NCAA 09 Rankings and The Nittany Lion's Future!

I am a sucker for the NCAA football franchise. I love it not only for the game play but they also have their take on how good each team will be. The rankings are out....but first an awesome screen shot from NCAA 09!
NCAA 09 ranks the lions as an overall 91 (88 in offense and a 94 in Defense). Not too shabby. PSU was an overall B+ in '08 and I guess the Lions have upgraded to an A- (91 = A-?). But now, how do PSU's opponents stack up?

Coastal Carolina..................NOT RANKED!
Oregon State...........................77 Overall (80 off., 75 Def.)
Syracuse...........................72 Overall (73 Off., 80 Def.)
Temple.............................69 Overall (73 Off., 78 Def.)
Illinois..............................81 Overall (81 Off., 85 Def.)
Purdue.............................84 Overall (86 Off., 82 Def.)
Wisconsin.........................89 Overall (92 Off., 89 Def.)
Michigan..........................84 Overall (81 Off., 89 Def.)
Ohio State............99 Overall (99 Off., 99 Def. UGA is the only other 99 Overall in the game)
Iowa ...............................74 Overall (79 Off., 73 Def.)
Indiana............................79 Overall (81 Off., 82 Def.)
Michigan State.......................79 Overall (83 Off., 78 Def.)

If you go strictly by the numbers and always assume that the team with the higher overall rating will win, PSU will go 11-1 only losing to one of the best teams in the country on the road. This would lead one to believe that PSU is a BCS caliber team with an outside shot of playing for the National Title! This is opposed to a more sober, and commonly held, belief that the Lions will lose 3-4 games this year.

I don't know how realistic it is but it sure is fun to think of the possibilities.

GO (virtual) STATE!

The photo and stats were all found on the NCAA 09 website.

Jamelle Cornley's Season is Over (BALLS!)

The Collegian is reporting that Cornley that the Junior had season ending surgery. While the Lions will certainly miss Cornley and his 12 points and 6 boards a game they didn't play like it on Sunday.

Despite losing Cornley, PSU took down #18 Indiana in an upset, over-time, thriller!

This season will certainly be remembered as: what might have been for the Blue & White. However, injuries to key players have stymied PSU's once high hopes.

GO STATE! PLAY HARD! NEVER GIVE UP!

Pryor Breathes New Life Into PSU's Hopes

If you aren't signed up with Scout.com or Rivals you can get your PSU commitment fix over at GoPSF.com.

It has already hit the wire that mega-recruit Tyrrelle Pryor is not going to sign today, Mr. Pryor is going to delay his commitment in order to take an official visit to PSU! (peep it at ESPN.com)

"He wants to give Penn State and maybe a couple other schools a fair shot by making a visit before he makes a decision that is going to affect him for the rest of his life."

This, to be perfectly honest, is huge for PSU. Three weeks ago it looked as though Penn State didn't have a prayer at landing the biggest recruit in both PA and the Nation. All it took was a visit from a living legend to bring PSU right back into the mix.

At this point, I think PSU has just as good a chance of landing Pryor as Michigan or the Buckeyes. So get ready Happy Valley. Polish those walls and get fired up!

PSU Recruiting Video Database

I spent some time Youtubing around to show you the videos out there on PSU's 2008 recruitting class. If a player isn't listed below I couldn't find it. Enjoy:

A.J. Price (3-Star WR



D'Anton Lynn (4-Star Safety)





Michael Shaw (4-Star RB)



Brandon Beachum (4-Star RB)



Michael Zordich (4-Star MLB)



Enjoy!

I'm Already getting fired up for the fall!

GO STATE!

Erin Andrews Is Unstoppably Awesome

Erin Andrews at PSU:



pilfered from the O-Zone.net
We all love you, Erin.

GO STATE!

I've Got Good News!

