Conference Championship Previews

Yeah we know this is a PSU blog but we're fans of college football as a whole too. We decided to delay the preview-reviews and check out what's happening this weekend as three BCS conferences hold their championship games. We think it's unlikely, but there's a slim chance that one of these games could have Rose Bowl implications, should the right teams lose and USC weasel their way into the National Championship picture. So, we'll drop these previews on you, then get back to revisiting the preseason and sometime in the weekend we'll have another Top 5. We love those.

Anyway, enough rambling, on with the previews!

SEC: Florida vs. Alabama, 4 PM, CBS

Some time after losing to Mississippi State, Florida became arguably the best team in the nation. Since then, they've dominated everyone they've played and scored 35 or more in every game. They absolutely trounced 4 Top 25 teams along the way. Even while there were still more than 1 undefeated teams in the nation, people were talking about who Florida would play in the national championship game.

Alabama, on the other hand, surprised everyone by hammering Clemson in their opening game (which, in hindsight, isn't very surprising at all) and then followed that up a few weeks later by throttling then No. 3 Georgia (again, not really all that surprising when you look back). While those wins look a little less impressive now that the season has played out, you can't argue the overall product that Alabama has put out on the field. They play solid defense and they control the ball on offense. They tackle, they block and they rush the ball.

We're not football strategists and admittedly know less about the intricacies of the game than we'd like to -- but we know that when you do those three things well, you'll have a very good team.

Given the quality of both teams and what's up for grabs, this looks to be a classic game. Great defense versus great offense -- both ways -- and while Alabama is ranked higher, Florida is a favorite; something a little out of the ordinary.

There are stories all over this, be it about the resurgence of Bama, Nick Saban or Urban Meyer, flashy Florida vs. lunch-pail Alabama or the game essentially being the national championship semi-final.

In the end, it's going to come down to how well the Tide defense can contain the Florida offense. We feel good about Florida keeping the Tide in check, but not the other way around. Florida has put up points against every team they've played and we're not sure that Alabama is going to be able to stop them -- and that's what they'll need. Slowing them down won't do it, as it seems that a slow Florida team is still going to score 30+ points.

So, if Bama wants to win they're going to have to make Florida play their game. We don't think that's going to happen and that Florida will win this one, probably by that 9.5 or better.

Prediction: Florida 28, Alabama 17

Big 12: Missouri vs. Oklahoma, 8 PM, ABC

A couple of weeks ago, we wrote about the Big 12 championship and how the South division could very well come down to a three-way tie. Here's what we had to say about it then:

...We think that if Oklahoma pulls the upset (against Texas Tech) this weekend that they will have the best chance to get in. The win will be fresh in poll voters’ minds, and the loss to Texas seems like a long time ago. We think this scenario is the most likely, and if so, look for the Sooner to take a trip to the BCS title game.

Okay, we hit that one on the head, but we're not pleased about the way things have turned out in the Big 12. Instead of using a computer to break a three-way tie, why not look at it in a logical way? Who had the best loss? Texas, on the last play on the road at Tech. Who had the best win? Also Texas, at a neutral site against OU. Obviously the pollsters and computers threw out Texas Tech because they were bombed by the Sooners. You can tell, because they're so far behind in the BCS standings, so how Oklahoma jumps Texas, the team they lost to, is beyond us. The BCS with another outstanding job.

BCS Headquarters

But of course, that's the way it is, and the Sooners get the nod as the South division champion, thus setting up a matchup with Missouri for the Big 12 title. Obviously, much more is on the line for Oklahoma. If they win, they're almost a lock for the national title game. And if they lose, let the madness ensue. Who knows who this screwy system will name as OU's replacement in the big game.

Luckily for the BCS supporters, there's little chance of Oklahoma blowing this one. Despite a 9-3 record, Missouri is an average team. They gave up a boatload of yards and points to Illinois in the season opener. They got smoked by Texas. And they just lost to Kansas to end their regular season. Chase Daniel had great numbers this year, but as we've seen, it ain't hard to put up big offensive numbers in the Big 12. Saturday is going to play out for Mizzou like it did for the Spartans when they rolled into Happy Valley a couple weeks ago. They had a nice season, but they're about the get a wake-up call.

Prediction: Okahoma 56, Missouri 28

ACC: Boston College vs Virginia Tech, 11:45 AM, ABC.

We're not going to lie. We don't know a whole heck of a lot about the ACC. In fact, we had to go look up who was playing in this game just before we wrote these previews. That conference is a mess, indicated by the two teams playing in the championship game with 5-3 conference records.

If at the beginning of the season you wanted to predict the two teams that would appear in the ACC championship game this weekend, you could have drawn the names out of a hat or thrown darts at the wall. Ten ACC teams went 5-3 or 4-4 in the conference this season.

