Rare sight: Something good at Penn State

Both of your authors at An 'Eye and an 'Eer despise Penn State. But there are a number of things the students do well at PSU and this is one of them—THON, a student-run charity that raises money for childhood cancer research at Penn State. This is not small potatoes as THON raised almost $8 million.

This group of Nittany Lions players showed some skills and even included a white boy who rivals the 'Eer's dancing skills. And if you want to see another great video from the event check out Tucker doing Boom Boom Pow.

(HT: Black Shoe Diaries).

Cryogenically preserved JoePa

Not that we meant to go back-to-back on the JoePa posts, but after reading this cover how pissed is Bobby Bowden right now? Probably not as mad as his wife.

Are Penn State fans pleased with this proclamation? They can't be surprised. Seriously, the guy is kept alive through some crazy cryogenic lab in State College anyways, so who's to say he won't be coaching at 100.

Penn State proves BCS worthiness through video

Apparently Penn State wants to play in a BCS Bowl ... badly. Since the Nittany Lions aren't guaranteed a spot, but are eligible the university has created this nifty video to tout its great fans to the men (and women) who decide at the Orange, Sugar and Fiesta bowls.

Iowa may deserve the spot, but Penn State is right on this one. Money and fans are what drive the system. Sorry Hawkeyes, but Penn State is probably headed to the Orange or Sugar.

Poor sportsmanship by the Gopher

Minnesota's mascot, the Gopher, wasn't showing great sportsmanship as he mocked Penn State DE Jerome Hayes, who was saying a prayer before Saturday's game. This seems to fly in the face of the Big Ten's public service announcements.

No panache at Penn State

When ESPN's Game Day comes to town there is a lot of pressure on the student body to be rowdier and funnier than whatever campus Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso (oh yea, Desmond Howard is on the trailer now) went to the week before.

Penn State's fans this past weekend were up to the task, even as inclement weather approached. But then folks spotted the Erin Andrews sign. No not the one that says "Erin Andrews for Heisman." No the other one. Just look down a little to the left ... you'll see it.

Real classy Penn State.

The best part of that entire day for Nittany Lions fans was when senior meteorologist student Drew Anderson does the weather report during Game Day.

(Hat tip: Penn State Clips)

2009's worst non-conference matchups

About two weeks ago I gave you my picks for best non-conference matchups for 2009. Now I'm taking a look at the worst non-conference games. Selecting the best was so easy because there are so few good ones and they are games most college football fans would want to see.

In selecting the worst matchups, my criteria was a bit different. Simply I was looking at how embarrassed the BCS team should be for making its home fans sit through this game. So here we go.

1. Charleston Southern at Florida (Sept. 5): I get it SEC fans. Really I do. The SEC schedule is so tough that you can't expect teams like Florida to schedule tough non-conference games. But this one will be ugly so fast that even the pre-game drunk won't make this one fun. Hope it's easy to sneak the Jack Daniels (or is that not SEC enough) into The Swamp.

2. Eastern Illinois at Penn State (Oct. 10): If the Nittany Lions want anyone to seriously consider them a BCS title contender they must stop schedule weak games like this one to pad Joe Paterno's victory total (we all know Tom Bradley should be getting credit for these wins). Eastern Illinois, who went 5-7 last year, will enly the pay day and start getting ready for the Ohio Valley Conference schedule. Hope the PSU fans have plenty of frozen marshmallows for this one.

3. Idaho State at Oklahoma (Sept. 12): Count on the Sooners having one Idaho State on the schedule every year. How ugly will this one be? Consider the fact that WAC cellar dwellar Idaho beat the Bengals by 15 last year. Will someone tell me why Oklahoma is considered a premiere program?

4. Eastern Kentucky at Indiana (Sept. 3): The Hoosiers need all the victories it can schedule. What happens when you lose? That could happen in this one.

