A Great End....

The Lions played great football today. (period)

Offense:
Run. Pass. Whatever. The Lions played as well as they could today. Clark threw for 300+ yards and 4 TDs, he also ran for a TD. Royster went for over 100 total yards. Green showed a flash of brilliance. The big plays were back and the O-line dominated MSU.

Defense:
The defense was firing on all cylinders this evening. Ringer was as ineffective as a turd in the current. He was in control of nothing and was completely at the whim of the Penn State defense. Yet again, the Penn State's defense is a killer when it comes to big time Big Ten Running Backs. Maybe Ringer and Wells can't sit around and hold each other's hand, and tell each other how great he is. Awesome.

MSU's offensive line was visibly terrified of PSU's pass rush from the very beginning. I should have kept a running count of how many false starts there were. I'm surprised they didn't line up tackles flanking the QB. If MSU's offensive line had just showed up in prison, Aaron Maybin would have 5 new bitches.

It was a great game. One had the time to step back and savor how great a season this was as well as wallow in how much better PSU was than their hapless opponents.

I am fired up! (I hope the Lions don't face OrSU!)

GO STATE! I LOVE YOU!

Predictions and The Past

Last I saw, Vegas was calling PSU a 14 point favorite for this weekend's contest with MSU. This sounds absurdly high to me. I think Indiana put out a great blue print on how to beat the Lions. Milk the clock, control the ball, keep PSU off the field, and keep the game close. With Ringer in the backfield I see no reason why MSU won't employ this gameplan and do it well.

Because of MSU's potent ground attack (remember how Iowa gave the Lions fits?), and the freezing temps predicted in Happy Valley (at least they are predicting it to be clear!) neither team will crack 30 points. Final prediction:

PSU: 24
MSU: 17

In other news, Chris Bell has been sentenced for his penchant to wield a blade instead of using his big-boy-voice. He got 4 years probation. Good luck to you Chris but never darken the halls of University Park again.

How glad are you to have unloaded this guy?

GO STATE! BEAT SPARTY!

Brief Reactions To Sparty

More will be forthcoming but....
How the fuck did PSU lose that game? 17 pts! unbelievable. Myself, and others, have been crowing about PSU's championship caliber defense pretty much all year. However, a championship caliber defense you are not if let MSU come back from 17 down in the second half.

I though Morelli played fine (that being said, when PSU finally fell behind and we needed to drive the field and score I knew it was over. Look in your heart and you will see that you knew it was over too). Really, aside from being ineffectual at the end, the offense played well. 31 points should have been enough to win. Seriously.

The Defense was terrible. Secondary, terrible. D-Line, Terrible. Linebackers, Terrible. How else can you give up a lead like that?

GO STATE! KEEP PRACTICING! GO BOWLING!

Blue White Round Table: Week Of Michigan State

I am back for the final Blue-White Roundtable of PSU’s 2007 regular season. Mike from BSD brings us this week's questions. My answers are below but I implore you to check out RUTS, TNL, WWN, and TNN for their responses.

1. Why did Temple make our defense look like another MAC team in the first half?

Well, I didn’t get to watch the game, however, it doesn’t seem like they did looking at the stats. The score was 17-0 at half. Also, Temple had the ball six times in the first half; this resulted in zero points, a missed field goal, a fumble, two turnovers on downs, and two punts. I can’t say this made PSU’s defense look anything but dominant.

2. Should Penn State burn Stephfon Green's redshirt if Evan Royster is inactive for this week?

No. There are reports floating around that Royster has been practicing on a limited basis. This leads me to believe that he would be available to play if necessary on Saturday.

We have all heard the tantalizing reports of Green’s excellence in practice so it would be great to see him actually play. However, I would much rather see him keep four years of eligibility intact at PSU. Think about this. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see PSU run a spread-option offense next year with Green and Royster in the backfield?

3. Right now it's looking like Penn State will end up in either the Outback Bowl against an SEC opponent or the Alamo Bowl against a Big XII team. Which possible match up looks the most intriguing to you?

Right now PSU is tied for fourth in the Big Ten with Wisconsin. This week, Wisconsin takes on the terrible Golden Gophers and they will finish the season at 5-3 in conference. Assuming PSU defeats MSU and Illinois isn’t too hung-over against Northwestern than the Lions will tie Wisconsin at 5-3 in conference. PSU, however, owns the initial tie-breaker having already defeated the Badgers in head-to-head competition which means that PSU would earn fourth place in the Big Ten and be going to the Alamo bowl.

The Big XII teams who are right around 4-5 are Texas and Okl. St. I think everybody would rather see PSU take on Texas.

4. Was Ohio State's loss to Illinois a good thing or bad thing for the Big Ten?

I think it was a good thing. LSU or Oregon would’ve rocked Tosu and handed the Big Ten its second straight embarrassing loss in a National Championship game. It is clear that the Big Ten is down this year and as such shouldn’t be fielding a team in the National Championship game. It is better to slink off and lick our conference wounds than have the conferences best team look terrible against a clearly superior opponent.

Lightning Round

What was up with the bizarre quarterback rotation at the end of the Temple game?

I have no idea.

It's Michigan State, and technically rivalry week. How bad do you want to beat the Spartans? Make me feel the hate.

This is definitely and invented rivalry but the implications of this game alone are enough to get even the most stoic of fans fired up! The analysis above is assuming that PSU beats Sparty. However, if PSU loses we would en up in a tie with Iowa for fifth in the Big Ten. FIFTH! This would probably keep PSU in the Alamo Bowl but it makes the Insight Bowl a definite possibility.

GO STATE! BEAT SPARTY!