Due to our lack of knowledge regarding the ACC, we decided the only way we could come up with a score for this preview was to play it out on the field. So, naturally, we fired up the ole 360's and played this one out. Boston College versus Virginia Tech. One game (we forgot to pick a neutral site), one chance to get to the BCS, winner take all.

Virginia Tech got the early lead with an interception return on BC's first drive, but BC came back on scored on their next drive. Both teams would put together solid drives through the first and second and entered the half 14-14.

BC scored twice in the third because VA Tech refused to run and threw two interceptions. With the score 28-14 and little time left in the fourth, VA Tech marched down the field and put up 7 with two minutes left.

The onsides kick failed but VA Tech forced a three and out and the ball back with 1:30 left.

They started marching again but threw an interception to end the drive. They would force a final punt as BC does not know how to manage a clock, and got the ball back with 12 seconds left. One play for all the marbles and QB#5 threw the ball out of bounds to avoid the sack.

GAME.

If anyone needs to pad their NCAA09 stats on Xbox Live, we're the guys to call.

Prediction: Boston College 28, Virginia Tech 21

Saturday Preview

Just because Penn State's regular season is over doesn't mean we aren't excited about college football Saturdays anymore. Sure, it's not the same as a Penn State football day experience, but today's slate of games should be relatively entertaining, with some big rivalry games. Here's a look five big games on the schedule today, in chronological order.

Georgia Tech @ Georgia, 12:00, CBS
Is this game going to be very exciting? Probably not. Georgia is an 8.5 point favorite over Tech, and frankly, we think that's a little low. Tech has a decent record at 8-3, but 8-3 in the ACC is like 5-6 in an actual conference. The Gameday crew has alerted us this morning that Tech really hates Georgia. Check out this snippet from Tech's fight song:

So then it's up with the White and Gold
Down with the Red and the Black
Georgia Tech is out for a victory
We'll drop our battle axe on Georgia's head, CHOP!

Apparently they don't understand rhyme in Georgia. Anyway, without giving you any real analysis here, we feel Georgia will win this one handily.

Prediction: Georgia 34, Georgia Tech 13


Florida @ Florida State, 3:30, ABC
Can you remember when this game was actually a fierce rivalry? We can, but only vaguely. What happened to teams like FSU and Miami? Did the new ACC just automatically make everyone mediocre upon joining? Florida State is showing signs of life this year, currently sitting at 8-3 after two straight 7-6 seasons, but Florida has been absolutely killing teams ever since they lost to Ole Miss at home in Week 4. In fact, the Gators are averaging 46.5 points a game this year. Look for Florida to jump out to an early lead and never look back, as they are outscoring opponents 146-7 in the first quarter this year. Holy Hell.

If you're a Seminoles fan, it's going to be a long day for you.

Prediction: Florida 52, Florida State 14


Oregon @ Oregon State, 7:00
Here's one that actually matters for us Penn State fans. We all know how this works by now: if Oregon State wins tonight, they go to the Rose Bowl, setting up what we're sure will be an exciting second chapter to the 45-14 beatdown PSU gave them in September (a game that has been mentioned about 0 times in the mainstream media this season, by the way). But if Oregon pulls the (mild) upset and USC wins out, bring on the Trojans, baby.

There's not much between these in-state rivals on paper, as they're both 8-3, though Oregon State holds the edge in Pac-10 play with a 7-1 record (Oregon is 6-2). So what gives the Ducks hope to beat the Beavers (what a matchup of mascots that is...)? Oregon State's great freshman running back, Jacquizz Rodgers, will miss the game due to a shoulder injury. If Oregon can hold the Beavers' passing game in check (something Arizona couldn't do in the last couple minutes last week), they should have a good chance to win in Corvalis.

Prediction: Oregon 23, Oregon State 21


Notre Dame @ USC, 8:00, ESPN
This game really is not all that interesting, except for the subplot of Charlie Weis's eventual termination from his head coaching spot. It's not enough that Weiss is showing that he is a very average coach, but a lot of stories are coming out through mainstream papers and sports talk radio about Weiss being an incredible ass and rubbing a lot of ND alums the wrong way. We just think he's a fat jerk who rode Bill Belichick's coattails all the way to a huge payday and had a good first season with Ty Willingham's players. Either way, he doesn't last another full year at ND, if he even lasts through this year.

And since this game involves USC, let us take the time to mention that we think the Trojans being ahead of Penn State in the BCS is ridiculous. Anyone who says the Pac-10 is head and shoulders above the Big11Ten this year is mildly insane. At the least, the conferences are right on par, at the most, we think the Big11Ten is better this year. Throw in the fact that USC lost to a team that Penn State crushed, and we definitely have an argument to be ranked higher. It doesn't help that Oregon State really turned their season around after the big loss in Happy Valley (whereas Iowa has a mediocre record), but USC being such a high profile program has to help their ranking.

In other news, this game is going to be a massacre.

