FanHouse Anthony Morelli

With their 24-17 victory in San Antonio over Texas A&M last night, Penn State not only gave Joe Paterno his record 23rd bowl game victory, but it also opened a new window to what we should expect from the Nittany Lions next season. Rejoice, Penn State fans. The Anthony Morelli Errror Era is over!

On Saturday night the Nittany Lions reintroduced a facet of their offense they've been missing since Michael Robinson led Penn State to an Orange Bowl victory in 2006 over Florida State: a mobile quarterback.

Part of Penn State's game plan going in was to get junior quarterback Daryll Clark involved in the offense, and they did just that. Clark didn't throw any passes during the game, but he did rush the ball six times for 50 yards, including an 11-yard touchdown that tied the game at 14-14.

Also, while senior Rodney Kinlaw led the Lions in rushing with 143 yards, it was freshman Evan Royster who broke free for a 38-yard touchdown that would prove to be the difference in the game.

So heading into 2008 there's a lot to be optimistic about in Happy Valley. Yes, the defense must deal with the loss of Dan Connor, but Penn State is Linebacker U, so I feel safe in my assumption they'll find somebody to fill that void. They also face the possible loss of corner Justin King, who is yet to decide whether or not he's going to return for his senior season.

Still, given the fact that Michigan may drop off a bit next season as they get accustomed to Rich Rodriguez's new offense there's an opening at the top of the Big Ten. It's not going to be easy because Ohio State will still be Ohio State, and the rest of the Big Ten continues to improve, but at this point a conference title and BCS berth should be the NIttany Lions goal going into next season.

With Clark under center, and Royster toting the rock, it's a goal that's very much within reach.

If anybody was worried about the Penn State ground game after the indefinite suspension of tailback Austin Scott, I don't think they need to worry anymore. Scott, you may have heard, has been suspended indefinitely by the school for allegedly raping a girl in his apartment a few weeks ago. Just another fun story to throw on the Penn State pile this season, right there on top of Anthony Scirrotto's drunken fighting, and JoePa's busy middle fingers.

The Nittany Lions were able to rack up 221 yards on the ground on Saturday, as they buried the Wisconsin Badgers 38-7 in Happy Valley. The 221 rushing yards against Wisconsin came just a week after the Nittany Lions ran for 256 yards against Iowa. So in two games without Scott, Penn State is averaging 238.5 yards a game after averaging only 164.2 yards a game with him in the backfield.

The reason for their success has been the 5'9 senior Rodney Kinlaw. After only carrying the ball only 80 times for 326 yards his first three years in Happy Valley, Kinlaw has compiled 283 yards the last two weeks alone. Including the 115 yards and touchdown he had against Wisconsin on Saturday.

Kinlaw's not alone either, as freshman Evan Royster has played well in Scott's absence as well. Royster rushed for 70 yards and a touchdown of his own against Wisconsin, as the Nittany Lions are finding a lot of options in their backfield. Which is a very good thing, because every time Anthony Morelli takes a snap and hands it off to a running back, it's one less time Morelli will throw the ball. Something that's sure to make a lot of Penn State fans sleep better at night.

Penn State isn't so much "winning" the "games it is playing." But by God don't tell the guys who slap together the Penn State Football Story every week. This is the most stirring non-win in the history of non-wins that may or may not be the things called losses:



You know things aren't going all that well when one of your highlights is a punt. The kicker: the video freezes with Anthony Morelli boldly flinging himself forward into the unknown, in this case an Illinois linebacker. Yeah... Morelli fumbles exactly one second after the clip ends, one of four consecutive turnovers that killed Penn State drives in Illinois territory. His reward is likely to be the bench.

A salute to you, makers of The Penn State Football Story! Should you ever find yourself in a time-warp that deposits you into the offices of Pravda circa 1955 you'll fit right in. You'll even recognize the style of football being played.

If you were to judge Penn State quarterback Anthony Morelli solely by his numbers, you would think that the Nittany Lions have themselves a pretty good quarterback. His completion percentage could be higher than 59%, but the 757 yards, eight touchdowns, and only one interception looks pretty nice though.

As is often the case though, numbers don't tell the whole story. After Penn State lost to the Michigan Wolverines last weekend in Ann Arbor, the same questions surrounding Morelli last season came to the surface again.

Will he ever beat a good team?

