The 2009 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University in the 2009 college football season. The team was coached by Joe Paterno and played its home games in Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania. Penn State had the highest graduation rate among all of the teams on the Associated Press Top 25 poll with 89% of its 2002 enrollees graduating. Miami and Alabama tied for second place with a graduation rate of 75%. The Nittany Lions finished the season with an 11–2 record and won the Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy award to the best team in the ECAC for the 28th time and the second consecutive year.
Preseason In December, backup quarterback Pat Devlin decided to transfer from Penn State and would not play in the Rose Bowl. Devlin appeared in ten games for the Nittany Lions, passing for 459 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. Devlin later committed to Delaware, a Division I FCS school, where he had two years of eligibility left.
In the Rose Bowl, backup tailback Stephfon Green left the game after sustaining what appeared to be a sprained right ankle. However, tests conducted after the team returned home revealed that Green sustained broken bones in his right leg and ankle and would require surgery to help repair the bones. Green was expected out of action for up to three months and would miss all of spring practice.
After the Rose Bowl, defensive line coach Larry Johnson, Sr. interviewed with Illinois head coach Ron Zook to become the Illini's defensive coordinator. While many anticipated Johnson to take the job, in the end Johnson decided to stay at his current position at Penn State.
In January, redshirt sophomore defensive end Aaron Maybin announced that he was skipping his final two seasons of eligibility and declared for the 2009 NFL draft. Junior defensive end Maurice Evans, despite losing his starting position and playing time to Maybin due to a three-game suspension for marijuana possession, also declared for the draft.
In addition to losing Maybin and Evans to early entry, the defense loses its entire starting secondary to graduation. However, after redshirting the previous season due to injury, linebacker Sean Lee returns to the line-up for his senior season.
The offensive unit loses three-fifths of the offensive line to graduation including All-American and Rimington Trophy winner A.Q. Shipley. Also lost to graduation are the wide receiver trio of Derrick Williams, Deon Butler and Jordan Norwood, all four-year starters for the team. Paterno and the coaching staff also needed to find backups for returning starting quarterback Daryll Clark after losing backup Devlin to transfer and third-stringer Paul Cianciolo to graduation.
Sean Lee and Daryll Clark were named team co-captains for the 2009 season. Lee also served as a captain the previous season.
Recruiting class The Nittany Lions received 27 letters of intent on National Signing Day, February 4, 2009.
Spring practice The annual Blue-White scrimmage at Beaver Stadium was held April 25. The White squad defeated the Blue 21–16 in front of a record crowd of 76,500.
Senior quarterback Daryll Clark was 10 of 13 for 123 yards in limited duty for the Blue team against the first-team defense. True freshman Kevin Newsome led the White offense and finished 9 of 13 for 71 yards and one touchdown. In all, four quarterbacks on the two teams combined to complete 33 of 50 passes for 388 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions.
Sophomore running back Brandon Beachum gained a game-high 38 yards on 10 carries. Junior Evan Royster led the Blue with 21 yards on just three carries in limited action.
Pre-season awards
Jeremy Boone Second-team Phil Steele pre-season All-Big Ten NaVorro Bowman Second-team Athlon Sports pre-season All-American First-team Athlon Sports pre-season All-Big Ten Third-team Phil Steele pre-season All-American First-team Phil Steele pre-season All-Big Ten Second-team Sporting News pre-season All-American First-team Sporting News pre-season All-Big Ten ESPN.com pre-season All-Big Ten ESPN.com pre-season All-American Daryll Clark First-team Athlon Sports pre-season All-Big Ten Third-team Phil Steele pre-season All-Big Ten ESPN.com pre-season All-Big Ten Lou Eliades Third-team Phil Steele pre-season All-Big Ten Stephfon Green Fourth-team Phil Steele pre-season All-Big Ten Abe Koroma Fourth-team Phil Steele pre-season All-Big Ten Dennis Landolt First-team Athlon Sports pre-season All-Big Ten First-team Phil Steele pre-season All-Big Ten Sean Lee Second-team Athlon Sports pre-season All-Big Ten Second-team Phil Steele pre-season All-American First-team Phil Steele pre-season All-Big Ten Jared Odrick Third-team Athlon Sports pre-season All-American First-team Athlon Sports pre-season All-Big Ten Third-team Phil Steele pre-season All-American First-team Phil Steele pre-season All-Big Ten Third-team Sporting News pre-season All-American First-team Sporting News pre-season All-Big Ten ESPN.com pre-season All-Big Ten Evan Royster Second-team Athlon Sports pre-season All-American First-team Athlon Sports pre-season All-Big Ten Second-team Phil Steele pre-season All-American First-team Phil Steele pre-season All-Big Ten Second-team Sporting News pre-season All-American First-team Sporting News pre-season All-Big Ten ESPN.com pre-season All-Big Ten A. J. Wallace Fourth-team Phil Steele pre-season All-Big Ten Stefen Wisniewski Third-team Athlon Sports pre-season All-American First-team Athlon Sports pre-season All-Big Ten First-team Phil Steele pre-season All-Big Ten Second-team Sporting News pre-season All-American First-team Sporting News pre-season All-Big Ten ESPN.com pre-season All-Big Ten
Schedule
Personnel
Game summaries September 5: Akron
The Penn State defense did not give up a first down to the Zips in the first half as the Nittany Lions won 31–7. This game was not as close as the score. Backup linemen on both sides of the ball were slowly blended in during the second half while the key starters remained in until midway through the fourth quarter.
