STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- The much-anticipated debut of Alabama transfer receiver Duron Carter didn’t materialize Saturday at Penn State.
He didn’t even make the trip to State College as his academic clearance issues continue for at least another week.
“The University of Alabama is awaiting documents necessary for Carter to be certified,” read a statement from the school distributed before kickoff. “Until those documents are received, Carter may continue practicing with the team, but he cannot compete in a game.”
Coach Nick Saban mentioned Carter being part of the game plan as late as Wednesday after the former Ohio State receiver sat out the season opener with Kent State. He didn’t start practicing with the team until just days before facing the Golden Flashes when Saban said he was clear to practice.
Fake punt not perfect
It’s been a while since Alabama tried to fake a punt. It almost backfired in a major way.
Facing fourth-and-one from the Penn State 35 trailing 3-0, tight end Brad Smelley took the short snap and ran straight up the middle. Penn State players and fans celebrated thinking they’d foiled the attempt, but the measurement gave Alabama the first down. The Tide then drove the rest of the field to take a 7-3 lead on AJ McCarron’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Michael Williams.
Saban said the fake didn’t go as planned.
“He took it up the middle and got stuffed when he had a hole on the outside,” Saban said. “We worked on that with their punt safe (formation) and we felt it was a good opportunity for us. Offensively, we needed to change the momentum.”
Smelley said he did what he could with what was offered.
“Well, I saw some space,” he said. “I took it and tried to get what I could get. I was just happy we got the first down.”
Smelley also caught two passes for 18 yards Saturday.
Almost, twice for Lester
Alabama safety Robert Lester was the second-best player in the nation last year collecting interceptions. His total for 2011 still sits at zero, though he came close to No. 1 on consecutive plays in Saturday’s second half.
Both plays were originally ruled interceptions, but both were overruled upon video review.
Lester couldn’t argue with either call.
“I knew what happened,” he said. “I wasn’t able to get my hands under. They were great calls.”
O-line improves
The Tide offensive line took some heat after the rushing game sputtered at times against Kent State.
Improvement was notable against Penn State when Trent Richardson ran for 111 of Alabama’s 196 rushing yards and McCarron wasn’t sacked once.
“The communication was better up there even though we were on the road,” center William Vlachos said. “I think we were more on the same page with one another up front.”
Largest audience
The 107,846 attending Saturday’s game broke a nine-year old record for the largest crowd to witness an Alabama football game in person.
The previous mark set Oct. 26, 2002 at Tennessee fell just short at 107,722. Nearly all supporting Penn State was decked in all white, making pockets of crimson easy to spot. The rare inter-regional matchup drew many more than the 5,000 tickets allotted to Alabama by Penn State.
Tide cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick was caught off-guard.
“I didn’t think it was going to be that loud,” he said. “We we had the little sneak run, it was loud. I didn’t think it got this loud.”
A few boos
Head coach Joe Paterno asked Penn State fans to treat Alabama with respect as the Tide faithful did a year ago in Tuscaloosa.
The favor was returned through the tailgating and pregame festivities, but a few boos were heard from the student section when Alabama took the field.
Remembering 9/11
Penn State honored the memories of those lost 10 years ago today in the terrorist attacks with a pregame ceremony.
A color guard of New York City firefighters presented the colors before the national anthem immediately followed by a flyover of F-18 Hornets.
A patriotic halftime show from the Penn State marching band paid tribute to the 2,100-plus students and alumni who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.