Prediction: USC 120, Notre Dame 3


Oklahoma @ Oklahoma State, 8:00, ABC
The final game we're previewing is probably the best matchup of the day. Oklahoma State has had a pretty nice season, and they played Texas very closely earlier in the year. If Oklahoma has any sort of hangover from last week's big win, they could have some trouble on their hands. They're not the greatest road team in the world, either.

On the other hand, they have the ability to score 28 points in about six or seven minutes, so if OSU slips up early, it could be over for them just as quickly as it was for Texas Tech a week ago. If Oklahoma does slip up in this one, it would make things way easier for those quirky BCS computers to figure out the Big XII South, but we don't think that's going to happen.

Prediction: Oklahoma 49, Oklahoma State 28

We'll be back next week with actual Penn State news.

Control Your Destiny: The Conference Championship Outlook

Instead of giving you a batch of links from the college football universe this week, we thought, since the season is winding down, we'd take a look the championship picture in the six BCS conferences. If it were up to us, the Big East and ACC wouldn't be included in those six, and in fact, let's get them out of the way first.

Big East
Contenders: Cincinnati, Pitt, West Virgina
You might be wondering why we're even delving into this, but the thought of another Pitt-Utah BCS game is just too exciting for us to pass up. Frankly, if you look at the standings, there are way more scenarios for this conference than we care to describe, so we'll offer the most likely cases.

Cincinnati will take on Pitt this weekend, and if the Bearcats win, all they need to do is beat Syracuse next weekend and they win the conference. Cincy's only loss came to UConn, and they beat West Virginia. So if WVU wins out (they still have to face Louisville, Pitt and South Florida) and Cincy does as well, they'll both finish with one loss and Cincy will win the tiebreaker. Pitt has the Cincy game, the Backyard Brawl with WVU and UConn left, and they will most likely need to win all three of those to win the conference. Of course, in the Big East, nothing is out of the question. But no matter who wins, we hope they play Boise State or Utah.

Prediction: Cincinnati


ACC
Contenders: Seemingly everyone
Good God, you need a PhD in physics to figure this conference out. Out of the 12 teams in the league, there are a whopping nine who have a conference record of either 3-3, 4-3 or 4-2. In a word: clusterfuck.

Of course the reason for this is that these teams are all evenly-matched. Or in non-political-speak, they all kinda suck. Again, there are probably 1,000 different scenarios, but here are the most likely.

In the Atlantic division, Maryland has the inside track to come out on top. The Terps are 4-2 while Florida State and Wake Forest are each 4-3. Maryland already beat Wake, and if they take care of business against Florida State this weekend, they’ll pretty much wrap up the division. If they lose, then all hell breaks loose. If you want to figure things out from there, feel free. In the Coastal division, Miami is 4-2 and they’re taking on 4-3 Georgia Tech this weekend. The winner of that game will most likely take the division. On a side note, remember when Miami was absolutely unstoppable? What happened? Blame the ACC.

Again, we never encourage you to watch ACC games, as they’re more frustrating than trying to watch Mark May on SportsCenter, who, by the way, would probably rank all the ACC teams ahead of Penn State if he had the chance.

"I'm a massive tool."

But if you must watch the championship game, email us and tell us how it went if you’re still alive afterwards.

Prediction: Maryland


SEC
Contenders: Alabama, Florida
Allow us a moment to rant, if you will. Penn State got ripped a lot for it's soft schedule this season, to the surprise of no one. But mainstream media SEC man-love syndrome does not allow one to take an honest look at the schedule of a team like Florida. Florida has played games against three ranked teams, two of which have been badly exposed as incredibly mediocre (Georgia and LSU), and the other was #25 South Carolina, who your high school's JV squad could probably out-score. Add to that a non-conference slate including powerhouses like Hawaii and The Citadel, and even your mom could tell that schedule is a joke.

We're not trying to take anything away from Florida, they're a helluva team. (They're also a helluva team that lost at home to Ole Miss, but we digress.) We're just saying that there's always a counterargument, and if people want to point out crappy schedules in the Big11Ten, then allow us to do the same to the SEC. Moving on...

There's no longer any need for speculation; the SEC title game is already locked in. It's happening on December 6th, and Florida and Alabama will battle it out for the conference crown and most-likely a spot in the BCS title game. Watching Alabama squeak out some close games and seeing Florida just destroy teams ever since they lost, we will be shocked if the Gators don't win this one. And if there is any justice in this world, Nick Saban won't win a national title.

Prediction: Florida


Big XII
Contenders: Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma
Well, half of this conference is easy to predict. In the North division, we believe Missouri is locked in as the winner. The Tigers are 5-2 in the conference and second place Nebraska is 4-3. But even if Missouri were to lose their final conference game to Kansas this weekend and Nebraska ended up beating Colorado, Mizzou would be the division champ as they beat the Huskers earlier in the year. So essentially, Missouri is going to the Big XII title game.

