Nittany Line: Running game suffers along with Royster

THAT MERRY, carefree romp Evan Royster was supposed to take on his way to the summit of Penn State's career rushing chart has turned out to be anything but.

So out of favor is the fifth-year senior from Fairfax, Va., that the student section in Beaver Stadium that once cherished the 100-yard games he routinely churned out has moved on to new favorites . It has been a while since bedsheets hung over the railing hailing Royster as "Evan Almighty," or his classmates' emotional investment in something dubbed "Blue Royster Cult." You're now more likely to see a banner heralding "The Redd Zone," a homage to one of Royster's backups, exciting true freshman tailback Silas Redd.

After running for 2,405 yards and scoring 18 touchdowns the two previous seasons, averaging 6.1 yards per carry as the Nittany Lions' featured ballcarrier for teams that went a combined 22-4, Royster's valedictory has been mostly a bumpy ride of a couple of yards here, a few there. He currently stands at 450 yards on 88 carries, an average of 5.1 yards a try, and only two TD visits to that far-off land of milk and honey, the end zone. And if you subtract Royster's 26-carry, 187-yard explosion against Temple from those figures, those numbers shrink to 263 yards on 62 trips, a 4.2 average .

Perhaps not surprisingly, Penn State's normally productive running game has sunk like a stone to near the bottom of the Big Ten Conference team rankings. The Nits currently stand 10th in the 11-team league with an average of 128.7 rushing yards per game, well down from the 169.8 yards per game (fifth) and 205.8 (second) they posted in 2009 and 2008, respectively .

Even should Royster - who is only 31 yards shy of breaking the Penn State record of 3,398 held for 27 years by the great Curt Warner - finally nudge ahead of the College Football Hall of Famer's career total, the accomplishment might seem a bit hollow if the Nits (4-3 overall, 1-2 Big Ten) don't beat Michigan (5-2, 1-2) in tomorrow night's "whiteout" game before a packed but probably apprehensive crowd of 107,000-plus. The individual most likely to be the focal point of the nationally televised, prime-time contest (8 p.m., ESPN) is Michigan's spectacular sophomore quarterback, Denard Robinson, whose per-game and per-carry averages of 156.6 and 8.0, respectively, dwarf Royster's as do his respective totals of nine touchdowns scored and 18 accounted for.

You couldn't really blame Royster if he had second thoughts about withdrawing his name from the 2010 NFL draft so that he could return for one more go-round at Penn State and the run at Warner that has slowed to a walk. But, publicly at least, he professes to be content with his decision.

"I wouldn't take it back," Royster said of a choice that might well cost him a bundle of money from the pros. "I got another year to be here with my friends and my teammates. It's not something I regret at all. No matter how the season turns out, I'm happy I came back."

So who or what is to blame for Royster's production taking a sharper downward turn than the housing market?

Penn State coach Joe Paterno offered the opinion that the 20 or so pounds the 6-1 player packed on during the offseason, ostensibly to make him stronger, instead had the effect of lessening his quickness and durability. Royster, who began the season at close to 230 pounds, is now closer to his 2009 playing weight of 209.

The primary culprit could be a reconfigured offensive line that has continued to undergo alterations due to injuries and ineffectiveness. You can make a case for the fact that the All-Big Ten first-team quarterback during Royster's back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons was Daryll Clark, while Clark's successor, true freshman Rob Bolden, has taken his lumps while adjusting to the faster pace of big-time college football. In 2008 and '09, Clark took considerable pressure off Royster by racking up 5,854 yards of total offense and accounting for 53 touchdowns. The totals to date for Bolden, who isn't expected to play against Michigan because of a head injury : 1,319 yards of offense, six touchdowns accounted for and seven interceptions .

Or it just might be that Royster, despite his overall effectiveness and the inevitability of his ascension to the top spot among Penn State career rushers, does not possess the jaw-dropping skills of such fabled Nits runners as Warner, Lenny Moore, Larry Johnson, Lydell Mitchell, Franco Harris and Ki-Jana Carter. Numbers alone do not elevate a very good player to the ranks of greatness.

THREE THINGS TO LOOK FOR

* Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley isn't big on assigning a "spy" to a specific opposing player, but maybe Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson merits such attention. If it happens, at least occasionally, backup linebackers Gerald Hodges and Khairi Fortt would seem to have the athletic ability to be D-Rob's shadow .

* Against the Wolverines' fast-paced, high-scoring offense, the Nits' propensity for starting slow and gradually building momentum simply won't cut it. "I think we have to play 60 minutes of really good football, on both sides of the ball," PSU coach Joe Paterno said.

* If last week's appearance in relief of the injured Rob Bolden is any indication, quarterback Matt McGloin, who is expected to make his first career start against Michigan, already has identified wide receiver Derek Moye as his go-to guy. Moye caught both of McGloin's scoring passes which, incidentally, are the first two of McGloin's career .

AGENDA

Who: Michigan at Penn State

When: Tomorrow, 8:06 p.m.

Where: Beaver Stadium, State College

TV: ESPN

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

Records: Michigan 5-2 overall, 1-2 Big Ten; Penn State 4-3, 1-2

History: The Wolverines lead the series, 10-5. The Nittany Lions have won the last two. Last year, the Nits rolled, 35-10, in Ann Arbor. Navorro Bowman had 11 tackles, a sack, a recovered fumble and an interception.

Coaches: Rich Rodriguez (third year at school, 13-18; 18th year overall, 118-80-2; Joe Paterno (45th year, 398-132-3)

About Michigan: Asked about again "going against" the 83-year-old Paterno, Rodriguez, 45, said, laughingly, "Joe and I aren't going against each other. I might be able to take him if it was just him and me" . . . Former Daily News All-City receiver Je'Ron Stokes, a 6-foot, 193-pound sophomore out of Northeast High, has one catch for 11 yards this season . . . Rodriguez moved 6-5, 333-pound sophomore Will Campbell from defensive line to guard, and 6-4, 315-pound redshirt freshman Quinton Washington from o-line to nose tackle.

About Penn State: One reason Penn State's offense has sputtered is the season-long absence of sophomore wideout Curtis Drake, the former West Catholic standout. Most services rated him as only a three-star recruit. Paterno said Drake - redshirting after a fractured left tibia in preseason - is the team's best athlete . . . Joe Paterno said in a taped segment of his weekly radio show that he would go with Matt McGloin as starting quarterback as of yesterday, according to an Associated Press report. Quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno said on the radio show that Rob Bolden (head injury) had been cleared to play and practiced "some" this week but naming a starter would be a game-time decision . . . Penn State's tendency to start slow before finding its rhythm in the second half won't do against the explosive Wolverines. "We have to play 60 minutes of really good football, on both sides of the ball," Paterno said . . . In 2009, the Nits were tied with Wisconsin for the top spot in the Big Ten with 37 sacks; to date they're ninth in the league with just nine . . . Senior guard Stefen Wisniewski has been selected one of 16 National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame Scholar-Athletes and will receive an $18,000 scholarship for postgraduate studies. He also is a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy, presented to the nation's premier college football scholar-athlete, with the winner receiving a total of $25,000 for postgraduate work.

PREDICTION

Michigan 31, Penn State 27