Maybin, Shipley Named All-Americans

Aaron Maybin and A.Q. Shipley were both named to two All-American teams in the past couple of days. On Thursday, Maybin and Shipley were named Walter Camp All-Americans, and yesterday, both were named to the Foot Writers Association of America team.

The honors were the end to a nice week for both, who were present for the College Football Awards show in Orlando on Thursday. Shipley was a finalist for the Rimington Trophy for the nation's best center, which he won, a first for a Penn State player.


Maybin was a Bednarik finalist, which has gone to a Nittany Lion the last three years (Puz, Puz and Connor, respectively). USC's Rey Maualuga took home the award this year, which didn't surprise us too much, as Maybin is only a sophomore, and didn't get as much national pub as Maualuga did. But you know our thoughts on Maybin by now:

Beast.

Derrick Williams was also named a second team Walter Camp All-American. That's a nice honor for a dude who doesn't really fit a position description all that well, but should be recognized for a season in which he basically did it all.

Congrats to all the players for their post-season honors. They are well-deserved.

Devlin To Transfer

Sources close to us here at We Want The Lion have told us that quarterback Pat Devlin will transfer from Penn State, possibly to a D1-AA school.

Okay, that was our attempt at a serious opening. We don't have sources, we just read the story on scout.com. This isn't a shocking story, as we fully expected Devlin to transfer. After all, he was a pretty highly-touted recruit coming out of high school, and with Clark getting that extra year of eligibility, Devlin would've been on the bench until his senior year.

The part of the story that's interesting for the team is that Devlin won't be sticking around for the Rose Bowl. We assume this is so he can transfer as quickly as possible and be part of another program in the spring. But either way, it leaves the Lions a Daryl Clark injury away from Paul Cianciolo playing in the Rose Bowl. Nothing against Cianciolo, but that obviously wouldn't be the best situation. And as the Scout story points out, since Cianciolo is graduating, Clark will be the only scholarship QB from this year left over for next. So Penn State is definitely going to have to restock before next season.

Anyway, it must've been a tough road for Devlin, and it's weird how this stuff works out sometimes. Maybe if the cards fall just a little differently, then he's the QB of a top ten team. But at any rate, he played well this year when he did play, and a lesser kid would've cracked in the 4th quarter at the Horseshoe after an injury to the starting QB. He certainly deserves a shot to play somewhere and we wish him all the best.

You get what you need.

Bring it, Traveler.

Alright, so we lost to Iowa and out the window went the hopes of a National Championship bid. While that's pretty disappointing and the Rose Bowl is not really what we wanted, a chance to play USC is something that Penn State and the entire Big11Ten conference needs.

Every year, USC is in the discussion for title contenders and the chance to knock them off in what essentially amounts to a home game, is huge. If the Lions can go into LA and win then it will bring a lot of deserved respect to the conference.

In the coming weeks we're going to talk a lot about this match-up and other BCS games but for today we're going to give a brief look at USC and what they've done -- and to be honest, it's kind of scary.

Offensively, they're scoring a lot of points -- just like PSU. USC has averaged 38.4 points per game but unlike most other teams that score a lot, they're allowing next to nothing. Teams playing against USC have scored 7.8 points per game. Seven. Point. Eight. Not a lot penetrates the Trojan's defense.

The same, however, cannot be said for the fan base.

It's gonna be a fun month.

Penn State has scored 40.2 points per game while allowing 12.4.

As you can see, both teams can score and stop the opponent from scoring. Something's gotta give.

Individually, we know who does what for Penn State. As for USC, there's a good chance the common fan doesn't know any names aside from Sanchez and Maualuga.

Sanchez has thrown for 2794 yards, 30 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. By comparison, Clark has compiled 2319 yards and 17 touchdowns and 4 interceptions.

On the ground, we've seen Evan Royster get the ball the majority of the time, carrying it to the tune of 1202 yards. USC has had three players split the load; CJ Gable, Stafon Johnson and Joe McKnight. Each has eclipsed 600 yards and they've accounted for 19 touchdowns between them.

As for receivers, the Trojans have had a very productive trio just like Penn State.

