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JoPa and his Nittany Lions lived a charmed life in 2005 as they went on to win 11 games and beat the Florida State Seminoles in a fantastic Orange Bowl battle. They were one second away from going undefeated, and enter the 2006 season with very high expectations. However, the Lions go from being one of the most experienced teams in the Big 10 to one of the greenest. Nine total starters are back from last year’s squad, and they have to break in a new QB with a completely retooled O-Line in front of him. The RB corps look solid with both Tony Hunt and Austin Scott back in the mix, and the return of a healthy Derrick Williams should bolster the WR corps and help the new QB settle in quicker. Defensively, the Lions look solid in the front seven and boast one of the premiere LB corps in the country with Dan Connor, Tim Shaw, and Butkus and Bednarik Award winner Paul Posluszny. The secondary loses all four from a unit that only allowed 11 TDs and intercepted 16 passes, so it will have to rely on the front seven early on until it becomes cohesive. Special Teams returns completely intact, and it looks as if the Lions have a dominating pair of kickers to help dominate field position.
Even though a bulk of last years squad is now gone, don’t expect the Nittany Lions to regress as much as they did after ‘02. They still have some excellent playmakers offensively, and own a dominating Linebacker corps that can single handedly dominate (Check Ohio State last year). Their schedule is far from a walk in the park, but they do avoid Iowa and get to host both of the Michigan schools. Another BCS Bowl game is possibly in the cards for JoPa in his 41st season at Happy Valley.
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