STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania (Ticker) -- Two teams whose season openers fell short of expectations clash Saturday when No. 25 Penn State hosts Boston College.
The Nittany Lions (1-0) climbed back into the top 25 in the latest poll despite a sluggish 23-10 victory over Temple.
Boston College (0-1) opened with a 32-28 home loss to Wake Forest, squandering a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter and giving up the winning score with less than two minutes remaining.
Penn State has dominated the series, winning 19 of 21 all-time meetings, but the Eagles stunned then-ninth-ranked Nittany Lions, 35-32, at Beaver Stadium in the last meeting in 1992.
Zack Mills had a rough afternoon last week for the Nittany Lions, completing just 6-of-17 passes for 79 yards, although he did throw a 56-yard touchdown pass to Tony Johnson. Mills split time with Michael Robinson, who rushed for 89 yards on nine carries.
Robbie Gould kicked three field goals for Penn State as Paterno, the all-time winningest coach in 1-A history, improved his career mark to 337-100-3.
Paterno is facing Boston College coach Tom O'Brien for the first time. O'Brien has nearly 300 fewer wins than his counterpart, dropping to 40-32 following last week's loss.
Led by Derrick Knight, who rushed for 144 yards, Boston College outgained Wake Forest by nearly 140 yards and had 12 more first downs. But the Eagles beat themselves with three fumbles and 14 penalties for 107 yards.
Knight climbed five spots to seventh on Boston College's all-time rushing yards list with 2,154. Next up are Omarin Walker (2,471) and Keith Burnette (2,500).
