Blue White Illustrated

weekend off. … We've got to get past Notre Dame. We had to lick our wounds, so to speak, and get ready for another great football team." Other than Niumatalolo, not many people are referring to the Nittany Lions as a great football team at this point in the season. Penn State is 0-2 and has been outscored by a combined margin of 35-9 in the sec- ond half of those games, allowing its opponents to con- vert on more than 85 percent of their second-half third- down opportuni- ties. And to make matters worse, the Lions just can't seem to score points in the red zone. Ever since Niumatalolo returned – in my opinion, we have a tough foot- ball team – but what we've got to do defensively is we've got to play respon- sibility football." While the Nittany Lions focus on KEN NIUMATALOLO "We have to play perfect to have a chance, and for us to have a chance, Penn State has to be slightly off." home from Dublin, he's been focused on finding ways to exploit the vulner- abilities Penn State has shown. He admits, though, that it's going to take a concerted effort by his team to ex- ploit those weaknesses. "We have to play perfect to have a chance," Niumatalolo said. "And for us to have a chance, Penn State has to be slightly off – for us to even have a chance." If Navy is going to get that chance, it will likely come when it is on offense. The Midshipmen are well-known for their troublesome option attack, which uses a confusing combination of two running backs, a fullback and a quar- terback. The quarterback is usually more of a threat to run than to pass. Using a mishmash of handoffs and fake handoffs, quarterback pitches and fake quarterback pitches, Niumatalolo has found a way to neutralize larger, more athletic and talented opponents. Penn State head coach Bill O'Brien coached against – and on occasion was beaten by – Navy's option offense during his days as an assistant in the Atlantic Coast Conference. From ex- perience, he said his defenders must play with restraint Saturday and not get overwhelmed by Navy's scheme. "Navy is so good at what they do," O'Brien said. "They're attacking your discipline, and they're attacking your toughness. We've got a tough defense S E P T E M B E R stopping the run, they must also be aware of quarterback Trey Miller's willingness to pass. While the Mid- shipmen don't take many shots down- field, their passing game cannot be overlooked. Against Notre Dame, wide receiver Lynch Shawn averaged 21.8 yards on his four receptions. One catch went for a 26-yard touch- down. "Lynch played a very good game," he said. "They tried to press him. I think they thought, 'Hey you're the Naval Academy. We'll just press these guys and take them out of the game.' And I think he kind of surprised them, getting off the press corner[backs]." Niumatalolo said Navy will test Penn State's secondary at times, but he doesn't plan to stray far from his trusted option attack. He said it's going to take a tough, hard-nosed per- formance for his Midshipmen to even have a chance against Penn State, be- cause he feels the Lions are a tough, hard-nosed bunch in their own right. "I've just been impressed with that team, with everything that's gone on, with the guys that have transferred and for Coach O'Brien to keep the team going forward," Niumatalolo said. "They could very easily be 2-0. They're playing hard. You can tell they're a team of great character." WR Kersey leaves team Penn State announced Wednesday that Shawney Kersey has left the foot- ball team for personal reasons. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound receiver from Woodbury, N.J., leaves the pro- gram with just 12 receptions for his career, including six this season for 44 yards. Kersey missed most of preseason practice with a sprained ankle. 1 2 , 2 0 1 2 2 BWI'S FORECAST NATE BAUER 2012 RECORD 0-2 Point blank, Penn State should have tremendous offensive suc- cess against a porous Navy de- fense. And defensively, the Lions are capable of shutting down the triple-option. Forget field goals; they won't matter in this one. PENN STATE 24, NAVY 10 PHIL GROSZ 2012 RECORD 0-2 If the Lions duplicate the defen- sive performance they had at Virginia and dominate the line of scrimmage, they will control Navy's triple-option offense. PENN STATE 27, NAVY 14 MATT HERB 2012 RECORD 1-1 Preparing for Navy's option at- tack is tricky, but I'm more con- cerned about Penn State's offense than its defense. Expect a close game Saturday, and a narrow PSU victory. PENN STATE 24, NAVY 17 TIM OWEN 2012 RECORD 0-2 The Lions are going to struggle scoring the ball, but scoring will be even more difficult for the Mids. PSU gets the first win of the Bill O'Brien era – two weeks too late. PENN STATE 21, NAVY 10 RYAN SNYDER 2012 RECORD 1-1 PSU will have problems shutting down the option game early, but the talent differential between these two teams will show come the second half. PSU cruises to its first win of the season. PENN STATE 33, NAVY 21 ERIC THOMAS 2012 RECORD 1-1 Things have to go PSU's way at some point, but I have a funny feeling about this one. NAVY 19, PENN STATE 16 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M

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