Bernard Fernandez: The Nittany Line: For Penn State, new receivers but familiar look

* None of the injuries is serious, but the top three tight ends on the Lions' depth chart - Andrew Quarless, Mickey Shuler and Andrew Szczerba - emerged from the Akron game at least a bit nicked up. Quarless, a senior who has spent considerable time in Joe Paterno's doghouse, is on the John Mackey watch list (for All-America candidates at tight end) for the third consecutive season, and he's running out of time to live up to his considerable promise.

* Syracuse's Greg Paulus, like many inexperienced quarterbacks, had a case of happy feet in his first college start against Minnesota. Penn State linebacker Sean Lee said that's almost to be expected of someone perhaps overly concerned about the pass rush. "He showed that a little bit last week," Lee said of Paulus' penchant for leaving the pocket early. "If he keeps feeling pressure, pressure, pressure, that's going to be in the back of his mind."

Agenda

 

When: Tomorrow, noon

Where: Beaver Stadium, State College

TV: Big Ten Network

Radio: WNTP (990-AM), WPNV (1440-AM)

Records: Syracuse 0-1, Penn State 1-0

History: Penn State leads, 41-23-5, including last year's 55-13 romp by the Nittany Lions in the Carrier Dome, marking the resumption of a series that had been dormant since 1990. Overall, this is the 70th meeting of the schools, the second-highest total for a Penn State opponent behind Pitt (96 meetings).

Coaches: Doug Marrone (first year, 0-1); Joe Paterno (44th season, 384-127-3)

About Syracuse: St. Joseph's Prep graduate Jim McKenzie is the starting center for the Orange, and a bit of a red-faced one. The 6-4, 286-pound senior's first snap of the season sailed over quarterback Greg Paulus' head in the shotgun formation. Minnesota recovered the loose ball and, two plays later, scored a touchdown, helping the Golden Gophers to a 23-20 overtime victory. "That was completely my fault. I held the ball too long and it just got away from me," said McKenzie, who vowed he won't make the same mistake again . . . Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, a Syracuse alum, is high on the sport-switching Paulus, a point guard at Duke. "I've heard nothing but good things about him," McNabb said. "He has the maturity of an older guy, being in tough games and knowing how to handle it."

About Penn State: Starting weakside linebacker Navorro Bowman, who sat out the second half of last week's 31-7 victory over Akron with a reaggravated groin pull, is listed as "probable" and first on the depth chart. If he can't go, Nathan Stupar, who was in on a career-high 12 tackles as Bowman's fill-in, will get his first start . . . Strong safety Nick Sukay, who played his high school ball at Greensburg Central, has a bit of a thing going with his former GCHS teammate, Syracuse tight end Cody Catalina. "He jokes around about trying to run me over if he catches the ball," Sukay said . . . Six true freshmen played last week, thus burning their redshirts: wide receivers Curtis Drake (from West Catholic) and Devin Smith; quarterback Kevin Newsome; safety Gerald Hodges; cornerback Stephen Morris; and defensive end Sean Stanley.

Prediction

 

Penn State 44, Syracuse 14.