PSU Reading

If you are looking for some good PSU reading to stoke the fires of your heartspace, I would highly recommend the following articles:

Rittenberg talks with DC-17.

and

Joe Paterno, like so many Greek Titans, is invincible.

The Blue-White game can't get here soon enough!

GO STATE!

One Hiccup Only

Penn State started terribly going three and out and that was a good outcome. It could have been a lot worse, Iowa could have had a safety or the ball on PSU's two. After giving up a quick TD Penn State has looked good on offense controlling both the ball and the clock.

Iowa looked great during Penn State's first possession and then for their next two plays, resulting in a Greene TD. However, since then the game seems to belong to PSU. Iowa, however, is hanging in there and are still only down by 6 points (they will also get the ball to start the second half).

My favorite part of the first half has been all the direct snaps to D-Will. It isn't that PSU hasn't tried this before, however, it was always a pass. Now we have D-Will running the single wing and Iowa is powerless to stop it.

Oh, and PSU controlled the ball for over 75% of the first half.

I am fired up!

GO STATE! BEAT IOWA!

Penn State Now Ranked 6th In Nation!

The AP poll is out and the win over Illinois, along with the other craziness around college football, has catapulted the Lions to sixth in the Nation!

It is all starting to come together! Penn State is in great position to make a run to the National title game over the next 7 weeks! I am fired up!

GO STATE!

Penn State Umbrella (or Helmet?)

Umm...yes please!
They are available for purchase here. Yet another way to proclaim your allegiance to the greatest team in the history of college football.

GO STATE!

SMQ Evaluates PSU

The always excellent SMQ has a post up examining the merits of both Penn State and Iowa in a kind of star-crossed-competitors kind of way. It is, as always, a sound analysis and an entertaining read. It certainly is worth anyone's time. Peep SMQ's evaluation of PSU here.

GO STATE! EXCEED EXPECTATIONS!

PSU A National Power

Stewart Mandel has posted his weekly mailbag and he addresses which teams fit into which strata of college football. Fittingly, he uses feudal titles to differentiate between the haves and the have-nots. SM finds the following to be the most prestigious teams in all the land!

Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Miami, Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas and USC.

Mandel goes on to say that Tennessee was the only team that gave him a little trepidation, however, if you are going to put Alabama, Notre Dame, and PSU up there (teams who have not had consistent impact on the national title in the last 10 years) than why shouldn't Tennessee be in there? Now, I completely think that Penn State should be in that list because the Lions are the greatest team in all the land. PSU is also one of the most recognizable teams/stadiums/mascots/coach in this or any football universe. Plus, the student section is right out of its mind.

Mandel next tier looks like this: (Barons)

Auburn, Clemson, Colorado, Georgia, LSU, Texas A&M, UCLA, Virginia Tech, Washington and Wisconsin.

Then Knights:

Arizona State, Arkansas, Boston College, Cal, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas State, Maryland, Michigan State, Missouri, N.C. State, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Oregon State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Stanford, Syracuse, South Carolina, Texas Tech, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington State.

Sorry Pitt, that is a major burn. Console yourselves in the fact that WVU is stuck right in there with you!

The Peasants:

Arizona, Baylor, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Duke, Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State, North Carolina, Northwestern, Rutgers*, South Florida, Wake Forest and Vanderbilt.

GO STATE! REJOICE IN THE EXCELLENCE OF YOUR REPUTATION! THEN LIVE UP TO IT!

Fired Up!

Brandon Beachum has committed to PSU. He is from Ohio (eat that TOSU!) and he is a running back. Whew. It is nice to finally land a solid RB recruit, and boy could we use one. The only visual proof of his excellence, that I could find, is below.


Here is another fabulous reason to get fired up for the fall!



The fall just can't get here soon enough.

GO STATE!

Breaking Down: The Indiana Hoosiers

In week 8 Penn State girds its loins and rolls over to Indiana to face the Hoosiers on their turf (The Rock). The Hoosiers enter the 2007 season with heavy hearts after the death of Terry Hoeppner. Bill Lynch will have to grab the reins and continue the momentum coach Hep had built at Indiana. While Indiana has suffered a devastating loss there is reason to be excited in the "Crossroads of America". Indiana returns 9 starters on offense and 7 on defense. If they can rally around/move past/get over/deal with/be inspired by their former coach the Hoosiers have a chance of ending the longest bowl drought in the Big Ten (1993). Below you will find my terrifyingly accurate insight into the 2007 Hoosiers. For everything Hoosiery check out The Hoosier Report.


