Austin Scott's Preliminary Hearing

The CDT reports that Austin Scott appeared before a judge today for his Preliminary Hearing. (A preliminary hearing is where a judge or magistrate makes a determination of whether or not there is probable cause to believe that these crimes were committed by the accused). Here, the judge dismissed two counts of aggravated indecent assault (whatever that means) but bound him over on charges of rape, sexual assault, indecent assault and simple assault over for trial in Centre County court.



I LOOK GOOOOOOOOOD!

This is more bad news than good news for Scott. Sure, he got two lesser charges dismissed but he is still facing two very serious charges and two lesser charges. The victim appeared and testified before the Court as to what happend.

According to the prosecution, the woman accompanied Scott back to his apartment early that morning, but told him she did not intend to have sex. She said she fell asleep at the apartment and awoke to find him on top of her. She testified that she when she sat up and told him no, he punched her in the kidneys.

After that, she said, she was afraid and in shock and did as she was told.

“She told him no, she told him to stop, she told him you’re hurting me,” Assistant District Attorney Lance Marshall said.

The prosecution pointed to evidence of bruises found on the woman, including in the kidney area.

Of course, Scott's defense attorney had his own sound bites both to the court and the media. Observe!

“It is clear here that this is every man’s nightmare,” he said.

Karoly said the "scurrilous" accusation should never have led to criminal charges.

“I’m suggesting that if Mr. Scott is not, or was not, who he is, he would not have been charged,” Karoly said.

Following the hearing, Karoly fielded questions from the media, and said that while he would never presume to tell Coach Joe Paterno what to do, he said he hoped he would consider allowing Scott to return to the team until the charges are resolved.

“He should be allowed to return to the team," Karoly said. "The team needs him.” For more information from today's hearing, check back later at CentreDaily.com or see tomorrow's Centre Daily Times.

What is funny is that, clearly, the team does not need him and is actually playing better without him. Really, this is just another step in the process towards trial, this case is not going anywhere and the odds of Scott returning to the team are only slightly better than the earth being destroyed by a meteor.

Oh, Snap!


GO STATE! FOCUS ON INDIANA!

Austin Scott UPDATE

The Collegian has snippets of the court paperwork which lays out what this case will consist of.

According to court documents, the victim said to Scott on the walk to campus, "just so you know, I'm not going to have sex with you."

"Do you want me to call you a taxi now?" Scott said, according to court documents. The victim replied that she just wanted him to respect her wishes.

"If I can't have sex with you, can I at least cop a feel?" he asked, the criminal complaint reads. The victim declined.

If true this smacks of a desperation one would not expect to see in the starting running back at a big time football school.

The two entered Scott's apartment and proceeded to watch television from his bed. The victim reported she fell asleep fully clothed and on top of the bed comforter, but soon awoke to find her jeans removed and Scott attempting to have sex with her.

She tried to sit up, but felt a punch in her right kidney, according to court documents. The victim told police she "went along with it because she was afraid [Scott] was going to hurt her."

Throughout the intercourse, the victim said she told Scott multiple times he was hurting her, according to court documents.

That is just peculiar. Ooh she's asleep, now is my chance!

In fairness, Scott's side of the story is that the encounter was completely consensual and actually ended quite well.

When she left Scott's apartment, they "embraced and kissed goodbye," he said in the press release.

So that is what we're going to be hearing about for the next 6-12 months. Great.

GO STATE! BEAT WISCONSIN!

Austin Scott Charged With Rape

WJACTV, and ESPN are both reporting that Austin Scott has been officially charged with rape. A Preliminary Hearing is set for Wednesday. (a preliminary hearing is where a judge determines whether or not there is probable cause supporting the charges which have been filed)

Scott is claiming it was consensual.

On the field Impact
The other shoe has dropped. However, Royster and Kinlaw have proven themselves as being more than capable so the on-field-impact should be minimal. However, the distractions won't be leaving any time soon.


Here we go.

Injuries, Austin Scott and More

The CDT reports and I analyze the following: Paterno would not tell us anything more than what we already knew about the Austin Scott. We know he was kicked off the team, his locker was cleared out, and it was all because of an unspecified violation of team rules. Paterno would say only this:

“Scott broke a team rule and I think that’s as much as I’m gonna say,”

Mysterious.

Evan Royster left the game after looking fantastic against Iowa, fortunately, the injury is only a thigh bruise. We can all breathe a sigh of relief. I saw them working on his general knee area and I started to flip out a little. Because it is only a bruise Royster should be able to return to play soon, which is great news because he has looked the best of any PSU back we've seen all season.

It feels great to get a win! More Iowa reactions later.

