The top-ranked, 1-0 Alabama Crimson Tide of coach Nick Saban renewed their historic rivalary with the 18^th ranked, 1-0 Penn State Nittany Lions of coach Joe Paterno.  Alabama's dominating defense held Penn State's youthful offense to 283 total yards while Crimson Tide's RB Trent Richardson rushed for 144 yards with a touchdown to help lead Alabama to an easy 24-3 win over the Nittany Lions.  The Crimson Tide controlled the line of scrimmage throughout the game leading to the dominating win.  After the teams traded punts on their opening possessions, Alabama QB Greg McElroy went to the air to get control of the Penn State defense.  Starting from his own 32-yard line, McElroy connected on a 21-yard pass to All-SEC WR Julio Jones, got sacked for a 1-yard loss, completed a 14-yard pass to WR Darius Hanks, completed an 8-yard pass to WR Marquis Maze, & rushed 5 yards on a quarterback draw putting the ball at the Nittany Lions' 36-yard line.  The next pass got the Crimson Tide in the end zone as McElroy connected with WR Kevin Norwood for the 36-yard touchdown pass & a 7-0 lead.  This drive seemed to keep Penn State's defense off-balance the rest of the game as the Nittany Lions struggled to determine Alabama's intent to pass or run throughout the game.  Late in the 1^st quarter, Richardson stamped his imprint on the game as he dominated an 8-play, 83-yard drive by rushing 5 times for 73 yards before McElroy connected with TE Preston Dial on a 14-yard touchdown pass for a 14-0 lead to open the 2^nd quarter.  Even when it appeared Penn State might rally their offense thing went wrong.  With the Nittany Lions driving to the Crimson Tide's 16-yard line, QB Rob Bolden connected with WR Chaz Powell but Powell lost the ball & Alabama CB Robert Lester picked up the ball.  Lester carried 75 yards before having the ball stripped with Penn State's WR Brett Brackett recovering at their own 2-yard line so effectively, a 4-yard gain had resulted in a 82-yard loss.  Crimson Tide's PK Jeremy Shelley kicked a 31-yard field goal for a 17-0 halftime lead.  Alabama's final points came on the second play of the 4^th quarter when Richardson carried in from a yard out for a 24-0 lead.  The Nittany Lions only points of the game followed when PK Collin Wagner kicked a 36-yard field goal.  McElroy finished with 229 yard passing with 2 touchdowns as he completed 16 of 24 pass attempts for the Crimson Tide.  Bolden threw for 144 yards with 2 interceptions in the loss.  Penn State finished the season 7-6 while Alabama finished 10-3, ranked 10^th nationally.  The Nittany Lions have not played for The Belt again.