Damian Williams has 48 catches for 707 yards and 8 TDs. Patrick Turner has 45 for 667 and 10 touchdwosn and lastly Ronald Johnson has 29 for 488 and 6 touchdowns.

Here are the stats for Penn State's big three:
Butler: 43 catches, 714 yards, 7 touchdowns.
Williams: 40 catches, 451 yards, 3 touchdowns.
Norwood: 38 catches, 605 yards, 5 touchdowns.

On the defensive side, it's been something different for USC. It's always been about offense out there but this year it's the defense that's getting all the hype. They have great players all around and just suffocate teams. Surely by now you heard how Notre Dame didn't get a first down until the third quarter or that UCLA never crossed mid-field after they scored their first touchdown.

They're just killing teams, but if you wanted to be looked at as one of the best you have to beat the best.

One thing we learned by putting this all together is that these teams are pretty similar. They both have high scoring offenses and defenses that hold teams down. They run and pass well and they don't turn it over and they have defense that can just suck the life out of a team. Something unusual is that they also have two common opponents. Both beat Ohio State this season but USC lost to Oregon State a couple weeks after the Beavers took a real pounding here at Penn State.

It should be a great game out in Pasadena and hopefully the Lions can prove they belong. Winning against USC will go a long way in proving that the Big11Ten still produces legit teams.

Odds & Ends

So we're a bit behind on actual Penn State news lately. We blame the turkey:

Good for watching football, bad for writing about it.

Anyway, we're back from our post-Thanksgiving hangover with some news on the team, including post-season awards and the likely Rose Bowl matchup with USC.

Leading off, Penn State cleaned house in All-Big11Ten honors. Here's the list:

First Team

• Daryll Clark
• Derrick Williams
• A.Q. Shipley
• Gerald Cadogan
• Rich Ohrnberger
• Kevin Kelly
• Navorro Bowman
• Aaron Maybin
• Jared Odrick
• Anthony Scirrotto
  

Second Team

• Deon Butler
• Evan Royster
• Lydell Sargeant
• Stephen Wisniewski
  

Honorable Mention

• Jeremy Boone
• Tony Davis
• Josh Gaines
• Dennis Landolt
• Jordan Norwood
• Mark Rubin
• Tyrell Sales
  

Yikes. Look at the number of linemen on those lists. That shows you what a force both lines could be this year. Also, Joe was named Big11Ten Coach of the Year. Hey, we love Joe, but it's ironic that a dude who does probably the least amount of coaching in the conference wins Coach of the Year.

In a related story, James Laurinaitis was named Big11Ten Defensive Player of the Year. E!SPN's Big11Ten Blogger Adam Rittenberg had this to say about that choice:

James Laurinaitis is a future College Football Hall of Famer and a sure-fire first-round NFL draft pick. He's an excellent football player. He should not have been named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. That award should have gone to Penn State defensive end Aaron Maybin. No one else is really in the discussion. Maybin was flat-out dominant this season. I don't care if he's just a sophomore. Base the award on merit, not on reputation or name recognition or having a nice back story.

We rarely agree with people from E!SPN, but Rittenberg really hit the nail on the head. This is a case of voters not doing their homework and voting for a name, not a performance. Maybin was a beast out there all year, and while Laurinaitis is a good player, he didn't impact games the way Maybin did this season.

Speaking of Maybin, he's a finalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award for the top defensive player in the nation. Penn State has a death grip on this award, as it went to Dan Connor last year and Paul Posluszny the previous two years. We hope this doesn't turn out the same way as the Big11Ten Defensive Player of the Year, because Laurinaitis is one of the other two candidates for the Bednarik (Ray Maualuga of USC is the other). It would be funny if Maybin won this one but didn't win POY in his own conference.

In other award news, a record five Nittany Lions made the Academic All-America team. Gerold Cadogan, Josh Hull, Andrew Pitz and Mark Rubin earned first team honors, while Stefen Wisniewski made the second team. Kudos to those guys.