PSU basketball looks to be in an up year! This is, and will remain, a PSU football blog but the Lions are off to a great start on the hardwood this year. Now, I can't say I follow PSU basketball closely even in the down years (I don't think I'm alone in this) but I certainly root for them and want them to do well. I remember the days of riots in "Beaver Canyon" when PSU advanced to the sweet sixteen back in 2001. Could we be returning to those days of yore? Check out the fast start the Lions are having this year! Wins like that, on the road, against a quality opponent is what turns around a basketball program.

I also, of course, have bad news.

Willie Harriott will be in court this week for a Preliminary Hearing on a DUI charge he picked up during the season. Apparently, the team plans no action to change Harriott's status on the team. However, I would bet dollars to donuts that this means extra-double-super-secret-doghouse time for Willie.

GO STATE! ON THE FIELD AND ON THE COURT!

Much Ado About A Brick

James Pursley, apparently a past football player, has filed a mighty lawsuit against the university for...........$28 (and attorney's fees, DAMNED ATTORNEYS!). Or, so reports the CDT! All of this arose when PSU declined his requested inscription for a brick on the Alumni Walk outside the Hintz Family Alumni Center. The sticking point is that Pursley wanted a biblical reference “Joshua 24:15.” put on the bottom of his brick. Which, if you are wondering, reads:

But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.

Before you get too worked up, let me say this: this is dumb. The University should probably just let it go and let the man have his brick. However, I would really rather have a brick which read:

But if serving the Pennsylvania State University seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the teams your forefathers served beyond the River, or the ball clubs of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the PS-MOTHERFUCKIN-U!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HEYOOOOOO!

GO STATE! REMAIN AWESOME FOREVER!

Temple Video

First, I'd like to apologize for the dearth of posting recently. A trip out of town combined with food poisoning/the flu rendered me even more useless than usual.
Second, enjoy this snippet of PSU football!


GO STATE! BEAT SPARTY!

Illinois and the Continuance of the Lou Holtz Pep Talk Curse

Penn State gets back on a plane this week to travel to the Land of Lincoln to take on the mighty Illinis! I'm worried about the game. Nine points is not going to be enough against basically every team left on the schedule and the Lions have proven that they can only put up big points against the lowest of the low (ND, Buffalo, FIU).

Juice Williams is a concern. I hope they just lock big DC-40 on Juice as a QB spy all day. Hopefully Dan will turn Juice into something that can be more adequately described as pulp! (ZING!)

On a developing theme here, I would like to congratulate USF football as the most recent recipient of Lou Holtz's lispy-curse. At this point you are basically doomed. As soon as Lou Fired you up your chances were reduced to nil. Vegas noticed. The line on the game is now WVU by one million points.

In a slightly related note, I'll be in Vegas this weekend taking in all the football action I can. Mrs. TINNOMJ and I will be at :

Steiner's
8410 West Cheyenne #107
Las vegas, Nevada 89129
702.395.8777

Mrs. TINNOMJ is actually the president of the Tulane alumni assoc. up there and we will be hunkering down to watch Tulane play LSU as well as PSU take on the Illinis. So come on down and meet your least favorite Penn State Blogger! The games start at 9 am so don't be late!

GO STATE! BEAT THE ILLINIS!

General Excellence

I had actually been wondering what 100,000+ people singing Journey would sound like:










I could not be more fired up for the Michigan game!

The Herbies

Herbstreit gives PSU a lot of love in his pre-season Herbies. He not only has PSU winning the Big Ten, Dan Connor as the best inside LB but also King as the best DB, Morelli will be most improved QB,and Evan Royster will be a household name by Oct. first.

I can feel the love!

Not everybody is happy. WBS feels slighted and demands satisfaction on PSU fans threatening the integrity of his precious Bielema!

GO STATE! EXCEED EXPECTATIONS!

Plays on the PS3? IMPOSSIBLE!

