All week at practice, crowd noise blared from Peden Stadium’s speakers, and all summer, a fuss has been made about the christening of Penn State’s new coaching era.
And for Ohio, that is all it has been — just noise.
The Bobcats will enter a hostile environment Saturday with a capacity crowd of more than 106,000 screaming fans who are ready to put a rough offseason to rest.
“I’ve played in different places in front of big crowds,” said redshirt junior quarterback Tyler Tettleton. “Coach has told me to ‘just be yourself’ and that it’s just another game.”
Any time a visiting team enters a boisterous environment like the one at Beaver Stadium, it might be tough for offenses to communicate and call plays. However, the pistol, no-huddle style employed by the Bobcats does not utilize cadences at the line of scrimmage, as every play is based on a series of complex hand signals.
If all goes as planned for the Bobcats, Saturday will be business as usual.
“It’s going to be fast-paced, more snaps, giving us more opportunity to put up more points,” said redshirt junior running back Beau Blankenship.
Former Penn State running back Silas Redd ran for 1,241 yards and seven touchdowns as a sophomore last season, but transferred to USC amidst the Nittany Lions’ offseason scandal.
For most teams, the loss of a key offensive cog would be a deafening blow. However, the Nittany Lions have a more-than-viable replacement in sophomore tailback Bill Belton, who played a key role in the Nittany Lions’ Wildcat formation last season.
However, he gained only 65 yards on 13 carries during his freshman campaign, which consisted of eight appearances.
Belton, though short on experience, is still a point of concern for Ohio coach Frank Solich.
“Belton is a guy that averages 5.0 yards a carry,” he said. “Silas averaged 5.1, so really not much difference in terms of productivity, (but) Silas had a lot more carries. I think that shows they are going to be very talented at the running back position.”
Solich also said Belton was a former receiver and in pro-style offenses like the one at Penn State, running backs are frequently used in the passing attack, meaning the Bobcats will have to keep an extra eye on the backfield Saturday.
Ohio’s defense will be tested even more so with the absences of key defensive players like senior defensive back and captain Travis Carrie, who is out for the year with shoulder surgery.
Senior quarterback Matt McGloin, who threw for 1,571 yards and eight touchdowns last season, will test the Bobcats secondary.
“Based on what I’ve heard from camp this fall, I heard (McGloin) has shown great improvement,” Solich said. “They’ll be a team that will show us a lot of different formations, different shifts and different motions to try and get us running around out of position on the defensive side and take advantage.”
nr225008@ohiou.edu