5. Indiana State at Louisville (Sept. 5): It's amazing how far and fast Louisville has fallen. The Cardinals should open the season 1-0 under third-year coach Steve Kragthorpe. When and where he'll get the second win of 2009 remains to be seen.

6. Elon at Wake Forest (Sept. 19): Maybe this will develop into a great North Carolina rival. OK, probably not. Heck, I didn't even know Elon had a football team. The Phoenix actually play in the extremely competitive Southern Conference and are ranked in the FCS preseason polls.

7. Idaho State at Arizona State (Sept. 5): Not trying pick on Idaho State, but when BCS schools are tripping over themselves to schedule you there's a problem. The $1 million or more its receiving to play ASU and Oklahoma is probably worth two embarrassing losses.

8. Jacksonville State at Florida State (Sept. 12): The only thing of interest in this game is to watch former LSU star Ryan Perrilloux start at QB for the Gamecocks. Perrilloux started all 11 games last season and threw for more than 2,300 yards. Does he have enough magic in him to pull the upset?

9. Southeastern Louisiana at Ole Miss (Sept. 19): Isn't SE Louisiana where Bobby Boucher was the waterboy? The Lions could use him in this contest. Ole Miss should be moritified by its non-conference schedule.

10. Eastern Washington at California (Sept. 12): In fairness to Cal, the Golden Bears play home against Maryland and on the road in Minnesota's new stadium. So Jeff Tedford's boys have a tough start to the season. Lucky for them they cushioned it with Eastern Washington.

UConn prepares for Big Ten

UConn is the new Penn State.

According to a story at nesn.com, Connecticut coach Randy Edsall has given the OK to a new-look for 2009 that will simplify the Huskies uniforms in the style of Penn State. The new duds were crafted by the geniuses at Nike, which gave us these unis.

Now I doubt the new uniforms look exactly like the one I posted above, but it may not be too far off base either. However, by simplifying things UConn is either letting the Big Ten know it is prepared to join the conference once it decides to expand, or Edsall is trying to let Penn State officials know he's interested in replacing JoePa once he retires.

Pomposity of Penn State

This video is just more proof of how overly inflated the egos are at Penn State and how utterly untalented the student body really is. However, I'm starting to see a correlation between the students and the football team. High self worth, but really overrated.

Nice video, weak schedule

I guess if you have this weak of a home slate you have to put together a video to promote it. I guess Iowa and clearly Ohio State are good games. But some of these other ones are embarrassing.

Don't stretch yourself too much to start the season ... Akron (Sept. 5), Syracuse (Sept. 12) and Temple (Sept. 19) Really Penn State. You can't fit Pitt into the schedule Pitt? It would be a much better match up and rebuild the rivalry.

Protecting the house

While eating lunch and scanning for anything about college football that isn't recruiting related I stumbled across this interesting post at Zombie Nation, the kind of college football blog that I prefer. Humorous, but not stupid. It also offers interesting posts. Only negative for me is it's all about Penn State. But still a great resource.

Great research and interesting to see that Phil and Tom's interests, Ohio State and West Virginia, made the cut. The Buckeyes are 25-3 at home since 2005, while the Mountaineers are 22-4. Also interesting, but not surprising, is that Boise State tops the list at 25-0.

Here are the home schedules for OSU and WVU in 2009.

Ohio State
Sept. 5
Navy

Sept. 12
USC

Sept. 26
Illinois

Oct. 10
Wisconsin

Oct. 24
Minnesota

Oct. 31
New Mexico State

Nov. 14
Iowa


West Virginia
Sept. 5
Liberty

Sept. 26
Colorado

Oct. 3
Marshall

TBA
East Carolina
Louisville
Connecticut
Pittsburgh

Lamenting Lambert

There was a time when the football programs in the East cared about the Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy. With the BCS and almost every team in a conference the significance of the honor is somewhat hollow these days.

On Monday, Penn State was awarded the Trophy for the 27th time—by far the most of any team.