Yes his numbers look good, but they came against teams like Buffalo and Notre Dame. Not exactly top flight competition. Against Michigan he completed less than half of his passes for 169 yards.

Since he became the starter last season, Morelli is 0-4 in games against Big Ten powers Michigan, Ohio State, and Wisconsin. He's yet to throw his first touchdown pass against any of them.

So the question becomes, if Morelli struggles on Saturday against the Illini in Champaign, will Joe Paterno pull him for Daryll Clark or Pat Devlin? I don't know if it means anything, but Morelli is usually made available to the local media in weekly conference calls.

Yes. Yes. Hell yes. His latest position rankings($) of senior quarterbacks:

Quarterbacks
1. Brian Brohm, Louisville
2. Andre' Woodson, Kentucky
3. Matt Ryan, Boston College

Well, that seems pretty reasonable and all, maybe the headline here is too harsh--

4. Anthony Morelli, Penn State
5. Colt Brennan, Hawaii

Jesus! I... oh Lord. Other exclamations that indicate extreme surprise and alarm, etc. Anthony Morelli was awful as a junior, completing 54% of his passes and only throwing 11 touchdowns to 8 interceptions, two of them hilariously awful pick-sixes against Ohio State. This year he's gone 12-22 for 131 yards against Notre Dame and 15 for 31 for 169 yards against Michigan. And yet. And yet. This is your brain on six pounds of hair gel, no?

If Penn State is going to be a legitimate contender for the Big Ten title this season, they're going to need more than just an improved Anthony Morelli to do so. With last year's workhorse Tony Hunt now in training camp with the Philadelphia Eagles, Austin Scott will finally get a chance to prove he's the running back everyone thought he was in high school.

Scott was the biggest name of Penn State's 2003 recruiting class, but things haven't worked out quite the way everybody thought they would. His time in Happy Valley so far has been spent standing on the sidelines watching Tony Hunt do all the work. He's rushed for over 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns in his career at Penn State, but those were supposed to be yearly totals, not lifetime.

Well, this season will be Scott's last chance to prove everybody was right about his talent in high school, because Hunt is gone and the onus now falls on him.

"He's always been a good prospect," coach Joe Paterno said. "I think when he came in here, things had been so easy for him in high school, and, all of a sudden, maybe he expected some things to happen to him because he was Austin Scott.

"I think Austin Scott's just got to be a little more consistent. When he wakes up in the morning, he can't be one guy one morning and another guy the next morning. And I think he's much better than he was. We'll see. But I think he's closer to where he's got to be to be a big-time, consistent college tailback than he was a year ago."

Well, I'd hope he is better than last year, because he spent last season redshirting on the scout team.

This is a picture of Penn State quarterback Anthony Morelli with an enormous fish:



Said catfish was 40 pounds and nearly four feet long; Morelli caught it on one of his frequent offseason fishing trips. (So frequent, in fact, that Morelli is claimed to be "primarily a bass fisherman.") Yea, if Brady Quinn scores a perfect 10 on the Quarterback Sexual Ambiguity scale, Anthony Morelli is a zero. Or maybe a -2. Real men fish, and only really real men catch fish so big Morelli "could almost put [his] head in this dude's mouth." Um. Unfortunately for Penn State, lack of QSA does not appear to have any beneficial impact on actual quarterbacking, as the unholy whoopin' the Nits took at the hands of Quinn and Notre Dame amply demonstrates.

Morelli claims he released the fish...

They weighed and measured the fish, then took it back to the river and released it. "I didn't want it to die for no reason," Morelli said. "We just took the pictures and enjoyed the moment. Who knows, maybe 10 years from now he'll be 10 or 15 pounds heavier and I can hook him again."

...but everyone knows that ten seconds after the above picture was taken, Malcolm Jenkins intercepted it and returned it for a touchdown.

(HT: Black Shoe Diaries and EDSBS.)

INT. PRESS CONFERENCE

A young scribe, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, all that, offers Penn State starting quarterback Anthony Morelli a seemingly innocuous softball:

In a teleconference Tuesday, a young reporter asked the QB how he felt about reading defenses in the spring.

YOUNG SCRIBE: So, how do you feel about reading defens--

MORELLI:

"You gotta be kidding me, man."

YOUNG SCRIBE: But... uh... it's a...

MORELLI:

"I'll take the next question, please."

aaand SCENE! Probably-insane analysis of what this touchiness means post-jump.