Rob Bolden was a starting quarterback for the first time in two years on Saturday. It did not go well.
This year, Penn State caused a stir when it relocated its designated Americans with Disabilities Act parking lots for football games. The lots were moved to Innovation Park, two miles from the stadium. After people with disabilities made their complaints known, Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics announced upgrades for ADA parking.
Patriot News columnist David Jones described this game as "a beautiful day for a ritual sacrifice." A more apt phrase has never been written. UMass is bad -- one of the worst teams in the FBS -- and it was, indeed, a beautiful day in Happy Valley, with temperatures in the low 70s and the ambiance downtown at its perfect peak.
Forty dollar student tickets will be sold this week for Saturday's homecoming matchup against Northwestern. Attendance has seen dramatic increases this season, averaging 5,395 more people than the first two games of last year.
Penn State showed what it was capable of at Beaver Stadium on Saturday afternoon, demolishing the UMass Minutemen to the tune of a 48-7 victory and an undefeated 4-0 start. Before that game, the Nittany Lions were ranked No. 30 in the AP poll and No. 34 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. One week later, the squad is knocking on the door of the Top 25 in both polls, reaching No. 27 overall in each.
The Nittany Lions hosted the UMass Minutemen on Saturday afternoon, cruising to an easy 48-7 victory en route to an undefeated 4-0 record to kick off the season. With another game comes another round of takeaways as we analyze the game and what it means going forward for the Penn State squad. Here's what we thought about the Penn State vs. UMass showdown.