Of course in the South division, things could get a bit more complicated. If Oklahoma knocks off Texas Tech this weekend, the South will most likely have a three-way tie between the aforementioned squads and Texas. If this is the case, check out the conference’s seven tiebreaker rules for a three-team scenario. Two points to make here: 1) how would numbers 6 and 7 ever come into play (because number 5 seems definitive) and 2) we could be wrong on this, but we think number 5 will have to be the deciding factor since all three teams will have beaten each other.

There’s no doubt that a three-way tie would be an absolute mess. Every team will have an argument to be the rightful division winner. But in the end, the computers will decide. Seems fitting, eh? Anyway, we think that if Oklahoma pulls the upset this weekend that they will have the best chance to get in. The win will be fresh in poll voters’ minds, and the loss to Texas seems like a long time ago. We think this scenario is the most likely, and if so, look for the Sooner to take a trip to the BCS title game.

Unless we understood the rules wrong, in which case, disregard everything we said.

Prediction: Oklahoma


Pac-10
Contenders: USC, Oregon State
This one is the most interesting to us, because it has implications for the Big11Ten champ via the Rose Bowl. Honestly, we kinda stopped thinking about Oregon State after they knocked off USC, but if the Beavers win their last two games, they're Pac-10 champs. That's right, a three-loss, #23-ranked team could be headed to the Rose Bowl. Woohoo!

Obviously, we are not happy about this scenario, no matter who wins the Big11Ten. Getting a Rose Bowl win over Oregon State probably isn't going to win you very many national respect points. But the fact remains that Oregon State is the only Pac-10 team who controls its own destiny. USC has one conference game left on the slate, and it's against UCLA, so we're assuming they'll win that one and finish 8-1 in the conference. The Beavers are at Arizona this weekend and face #24 Oregon at home in the final weekend of conference play. Neither of those are easy games, so start rooting for Arizona and Oregon if you care even a little about the Big11Ten's reputation.

Prediction: USC (please, God)


Big11Ten
Contenders: Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan State
I suppose we all know the scenarios by now, but what the hell, let's go over them one more time. Penn State controls its fate, and if they win Saturday against Sparty, then they win the conference. Simple as that. Ohio State is playing Michigan this weekend, so barring an apocalyptic meltdown, they will win and finish 7-1 in the conference. If they win and PSU loses, the Buckeyes are headed to the Rose Bowl, and this blog will probably shut down because we'll be wandering around aimlessly, pondering our broken existence.

Obviously Michigan State needs the most help to win the conference. Since they lost to OSU, they'll need to beat Penn State in the Beav and Michigan to beat Ohio State to have their ticket to Pasadena punched. Since there is about a .0001% chance that both those things happen (notice how we are avoiding the jinx-factor by saying both), we feel this is really a two horse race.

As a side note, should Penn State pull it out Saturday afternoon, Ohio State will claim that they are conference co-champions, since both teams have one loss, even though the Lions will get the BCS auto-bid (a la 2005). We have no idea why the Big11Ten allows this, because it is extremely annoying and makes pretty much no sense, since Penn State beat them straight up this season. Just another lovely quirk of college football.

Prediction: Penn State (duh)

Thank God the bye week is over.

Well, the new rankings are out and in what should be a surprise to no one, PSU was passed up by Texas Tech, who moved into the number 2 spot, behind number 1 Alabama.

The precedent was set when Texas jumped past a couple teams to get to number 1 after beating then number 1 Oklahoma, so Tech passing PSU after beating number 1 Texas is really no shocker. The good news for PSU is that Tech still has games against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, while Alabama still has to play out their schedule against opponents that belong to the greatest conference ever in the history of college football. We think it's unlikely either of them finishes undefeated, but the most important thing is that PSU continues to take care of their own business.

We can look ahead like that because we don't wear the equipment on Saturdays.

Anyway, here is a link to the rankings on the BCS page: Lower Right Corner

If you don't want to go to the BCS site and just want the info now, here's the top 10:

1. Alabama
2. Texas Tech
3. Penn State
4. Texas
5. Florida
6. Oklahoma
7. USC
8. Utah
9. Oklahoma State
10. Boise State

To be honest, we kind of expected all the Big Ten haters to knock PSU down to number 17 after having a bye week in their extra soft schedule.

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.

Bye Week Matchups

Well, it's bye week. At first it seems like a bad thing; for nine weeks, you've been looking forward to watching Penn State go out and dominate. But hey, we all can use a break (especially our concussed, Davey O'Brien Award finalist quarterback). So while Penn State is resting up this week, we suggest you do so as well- on your couch. And here are some games going on this weekend (in chronological order) to entertain you while you're there.