In Hep We Trust!

Hoosier Passing:
Kellen Lewis returns under center and this time he has a year of experience to his credit. Last year, Lewis passed for 2221 yds, 14 TDs and 7 INTs. However, 11 of those 15 TDs came in three games. Lets just say consistency is a bit of a problem for Mr. Lewis. However, with another year of experience, consistency is something on which he can improve. Another feather in the Hoosier's cap is James Hardy; The Hoosier's leading receiver in receptions, yards, and TDs. In short, if drop him from the team Lewis would have to throw passes to himself. The Hoosier passing game is strong at the top but lacks depth and could have problems getting started against a talented secondary.

Hoosier Running:
Kellen Lewis returns under center and this time he has a year of experience to his credit. Last yaer, Lewis rushed for 441 yards on 124 TDs and 5 Tds. Yes this is the same Kellen Lewis you just read about. Yes it makes him a threat in the running game, however, if your QB is your leading rusher you are playing with fire. Especially if your second leading rushing is listed at WR. Wow. I don't know what those crazy Hoosiers are doing but bless their hearts they seem to be enjoying it.

Hoosier Defense:
Remember how Indiana is returning 7 starters on defense? Well, those 7 starters helped give up an average of nearly 33 pts/game. Yikes. If you defense gives up more than 4 TDs on average you have more issues than Lindsay Lohan. (BURN!) Careful fellas, she might look good but there is a seething cauldron of instability just below the surface! Similarly, Indiana has their fair share of issues as they are more combustible than some sort of pile of kindling.

Prediction:
This is a tough game for the Lions as it comes right after the Wisconsin game, is on the road, and Ohio State looms on the horizon the next week. If PSU looks past Indiana there could be serious trouble. However, if you look at Indiana on offense, if you have a defense that can contain the talented Mr. Lewis and one shut-down corner then you two can turn Indiana's offense into a whimpering kitten. Fortunately for PSU, Justin King hasn't been tossed into the Sarlaac pit and will, in my opinion, crush Jimmy Hardy's hopes and dreams. In short, Indiana simply won't have the firepower to put up serious points against a very talented Penn State defense. Penn State will finish the game +2 on turnovers and the game will never be in doubt.
I'll get you next time J-King!


Final Score:
PSU: 52
IU: 17

GO STATE! GET FIRED UP FOR THE FALL!

PSU Review

Brian, over at MGOBLOG, has churned out a wonderfully detailed if ultimately misguided preview of the 2007 Lions. If you like PSU even a little it is well worth your time.

GO STATE!

Penn State Student Ticket Extravaganza

PSU has announced the procedure for acquiring student tickets for the upcoming 2007 Penn State football season. The first-come-first-serve insanity will begin June 7th and will be confined to the realms of the internet. You can see all the instructions for yourself here. I, sadly, am no longer a student at PSU or I'd be right there in the virtual-scrum with the rest of you. Best of luck to those of you braving cyberspace in order to get tickets to see the greatest team in all the land!










"Make sure to account for the pop-ups! Hit refresh! HIT REFRESH, MAN!"

You know Joe is fired up:

"You have a shot at being the 'best student section
in the country' again this year. Make sure that you and
your friends who believe in Penn State Football are ready
for the on-line sale coming up on June 7.
We need our best fans behind us."

- Coach Paterno

GO STATE!

Joepa Announces Punishment For Off Campus Fight

Joe Paterno announced at a meet-and-greet with fans and media what his position on punishment would be for the "incident" in downtown two months ago.

The Nittany Lions will clean Beaver Stadium on the Sunday's after every home game. Paterno also said all of his players would do several hours of community service.

Paterno issued this as a TEAM punishment for what he called a:

"team embarrassment."

The Lions will be picking up Beaver Stadium after their seven scheduled home games this year. This is not a light punishment. I can't imagine having to go pick up trash the day after you just played Wisconsin or Notre Dame. Also, the lions don't have a bye-week in their schedule anymore. They play twelve games in twelve weeks and now one of their rest days is a trash day. This could also have impact on the player's level of readiness towards the end of the season.
I think that Joe is right, it was a team embarrassment. I also think he has administered a fitting punishment for the team. Hopefully this incident will bring them together as a team instead of just wearing them out.
If you want to see what other folks are saying (sooner and better than I) check out:
BSD
The Nittany Line
EDSBS
ESPN
and PennLive

GO STATE!

