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Q: I have to ask why the Penn State strategy in regard to punt returns is simply to fair catch. The personnel employed on punts are indicative of this strategy and were a deciding factor in the Ohio State game. PSU cannot afford to lose the battle of field position against a team with an actual defense. With Devon Smith and Justin Brown having burned their redshirts, why don't they bring back some punts?

Gene Ritter, Suwannee, Ga.

MUSSELMAN: Penn State's punt return team has been pathetic all season, ranking 107th among 120 Division I-A teams with a 5.2-yard average. You are right -- Ohio State's Jon Thoma punted eight times and the Nittany ions had one return for 0 yards. It doesn't get much worse than that. Brown returned 3 punts for 24 yards earlier in the year, but lately, it's been a steady dose of Graham Zug. He and Evan Royster have a team-high 6 returns each for a combined 39 yards. By comparison, Ohio State's Ray Small had punt returns of 41 and 45 yards among his 130 return yards Saturday. For the season, Small has 30 returns for 255 yards. That's 11 more returns and 157 yards more than Penn State's totals for the year.

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