Wisconsin @ Michigan State, 12:00, ESPN
We might as well put one Big11Ten game on this list, as we're sure you'll be longing to see some mediocre football. The Spartans have to be feeling good after knocking off Michigan in Ann Arbor for the first time since the grunge era, and Wisconsin is finally off the schneid after a (not so) big win over Illinois.

So who will emerge victorious in this one? We say Michigan State. We're pretty sure Javon Ringer is just going to keep killing opposing defenses until both his legs break off (which should be sometime around November 22nd), and we're way way way far from sold on Dustin Sherer. Go Sparty.

West Virginia @ Connecticut, 12:00 ESPN GamePlan/ESPN360.com
Alright, so this one's not really on TV, but it has Big East title implications, so it should be on your radar. Oh, what's that? Oh right! The Big East sucks and no one really respects it. Well, if you're not doing anything else, watch this one online so you can make fun of your crazy friend or co-worker that swears the Big East is an actual big-time college football conference.

Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville, FL), 3:30 CBS
This one is pretty huge for both teams, as they're both 4-1 in the conference, and the winner of this game is most likely going to win the SEC East division and go to the conference title game. Considering that they might be playing that sneaky Alabama team in said title game, you may want to keep your eye on this one.

This is a neutral site game, held in Jacksonville (which isn't exactly neutral), and as well all know, it's dubbed "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party." We find that a bit grandiose. In Happy Valley, we don't really need a nickname, because we know we have the best tailgate scene in the country, bar none. (Hey, we don't brag often around here, let us have this.)

Anyway, we like Florida in this one, because if they don't get revenge for that little celebration stunt the Bulldogs pulled last year, they shouldn't be allowed to field a team next year. In case you forgot about that incident, here you go:

Florida State @ Georgia Tech, 3:30, ABC
HA! Just kidding. You should never watch ACC football under any circumstances.

Texas @ Texas Tech, 8:00, ABC
This is the big matchup of the weekend, obviously, with Big XII, BCS and best-team-in-Texas implications. Texas Tech gets the shaft big time amongst voters and the media, but Graham Harrell, Michael Crabtree and company can really light it up. Ask Kansas, who had 63 points hung on them last weekend.

Of course Texas is the #1 team in the nation, lead by top Heisman hopeful Colt McCoy at quarterback. Usually we would make fun of a dude named Colt, but the guy is playing out of his mind right now, completing a whopping 81% of his passes so far for 21 touchdowns. That is INSANE. Also keep your eye on wideout Jordan Shipley, who leads the team with 58 receptions. He's been a beast this year as well.

Considering that these two teams are averaging over 90 points per game combined, we're pretty sure that this isn't going to be a defensive struggle a la PSU-OSU last weekend. But no matter how potent Tech's offense is, we like the Horns to prevail in this one. Why? Well, for starters, Tech's schedule makes Penn State's look like the NFC East. Just some of the teams they've beaten this year: Eastern Washington, SMU, UMass, K-State and Nebraska. Meanwhile, in the last three weeks, Texas has beaten Oklahoma, Missouri and Oklahoma State respectively. That's a litttttle tougher. So yeah, best of luck to Tech- and trust us, we're rooting for them- but we think ol' Colt and the Longhorns are going to rough them up.

Fire The Computer

Well, the first BCS rankings of the year were released yesterday, and on the surface there were no surprises, as Penn State came in at #3. But if you dig a little deeper, you might be surprised- and pissed off.

Just check out what E!SPN’s Adam Rittenberg points out in his post on the rankings:

“The computers like Ohio State even if the voters don't. The Buckeyes come in at No. 9 in the BCS standings, buoyed by a computer ranking (No. 5) higher than Penn State's (No. 7).”

Right, it makes perfect sense that Ohio State would be above Penn State in the computer rankings, given the fact that they got killed by a team that lost to a team that Penn State killed. And, oh yeah, we’re undefeated.

What the fuck kind of algorithm is running on that computer?

And if that’s not enough to fire you up, check out this snippet from E!SPN’s story on the BCS rankings. The article talks about Penn State’s relatively low score, then offers this analysis:

“In fact, fourth-place Oklahoma (.832) might be able to catch Penn State, even if coach Joe Paterno's team wins out.”

Now that is just insanity, and in fact, there’s really no truth in it. If Penn State wins out (and that’s obviously still a big if) and gets leapfrogged by a one-loss Oklahoma team, we’re turning in our IDs as college football fans.

But the real point is that if these scenarios are even being mentioned in the national news, it just shows how awful this system is. The next time Tim Cowlishaw defends the BCS on Around the Horn, please email him and tell him that both he and the BCS are jokes.

But no worries, if the Lions go to Columbus and beat the Buckeyes, we’re at least 75% sure our computer ranking will top theirs next Sunday.

The recap will be up this evening.

Crazy Weekend

It was another insane day of college football. Tomorrow Penn State will be #3 in the nation. We can't say we expected this at the beginning of the season. But as of tonight, we have arrived. Bring on the Wolverines.

