By William Bowman
The Daily Item
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UNIVERSITY PARK — Just how much of an unknown was Penn State freshman quarterback Robert Bolden heading into Saturday’s season opener?
Well, start with the fact that his name is not mentioned a single time in the 208-page Penn State media guide – not even on the roster. That forced the sports information staff at PSU to put an insert in the media package with a small blurb on three players not in the guide. The first listed was Bolden and under the personal information, it mentioned that he prefers to go by Rob, not Robert.
So in his collegiate debut Rob Bolden, the first true freshman quarterback to ever start the opener for the Nittany Lions, was pretty darn good. He hit 20-of-29 passes and had at least four dead drops. In those 20 completions, he hit five different receivers for 239 yards and two scores. He was also intercepted once on a play where Derek Moye looked like he was interfered with.
But, as expected, head coach Joe Paterno was reluctant to answer any questions about Bolden. And since Paterno does not let freshmen speak to the media, it was up to everyone else to speak for the newcomer from Orchard Lake, Mich.
“We felt like he gave us the best chance to win right now,” quarterback coach Jay Paterno said after the game. “It’s not a reflection on the rest of (the quarterbacks). I thought he did well. After the first possession, he started to come off his first reads and made good reads.”
“He showed a lot of poise there for a freshman,” said tailback Evan Royster. “He’s very calm in the huddle, and he’s not a real rah-rah guy, so sometimes it can be hard to hear him in the huddle.
“But for his first time in this atmosphere, in front of this kind of crowd, he did a good job.”
RECORD WATCH: Royster entered Saturday’s game 481 yards shy of breaking Curt Warner’s all-time Penn State rushing record of 3,398 yards. While that was obviously out of reach on Saturday, Royster did enter the game with a shot at becoming the sixth Penn State back to reach 3,000 career yards.
But after a slow start — he had just a dozen yards on five first-quarter carries — Royster came up short, finishing with 45 yards on 11 carries. He heads to Alabama next week needing 47 yards to reach the 3,000-yard plateau, 445 shy of Warner.
OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAINS: Senior Brett Brackett, elected a team captain earlier this week, had a career day in the season opener.
Brackett, who came to Penn State as a quarterback and moved to receiver and tight end, entered Saturday’s game with 17 career receptions for 189 yards. He and Bolden hooked up eight times for 98 yards and both of Bolden’s TD passes on Saturday.
“We had some problems with the fullbacks during the preseason, so we wanted to put Brett in a position to make some plays,” said Joe Paterno. “He’s got pretty good hands, and the quarterbacks have a lot of confidence in him.”
In addition to Brackett’s performance, defensive captain Ollie Ogbu had a solid game. With more of the focus on him now that Jared Odrick is in the NFL, Ogbu had six tackles, including one for loss.
BE AGGRESSIVE: While Penn State’s defense has always been blessed with aggressive, physical football players, the Nittany Lions have been as good as they have been in recent years because they follow coordinator Tom Bradley’s game plans perfectly. That means they don’t get out of position and don’t over-pursue.
But on Youngstown State’s first-quarter touchdown, the Nittany Lions played themselves right out of the play. On third-and-10, the Lions got sucked in on a middle screen and Penguins freshman QB Kurt Hess hit Dominique Barnes cutting back across the grain on a middle screen. With the entire PSU defense pursuing to the left, Barnes split two tacklers in the middle of the field and raced untouched for the 80-yard score.
It was the longest TD pass Penn State has allowed since 2003 against Michigan State, and Youngstown State’s longest TD pass since 1999 against Montana.
“Yeah, we got a little careless on that baby,” Paterno said.
LONG AGO: Saturday marked the first game in the 50th anniversary season of Beaver Stadium and the start of Paterno’s 45th season as the head coach, 60th at Penn State.
And while Bolden’s first start garnered the most attention, Chaz Powell’s 100-yard kickoff return to start the second half also sent people scrambling for the record books.
Powell took the kickoff about two steps into the end zone, burst through a seam, avoided Penguins kicker Stephen Blose and outraced the field to the paint for the score, which was upheld after a review. While the return was probably close to 102 yards, it officially went down as a 100-yard return according to NCAA statistics.
It was Penn State’s first kickoff return for a score since Derrick Williams did the trick in prime time against Illinois in 2008. It was Penn State’s first 100-yard kick return since 1975 when Rich Mauti, the father of current PSU linebacker Michael Mauti, did it at Temple.