Tailback Evan Royster opened the scoring on a 5-yard run on Penn State's first drive of the game. Chaz Powell later extended Penn State's lead to 14–0 with an 8-yard reception, his first career touchdown reception. Derek Moye led all receivers with six receptions for 138 yards and a touchdown. Graham Zug also caught a touchdown, and the Nittany Lions rolled to a 31–0 halftime lead and still won comfortably despite not scoring in the second half for the first time since a 13–3 loss at Wisconsin in 2006. Akron finished the game with 8 first downs and one touchdown late in the third quarter against a mix of backups and starters. Backup quarterback Kevin Newsome played in the final series along with other reserves and led the Nittany Lions down to the Akron 4-yard line.
Akron got its only points on a 40-yard pass to Deryn Bowser in the third quarter. Defensively, Penn State allowed eight net yards in the first half and 186 yards for the game. The Nittany Lions recorded 13 tackles for loss including four sacks. Safety Andrew Dailey snagged his first career interception, and senior linebacker Sean Lee made seven tackles including two for negative yardage in his first action in 18 months. Junior linebacker NaVorro Bowman left the game early with an injury, and his replacement, sophomore Nate Stupar made 12 tackles with a sack. Akron had just 28 rushing yards, which would be the fewest allowed by Penn State all year.
Senior quarterback Daryll Clark set career highs, going 29 of 40 for 353 yards. His 254 yards passing in the first half were a school record. For his efforts, Clark was named the Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week.
September 12: Syracuse
Penn State won their second game of the year in a 28–7 win over Syracuse. Penn State scored early in the first quarter to go up 7–0 with a Daryll Clark pass to Evan Royster. Penn State nearly scored again early in the second quarter when faced with a 4th and 1, but Clark fumbled the snap to give Syracuse the ball near the goal line. Penn State would score on their next drive to go up 14–0 from a 12-yard run from Evan Royster, which would hold at halftime as Syracuse missed a long field goal. Penn State scored again late in the third quarter. Syracuse attempted to convert a 4th down with a pass, but it was dropped, preserving Penn State's 21–0 lead early in the 4th. Penn State scored once again midway through the 4th with a play action pass to Mickey Shuler to take a 28–0 lead. After getting the ball back, backup Kevin Newsome was subbed in along with other second string players, but a Newsome fumble gave Syracuse the ball with good field position, and they scored their only points against the Penn State second string defense in their only series of the game. Penn State recovered the onside kick attempt and ran out the clock with the backups still in. Matt McGloin also took a few snaps in his first college game, handing off to Brent Carter and Brandon Beachum.
Daryll Clark passed for 240 yards in a heavily pass-oriented game as Penn State only had 78 yards on the ground, 41 of those from Royster.
September 19: Temple
Despite several key players being sick with the flu, the Nittany Lions won convincingly over their in-state rivals, with the 25 point difference being their biggest of the season to this point. Temple became not only the first team to score twice on Penn State this season, but also the first team to not score a touchdown, continuing Penn State's streak of games versus Temple where the Owls scored no touchdowns dating back to 2003. Penn State managed a more balanced passing and running attack than in their previous two games.
Temple out-passed Penn State 205–173, but the Nittany Lions' defense didn't give up any big plays. The defense allowed only 46 yards rushing while Penn State had 186—their highest so far this season. Penn State had a 7–3 lead after one quarter, but Temple recovered an onside kick, changing the momentum of the game momentarily. Penn State's defense forced a three-and-out and the Nittany Lions coasted to a 21–3 halftime lead. Both teams scored a field goal in the third quarter, and Penn State scored a touchdown to bring the final score to 31–6.
September 26: Iowa