Orange seek upset of seventh-ranked Nittany Lions

By Sports Network

The great Greg Paulus experiment heads to Happy Valley this weekend as the Syracuse Orange confront the seventh- ranked Penn State Nittany Lions in a non-conference showdown at Beaver Stadium.

The Orange gave themselves a fighting chance in their opener against Minnesota last weekend at home, but new head coach Doug Marrone had to have known it was going to be a long day after the first snap from center, in the 23-20 overtime loss, sailed over the head of Paulus, the former Duke basketball guard.

As for the Nittany Lions, they wasted little time in separating themselves from the Akron Zips as they tallied 31 points in the first half against the visitors and then cruised to the 31-7 win. The victory for legendary head coach Joe Paterno, now in his 44th season with the Lions, was his 384th as he continues to rank first in Football Bowl Subdivision history in that department.

In terms of the all-time series, the Nittany Lions are 41-23-5 versus Syracuse over the years. PSU has won two in a row in the series, with the last SU win coming in 1988 by a final of 24-10. Last year, Penn State dropped into the Carrier Dome and delivered a 55-13 thrashing to the ailing Orange, recording the largest margin of victory between the teams in the process. This marks the first Syracuse visit to Beaver Stadium since 1990.

"We got into the play a little bit late and I rushed it a little bit," Paulus said after the game when referring to the snap that sailed over his head on the first offensive play of the game. "The communication on my part wasn't very good. I will take the blame for that. After that, we settled down so maybe that was a blessing."

Paulus finished the outing, his first as a quarterback since guiding Christian Brothers Academy, hitting 19-of-31 passes for 167 yards and a touchdown, but he also tossed an interception in the overtime period which allowed Minnesota to ease into the win column knowing that the pressure was off. Receiver Mike Williams collected seven receptions for 94 yards and a score as well.

For a team that ranked 55th in the nation last year in rushing with 148.7 ypg on the ground, the Orange followed Delone Carter and his 88 yards on 23 carries. The feeling in the Carrier Dome was something that hadn't been there in several years and Carter was excited to be a part of it.

"I have never felt the Dome like that since I have been here. I just hope the support stays with us and we can show and give the crowd what they deserve."

As long as the Orange offense doesn't fall flat on its face as it did last season when it averaged just 270.2 ypg in total offense, there should be more positive outcomes on the horizon.

Aside from the untimely pick in OT, Paulus should easily be able to play above the performance of 2008 Syracuse QBs who had a pass efficiency rating of just 94.95, ranking them 113th in the nation.

The defense for the Orange was exposed right away in the first frame as Duane Bennett made his way into the end zone on a 16-yard run to put the visitors on top. It also didn't help that the Gophers logged a second touchdown barely three minutes into the contest. However, from then on the defense held strong and allowed just a pair of 26-yard field goals in the third and fourth quarters before bowing in overtime.

Mike Holmes was responsible for a team-best eight tackles and an interception, while Ryan Gillum posted six stops and two tackles for loss.

"I went out there did the best I could to help this team win, we had a great crowd," Gillum said after the game. "They executed and that's what happened. Minnesota did a good job at executing."

Last season the Orange had several problems trying to slow down the Nittany Lions, coming up with just a single sack and four TFLs, while allowing a hefty 216 yards rushing and another 344 yards through the air. The 82 offensive plays and 560 yards of offense by PSU were the most of any Syracuse opponent in '08.

"The positives are that we caught the ball really well and pass protected really well," Daryll Clark said of the PSU performance against Akron. "We had a couple misses run blocking, myself making a couple bad reads and having a pick early in the game on a very stupid throw. You tally all that up and you see that in film and make the corrections next week."

Clark was being somewhat modest given that he was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week on Sunday after he set a new school record with 254 yards passing in the first half alone. Clark finished the outing 29-of-40 for a career-high 353 yards and three touchdowns. Running back Evan Royster stepped up with 61 yards and a score on 14 carries as well.

Last season the offense again leaned on the running game a lot, the Lions averaging 205.9 ypg to rank second in the conference and 17th in the nation, but this time around Clark has to be excited about the prospects of opening up the offense more.

A year ago Clark threw for 2,592 yards and 19 touchdowns, against just six interceptions, but what makes him so dangerous is that, over the course of 28 career games, he also has 15 rushing touchdowns.

From a defensive standpoint, Penn State held the visitors without a single first down in the opening half, permitting the Zips just eight for the game overall. Akron posted only 28 yards rushing on 30 attempts and 158 yards through the air. Nathan Stupar logged a game-high 10 tackles and had one of the team's four sacks. Ollis Ogbu made 2.5 of his four total stops behind the line of scrimmage for the Nittany Lions.

"We were feeling good, we were running making tackles," Stupar said of the unit's feelings at the break. "The defensive line-Jared Odrick-was just dominating the line. We were just playing well. You're going to get mistakes, but we rallied through that and kept playing."

Four times last season the PSU defense held an opponent to single-digit scoring and that is what earned the team the label of third-best scoring defense in the Big Ten, giving up just 14.4 ppg. Even though the Lions were third in their own conference, they were in fact eighth in the nation overall. In terms of total defense, Penn State was tops in the league and eighth in the country with a mere 280.1 ypg allowed. Against Syracuse a year ago, the Nittany Lions held to a mere 159 yards, all while making just a single sack and two TFLs.