It was anticipated that Saturday's game would be blown wide open early, with Tony Hunt running through the Penguins of Youngstown State and Anthony Morelli throwing over them.
Anxious and impatient fans were let down, though, as the Nittany Lions took a full quarter to get things rolling on offense before putting up a 20-spot in the second.
"This was kind of a lose-lose for us," linebacker Tim Shaw said. "[The media] would criticize us if we didn't kill [Youngstown State], and criticize us if we did."
In the second quarter, just before Kevin Kelly's 49-yard field goal put Penn State on the board, fans even began to boo when Morelli's third down pass was swatted at the line of scrimmage.
"After a couple passes, a couple mistakes here and there, we had to take care of the little things that are starting to kill us," center A.Q. Shipley said. "It's a frustrating momentum wash when you take the ball 40 yards and don't get any points out of it. We just need to take care of the little things."
The Lions converted on their chances and displayed their superiority in the second and third quarters, but the offense's lackluster first period caused head coach Joe Paterno to characterize his team's play as "sloppy".
On Penn State's first three drives, the Lions moved the ball an average of 45 yards. Penn State, however, had nothing to show for it after penalties, poor decisions and a missed field goal left its early possessions stalled at the Youngstown State 40, 37 and 13 yardlines.
Tailback Tony Hunt ran for 63 yards and Morelli passed for 57, but still the scoreboard read "0" when the first quarter came to a close.
"There was a little frustration and they played us tough and were really aggressive," left tackle Levi Brown said. "Their defensive coordinator was really getting after us early and it took a while for us to pick it up."
Kelly's field goal made it 3-0, but the Lions didn't find the endzone until A.J. Wallace's 76-yard dash with 6:33 to play in the half gave Penn State a 10-0 lead.
From there, Penn State converted on the good field position provided by safety Anthony Scirotto's interception. Hunt's 11-yard touchdown run capped off a 1:16 second drive.
"We just had to get some things going our way," backup tailback Rodney Kinlaw said. "When it started rolling, we just kept it rolling."
Hunt, who started strong, finished the day with 143 yards and a touchdown, averaging nearly eight yards per carry. Kinlaw, who saw most of his action in the fourth quarter, finished with 86 yards on six rushes. The Lions finished with five different ball carriers rushing for gains of 15 yards or greater.
As the No. 24 Lions prepare for top-ranked Ohio State on Saturday, they realize they won't have the Penguins to push around next week if they get off to a sloppy start.
"We didn't expect it, but we got off to a slow start and it just so happened that our opponent wasn't a lot better than us today," Morelli said. "That allowed us to come out and get a little fire and move the ball later on in the game."
Game Notes
Starting defensive end Jim Shaw left the game in the second quarter with an ankle injury ... linebacker Jerome Hayes didn't dress for the game after aggravating a previous injury to his foot ... The crowd of 104,954 was the largest ever to watch a Youngstown State football game. The previous high was 43,135 when the Penguins faced Pittsburgh at Heinz Field last year.