According to Wikipedia, to be eligible for the Lambert Trophy, a school must be located in the East or play half its schedule against eligible Lambert teams. The territory includes New York, New Jersey, New England and Pennsylvania, while teams in the bordering states of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia and the District of Columbia qualify if half their schedule features eligible teams. While they were members of the Big East Conference, Virginia Tech and Miami of Florida were also eligible. Current Big East members Cincinnati, Louisville and South Florida are now eligible.

Here are the 2008 Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy standings:
1. Penn State
2. Cincinnati
3. West Virginia
4. Pittsburgh
5. Rutgers
6. Boston College
7. Connecticut
8. South Florida
9. Navy
10. Buffalo

Schiano will have to wait another year

Rutgers coach Greg Schiano, who has turned down big-time program coaching opportunities the past couple of years, will now have to wait at least one more year before he gets the gig he really wants.

Last night Joe Paterno told a crowd of about 6,500, some wearing "Joe Can't Go" T-shirts, that he's returning in 2009. Joe Pa apparently likes coaching from the press box and believes staying out of the elements has added at least another five years to his coaching career.

The weather at Michigan State today is ideal for the cozy confines. Now if the Nittany Lions win he may be able to coach from a golf cart at the Rose Bowl.

Thank you Hawkeyes

At least now we won't have to watch Penn State get trounced in the BCS Championship Game. Instead, we'll have to watch them get owned by USC in the Rose Bowl.

Observations from Saturday's Games (Nov. 8)

Sitting here watching Texas Tech-Oklahoma State I am gaining more respect for Graham Harrell with each completed pass. Also pissed that I don't have ESPNU and the Mountaineers are losing 20-7 at half to Cincinnati.

So with that in mind, here are my thoughts from Saturday's games (so far):

1. I got it now. WVU should fire its special teams coach. What's his name again? Stewart? The Mountaineers have the worst kickoff coverage in the nation and how did they open Saturday's game? They allowed a 100-yard return for a score. Great job.

2. Worse than I thought. Tennessee has been bad this season, but nothing like Saturday's 13-7 loss to a bad Wyoming team. That's right, the Cowboys who entered Neyland Stadium with a 1-5 record in the powerhouse conference Mountain West. Let's hear that SEC chant now.

3. Rose Bowl still in site. Of course Penn State is bummed after losing 24-23 at Iowa, but the Nittany Lions need to remember that a Big 10 title is still there to get as well as a much deserved shot at the Rose Bowl. This also allows the rest of us to avoid any guilt of being happy when an undefeated Penn State team is left out of the championship game. Thanks Iowa.

4. A little luck. That's what it takes to win a national title. I can't think of a team that won it all that didn't get a little somewhere along the way. Alabama didn't play its best at LSU, but an overtime win in that hostile environment is a good victory. I still think the Tide will fall in the SEC Championship, but Nick Saban is working miracles and is at least a year ahead of schedule.

5. Wake-up call. All week Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez was getting whipped by the media. He was short and pissy in press conferences. It was rumored the players and UM officials were growing tired of his selfish acts. So what team was that at Minnesota today? The Wolverines were playing great defense, appeared to be having fun and rolled to an easy 29-6 victory. Still don't like the man, but if they give him time Michigan will be unbeatable in a few years.

6. OAC supremacy. Talked about this earlier in the week, so for anyone who cares Mount Union took care of business and easily defeated Otterbein 49-20 in a great match-up of ranked Division III teams in Ohio. The Purple Raiders scored early and often and remain the No. 1 team in the nation and will win its 20th Ohio Athletic Conference championship. Each team has one regular season game remaining and both should advance to the playoffs in two weeks.

7. What are you waiting for Syracuse? It's time to join the other struggling Division I programs in your search for a new coach. You can let Greg Robinson finish out the year, but we all know he's done. End the Robinson experiment and give yourself a shot at a decent coach.