Now we move to the Rose Bowl, where by now you've heard that Oregon State got smoked 65-38 by Oregon in the Civil War on Saturday. The big change coming from that game is that USC will head to the Rose Bowl barring a loss to 4-7 UCLA this weekend or some kind of insane BCS shakeup (insane shakeups are always possible with an insane system). This is what we wanted: a chance to prove something on a national stage against an elite team. Now the team needs to go to Pasadena and not blow it like another Big11Ten we all know and love.

Speaking of Ohio State, Oregon State's loss likely means the Buckeyes will get yet another BCS bowl bid this year. Just be thankful that it's not the national title game.

Just one final note: we were waaaaaayyyy off on our prediction of the Georgia-Georgia Tech battle on Saturday. Had we known that Georgia has no idea how to defend the option (or how to tackle, for that matter), we would've chosen differently. Trev Alberts referred to that game as a classic battle. If you enjoy a general disregard of defense by two teams, then yes, it was definitely a classic.

We'd talk more about the Rose Bowl today, but we have a solid month to do that. That's all for now.

Odds & Ends

We'll get back to our regular schedule tomorrow, but tonight we just wanted to mention a few different items. It's not much, but we're still hungover from the loss like any other PSU fan, so hopefully you understand.

First of all, it's been pointed out by a number of sources how eerily similar this year's scenario is to 1999. We vaguely remember that season, as we were barely in high school, but we have at least some recollection of the Minnesota loss. In case you don't remember, the Lions were 9-0 coming into that game. The final score? 24-23, Minnesota. The dagger? A last second field goal. Weird.

That team went on to lose it's last two and went to the Alamo Bowl. We can say with a good bit of confidence that the team will emerge victorious this weekend, but Michigan State will be a tough one. The Rose Bowl is no small deal, so let's hope they get back on track.

Moving on, you'll remember that last week we posted about a certain t-shirt being sold by a certain prominent clothing company in State College. Well, to the store and everyone who bought the shirt: thanks for jinxing the season. Much appreciated. At least the people who bought it won't ever be able to wear it again without being ridiculed by the general public.

In good news, Evan Royster has been named a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award for the nation's top running back. It's not likely that Royster will be a finalist, especially with Ringer and Greene on the list, but it's a nice honor for a guy who's only a sophomore.

Finally, the Penn State/Big11Ten bashers have surfaced in a big way. A couple prominent sports media members congratulated Iowa for keeping a Big11Ten team out of the title game. Pat Forde (pronounced Ford-ie) of E!SPN leads off his "Forde-Yard Dash" column by giving props to the Hawkeyes, and Jim Rome, as if he read Forde's column and liked the sound of it, said almost the exact same thing at the end of "Rome Is Burning" today.

First of all, congrats to you two for having such creative names for your column/show. Trust us, 20 and 30-something sports fans just love a 3rd grade-level play on words. Second, and more importantly, way to go out on the limb and repeat the same sorry old argument every half-ass national sports writer has recycled the last 3 weeks. Very creative. If we wanted to see people mailing it in, we'd go read Rick Reilly. Why don't you use your time to plead to get rid of the sorry BCS system and install a playoff. And if you don't like that, maybe you should just campaign to get rid of all the college football conferences besides the Big 12 and SEC, because as we all know, they are the only ones who deserve a title shot anyway. Dicks.

We would expect this from an E!SPN blowhard like Forde, but generally we like Rome. But today, he doesn't escape our wrath.

Nice picture, clown.

Hey, we never said we were mature. We'll be back tomorrow, hopefully less angry.

Don't Do It

Okay, we're very excited about the team this year, and we understand things are going well. But we are also trying not to get ahead of ourselves. Because nothing's worse than gloating to the your loser friends who love the Big East and then having your team crap out in a really winnable game. To make a long story short, we're always extremely wary of the jinx factor. Apparently, though, the Family Clothesline doesn't share our trepidation. Check this out:

It can be yours for only $9.99!

First of all, if you're actually considering buying that, just stop reading this blog. In fact, stop cheering for the team altogether. That thing might as well read "THIS SHIRT IS A MASSIVE JINX." Second, does the Clothesline already have shirts made up for 10-0? 11-0? Does each printing of each scenario shirt exponentially increase the jinx factor? Third, have you ever seen anyone with a body type that would match that shirt?

