Not even Tom Bradley can shy away from the celebrity of Greg Paulus.
"If we were playing basketball, he'd beat us," the Penn State defensive coordinator said. "To do what he's done without a spring practice and just a preseason is pretty remarkable. He's a two-time captain at Duke, a captain voted by your teammates at Syracuse, that tells you what type of person he is.
"I was hoping to get to meet him after the game. I didn't. I saw him play a lot at Duke. I'm kind of a fan."
The sideshow attraction the Duke basketball player-turned Syracuse quarterback brings to the gridiron is intriguing, but Saturday reminded everyone how much work lies ahead to become a bona fide college football quarterback.
His quick hands and feet managed the game well, trying to stay close enough by the fourth quarter to give his team a chance to win.
The Orange offense threatened to cut into the Nittany Lions' lead on a few drives in the second half, but never found the right offensive make-up to have a chance to win.
"I know our offense. We're trying to find an identity," said Paulus, who's first completion came with 5:16 remaining in the first half. "I know that we're working hard to execute, and we trust and believe in what our coaches are gonna give us to do."
Through two games, Paulus' duties have featured a conservative sampling of hand-offs and short routes.
He completed 14-of-20 passes Saturday, but the longest went for just 16 yards.
Not risking many shots downfield, Paulus bounced outside the tackle box and used his feet to try and confuse the defense.
But the Lion defense had a nose for the Paulus all afternoon, and when Paulus did see a clear path to the end zone on a scramble up the middle on third down, he bounced outside and was tackled by Jack Crawford at the 5-yard line.
On fourth down, wide receiver Mike Williams dropped a sure touchdown, keeping the Orange off the scoreboard heading into the fourth quarter.
"He's a really energetic and bouncy guy," defensive tackle Ollie Ogbu said. "He bounced a lot of plays outside when we broke contain. We weren't used to his style of play because he didn't have a lot of film for us to work on. We did a good job of just trying to keep him in the pocket and just trying to get him rattled."
Senior Jared Odrick said the objective coming in was to force Paulus to make big plays, a daunting task when linemen and linebackers are harassing him.
"We knew as soon as one of his options went away, he was going to pull it down and start running," said sophomore linebacker Nate Stupar, who started in place of the injured Navorro Bowman. "We just knew, whoever was closest when he pulls it down, just go get him."
