2011 Outback Bowl Post Game Thoughts and Bolden Talk

by: John Tecce

January 3, 2011

With the bowl game and festivities now over, we're getting the chance to see what else Tampa has to offer. First, however, came a much needed day of relaxation for myself, Mike, and Carolyn. After waking up before the sun the past two days, it felt amazing to sleep until noon. We made the short walk over to the International Plaza and Bay Street (an indoor/outdoor mall with shopping and restaurants) and spent some of the day exploring there, then returned to the hotel room to watch football. We plan on having dinner at Kona Grill, which has received great reviews in Tampa and is only a few minutes from us.

As if yesterday's game was not frustrating enough, more bad news surrounding the Penn State football team seems to be on the way. Earlier today, David Jones of the Harrisburg Patriot-News first reported that former starting quarterback Rob Bolden is "likely to transfer", according to comments made by his father. Those comments have since been confirmed by Lions247 and Bolden transfer talk has dominated Twitter today.

Bolden did not see the field yesterday in Penn State's loss despite the subpar performance by starter Matt McGloin. We debated this issue on our walk back yesterday, and Alex Cohen noted that although McGloin played poorly, we were in the lead for most of the game and there was no point in the game where pulling McGloin was obvious. I agree with him on those points, but Bolden has to be wondering what else needs to happen for him to see the field after the starter throws five interceptions.

I have been a Bolden fan since August, and I've said for a while that I thought he would enter 2011 as the starting quarterback. However, as we are beginning to see, it isn't always just about playing time.

Penn State entered the 2010 season with four quarterbacks competing for playing time, including three that came in as top 10 prospects. Now, they could enter 2011 with only two remaining (Kevin Newsome has also indicated that he intends to transfer) and no quarterback recruits currently set to come in. Quarterback management has never been Penn State's strength, but they could find themselves heading into 2011 with an incumbent who threw five interceptions in his last game and a redshirt freshman with zero game experience.

Here are all of my photos from the week in Tampa...