Usually we find the Clothesline to be a fine establishment, but come on, this is pure madness. So do yourself and your team a favor and just ignore this crap until all the games have been played.

He's no joker.

In the spirit of Halloween, NBC.com contributor Bryan Burwell thought it would be a good idea to try out his favorite costume. Actually, we're not entirely sure he had on any costume when he wrote this article, but he sure comes off as a real clown when you sit down and read his latest column.

We're not sure who this guy writes for full time, but this article reeks of a guy who's hometown team has been bumped out of contention. He just comes off as bitter. It's kind of pathetic when you consider he's paid to write these things.

Check it out.

Mr. Burwell decided to let everyone know why he thinks that Penn State is undeserving of a shot at the national title.

Why is it?

Because Ohio State got spanked the past two tries, of course.

Look, we understand that people don't like the Big Ten, and as soon as those SEC and Big12 teams started piling up losses, everyone was looking for a one loss team to put ahead of Penn State. We're kind of used to seeing articles like this. We realize that because Ohio State can't get up for a big game, that it reflects poorly on the whole conference.

But to say Penn State doesn't even deserve a shot because of another team's poor performance in the previous two years is just ridiculous.

In fact, he claims that he can think of ten teams off the top of his head that deserve a chance to play for the 'ship. Those ten teams? "Texas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, USC, LSU and even Missouri."

Texas - Ranked one, so they'll get there ahead of PSU if they remain unbeaten.
Alabama - Same as Texas, except second. We understand the BCS, mostly, so we can deal with that. We'll be disappointed, but we get it.
Florida - They lost to Ole Miss, and you want to see them with the best in the country?
Georgia - Didn't they get destroyed at their own field? Probably the worst pre-season number 1 ever.
Oklahoma State - Lost to Texas. That was their National Championship, why should they get to try again?
Oklahoma - Same as OK State.
Texas Tech - We'll see, but you want to knock PSU for not having a difficult schedule?
USC - Got trounced by Oregon State, who got trounced by -- you guessed it -- PSU.
LSU - Two lopsided losses. TWO. You can't put teams in the national championship just because of the name of the school.
Missouri - Really, who didn't see right through that team? Two losses. Do they even have a defensive squad on that team? There's two sides to that ball.

So, Burwell, this is who you pick? A couple of two loss teams and a couple other teams who got the piss beat out of them at one point or another?

The only legit teams that might be on there are already ranked ahead of PSU -- and we're fine with those rankings -- or Texas Tech, which always seems to create some kind of buzz until they play someone that matters.

Why do we think those are the only legit teams? Because they're undefeated.

Everyone knows how the BCS works by now. You go undefeated and you give yourself a chance to play for the crystal. If you lose to unranked teams or get blown out at your home field, you probably won't get that chance. If you lose twice, you really don't deserve that chance.

These teams are not being "penalized for being in a far superior conference," as Burwell states, they are being penalized for losing games.

Some of those teams on his list have already had their chance to play Texas or Bama, and lost. So we're not sure how anyone could make the case for them being more deserving of a chance to play for the championship than Penn State. Why even watch Texas play against one of three teams they already beat the snot out of?

Win games and get in. Lose and you're out. It's simple. You don't get second chances or rematches, so get it done the first time. Every team is under the same pressure.

We can't wait to read Burwell's column on Monday, should Texas lose Saturday.

Ass.

Penn State vs. Wisconsin Links

Since the first really big game of the season is almost upon us - though not as big as it would've been had 'Sconsin not lost its first two conference games - we're going to forget about the normal college football links and concentrate on this week's game.

