The Daywalker, has seen many things over the millenia. And he’s known among many cultures. In Eastern Europe, he was known as “Drago.” In South America, “The Great Bat.” And in the United States, he’s gone by the name “Joe Paterno” since well before Thomas Jefferson began making bold claims about man and their equality.

Today, Joe Paterno rules over a valley in Pennsylvania with an iron fist. But he’s a crafty one, and of late he’s been making sure that everyone start to wonder if maybe his grip is slipping, and he’s becoming a bit senile. For he must find a way to slip from the limelight long enough to take on a new guise and a new moniker, and he can’t do that if people really believe he’s still actually coaching the Penn State Football Team. Molting season is approaching. He must walk a tricky line to keep up illusions.

Still, while the Daywalker may outlive the legacy of “Joe Paterno,” it doesn’t mean the man has no pride in his work. He will continue to put just as much work into defeating his opponents on a football field as he once did placing the corpses of his enemies on pikes the height of 3 men so many years ago.

This year, all the pieces fall together for Penn State, as their QB, Morelli, will either prove that last year’s difficulties were all just because he was a freshman, or that he’s the dumbest QB in the Big Televen. Sit there for a moment and consider that possibility. Let it sink in.

Offense: As stated above, Anthony Morelli is back. And towards the end of the season, we started to get an inkling that he may just catch on to this game called college football well enough for his physical abilities to pay dividends. And they’d better, because last year he was a 54% passer with an 11-8 TD/INT ratio. While their receiving corps looks quite talented on paper, if their top-3 don’t shake their case of butterfingers real quick, they’re gonna have problmes.

Defense: They lose Paul Posluszny, but that may actually have happened last year with his injury troubles, so the jury is still out on how much his actual physical presence was missed. Don’t get me wrong, he was still better at, say, 80%, than most ever would be at 100%, but he was still never actually at the top of his game last year. Dan Connor remains, though he’s moving from OLB to MLB. The transition may take some time for Dan to grow accustom, but he’s still Dan Connor.

Special Teams: Hey, remember when Travis Thomas noticed something about Penn State’s punt return alignment, audibled for a fake punt, and then nearly took the ball to the house from about 50 yards out? Yeah, me too. That was great.

Facts:

• The Nits return 14 starters this year (8 on O, 6 on D).
• Jeremy Kapinos, their punter last year, set a school record for “most career punts” in 2006. A dubious honor, to be sure.
• Joe Paterno is #2 in the 1A All-Time career wins, losing, inevitably, to Bobby Bowden.

HLS Top 25 Meta:

• Highest spot on a HLS Ballot: 14
• Lowest spot on a HLS Ballot: 18
• Average ranking on HLS Ballots: 16.75

Why Alex Trebek Loves Them:

• A “Nitanny Lion” is actually a regular old mountain lion that would inhabit a region of Pennsylvania known as Nittany Valley.

Around The Web:

• Black Shoe Diaries
• The Nittany Line

HLS Tracker 10 Forecast Says:

The memory of the Daywalker is long, and his heart is black and cold. Nothing would please him more than to see his Enemies crushed, especially Notre Dame. That game worries and intrigues us a bit. We’ll be the ones with the green QB this go ’round, but we still hold faith that the forces of good will beat out the forces of evil that keep the Daywalker among us. However, with an insanely easy road schedule (only one game against what will probably be a ranked opponent this year (Michigan)), look for the Nits to do some damage in the Big 10.

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domer.mq

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