Penn State Comments on Austin Scott

The Collegian is reporting on PSU's first comment on the mysterious situation regarding Austin Scott's dismissal from the team. And by comment I mean say absolutely nothing at all. The only thing that come out was that Scott kicked off the team because of an unspecified violation of team rules. The Collegian has the story.

Austin Scott UPDATE!

What started out as two seemingly unconnected reports are starting to be linked. The Daily Collegian is reporting on a sexual assault on campus. There were also several rumors going around that Austin Scott was kicked off the team. Now, WJAC-TV is reporting that Scott's locker has been cleared out AND that it was a PSU football player who was being ID'd by the victim.

It is clear that Scott will not play today and possibly will never be back in the Blue & White again. I think Kinlaw and Royster will simply each get more carries and that will be the end of the impact on the team.

Beyond what happens on the field what the fuck is going on in Happy Valley? Fights, Felony Charges, Trials, now the specter of a sexual assault looming over the program. This is not what I expect and demand as an alumni.

GO STATE! BEAT IOWA!

Austin Scott

will not play. At least, if you pay attention to the rumors. Which I do. All day every day. If true, I do want to see Royster get more PT.

Blue White Roundtable: Week of Iowa

Mike from BSD brings us the questions this week. The usuals suspects of RUTS, TNL, WWN, and the Nittany Notebook bring us better responses than my meager efforts. On to the questions!

1. Besides the fact that we're 3-2, what has been the biggest disappointment this year?

Austin Scott. We all knew that Morelli was capable of turning the ball over and missing reads but what nobody expected was the incredibly sloppy play from Scott. We had seen Scott play extremely well in the 2006 Orange Bowl and all the reports were that he had rededicated himself and was ready for a break-out season. This could not have been further from the truth as he has developed quite the penchant for fumbling.

2. After the Michigan game the play calling was under heavy scrutiny against Illinois. Late in the third quarter with Penn State trailing by seven points, the Nittany Lions had a third and goal from the one yard line. They elected to pitch the ball to Rodney Kinlaw over left tackle and the play lost two yards. Then on fourth and goal from the three they elected to kick a field goal. How would you evaluate the play calling on these two plays?

I'm glad we aren't getting too specific with the questions, nice and broad, that's how I Like 'em! I have no problem with the pitch. Kinlaw is the faster of the two backs and given Scott's inability to hold onto the ball this year I think it was a good decision. Similarly, I have no problem kicking a field goal on fourth down. You gain points and you still have a quarter left to play.

3. Is there anything positive we can take out of the Illinois game?

Yes. There has to be. It might be reaching but PSU moved the ball very effectively against Illinois, but we just couldn't put the ball in the endzone. The Lions gained over 400 yds on offense and controlled the ball for over 33 minutes. This is all positive offensive news. It is, of course, off-set by the number of turnovers but when not turning the ball over the offense looked good. (Wow, I didn't even believe all that).

Lightning Round

Who should be the starting quarterback against Iowa?

Whoever can get the ball in the goddamn endzone!

Joe Must Go! Yes or No?

No. Joe has earned the right to stay as long as he wants. People wanted him to leave after the 2004 season and he delighted us with 2005. You don't fire a legend.
Iowa Prediction?
PSU: 24
Iowa: 20

GO STATE! BEAT IOWA!

Michigan: The Post Mortem

Now that we're a little removed from the travesty which transpired on Saturday. As everyone knows, the Lions fell to Michigan 14-9. This caused the Lions to fall 11 positions in the polls to #21. There were a variety of reasons the Lions fell on saturday, I will try to highlight some of the reasons I think were most responsible for PSU's poor showing.

On Offense:
Most glaring is Penn State's ability to only convert 33% of their third down plays. This has got to change in Penn State is going to be any good at all this year.
The Rushing attack was less impressive in person than it was in real life. The lions ended up rushing for 101 yards on 29 attempts or 3.5 yds/carry. If you hadn't watched the game you might have thought that PSU did ok rushing the ball, this would be completely inaccurate. Penn State struggled running the ball all day. It resembled a mentally handicapped child running into a wall time and time again. The staff's reliance on the I-formation nearly made me vomit with rage. Instead of spreading the field Penn State seemed happy to try to run out of the I-formation. It was awful. If you were afraid PSU wasn't going to base it's attack off of the Appy St./Oregon playbook than now is the time to start hitting yourself with a heavy blunt object (insert Morelli joke here).
Morelli was not very good. He was relatively mistake free throwing the ball as he had no INTs (that is about as positive as one can get about his performance), howver, he had a critical fumble early in the game which set up Michigan's first TD. He completed less than 50% of his passes (48%). The simple fact of the matter is that Morelli is not making the plays necessary for Penn State to win. He just isn't. I've been a Morelli supporter through last year and so far this year, but a change needs to be made. PSU has to find a player who can make things happen to put points on the board.
There is also the little matter of Austin Scott's complete unwillingness to hang onto the ball. It went something like this:

AMMO: Hey, Austin! Take this football!
Scott: Sure thing.
UM Player: I'm going to tackle you. Prepare yourself!
Scott: AAAAAAH! (fumbles)
ME: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

After his second fumble-prone game Austin has probably butter-fingered his way out of a starting role.