While Norwood is back for Penn State, the status of Wisconsin left tackle Gabe Carimi is uncertain for Saturday’s game. As you can see, the Badgers are a bit banged up as a whole as well. -Milwaukee Journal Sentinel-

It’s definitely a good thing that stories like this one about Wisconsin QB Allan Evridge are popping up the week before the game. -MJS-

Joe is still trying to determine whether he’ll coach on the sidelines or from the booth. Maybe he ought to stay in the booth, given what happened last time he was in Madison. -CDT-

Bob Flounders of the Patriot-News thinks Clark needs to win the game with his feet this week. If we had to guess, we’d say Clark will be on the move more this week than last. -PennLive-

It’s been a tough 2008 for A.J. Wallace, but he’s overcoming it and will make his second straight start at corner on Saturday. Just one question: how do you “eat some bad soup”? -CDT-

Bret Bielema has a great moment in this AP article where he says the Badgers are only 5 points away from being 5-0. Apparently he had no comment on those 19 points that disappeared against Michigan. -Altoona Mirror-

On the off-chance that you’re headed to the land of cheese for the game this weekend, here are some things to do and see in Madison. -CDT-

No word on whether or not the Wisconsin band will be back for this week’s game after it’s suspension last week. But this isn’t the first time they’ve been on bad behavior. -Band Gone Wild-
Just check out that headline! When the first three words of a news headline are “hazing”, “booze”, and “sex”, you don’t expect to see the rest of the headline be about a marching band.

Rivals gives us a little game preview. -Rivals-

And finally, CollegeFootballNews picks Penn State to prevail in a close game. All the fears mentioned in that paragraph are pretty much what we’re worried about too. -CFN-

Norwood Will Play This Weekend

Good news from Happy Valley. Joe says that Jordan Norwood will play this weekend again Wisconsin.

This will obviously be a boost to the offense, as the team has missed Norwood's presence, at least in the Purdue game. We've always been big fans of Norwood. He's very sneaky, and he quietly makes plays when the team needs him too. We're glad he'll be back on the field.

OH YEAH

More on the big matchup with Wisconsin later today.

live from the sports cafe!

There is no one here.
They kicked the opening kick out of bounds.
The picture quality is horrible.
That's all.

Shit.

You probably already read it somewhere else. We'll comment on it tomorrow in the Game Preview.

Pics from PSU vs. Coastal Carolina

Before we start looking ahead to this week's game against Oregon State (and Hurricane Hannah), here's one last look at the Coastal Carolina game, from our perspective inside the Beav. Enjoy:

Our seats for the game. Not too shabby.


The student section was (predictably) a little late showing up for this one. But they eventually got there in full force.

The Blue Band comes out before the game to work the crowd into a frenzy, as always.


Coastal's massive cheerleading corps.

The highlighted section contains the 15 or so Coastal fans. You can see the little specs of teal in there.


Hey! It's DOTW Duke Flywalker! Note that the score was 14-0 during his performance, and that Coastal scored immediately afteward. Let's keep him away from the Beav for the rest of season, okay?

As things got out of hand, people started heading for the gates.

And even more so when things got more out of hand.

The score when we decided to head out.

This one was interesting. We were watching the replay of the game at home and caught this little misstep by the BTN. We're not all that smart, but we're pretty sure that the guy in the red box is not Stephfon Green (if fact we believe it's Paul Cianciolo). Gotta hand it to the BTN, they're really coming into their own this year.

Not really shocking news

Clark will be your starter for week one.

As much as we hate to do this, here's a link to the story at ESPN, the worldwide leader in Yankees, Red Sox and Patriots.

No matter who ends up taking the majority of the snaps this season, it's good news when you have two QB's who could challenge to play the starting role. By all accounts, Clark is the more balanced of the two in terms of being able to run and pass, so maybe that will allow the playbook to open up a little bit.

MRob: Sideline Reporter

2005 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and current San Francisco 49er Michael Robinson has long had an interest in working in sports broadcasting. In April, E!SPN gave him the chance to try his luck as he filled in as a reporter at a women’s softball game between Baylor and Texas.

Of course, as some of you local to the State College area remember, this isn’t MRob’s first foray into the world of television. You may recall his past work with this man:

Great, Great Guy.

Anyway, it looks like MRob did a solid job. We’re sure it’s not an easy thing to be on camera during a live broadcast. The only thing we would’ve done differently is not ask Jay Paterno for advice. Hopefully MRob will get another shot when his football days are over.

Finally, this news gives us an excuse to show you MRob’s finest performance ever shown on TV. Enjoy: