Blue White Illustrated

SPRING FOOTBALL WRAP | PENN STATE VS. HOUSTON like you, some people are going to hate you." He clearly thinks he's going to be the team's starting quarterback when it opens its season Sept. 1 against Ohio, and we probably shouldn't doubt that, either. McGloin has started 10 games the past two seasons, and neither of his two main competitors for the posi- tion – three if you count incoming freshman Steven Bench – appear poised to steal the job away be- tween now and the start of the sea- son. The quarterback competition was the main storyline in spring prac- tice, just as it's been throughout much of Penn State's recent histo- ry. Since 2008, the Nittany Lions have had four open auditions for the starting position. The only one of those seasons in which they re- turned an established starter was 2009, when Daryll Clark was com- ing off an All-Big Ten junior sea- son. This year's competition has been even more momentous than usual because the offense is changing in ways that will likely demand more of the quarterbacks. A lot more. In O'Brien's offense, McGloin said, "the quarterback controls everything. It's up to the quarterback to get us in the right play, make the right deci- sion. He's the leader out there, and that's what I like about this of- fense." McGloin didn't say whether there was anything in it he didn't like, but even if there is, it's probably a moot point. O'Brien has two advantages over McGloin should the two end up Defense scores big in revamped game The defense defeated the of- fense, 77-65, April 21 at Beaver Stadium in Penn State's reformat- ted Blue-White Game. Or did it? When sportswriters from The Daily Collegian re-examined the game and applied the new scoring formula, in which points were awarded for more than just touch- downs, field goals and extra points, they found that the of- fense had actually scored 67 points – not enough to win, but enough to elicit a concession from Penn State's sports informa- tion office that "we certainly could have missed something." That wouldn't be surprising. There were a lot of potential scor- ing opportunities to keep track of, both for the offense and the de- fense. For the offense, the usual scor- ing rules applied: six points for a touchdown, three for a field goal and one for a PAT. In addition, the offense was awarded two points for an "explosive" play of more than 15 yards and two points for gaining two consecutive first downs. On the other side of the ball, points were awarded for defen- sive touchdowns (seven), turnovers (six), sacks (four), three-and-outs (one) and tackles for loss (two). 18 J U N E 1 , 2 0 1 2 STRENGTH IN NUMBERS Ben Kline, Kyle Baublitz and Derrick Thomas gang up on receiver Shawney Kersey during the Blue-White Game. The defense won the scrimmage, 77-65. Steve Manuel The idea was to give the defense an incentive to go hard, and coach Bill O'Brien said following the game that he thought the format worked well. "There's a bunch of points on the scoreboard," he said. "I think one of the main things I wanted to do there was reward the defense for good plays, and obviously they made a lot of good plays today." In the end, though, the spring game is the spring game. Players looked to be energized, but they were about as invested in the out- come as they were under the old rules. In other words: hardly at all. "I couldn't even tell you what the final score was, to be honest with you," Matt McGloin said. "I didn't know what the system was. Were we getting six points for a touchdown? I don't know who came up with that scoring system, but it was definitely set up for the defense." – M.H. W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M

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