On Defense:
While the Offense didn't convert enough third downs the Defense gave up far too many third down conversions. Michigan was able to convert 56% of their third downs which allowed Hart to run the ball 44 times for 153 yards (3.47 yds/carry). However, the defense only gave up 14 points, which includes the early gift Morelli gave Michigan when he fumbled deep in PSU's territory. For Penn State to win the defense needed to not only have a good game but also to have a game-changing, beat-down, kind of a game. This simply did not happen, however, without the Defense's effort it could have been much worse than it was.
You did see a lot of DC-40 in the first half.

I don't know what Penn State needs to do to get the offense moving. I think trying Clark at QB and giving Royster more touches at RB is a good start. I can't believe that we've lost nine in a row to Michigan.

















GO STATE! GET FIRED UP FOR THE ILLINIS!

The State of Nittany Nation

PSU has rolled through weeks 1-3 with an unbeaten record and nothing but the Big Ten schedule left in the way of a national championship and another undefeated season. Yeah. Through three games PSU has outscored opponents 135 to 34 (or almost 4:1). Sadly, 24 of these 34 points came against Buffalo. However, 21 of those points came in the fourth quarter when the game was all but out of hand and the starting defense was enjoying it's Gatorade on the sideline.
Buffalo gave PSU a challenge until the very end of the first half but then Quarless and Golden hung a quick 14 around their neck to put PSU up going into the half.
But enough about Buffalo! We are here to talk about Penn State.
The simple fact of the matter is that PSU struggled to move the ball early....AGAIN! Austin Scott struggled as he fumbled two times in Penn State's first three possessions. At this point I had only one opinion: "This is unacceptable." I'm not usually one of those "This is unacceptable!" kind of fans. However, Scott's play through the first two games really didn't buy him a lot of breathing room for game #3. (only 161 yds through 2 games). Apparently the coaching staff could stomach no more than I could so they stuck Kinlaw in there. All of a sudden, Kinlaw was ripping off huge runs and the offense really came alive.

This begs one giant question: Who will be Penn State's RB for week Michigan?

The answer is simple, it has to be Kinlaw. Scott has been given a chance to prove himself as the starting back. However, he pissed that all away when he fumbled two times in two possessions against Buffalo. Kinlaw immediately stepped in and rushed for 129 yds on 23 carries. Job=Stolen. Scott might be a more complete back but you have to have someone who can move the chains!

Morelli, had a great game statistically as he passed for 4 TDs and over 202 yds while completing nearly 75% of his passes. If you didn't watch the game you'd be just about ready to make sweet love to AMMO, right? After all, this is exactly what everyone has been waiting for Morelli to do over the last two years. However, if you were lucky enough to be at the game or watch in on the BTN, you saw a QB who was consistently bailed out by incredibly talented receivers. AMMO's passes were consistently inaccurate but the receivers found a way to reel them in. Despite the positive numbers nobody can tell what to expect out of Morelli. He could step up and play well, he could play terribly, or he could just squeak by. Two of the aforementioned will get the job done against Michigan.

Michigan, rolled against ND. Which was a change for Big Blue as they had been victimized for seventy three point in their first three games. However, they mananged to circle the wagons against ND.
(via MZone)
PSU must attempt to penetrate this mighty barrier of canvas, wood, and pioneering spirit on September 22, 2007. Michigan remains just as dangerous now as they were at the beginning of the season. First and foresmost, PSU will have to contain this guy


to be successful.
Oh, right, and minimize the potential mistakes on offense. And win at Michigan. Really, just get a win against Michigan. All easier said than done. After all, Michigan has defeated Notre Dame! (hushed admiration ensues)

GO STATE! GET FIRED UP FOR MICHIGAN!

Big Ten Roundtable: Week Three

MSC brings us the questions this week. I'm all a-tingle with anticipation so lets get straight to the questions.

