Penn State a BCS Title Game Contender Again?

Coming into this year, Penn State seemed like a dinosaur of a football program to me. Even last year when many people picked them to win the Big 10 or compete for the league title, they turned in a pretty average season by their standards.

In hindsight, it appears as if PSU's problems were mainly due to the sub-par quarterback play of Anthony Morelli, which caused their defense to be too one-dimensional to defend.

On top of that, there have been whispers about Joe Paterno's coaching staff and their inability to draw up innovative schemes to get the ball to their many playmakers. Even Penn State's weight training and conditioning programs had been questioned and attacked as being behind the times.

But what a difference a year makes. Just like back in 2005 when Penn State had Michael Robinson and only lost one time the entire season before going on to win the Orange Bowl, the Nittany Lions' offense has been revitalized by a mobile quarterback in Daryll Clark.

Other stars like Evan Royster and Penn State's fine wide receiving corps have stepped up but Clark has made all the difference. The inclusion of a running QB seems to have sparked the imaginations of the Penn State offensive coaches again.

Instead of their typical run-run-pass offensive style of a year ago, Penn State has defenses off-balance and that allows them to get the ball to their playmakers such as Derrick Williams and Deon Butler more often.

Clark is not quite the amazing athlete that say Terrelle Pryor or Pat White are at quarterback but he may be the perfect combination of toughness and game manager in a running quarterback. He knows when to run and when to take chances and that's similar to the way Robinson played QB.

The new "Spread HD" Penn State offense isn't overly sophisticated but it allows Penn State the ability to set up its traditional power run game because opponents have so much more to worry about.