Recap coming tomorrow. Go State.

Big Games This Weekend

In addition to the big Penn State-Wisconsin game Saturday evening, this weekend will showcase three games featuring top-five teams squaring off against other ranked teams. One way or another, there will be a shakeup in the top five. Let’s take a quick look, in order from least to most intriguing:

#17 Oklahoma State @ #3 Missouri (8 pm, ESPN2)
Is Oklahoma State for real? We will find out as they invade Missouri on Saturday for one of three huge games that kicks off in primetime.

The #3 Tigers are led, of course, by Heisman-calibur duo Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin. They have Texas coming up next week, but they don’t want to overlook an Oklahoma State team that has flown under the radar to the tune of a 5-0 start. If Mizzou can squeak past those two, the only real test left is a final game with Kansas. A win in that could set up a potential conference title game with Oklahoma.

The Cowboys are hoping to pull the big upset in Missouri. If they can do it, kudos to them, but they still have games with Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma on the schedule after this one. It’s going to be a tough road for anyone in the Big XII this year. But we think they might be able to do it, because they’re led by All-Big XII press-conference-giver and All-World man, Mike Gundy. Yes, the real reason we’re talking about this game is so we could show this:

Don't act like you don't enjoy this every time you see it.

#4 LSU @ #11 Florida (8 pm, CBS)
Well, batten down the hatches in the swamp, there’s a bounty on the head of Tim Tebow! Of course the LSU guy, named Ricky Jean-Francois no less, did some pretty quick backpedaling afterwards, because he doesn’t want to look like an ass if Tebow tears him a new one, which is a distinct possibility.

The Gators (who are sick on NCAA 09, btw) have already lost one, so they need to pull this one out at home, while the Tigers are looking to keep their unbeaten season alive. (Side note: we refuse to call LSU "the Bayou Bengals", because it's the single-most annoying fucking nickname ever, and if we hear Reece Davis utter it again, we're going to go insane. Back to the blog.)

Are we sick of LSU and Les Miles? Yep. Are we even more sick of the SEC in general? You betcha. All the SEC people are hiding behind the ol' "everyone is beating each other up within the conference" excuse for the losses. Well that's fine, except Florida lost to Ole Miss. Oops. Explain that one. Either way, this is a big time game down south, and we can only hope that the Gators prevail, if only so we can hear SEC apologists pooh-pooh it on Monday. This is also the third huge game on at 8 pm. It's gonna be a fun night.

#5 Texas vs #1 Oklahoma (12 pm, ABC)
This game is obviously huge for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it means at least one top-five team will fall this weekend. But this will give us a look at the front-runner in the Big XII, a conference that is pretty stacked this year. Both Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy have been playing out of their minds so far and will look to carry their team to a big W.

A win for either side would obviously be huge (and may bring a #1 ranking either way), but this game is just the beginning for both squads. Oklahoma faces off with Kansas next week, and still has a high-octane Texas Tech team on its schedule. The Longhorns’ schedule is absolutely brutal, as they will face off with Missouri, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech consecutively before having a cake game against Baylor. Yikes.

This is one the nation’s top rivalry games, even more interesting that it’s at a neutral site. And with both teams playing so well, we’re sure it’ll quite the scene in Dallas. Kind of anticlimactic that it’s at noon, but we’ll be tuned in.

Stay tuned for the Penn State-Wisconsin preview, coming later today.

The Links

Welcome back. Here are some links to college football stories around the internets.

We begin, of course, with Penn State.

ESPN.com’s Big11Ten blogger Adam Rittenberg has a nice story about Daryl Clark. You might be shocked when you read about it, but it looks like Jay Paterno was pushing for Clark to play last season when Morelli was struggling. For the first time in our lives, we couldn’t agree more with Jay Paterno. -E!SPN-

Speaking of Jay, is it time to give him credit? -Altoona Mirror-
I doubt we will ever swallow our pride and credit the man. But it is nice to see the playbook open up this year after the last two years of blandness, as the column mentions.

We can't give credit to JayPa solely because he's in this photo (and appears to be checking Morelli out).

Joe’s not sure if Norwood will play this weekend. -GoPSUSports-

It’s been a rough week for Josh Hull. He had a mediocre performance on Saturday, and Cory Giger of the Altoona mirror says he has to step up. -Altoona Mirror-

Black Shoe Diaries also took some shots at Hull. Let’s hope the criticism fires him up, because linebacker play will be crucial against the Badgers and Buckeyes.

The CDT points out how much Penn State benefited from all the Top Ten teams losing over the weekend. We’d like to point out that it’s week 6, we still have 7 games and we could care less about the rankings right now. -CDT-

Seriously, just count the number of national championship mentions in those articles above. Everyone needs to take a cold shower and stop trying to jinx the team.