1. Now that two weeks of play are behind us, what is one encouraging surprise and one downing disappointment from your team? (Easy answer to the latter part of the question for Michigan bloggers)

Austin Scott is really starting to show that he can have a very good season this year. He still has to do it against a truly quality opponent but he has 162 rushing yds (4.2/carry) and 4 TDs in the first two games of the year.
Anthony Morelli is playing better than he did this time last year, however, his decision making still is not where anyone hopes it would be. For PSU to join the ranks of elite teams he will have to get his completion percentage into the 60s and just eliminate the truly awful decisions.

2. A look at the current Big Ten standings shows things dead-locked record-wise for the most part. Once conference play actually begins, which two or three teams pull away from the rest of the pack?

Judging from what teams have shown so far, PSU and Wisconsin seem to be the best two teams in the conference. Michigan has looked terrible and Ohio State struggled with Akron into the third quarter.

3. Has your team ever played in a game that was just downright boring and impossible to watch? I ask this because going into the Michigan-Notre Dame game, looking at it on paper, it is shaping up to be one of the ugliest we may see all year.

Oh yeah. The obvious choice is Penn State's loss to Iowa in 2004. The final score was Iowa 6, PSU: 4. I mean, when your defense is so good that it only gives up 6 points and scores 4 points on its own AND YOU STILL LOSE BY 2! Absolutely awful. These guys know what i'm talking about.

GO STATE! GET FIRED UP FOR BUFFALO!

PSU vs. Notre Dame: Initial Reactions

The most striking thing was how well the stadium-wide-white-out was executed. The stated goal was to be able to pick out every Irish fan in the Stadium and it was accomplished. I really didn't think that a lot of the older fans would get the memo but it seems that I was horribly wrong.Photo by Nate Smith via The Collegian

I thought Jimmy Clausen, who i started simply referring to as "Pickle" (ex. "Eat that, Pickle!" It was very satisfying. I would really recommend it to any Michigan fan for next week.) played very well. He didn't seem rattled by the atmosphere in Beaver Stadium. He completed several short passes and did what Weiss wanted him to do...Survive.

The defense played extremely well. They sacked poor pickle 6 times, hurried him a lot more, and held Notre Dame to ZERO yards rushing. Yes, zero. The only ND TD came on an Int returned for a TD. The defense looked great.

William's punt return got me insanely fired up. That is the kind of production PSU needs out of D-Will.

Scott played well rushing for 116 yds on 28 carries (4.1yds/carry) and scoring two TDs. Scott really did a good job of putting his head down and doing his best Tony Hunt impression as he ate up yards and the clock with equal zeal. Scott really put the game away for Penn State.

Morelli didn't play particularly well. 12-22, 131 yds, 1 TD, 1 Int. He needs to play better for PSU to make it to the next level. To be fair, he was only 1 mistake away from having the exact game PSU needed.

Big Ten Roundtable Week 1

Sean from Around The Oval has the questions for the first week of the the BTR. I will give my usual, half-hearted attempt at answering questions imagined by those far smarter than myself. To the Questions!

1. Which player from your own team are you most looking forward to watching?
I am really looking forward to seeing Austin Scott play. Don't get me wrong, I am really excited to watch Dan Connor assume his role as leader and all-around beast at ILB and Sean Lee become/stay a dominant force. But the reason I am interested in seeing Scott play is because there are so many questions for PSU at tailback. Austin could really go two different ways this season, he could become the RB he looked like as a freshman and in the Orange Bowl; or, he could be the unfocused mess that was the rest of his career. In sum, Austin will be exciting to watch not just for his big play ability but also for the possibility of his complete and total collapse.

2. Which player from another Big Ten team are you most looking forward to watching?
Mike Hart. Mike has been doing a lot of woofing this off-season and I want to see if he is going to back it up on the field. He is certainly capable of backing it up and Michigan looks explosive on offense but they do have a tough schedule which includes Oregon, ND, PSU, OSU, Wisconsin. There is certainly the possibility of losing a game or two in there. If they do, what will the newly loquacious Mr. Hart say then? Maybe it'll be what he said after losing to TOSU last year:

"I guarantee if we play, it would be a whole different game," Michigan running back Mike Hart said. "We should have got them the first time around. We didn't. If it doesn't happen, that's our fault."

Right. Well, this is his chance to back all this up.
(HT to Mike at BSD)

3. If your team was an action movie star, who would it be?
It would have to be bruce Willis in Live Free or Die Hard. PSU is old school. Dirty. Hard working. Not overly buff or threatening but still dangerous. A little crusty. Sometimes hung-over. But through all that, still capable of great things. It also makes me laugh to picture Joe saying: "Yipee-ki-yaay Mother-fucker" That would be hilarious.











GO STATE!