Big Ten Network: The Penn State Press Conference

Representatives from the new Big Ten Network (BTN) held a press conference recently at Penn State. Here is a link to the video. I, for one, am very excited about the Big Ten Netork. I live in the South West and it can be difficult to satisfy my hunger for PSU football. The new network will give me a great, low cost, alternative to buying the games one at a time from Direct Tv.
I also didn't know that the BTN would be broadcast in both HD and regular definition; very sweet.

GO STATE! HOORAY FOR MORE TV COVERAGE!

Penn State Players Charged

The Collegian is reporting:

The following football players have been charged in connection with an incident that occurred at a downtown apartment party on April 1:

Anthony Scirrotto has been charged with burglary, criminal trespassing, two counts of criminal solicitation, simple assault and harassment.

Chris Baker has been charged with burglary, criminal trespassing, simple assault, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct and harassment.

Justin King, Jerome Hayes, Lydell Sargeant and Tyrell Sales have all been charged with criminal trespassing, disorderly conduct and harassment.

Check back for more updates.

Not good news. This is only preliminary news but there are clearly big name players involved and this will be quite a blow to the team.

GO STATE!

2007 Hype

This is the first, of what will probably be many, excellent hype videos for Penn State's 2007 season. With all of the potential controversy swirling around it is good to remember PSU's limitless potential for 2007.



GO STATE! GET HYPED!

Gentlemen, Start Your Boob Jokes!

The Daily Collegian is reporting that the police department has handed over the results of their investigation of the assault to the District Attorney's office. In a stroke of incredible luck, the man commenting on the process the DA's office will take is named Nathan Boob! This basically makes the entire article incredibly funny, especially if you have the intellect of a nine-year-old like me. What Boob (snicker) says is that the charges still could take a while.

"Some investigations take a day, some take a year or more," Boob said. "It's going to depend on specific facts and circumstances of the case."

Hilarious.

One could say, we have a high-profile fight, possibly involving star athletes, and the only comment we have from the DA's office is from a Boob! (uncontrolled snickering)

The Code of Conduct

Despite the fact that Prosecutors are still considering felony charges against an unknown number of Penn State players, there is the Universities code of conduct to consider when talking about possible repercussions on players. This is more applicable to players who won't be facing serious criminal charges but who were still involved in the "assault".
You can find the University's code of conduct here, but I think the following are particularly relevant.

1. ABUSE/ENDANGERMENT: Physically harming or threatening to harm any person, intentionally or recklessly causing harm to any person or reasonable apprehension of such harm or creating a condition that endangers the health and safety of self or others (also see Policy Statement 8).

This seems pretty obvious. However, this particular provision will probably only apply to players who will be charged with assault. In that case, those players will have bigger problems than the code.

14. DISORDERLY CONDUCT: Engaging in disorderly, disruptive, lewd or indecent conduct. The item includes but is not limited to: inciting or participating in a riot or group disruption; failing to leave the scene of a riot or group disruption when instructed by officials; disruption of programs, classroom activities or functions and processes of the University; creating unreasonable noise; or creating a physically hazardous or physically offensive condition.

This could definitely affect some players even if they face only misdemeanor charges. Even if the Prosecutor's can't make criminal charges stick there is a good chance that judicial affairs could get players on engaging in "disorderly conduct".

16. VIOLATION OF LAW: Students are members of the campus, local and state communities. As citizens, students are responsible to the community of which they are a part, and the University neither substitutes for, nor interferes with the regular legal or criminal process. Students are also responsible for offenses against the academic community and in some instances student conduct that violates federal, state, or local law may affect a Substantial University Interest on the University community. Because the University expects students to conduct themselves in accordance with the law, student misconduct that occurs on or off the premises of the University that violates any local, state, or federal law will be reviewed by the University. Criminal or civil decision is not a necessary prerequisite for a disciplinary decision nor is it necessary that criminal or civil charges be lodged against the student either before or after a University decision. Therefore, action taken in a civil or criminal court does not free the student of responsibility for the same conduct in a University proceeding.

Well, yeah.

GO STATE!