Pirela helps victorious I.L.

Kids Listings: March 21 to 27, 2014

First Posted: 9/3/2014 Sam Ficken&#8217;s kick went up, narrowly hooking through the goalposts for a season-opening Penn State victory.
Ten Nittany Lions began celebrating immediately, leaping into the air, with Ficken himself leading an impromptu parade that ran down to the opposite sideline.
The 11th did not leave his feet. He did not raise his arms. Donovan Smith simply walked off the field.
&#8220;It was confidence,&#8221; Smith said. &#8220;I knew it was going in. No fatigue at all. I just trusted Fick to do his job. I was just focused.
&#8220;That&#8217;s my thing this year. Just focus on the task at hand.&#8221;
Now in his third year as the starting left tackle, Penn State needs Smith to be on his game more than ever as the anchor of a still-developing offensive line.
Smith played every snap on offense at left tackle in Saturday&#8217;s triumph over UCF in Dublin and also lined up on the field goal unit. With four new starters on the line next to him, the unit held its own against a veteran defense as the Lions threw for 454 yards.
&#8220;Things went really well,&#8221; Smith said. &#8220;Of course we had our bumps here and there. But it&#8217;s the first game and we can iron the wrinkles out. The guys get a little bit of their jitters out.
&#8220;I told them after the game I was pleased with the performance and we can only keep going up from here.&#8221;
That&#8217;s especially true with the team&#8217;s run blocking.
Penn State got little push against a UCF front that game-planned to take away the run, clog the middle of the field for the tight ends and force the Lions&#8217; young receivers to beat them outside in man coverage.
As it turned out, those receivers did exactly that. It came, though, at the expense of the ground game, which mustered just 57 yards on 28 carries. Outside of a few decent runs apiece by Bill Belton and Zach Zwinak, the Lions couldn&#8217;t get into a rhythm on the ground.
The Lions also heavily favored running behind Smith to the left side, a trend the Knights undoubtedly keyed in on.
Heading into Saturday&#8217;s home opener against Akron, James Franklin knows that will need to improve.
&#8220;I think for us, it&#8217;s finishing blocks,&#8221; the Lions coach said. &#8220;When you think you&#8217;ve blocked long enough, block longer to the echo of the whistle.
&#8220;So we&#8217;re going to work hard on them this week and we are going to continue to invest in the running game, and hopefully that will pay dividends on Saturday. &#8230; There&#8217;s no doubt about it that we have got to get our running game going to be the type of offense and be the type of team that we want to be.&#8221;
Expanding on that, Franklin said his vision of a balanced offense isn&#8217;t necessarily having an equal number of passes to runs. Or yards through the air to yards on the ground.
&#8220;It means we have the ability to do either one,&#8221; Franklin said.
&#8220;To me, what I would love is, if the thing that&#8217;s going to give you the best chance to win is running the ball 70 times, we want to be able to do that. If the next week the thing that&#8217;s going to give us the best chance to win is throwing the ball 70 times, we want to have the ability to do that.&#8221;
Freshmen watch
Linebackers coach Brent Pry said Thursday the staff was still debating whether or not to redshirt Jason Cabinda and Troy Reeder. Franklin had said at the end of training camp he thought both could play, but it will probably come down to health of the starting group.
Pry did say that little-used sophomore Gary Wooten has stepped up as the top backup in the meantime.
Franklin said on his weekly radio show that the five freshmen who played against UCF &#8212; CB Grant Haley, TE Mike Gesicki, FS Marcus Allen and receivers Chris Godwin and Saeed Blacknall &#8212; will see their roles increase as the year goes along.
For Haley, that could start as soon as Saturday. Franklin said he expected Haley&#8217;s reps in the secondary to &#8220;double&#8221; from last week on top of his duties as a kick returner.
Mitchell report due?
The latest edition of former Sen. George Mitchell&#8217;s report on Penn State&#8217;s progress in reforming from the Jerry Sandusky scandal could very well be released today.
The previous seven in the series were all released on a set schedule and always on a Friday. Last September&#8217;s notable report, which ultimately led to the NCAA reducing sanctions against the school later in the month, came out on Sept. 6.

Lions’ O-line making progress