In other college football news, Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio says he isn’t worried about stud running back Javon Ringer being overworked. Maybe he should be, as Ringer is averaging just over 37 carries a game. -MLive.com-

People are definitely taking notice of Ringer, as he is getting some early Heisman talk, and Rivals has him at the top of their running back power rankings, while our own Evan Royster is 16th. Not sure why Beanie is still #2 when so many others have done so much more this year, but oh well. -Rivals-
Check out the other position power rankings as well, you may see some familiar names.

Terry Bowden says that Michigan gained a lot of confidence this past weekend. -Rivals-
Hey, we're glad Wisconsin lost to Michigan. It makes the Badgers look much more vulnerable, but we don’t want Michigan to be brimming with confidence when they visit the Beav. Just thinking about the last few games against them gives us panic sweats. Still, we have a tough time being too worried about Steven Threet.

Moving outside of the Big11Ten, here's a story on BYU and it's coach, Bronco Mendenhall. That is maybe the coolest coach name ever, and it's definitely the weirdest. Also, BYU sounds like a horrible college choice if you enjoy fun. -No Short Shorts-

Oregon State will try to knock off another undefeated team this weekend when they face Utah. We don't know what the hell they were doing when they played Penn State, but obviously they've ironed out some issues. -Beavers-

We've seen Boise State games before last night, but we never noticed this:

Nice change-up on the full stadium color idea, which is rapidly becoming overused throughout the country.

Finally, here are 5 good games to pay attention to this weekend. We’re particularly interested in that middle one. -Rivals-

Preview is coming tomorrow as usual.

Quite the shake-up

What a game last night. What a weekend!

We're working on our recap at the moment but we thought since there's probably at least one of you out there refreshing constantly waiting for an update (thanks, Dad!), that we'd give you something.

Here, folks, is your new top 10:

1. Oklahoma
2. Alabama
3. LSU
4. Missouri
5. Texas
6. Penn State
7. Texas Tech
8. BYU
9. USC
10. South Florida

Full rankings here: Rivals.

So much movement we can't even keep track.

Links Roundup

First of all, thanks to Tangled Up In White and Blue to mentioning us the other day. Tangled is a cool blog and we admire anyone who references Bob Dylan in any facet of life, so check it out! Onto the links.

In Penn State news, Royster shared Big11Ten player of the week honors after his big performance over the weekend. Can’t they just pick one guy? -GoPSUSports-

DE Jerome Hayes is out for the year. We’re late as hell on this one. Too bad that doesn’t it make it suck any less. Any readers out there play D line? -GoPSUSports-

Penn State is #17 in both the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll. Check out where the CBS 120 has them. If you don’t feel like looking, here are some of the teams ahead of them: East Carolina, South Florida, Fresno State, and worst of all, Wake Forest. The ACC should give up its BCS bid. -Laugher-

Of course the big news this weekend is not PSU-Syracuse, believe it or not. It’s the big clash between USC and the Buckeyes of Ohio State. Here’s a lengthy history of the USC-OSU battle. -Bucknuts-

Dennis Dodd thinks that if OSU wants to win, they better play Terrelle Pryor. -Sportsline-

Sweater Vest says Beanie Wells is a go. Beanie Wells says he wants 45 carries. We say Beanie Wells is a moron. -Sportsline-

Bad news for Minnesota, their leading rusher is out for the year. We might have to change our prediction for them to 2 wins instead of 3. Love his first name pronunciation. -Twin Cities-

Hey, speaking of being out for the year, don’t know if you heard about this:


San Diego State is one of the bottom five teams in the country, and Notre Dame BARELY beat them. We think ND sucks, and apparently we’re not alone. -NotreDameSucks-

To all those people who love to extol the virtues of the Big East: well, you’re idiots. We’re two games into the season and you have two unbeaten teams left (and somehow West Virginia is still ranked). -Poop Teams-

Tom Brady.

The last few years have been rough on Ty Willingham. He’s on the hot seat again. -Rivals-

Speaking of Ty Willingham, in case you missed the replays of that insanity at the end of the Washington-BYU game, here you go:

Rant of the week: Okay, we all know that this rule sucks. But everyone should stop blaming this on the refs. It’s a rule, and they enforced it, it’s not their fault. Don’t shoot the messenger, blame the stupid rule. Plus BYU could've blocked that kick just the same if it was kicked from the normal spot. Next time, wait 'til AFTER you tie the game to celebrate, and you won't have this problem.

Links Roundup

First, we’d like to give a quick thank you to the four blogs you see listed on our sidebar. They’ve welcomed us to the blog community with open arms, and we appreciate it very much. Special thanks to The Nittany Line and Zombie Nation, who both took the time to write a post about us, which was awesome. Make sure to check them all out because they’re all great blogs with unique views on PSU.

Next, despite the calls for bad weather, we are really looking forward to this weekend. It will be WWTL’s first big tailgate of the season, and we’re looking forward to another dominating performance from the blue and white. We’ll have the game preview later in the week, but until then, here are some links to some Penn State news, as well as some news from around college football world.