The Pitt Trib Review has an article out today about how Jaypa is utilizing the PS3 to help the QBs get used to the offense and get ready for the season. There are a couple of good things about this article; first, it talks about the utilization of the sports games to help players like it is new. I'm pretty sure PSU has been doing this for over a year. Second, Bradley was asked about video games and here was his response:

"There are no video games. We don't even allow any pictures," Bradley said. "Well, that isn't entirely true. I have a picture of a kid playing high school football with one arm and one leg. To me, that's a true great one. And, in the back, after we won the Orange Bowl, I allowed them to get a shot of me with them, kind of like in the movie 'Hoosiers.' "

Could he be a little bit more old school? I love it. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that the team utilizes video games to help the guys master the playbook. However, there is something to be said about Bradley who's attitude is basically: That stuff is crap!

GO STATE!

Recruiting

Laschout is reporting that Jack Crawford (a native of England and stand-out DE prospect) is going to verbally commit to play for PSU. This is good news for a number of reasons. First, the D-line has just recently been decimated by injuries and the more depth you can add the better. Second, it has been much more difficult to recruit out of NJ the last few years with the rise of Rutgers. Getting a solid NJ commit is a much bigger deal than it was five years ago.
I hope this news is all true, if so, welcome to PSU Mr. Crawford!

GO STATE! RECRUIT HARD!

PSU = Party Central

PSU came in #6 in The 2008 Princeton Review of Top Party Schools. PSU was bested by 1. WVU 2. U. Miss 3. Texas 4. Florida 5. Georgia. From what I've heard this is heady company to be in. All I know is that I always have a blast in State College and I can't wait until my triumphant return for the 2007 PSU vs. Tosu game. It should be phenomenal. It will be a great opportunity to be that guy who is just a little too old to be at a college party!

GO STATE! PARTY HARD!

2007 Captains

PSU announced their 2007 captains would be Morelli, Connor, and Golden. The Collegian reported it here. I predicted it on July 27th here. Alright boys, lead by example!

GO STATE! LEAD US TO GLORY!

SI Breaks Down The Big Ten

SI.com has their Big Ten breakdown posted here, while it is unremarkable for it's lock-step predictability it also seems to make little sense. They predict PSU will go 5-3 in conference and 9-3 overall. One can only assume the losses would be to Tosu, Michigan, and Wisconsin, which I can accept. It is certainly a possible outcome.

They have Iowa sharing 4th place with the Nittany Lions, but this is where it gets weird. SI calls Iowa a "Sleeper" but still predicts them to go 5-3 in conference while missing Tosu and Michigan! OOOH! Their so talented they'll go 9-3 while only playing 2 of the four top rated teams in the conference! Their is also mad talk of felony charges on Hawkeye Pages!

Read it and be frustrated!

GO STATE! GET FIRED UP!

Light Blogging

I am currently stuck in the middle of a move which has left me sans internet and cable at home so posting will be lighter than normal. To sate your thirst for football news I suggest checking out BSD, Mike has broken out 3-fucking-sirens for PSU recruits. Also, SMQ has rolled out his Binding Big Ten Predictions.

UPDATE*
The Collegian is dropping major PSU bombs on us with two good articles. One on how astronomically high PSU vs. ND tickets have gotten. The second, is basically a good media-day-wrap-up. The fact that Devon Still tore his ACL and will be out for the year sucks(here is your red shirt, wear it with pride!).

Also check out an interesting article on J. Brad "Spider" Caldwell at Penn State Live.

GO STATE! REESTABLISH CONNECTIONS WITH THE UNIVERSE!

Breaking Down: The Ohio State Buckeyes

I apologize for failing to do much of anything in regards to breaking down PSU's opponnents over the last few weeks. I will now attempt to return with a vengeance to break down the Buckeyes, another team PSU loves to hate and yet they refuse to accept PSU as a rival. The Buckeyes enter 2007 with the dubious distinction of making it to the Championship game only to walk into the (Buck)Nut-Cracker that was the 2006 Gators. Gone are Ginn, Gonzales, and old Mr. Heisman, Troy Smith. I was quick to dismiss Tosu last year and they proved me to be a gigantic fool. If you are still reading, Ohio State graduated a great deal of talent on the offensive side of the ball this year, losing the above-mentioned WRs and Heisman winner. However, that does not mean Tosu will be terrible as they have certainly proven in the pass that they can win with a care-taker of a QB and a stingy defense. Now, on to the breakdown!


