Royster leads Penn St. vs. Indiana

Associated Press

STATE COLLEGE, Pa.

Penn State was picky in choosing game film to study Indiana.

The Hoosier horror flick that was the 83-20 defeat last week to Wisconsin was tossed aside to focus on what Indiana did right its two previous games, losses to Iowa and Northwestern by a combined eight points.

That’s the team coach Joe Paterno thinks the Nittany Lions (6-4, 3-3 Big Ten) will face when the schools meet at FedEx Field in Landover, Md.

“I watched it when it was ... Wisconsin was ahead 30, 40 points and then I didn’t waste time looking at it,” Paterno said. “There wasn’t anything to be learned after that.”

Surely though, Paterno’s injury-riddled team must be salivating at the opportunity to play an opponent that allowed the highest point total in any Big Ten game since 1950. Indiana (4-6, 0-6) has lost its last three contests away from Memorial Stadium by at least 28 points.

Technically, the contest is an Indiana home game — but the Hoosiers will be playing more than 600 miles from Bloomington. Indiana agreed last year to move the game to the 91,000-seat home of the Washington Redskins for $3 million.

It could look like “Beaver Stadium South” because of all the Penn State connections in the Washington, D.C.-area, a fertile recruiting ground for Paterno in recent years. Among the notable players are receiver Derrick Williams, linebacker Navorro Bowman and current senior and school career rushing leader Evan Royster.

A team spokesman said Friday that Penn State has sold 21,000 tickets through the school’s ticket office, and Landover is just a three-plus hour drive from Happy Valley — closer than most of the other Midwest road trips to Big Ten outposts. Plus, there are about 42,000 Penn State alumni living in the Washington region.

With a host of family and friends from his hometown of Fairfax, Va., expected to be in the stands, Royster could reach another landmark, needing 217 yards to become the first Penn State running back to have three 1,000-yard seasons.

He could reach the milestone if Indiana’s defense doesn’t get better in a hurry after allowing 338 yards and six touchdowns on the ground last week against Wisconsin.