Weak Early Schedule Doomed Lions
A few weeks ago, we wrote about Penn State, a pre-season contender for the national championship, and
Daryll Clark is sacked versus Iowa.
the Nittany Lions weak non-conference schedule.
Certainly, the wheels fell off of Penn State’s game in its discouraging loss to Iowa 21-10 last weekend in a revenge game that most pundits felt the Lions would dominate. Iowa was the only team that kept Penn State from a perfect season last year.
Could the early season schedule against weak opponents, Akron, Syracuse and Temple, have hurt Penn State’s ability to compete against a squad like the Hawkeyes that had already been tested in games against in-state rivals Northern Iowa, Iowa State, and Pac-10 foe Arizona?
Former Penn State player Adam Taliaferro thinks so. In an interview on WIP radio in Philadelphia, Taliaferro said:
“Everybody plays two or three cupcakes, but not back to back to back. They just looked like they were not mentally prepared. If they played Iowa five more times, they would win four.”
Certainly not. And those college fantasy football coaches who had running back Evan Royster were not pleased. Royster gained a respectable 69 yards on 17 carries. Quarterback Daryll Clark, however, was a disaster, going 12 for 32 with 3 interceptions and 1 touchdown.