8. Love that 'Stache. Really? Pitt is bowl eligible? It's about time. For three years all we have heard is how great Dave Wannstache's recruiting classes have been. Not until the Panthers' 41-7 thrashing of Louisville Saturday had Pitt been eligible for a bowl. Now my concern is Pitt could actually become dominant in the Big East. Nah! The 'Stache will always blow a couple games a year.

9. ACC confusion. It was an interesting day in the ACC, but what's even more intriguing is that we're still not sure who'll be playing in the title game. I like Wake Forest (Atlantic Division) and North Carolina (Coastal Division) now, but don't count out Florida State (Atlantic) and Virginia Tech and Miami in the Coastal.

10. The worst. I don't want to pick on Washington State, but the Cougars are by far the worst team in a BCS conference (and possibly the worst Division I team). Wazzu allowed 531 yards of offense against a good Arizona team as the Wildcats rolled 59-28. The Cougars played one of their better games this season, but still became the first Pac-10 team to give up 500 points in a season. Even worse news, they still have three more games to play.

Our Top 25 (Nov. 3)

Team (LW) Record
1. Alabama (2) 9-0
2. Penn State (3) 9-0
3. Texas Tech (6) 9-0
4. Florida (7) 7-1
5. Southern Cal (4) 7-1
6. Oklahoma (5) 8-1
7. Texas (1) 8-1
8. Oklahoma State (10) 8-1
9. Boise State (11) 8-0
10. Utah (10) 9-0
11. Texas Christian (12) 9-1
12. Ohio State (14) 7-2
13. Georgia (8) 7-2
14. Ball State (13) 8-0
15. Missouri (17) 7-2
16. LSU (13) 6-2
17. Brigham Young (21) 8-1
18. North Carolina (19) 6-2
19. West Virginia (24) 6-2
20. Michigan State (20) 8-2
21. Georgia Tech (NR) 7-2
22. California (NR) 6-2
23. Maryland (23) 6-2
24. Pittsburgh (NR) 6-2
25. Florida State (18) 6-2

Others receiving votes: Northwestern, Cincinnati, Tulsa, Minnesota, Central Michigan.

ESPN: Home of Useless Polls

It's the latest in a litany of useless and meaningless ESPN Sports Nation polls, but for some reason this one struck a chord. It was just mentioned on the Houston-Marshall game and it's on the College Football page at ESPN.com.

Here's the poll:

If Texas, Alabama and Penn State go undefeated, which matchup would you rather see in the BCS Title Game?

Texas vs. Alabama
Texas vs. Penn State

The results are obvious with 62 percent of all voters taking Texas vs. Alabama. So does this poll really accomplish anything? To make it more interesting add the third option of Alabama vs. Penn State.

Who's to say they aren't the best two teams? Last year everybody thought LSU and Ohio State should be in the championship (OK, maybe not everyone). But when the game was over everyone kept talking about how Georgia and USC were playing better than anyone in the nation.

If all three go undefeated, it would be a huge shock if Penn State wasn't the odd team out. It wouldn't be fair, but it's the system. If the Nittany Lions want someone to blame, don't look at the voters or the BCS system.

The blame falls to Ohio State.

Stay classy Penn State

I have never forgotten what a Penn State student said to me when I was an undergraduate at WVU. She was visiting friends in Morgantown and she looked right at me and said, "When I graduate I'll get a good job because of my Penn State degree. A degree from WVU doesn't impress anyone."

Maybe. But today, Penn State's undergraduates don't look too impressive following an evening of property damage around State College. This followed a nice come-from-behind 13-6 victory at Ohio State last night.

The Centre Daily Times said in this morning's newspaper that, "A celebration of Penn State’s 13-6 win over Ohio State on Saturday turned destructive as people pulled down light poles and street signs, climbed atop cars and tossed objects off balconies in downtown State College."

I know all about burning couches at WVU. I'm not ignoring that fact. All I'm saying is there's not much of a difference between the two universities (I bet I had a hell of a lot better time in my four years, though).