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A city called "Paternoville" plastered itself onto University Park's map in 2005, a colony of Penn State football fans who waited a week for an up-close look at Penn State's 17-10 win over Ohio State.

And, despite university restrictions on camping time, 100 tents were still pitched for the two days prior to the Lions' loss to Michigan last season.

But would students really want to camp out for this weekend's game against Florida International?

"We camp out for every game -- doesn't matter who the opponent is," said Michael Urbansky (senior - crime, law and justice).

As of 11 a.m. today, Urbansky was apparently in the minority.

He sat on a blue folding chair outside Gate A, working on math homework and nursing a peach Snapple. About 10 tents were lined up in front of where he sat with a friend, Ian McKelvey (senior - kinesiology). The tents were mostly closed.

Aside from the two students and some stadium attendants preparing for tomorrow's "Football Eve" event, not much was happening. Ever the optimist, though, Urbansky was happy to see Paternoville in its temporarily tranquil state.

"I like the 10 tents a lot better than 100 tents," he said.

Keep on camping,
Kevin

Penn State holds conference calls for reporters and players each week,
giving media from across the state a chance to pick the players'
brains for about 15 minutes. This morning, I was on calls with Anthony
Morelli, Jordan Norwood, Tony Davis and Gerald Cadogan. (Austin Scott
was a no-show.)

Below, I've compiled some newsworthy -- and not-so-newsworthy -- items. Enjoy.

* NOTHING is known about FIU. The Golden Panthers have a new coach,
Mario Cristobal, who brought in a new staff last season. So players
and coaches have studied tape of Rutgers and Miami, both schools where
Cristobal coached. Morelli said: "We're just trying to prepare for any
and everything they could throw at us."

* Yesterday, Justin King said Lydell Sargeant, a starting cornerback,
would be the nickel back and that A.J. Wallace would assume the corner
position in those situations. Today, Davis said he was the nickel
back. Asked who would come in to play safety for him when he moves to
nickel, Davis said, "We're not really sure on that right now." I guess
we'll have to wait and see on that one.

* Davis, who never played safety in high school, said he's "feeling
really comfortable" at safety, his new position.

* The offensive line has jelled off the field, Cadogan said. The
linemen eat dinner together, play paintball together, go to the pool
together. "As a whole," Cadogan said, "we've been doing a lot more
stuff together this summer."

* Cadogan's favorite plays as a lineman: counter plays and screens. He
likes to get out ahead on screens and "show my speed off a little
bit." Easy, big fella. It's hard to talk about showing speed when D-Will is
galloping with the ball behind you.

* Terrell Golden's vocal presence is a main reason he was selected captain.

* Norwood will no longer wear red contacts. Last season, the 5-foot-10
receiver wore the dayglow lens because they are supposed to help
vision by blocking some sunlight -- and because they look intimidating.

* Morelli commented on Mickey Shuler, who is likely is starting tight
end this week because of Andrew Quarless' suspension. "I think he'll
be able to fill that spot very well," said Morelli, citing Shuler's
size and hands.

That's all I have for now. Check back later and we should have more updates.

See you around campus,
Mark

Love 'em or hate 'em, ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso picked Penn State to win the Big Ten title.

Herbstreit is the World Wide Leader's dreamy -- er, well informed -- analyst. Corso is his counter point, slightly more disjointed but full of energy. But both agree upon the Nittany Lions.

"I'm looking more at Penn State's defense as much as anything as why I like them," Herbsteit told The Detroit Free Press yesterday on a conference call. "They have a quarterback in [Anthony] Morelli, you look at their schedule and the game Sept. 22 when they go to Ann Arbor that could go long way in deciding who ends up getting the Big Ten championship."

From what we've seen, the coach and the quarterback are in the minority among most TV commentators. (See Thursday's Collegian for our predictions.)

It's been a love-hate relationship between Penn State fans and the two analysts. Herbsteit is an Ohio State grad. Nuff said. And Corso picked against Penn State in the '05 season, which sent the Lion faithful into a tizzy.

Herbstreit won back the fanbase when he declared Penn State fans the nation's best student section.

Will his latest declaration have the same effect? What do you think? Do you think this Penn State team is for real? Send us questions or comments and we'll respond in our weekly mailbag. We'd love to hear from you at footblog@psu.edu.

Cheers,
Mark

Joe Paterno held his first press conference of the regular season this afternoon. First question asked and first question answered regarded the status of tight end Andrew Quarless and reserve cornerback Willie Harriott, both of whom will not play in this weekend's season opener against Florida International, and may not be allowed to play for three or four weeks, Paterno said.

That was the big news of the day, but as always, Paterno provided some quick witted responses (and a few lengthy rants) that we find hard to work into any news story we would ever write for the paper. Enjoy some nuggets below, in our first installment of Tuesday's with JoePa:

Q: Do you plan to be on the sidelines on Saturday?
JP: "I plan to be on the sidelines unless someone runs over me tomorrow."

Q: Are you planning on running out of the tunnel with the team?
JP: "Not really. I've got a new plan. I'm going to drop from a parachute. ... How do you think I'm going to get on the field? How about if you carry me out?"

