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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Rob Bolden was the first person off the bus Saturday morning when No. 19 Penn State arrived at Beaver Stadium.
A large gathering of fans greeted the 18-year-old true freshman quarterback and offered him encouragement.
Bolden certainly did not disappoint the crowd of 101,213 in his first collegiate start. He completed 20 of 29 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Nittany Lions to a 44-14 non-conference victory against Division I-AA Youngstown State.
Bolden, the first true freshman quarterback to start an opener for Penn State in 100 years, also threw one interception, but he showed poise in the pocket and made a number of clutch throws while tossing touchdown passes of 20 and 22 yards to wide receiver Brett Brackett.
"He was very calm out there," fullback Joe Suhey said. "He certainly didn't play like a freshman."
The 6-foot-1, 221-pound Bolden, who was named the starter earlier in the week, played four plays into the fourth quarter to complete a scoring drive before leaving.
No one knows for sure how he felt about his performance because Penn State did not make him available for interviews, which is their usual policy with freshman players.
"I think overall he played a good, solid game," coach Joe Paterno said.
Paterno has employed just three true freshman quarterbacks in his 45 seasons as coach, but Bolden was the first one to start an opener for the Nittany Lions during Paterno's long tenure. The other two -- Wally Richardson (1992) and Tony Sacca (1988) -- were forced into action because of injuries.
PDFBolden's competition for the starting job, sophomore backup Kevin Newsome and redshirt sophomore Matt McGloin, a former walk-on, also played Saturday as Paterno had promised.
Newsome scored on a 1-yard sneak in the fourth quarter, and McGloin appeared for just one snap.
Paterno said Bolden was a logical choice as the starter.
"I've been around a few kids in 60 years, and he just seemed to be the right guy at the right time," Paterno said. "But we'll see. It's still a long way to go."
Quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno acknowledged that Bolden would face a much bigger challenge Saturday night in his first road start against No. 1 Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
"He got here in May and in preseason practice we really had to ramp him up," Paterno said. "And, when you come in to learn a new system at quarterback, you have to learn a new language.
"We kind of put the Rosetta Stone program together to help him learn the language. He learned Spanish. Next week, he's got to know Mandarin Chinese -- must be fluent, on the road and under pressure -- so we'll see.
"It's obviously a bigger step. And Alabama does so many things defensively. It's going to be a challenge."
Penn State trailed, 7-3, after one quarter Saturday and 7-6 early in the second quarter. Bolden put the Lions ahead for good with 1:20 to go in the half, rifling his first touchdown pass to Brackett, a 20-yarder.
The 6-foot-6, 242-pound Brackett, recruited by Penn State as a quarterback, finished with career-highs eight receptions for 98 yards after managing three catches for 13 yards last season.
"We put Brackett in a position where he could get his hands on the football," Joe Paterno said.
Penn State led, 16-7, at halftime, broke the game open on the first play of the second half when Chaz Powell returned the kickoff 100 yards, tiptoeing down the sideline.
"Once I beat the kicker [Stephen Blose], I saw some guys had an angle on me, so that's when I just turned it on," Powell said.
Backup tailback Stephfon Green scored on a 6-yard run for the Nittany Lions, and Collin Wagner kicked three field goals, including a career-long 49-yarder. His other two were from 44 and 48.
Joe Paterno knows Bolden and his team will have to play error-free football to hang with the defending national champion Crimson Tide.
"We have to have a great week of practice and then go down there and play against a team that may be as good a football team that we've played against since we played Miami in the [1987] Fiesta Bowl [for the national championship.]"
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