The Alabama Crimson Tide will be rolling right into Happy Valley in 2011.
Behind 144 yards by backup running back Trent Richardson, filling in for injured Heisman winner Mark Ingram, the Crimson Tide dominated Penn State on both sides of the ball for a 24-3 win.
Penn State freshman quarterback Robert Bolden finished 13-29 for 131 yards and two interceptions. Though his turnovers were costly he managed some nice deep throws, and it was clear the coaches weren’t gameplanning around his inexperience.
The running game cam up pretty small. First and second string running backs Evan Royster and Stephfon Green managed only 45 combined yards, though freshman Silas Redd came off the bench to give State a boost with 16 yards on five carries.
The Penn State defense had a tough night.
On Alabama’s first scoring drive, Tide quarterback Greg McElroy cut up the middle of the Penn State secondary, hitting several medium and long range passes before scoring on a 36-yard pass play to Kevin Norwood.
Richardson took over on Alabama’s second scoring drive, running some snaps out of the Wildcat set and gaining a bunch of yards.
It was all Alabama from there.
Stay tuned for some post game analysis.