Buckeye Passing:
Ok, gone is Troy Smith and his 2500+ yds passing, 30 tds, and only 6 picks. Also gone are Ginn and Gonzales who combined for 17 TDs and over 1500 yds receiving. Exactly who will fill these atlas-sized-nikes? Nobody knows for sure, will it be Boeckman? Henton? You get the idea about how this is going by the number of question marks in this paragraph. However, the Buckeyes do return their third leading receiver from 2006, Brian Robiskie. Robiskie wracked up only half as many yards as either Ginn or Gonzales but should see those numbers increase as he will certainly play a larger role in the offense. The Passing game will also be limited as, unless true frosh Henton starts, the Buckeyes will have a Morelli-esque statue planted in the backfield. Losing an elusive QB not only hurts the rushing numbers but will also impact the passing numbers as the line will have to buy this year's QB much more time in the pocket.

Buckeye Rushing:
Antonio Pittman was a key piece of the Buckeye's run last year as he rushed for 1233 yds, averaged 5.1 yds/carry, and scored 14 TDs. He was a beast. His most likely replacement is Chris Wells who racked up over 500 yds last year spelling Pittman. Wells's average is 5.6 yds/carry which bests Pittman's average. The offensive line seems to be in relatively good shape returning 3 starters. Odds are by the time PSU and Tosu square off the two "new guys" (Cordle and Person) will be up to speed and playing well. In short, Ohio State will be a rushed based offense this year as they try not to put to much pressure on an inexperienced QB and WRs.

Buckeye Defense:
Ohio State's defense was fantastic last year. I didn't believe in them before the season started and they made me look like a fool as they only averaged 12.8 pts/game (including holding PSU to 6). At the end of the year, Ohio State's defense was exposed a little when Michigan hoisted 39 pts. up against them and FL amassed 41 pts. This year's defense looks to have a chance to duplicate this prior success but it will require young, inexperience lineman to play as well as last year's young, inexperienced defensive backfield did last year. Tosu only returns one starter on the defensive line and only five starters on the whole unit. It seems as though Tosu would be vulnerable to the run, if so, this could be a very long year for this defense.

Predictions:
Tosu rumbles into Happy Valley on October 27th and have a shot at being 8-0 when they arrive. This sets up a possible repeat of the 2005 white-out/zombie-nation/paternoville/best-student-section-in-the-country insanity. Which I am planning to be in attendance for. This will be a hard fought game. Both teams will have an offensive advantage running the ball so this will be a low-scoring, close game. In the end, PSU will have one more big play on offense which will make the difference.

Final Score:
PSU: 20
TOSU: 14

GO STATE! GET FIRED UP!

What You Want In A Linebacker

This is what you want to hear about your linebackers, especially at Linebacker U.

"He's quick-tempered; just a wild man as soon as he gets the pads on," Connor said of Lee. "Off the field, he's a soft-spoken guy -- pretty quiet. But he's one of the most competitive guys I've ever met.

"If you're a lineman trying to block him and do your job, you're offending him and ticking him off and he's going to do whatever he can to try to put you back."

See the whole article at Pitt Trib. Review.

Sean Lee cares not for your desire to block him! It only increases his RAGE!I am going to tackle you so hard! RAAAAAA!

GO STATE! TRY TO GET AS FIRED UP AS SEAN LEE!

PSU Takes The Field

This year's 2007 squad took the field pads and were ready to do some actual hitting. Reports coming out of practice are...completely non-existent except on premium sites. I'm not going to leak all their juicy premium gossip here. But i would highly recommend FOS; they are the ones i give all my money to. However, just to wet your whistle:


I snagged this from The Collegian (taken by Ben Roth). They are running people! IN PADS! TOGETHER! No, I agree, this isn't that exciting a photo but it is getting me a little fired up!

GO STATE! RUN/PRACTICE/HIT!