PSU welcomes JoePa back with win

Associated Press

STATE COLLEGE, Pa.

Wearing his familiar khakis and jet-black sneakers, Joe Paterno paced the sideline again Saturday and peppered his coaches and players with critique.

In return, his Penn State Nittany Lions welcomed their Hall of Fame coach back to the field with their best passing performance of the year in a convincing in a 34-6 win Saturday over Eastern Michigan.

Quarterback Matt McGloin threw for 220 yards and three touchdowns — two to wideout Derek Moye — and Penn State’s opportunistic defense grounded the Eagles’ running game to 68 yards, 221 below its season average.

Not that the perfectionist Paterno was entirely pleased with what he witnessed.

“I’m not going to go home and jump for joy,” he said. “We’ve got a ways to go. Hopefully, we’ll get better.”

At the least, Penn State’s struggling passing game got going against overmatched Eastern Michigan (2-2). Paterno returned to his two-quarterback system, starting sophomore Rob Bolden for the fourth straight game before McGloin took his turn in the second quarter.

And the 84-year-old Paterno took in the first half from the sideline, but returned to the press box in the second half after getting sore. Paterno spent the first three games entirely upstairs while recovering from right shoulder and pelvis injuries suffered after getting accidentally knocked down in practice Aug. 7 by receiver Devon Smith.

Saturday, Smith impressed his coach after finishing with three catches for 104 yards. He turned a screen pass from Bolden into a 71-yard touchdown barely a minute into the second half for a 24-0 lead.

Eastern Michigan was held to two short field goals by Kody Fulkerson.

“I thought our guys were body-to-body on the receivers multiple times and their guy came up with the ball,” Eagles coach Ron English said. “So they made plays today. More than we did.”

While the Penn State defense flourished, the injury news wasn’t good on the field for Penn State. Linebacker Michael Mauti, the team’s leading tackler, limped into the locker room in the first quarter with an ice pack strapped to his left knee.

Later, Paterno said Mauti was likely out for the year after injuring his ACL.

The announced crowd of 95,000 at Beaver Stadium went silent while trainers looked at cornerback D’Anton Lynn’s neck and upper back late in the third quarter. Lynn was strapped to a backboard as a precaution and carted off the field late in the third quarter. A team spokesman said Lynn had movement in his extremities and was taken to Mount Nittany Medical Center.

Lynn had “burners” down his arms and was breathing heavily after the hit, defensive coordinator Tom Bradley said after the game.