Q: If the game were to get out of hand [considering FIU went winless last season], would you consider putting Pat Devlin in or would it be Daryll Clark?
JP: "I don't have the slightest idea if I'm going to stick Pat Devlin in, do you have any eligibility? Is 36 a good number for you? That was my number. I can stick you in there. I'm trying to win the game. I guess I don't make myself clear. I'm scared to death of the game, and you think I'm thinking about getting Devlin into the game? I'm serious about that. I think that everybody's got to calm down. Calm down. We're playing a good football team, and I don't know enough about their whole background, personnel or otherwise. I know what we are, and we're not a great football team. We're a long way from being a really good football team, because we have so many young kids that have never been there. You're going to see guys in that game that have never been to a game, and they're going to be in there in clutch situations. 107 or 108 thousand people in there, who knows what they're going to do? I don't. I'm not God."

I'm not God either,
-- Corey

We just got Penn State's depth chart in from the athletic department. You'll notice tight end Andrew Quarless, who was cited for underage drinking Aug. 17, isn't on it. Anthony Scirrotto and Chris Baker, who are facing charges stemming from their involvement in an off-campus fight in April, are both listed as starters.

Joe Paterno has his weekly press conference tomorrow afternoon at Beaver Stadium, so check out the Collegian online around midday for an update on Quarless' status.

OFFENSE
Wide receiver
Derrick Williams / Jordan Norwood
Terrell Golden
Chris Bell

Left Tackle
Gerald Cadogan
Johnnie Troutman
Nerraw McCormack

Left Guard
Lou Eliades
Rich Ohrnberger

Center
A.Q. Shipley
Patrick Weber

Right guard
John Shaw
Mike Lucian

Right Tackle
Dennis Landolt
Joe Toriello
Ako Poti

Tight End
Mickey Shuler / Jordan Lyons
Brennan Coakley
Francis Claude

Quarterback
Anthony Morelli
Daryll Clark
Pat Devlin / Paul Cianciolo

Tailback
Austin Scott
Rodney Kinlaw
Evan Royster

Fullback
Matt Hahn
Dan Lawlor

Wide Receiver
Deon Butler / Jordan Norwood
Brett Brackett
James McDonald

DEFENSE
Left End
Josh Gaines
Maurice Evans
Eric Latimore

Left Tackle
Jared Odrick
Phil Taylor
Chris Rogers

Right Tackle
Chris Baker
Ollie Ogbu

Right End
Aaron Maybin
Jerome Hayes

Outside Linebacker
Tyrell Sales
Navorro Bowman

Inside Linebacker
Dan Connor
Dontey Brown

Outside Linebacker
Sean Lee
Josh Hull
Bani Gbadyu

Left Cornerback
Lydell Sargeant
A.J. Wallace
Devin Fentress

Free Safety
Tony Davis
Mark Rubin
Cedric Jeffries
Nick Sukay

Hero
Anthony Scirrotto
Jason Ganter
Brent Carter

Right Cornerback
Justin King
Brendan Perretta
Knowledge Timmons

SPECIAL TEAMS
Punter
Jeremy Boone
Ryan Breen

Kicker
Kevin Kelly
Collin Wagner
Joe Hughes

Holder
Jeremy Boone
Jason Ganter
Kevin Suhey

Kick Snapper
Patrick Weber (for field goals and point after attempts)
Chris Mauriello (for punts)

Kickoff Returners
Rodney Kinlaw
A.J. Wallace
Derrick Williams

Punt Returners
Derrick Williams
Anthony Scirrotto
Brendan Perretta

That's everyone,
--Corey

Greetings Nittany Nation and welcome to the Collegian's first-ever blog dedicated to Penn State football.

Why start this blog, you ask? Isn't the blogosphere crowded enough already?
The reasons are fairly simple:

1) There's a lot of information that we, the football writers, gather or hear throughout the week that doesn't make it into the paper edition. This will be a place where you can find tidbits that don't necessarily warrant an entire article.

2) For those of you that didn't get tickets and won't have access to the Big Ten Network, we'll be live blogging the Florida International and Buffalo games in detail. If you can't watch, you might as well read.

3) To keep you current with happenings around the Big Ten, or country. It's good sometimes to realize what's going on outside the campus bubble. We will be writing a weekly article off the Big Ten coaches' conference call for the paper, but there always seems to be some leftover information or some stories from other college newspapers that Penn State students never hear about.

4) To have some fun, too. This is the Collegian's first attempt at a football-only blog but we figure it's a good place to encourage reader feedback, positive or negative. So if you have any thoughts of your own, information or rumors (i.e. I saw Dan Connor hobbling around campus with a full leg cast -- completely hypothetical, by the way) please send them along to footblog@psu.edu.

There are three of us writers and we have one cranky but enjoyable football editor. We'll all hopefully contribute here regularly and we'll collectively respond to any questions or comments in a weekly mailbag posted on the blog.

I'm Corey McLaughlin and my beat brethren are Mark Viera and Kevin Horan. Josh Moyer covered the team last season and is back for more as our lovely editor now. You may remember Moyer from this column he wrote about the Temple football program last year.

And as always, don't forget about the Collegian's dead tree edition. You can send letters to the editor by following the instructions here:

'Til next time,
-- Corey