with a laugh. "All right, we're done here."

Graham Zug will lie back and peruse the box scores every Saturday. He'll glance past the passing, sometimes the defensive stats. Sometimes, he won't even look at the other team.

The former Penn State wideout isn't interested in the Heisman race or even the national title picture. He just wants to know how Penn State's transfers played.

"I still watch them," Zug said.

Zug isn't alone. Several lettermen said a majority of recent players support the transfers, although they believed the mood is more evenly split among other alumni.

Derek Moye, last year's top wideout, said he harbors no resentment toward the nine transfers. He wishes they would have remained in Happy Valley, but their departures have led to an unexpected bonus on Saturdays.

"I watch a majority of the guys' games, and I think it's kind of cool to have a rooting interest for teams other than Penn State," Moye said.

Moye and Zug have watched both games of USC transfer Silas Redd, not others, because the Trojans appear on TV so often. Whenever Moye's clicking through the channels, finding games with the transfers becomes a priority -- as long as it remains competitive.

He admitted to clicking away from the USC-Hawaii game after awhile. But, then again, USC led 35-0 at halftime.

"I don't really know if I could say if they made the right or wrong decision," Moye said, referring to Redd and Oklahoma's Justin Brown. "But both of their teams are 2-0 and Penn State's 0-2. It's really hard to look at how they're both doing and say they made a wrong decision."

Feelings appeared to be mixed among the current team. Defensive end Pete Massaro shook his head Tuesday and said he doesn't follow them. Deion Barnes said he'll chat with Redd occasionally -- but that's the extent of his involvement.

Allen Robinson and Adrian Amos both said they continue to root for their former teammates.

"At the end of the day," Robinson said, "we're still brothers."

Adam Taliaferro, a member of the 2000 recruiting class, agreed with Robinson's sentiment. He hasn't missed Redd's first two games, and he still talks with Brown.

Taliaferro and a few former players packed into a downtown sports bar after the Penn State season-opener and cheered for Redd against the Rainbow Warriors. Taliaferro still hasn't watched Brown, but the Sooners haven't yet appeared on national TV.

"I told Justin he's still a Penn State guy, he's just in a different uniform for a while," Taliaferro said. "When you're part of the family, it's hard to turn your back on anyone like that."

Most players said they understood the transfers, but Brown's and Redd's still came as a shock. Redd was a returning tailback who could have seen 25 touches a game, while Brown would have been the No. 1 option in a pro-style offense during his final semester. But, the current and former lettermen said, the transfers did what they thought was best for them.

"I don't have any hard feelings for them," Zug added. "But, if it was me, I would've stayed at Penn State because I dedicated my life to Penn State. But you can't get mad at other people -- they had great opportunities."

Tailback Derek Day will start over an injured Bill Belton against Virginia, Bill O'Brien said Thursday night on his weekly radio show.

O'Brien said Belton remained "day-to-day," but Day will now get the nod even if the sophomore's ankle improves. Belton was sidelined in the third quarter against Ohio, and an ice pack was wrapped around that left ankle.

Belton did not practice Wednesday when the media arrived during an open 30-minute session, and Day took reps with the first team.

Day, a fifth-year senior, has just 15 career carries and was listed as the No. 3 tailback in the spring. With Silas Redd's departure and Belton's injury, he now climbs to No. 1.

"He always gives his best effort and I'm real excited to watch him play and for him to get that opportunity," linebacker Michael Mauti said earlier this week. "I know he's going to make the most of it."

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Bill O'Brien didn't have to pause and search for an answer when asked about this week's offensive game plan. To O'Brien, the solution to Saturday's maladies seemed obvious.

"We've got to be more balanced," the first-year head coach said. "That starts with me."

He didn't walk through the south tunnel Saturday hoping to pass nearly seven out of 10 plays. And, he said, he's not looking to do that against Virginia. He wants to return to the football basics; he wants to run more.

But there's a hitch in this week's scheme: Trainers have held Bill Belton out of practice, and O'Brien might be forced to start a fifth-year senior, Derek Day, who's carried the ball 15 times in his career.

USC transfer Silas Redd reached that mark eight times last season.

"For any QB to be successful, you have to run the football," Matt McGloin admitted.

O'Brien called 48 passes to just 22 runs last week. Even by New England Patriots standards, that's high. Tom Brady surpassed the 48-attempt plateau just once last season in a 24-20 loss to the New York Giants.

New England passed about 58 percent of the time last season; Penn State passed in 68.5 percent of its plays last week. To add some perspective, even pass-happy Houston would've called about five more running plays than PSU, based on last year's numbers.

So, O'Brien appeared sincere this week when he said he'd better emphasize his stable of inexperienced running backs. He praised his offensive line and remarked about his confidence in Day and those other tailbacks. But, Virginia coach Mike London didn't appear to expect balance.

"I think they won't depart too far from what they showed last week, showing what their identity is," London said Thursday.

Short, quick pass plays defined the Nittany Lions' offense when it hustled the ball downfield in the first half. Then again, it also defined an offense that sputtered in the second half.

"We felt in the first half we were kind of showing the identity we wanted to have," offensive tackle Mike Farrell said, "but in the second half we faded a little bit. So it's been a priority this week for us to improve and play a full game."

Tight end Kyle Carter said his team hoped to add another dimension to its attack by focusing more on deep throws. McGloin didn't complete a pass longer than 25 yards, and most attempts weren't thrown farther than 15.

At practice Wednesday, quarterbacks coach Charlie Fisher stood close to McGloin while he launched a handful of 40-yard tosses. Allen Robinson caught a perfect ball in stride, while a slower Matt Zanellato found himself two steps behind another.

McGloin wouldn't say what he was expecting for Charlottesville. He refused to say whether, when he looks back on this season, Penn State might have more passes than rushes.

"Right now, it's simple," McGloin said. "We're going to do what we have to do to win. If that means we throw it 10 times, we'll throw it 10 times. If we have to run it 100 times, we'll run it 100."