Penn State prepares for Beavers

Oregon State promises to be a lot tougher than the Nittany Lions opener.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Of the many mantras Joe Paterno likes to repeat each season, one comes up at Penn State like clockwork every year at this time.

“If you have a good football team, it probably gets better from the first game to the second game than any time in a season,” Paterno said Tuesday. “We’ll know a lot more about our football team after this game this Saturday.”

That’s when Oregon State makes the cross-country trek to Happy Valley in what figures to be the toughest non-conference game on the Nittany Lions’ schedule. Penn State moved up three spots in this week’s AP poll to No. 19 following its 66-10 rout of Coastal Carolina.

The Nittany Lions (1-0) dominated every area, yet there’s reason to be wary. There were second- and third-stringers on Penn State who could have started for Coastal Carolina, a Championship Subdivision program.

The Beavers (0-1) are a different story, a power conference school coming off a stinging season-opening loss to Stanford, eager for a resume-building road win.

In past years, Paterno could point out mistakes to players from the first game that they could correct in the second week — what he called “an ‘I-told-you-so kind of deal.’ ”

That’s not the case this year, because the Nittany Lions committed few mistakes against Coastal Carolina.

“You’d like to be excited that you win a game, but I think you have to be realistic,” he said.

So preparations for the Beavers started in earnest Sunday night. Inside his home office, Paterno was up until 1 a.m., studying film in which Oregon State rolled up 490 yards of total offense but committed four costly second-half turnovers in the 36-28 loss to Stanford.

Scoring that much in Beaver Stadium against a Penn State defense led by pass-rushing end Maurice Evans and a veteran secondary might be tough. The Coastal Carolina game also gave Penn State reserves the opportunity for playing time that could become valuable experience down the road.

Relatively green players who will be counted on to play bigger roles this season at linebacker, like junior Josh Hull and sophomore Bani Gbadyu, got their first career starts. Daryll Clark had a successful debut as starting quarterback, albeit in limited action.

Paterno can’t pinpoint exactly why development between the first and second games is so important, though he said it has been a pattern for his successful teams during his 43 seasons as head coach.

The first game allows squads that could become “really good football teams” to become more sure of themselves and bond, and to soak in simple moments like the experience of a huddle in live action, he said.

The veterans don’t appear to be resting on their season-opening laurels, either. For instance, receiver and senior captain Derrick Williams said his unit could have run some better routes and made better downfield blocks in a couple instances last week.

“One thing Joe always says, the most improvement for a team will come between week 1 and week 2,” Williams said Tuesday. “There’s still a lot that we can improve on.”