BLAME IT ON THE RAIN

It was another uneventful game in a season that's been devoid of big moments for the Penn State football team. Neither the Nittany Lions or Minnesota Golden Gophers seemed to have much juice during the 90th Homecoming Game at Beaver Stadium, but at least the Penn State defense showed up to capture its first shutout of the season, 20-0.

The horrible weather going on all over the northeast scared many of the fans away and made for less than ideal conditions, but it was clear early on that the Golden Gophers just didn't have the talent on either side of the ball to hang with the Lions. Penn State had only one three-and-out possession all day and only had one drive that chewed up fewer than 31 yards. Co-Captain Sean Lee returned to action for the first time since the Temple game to help spearhead a classic defensive effort. Lee and company collected an early interception and stuffed Minnesota at the goal line while surrendering just one drive of more than 24 yards all game.

If one had to pick a pervading theme for the 2009 season so far, it would probably be the rain or the schedule, but the dominating defense would run a close second. In a very Jim Tressel way of looking at things, the season is halfway over and Penn State is 5-1 overall and tied for second in the conference. It's had one really bad quarter all season, so the glass is certainly half-full for this team as it readies for the "difficult" portion of its schedule starting with the Michigan Wolverines next week.

Perhaps the biggest concern coming out of Saturday's game against Minnesota is the health of backup running back Stephon Greene. The sophomore left the game in the first half and didn't return to the sidelines for the remainder of the contest.When asked about it after the game, Joe Paterno said, "...I know he's hurt, but I don't know how badly. It was probably an ankle [injury]."