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dive, but my knee brace unfortunately got caught on the ground, so I looked like a complete fool." A complete fool? McGloin's teammates weren't willing to go quite that far, but they were definitely amused, and that was before an animated GIF of the score started floating around the In- ternet. Said fullback Michael Zordich, "I think we're gonna have to get him into the film room and coach him up on his dive." McGloin's touchdown celebrations may indeed need some refinement, but any afternoon in which they are a hot postgame topic is a good afternoon for the Nittany Lions. And if McGloin's touchdowns are being broken down frame-by-frame, it's partly because he's been responsible for a lot of them so far this season. As the centerpiece of Bill O'Brien's game-plan offense, in which the Nittany Lions focus on what they can exploit from week to week, McGloin has turned into one of the Big Ten's most produc- tive quarterbacks. Through Penn State's first six games, he was leading the conference in completions (136 in 221 attempts), yards (1,499), yards per game (249.8) and touchdown pass- es (12). His competition rate – 61.5 percent – was easily the best of his career, and despite attempting more passes than all but one Big Ten quar- terback, he had thrown only two in- terceptions, one of which occurred when an on-target pass bounced off Brandon Moseby-Felder's hands against Temple. "He's grown up a lot," O'Brien said. "When you're a senior and playing your last few games here at Penn State, that means a lot. I can't say enough about Matt McGloin. He's gotten the job done to this point this year." With McGloin leading the way, the Nittany Lions have been far more pro- ductive than they were last season, even though they lost their top two re- ceivers, their leading rusher and four starting offensive linemen in the off- season. Out of the remnants of an of- fense that last year finished ninth in the Big Ten in passing (with a league- worst 48.1 percent completion rate), O'Brien has built a unit that can throw MATT McGLOIN BY THE NUMBERS PASS YEAR 2009 2010 2011 2012 TOTAL ATT 2 215 231 221 669 COMP 0 118 125 136 379 SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE The Nittany Lions went into their bye week ranked sec- ond in the Big Ten in passing at 251.8 yards per game. Steve Manuel with the league's top teams. Through six weeks, the Lions were second in the league in passing offense, averaging 251.8 yards per game. They were av- eraging 27 points, a touchdown-per- game improvement over last season in which they finished 11th in the con- ference in scoring. Quarterbacks coach Charlie Fisher attributed McGloin's development to his confidence in the new offense and his own abilities. "You can just see him starting to really, really enjoy play- ing football and have fun in this of- fense," Fisher said. "He's confident and he believes in himself and it's great to see." The knock on McGloin earlier in his

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