The Daily Collegian ran a story yesterday stating that Penn State student tickets will go paperless, starting next season. Students will have to swipe their ID cards to get into the games. They can sell their tickets to other students and transfer the tickets using an online system. Why should you care if you’re not a student? If you’re a couple years removed from school like we are, that means you’re probably sitting with the old people the rest of your life. -The Collegian-

In the polls, Penn State has risen three spots to #19 in both the AP and Coaches rankings. -Sportsline-
Here’s a quick shout-out to Tennessee, Virginia Tech and Clemson for being so nice and letting us climb in the polls. Can we all agree that ACC teams should not be ranked in the preseason polls from now on? Good, glad we got that settled.

Also, it turns out that Daryll Clark will be eligible for another season next year. If he’s great this year, then this is potentially good news. But will Devlin stay around, or transfer to a place with more playing time? It’s too early to say at this point, as both are expected to continue playing this season. -E!SPN-

And in the least surprising story of the century, there was a police visit to an apartment of Penn State football players last night. And oh yeah, the police confiscated some weed. We were woefully behind on this story, so we send you to Black Shoe Diaries for the details. -BSD-

What kinda of injury does Beanie Wells have exactly? His mom says it’s his toe, while Tressel acts like he’s surprised to hear that Wells is injured at all. -Columbus Dispatch-
If the guy’s even questionable, why the hell would’ve they even THINK about playing him this week against Ohio U with USC looming next week? Whatever, we hope they give it a go.

It’s 5 o’clock and Pitt’s offense still sucks. -Pittsburgh Trib-

We tried to gather some news about Oregon State’s thoughts on this week’s game, but our heads exploded when we saw their site. -Beavers-

And finally, here’s a fun one. A skydiver was supposed to deliver the gameball to the UNC game Saturday, but dropped in on Duke’s game instead. Whoops. -E!SPN-

Here's the YouTube. Just ignore the more info thing, it's some stupid ad on the actual YouTube page.

What do coaches know?

Well, the coaches poll is out, and Georgia is number one. Georgia was the hottest team ending the 2007 season, so it's understandable why they would be the pre-season number one. As much as we completely disagree with the idea of preseason rankings, it's a news item and that means we have to talk about it. It should be interesting to see how long Georgia holds onto that spot since, after all, they play in the Greatest Conference Ever In the History of Organized Sports. They'll probably lose a couple games and stay on top though, as long as the losses are early enough.

USC, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Florida round out positions 2-5.

In Big11Ten and PSU news, there's 5 Big11Ten teams in the Top 25. Ohio State (3), Wisconsin (12), Illinois (19), Penn State (22) and Michigan (24). One of these years teams are going to stop being ranked in the top 5 just because they're big name Big11Ten schools.

Yeah, we're looking at you, Ohio State. You better start winning those big games you get gifted into or you're going to make the Big11Ten look worse and worse every year.

Michigan at 24 seems like a surprise to a lot of people. You can't have any way of knowing what the hell they're going to give you this year. They're Michigan, so they should be good enough in the Big Ten, but no one really knows what that means anymore. Maybe PSU can actually beat them this time.

And there's really nothing to argue about with PSU at 22. It's a good spot. Respected, but under the radar.

Not a lot should change in the first week of play, the only Top 25 teams that play each other will be Missouri (7) and Illinois (19). Maybe Appalachian State can destroy another superpower when they play LSU, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Lazy... Saturday? Have some links.

We all know that this time of year things are slow. We're also working on some other things that are taking longer than expected. We can't let the site idle, so here's some stories you may or may not have come across recently.

The captains of the football team recently held a press conference. Little did we know, the Collegian does stuff in the summer. They have a nice write-up on the whole event. -The Daily Collegian-

I can't speak for the rest of the staff here, but I read every article written in The Collegian during the 2004 and 2006 calendar years.

Here's the link a lengthy transcript of the conference. -GoPsuSports.com-

Scirrotto was asked about team exercise on and off the field and had this to say:

A lot of guys are doing a lot of community service, doing great things, helping people out. A lot of guys are working, so it's real exciting to know what we've got going on and its exciting to see how everything pans out.

There was no mention as to whether or not the community service was court ordered or volunteer.

and now that we've taken a quote out of context, we feel like real journalists.

Official off-season program of the PSU football team.

Next up, Comcast and The Big11Ten Network reached a deal that will allow people in Big11Ten country to get it. Honestly, we don't know one single person who had the network last year. If we wanted to watch a game we had to get inside, or go to Frat-tastic Bill Pickle's. -bigtennetwork.com-

We read the article and are trying to figure out who gets the channel. It says expanded basic, which to us isn't very basic at all. Once you expand basic, isn't it no longer basic? Regardless, Comcast picking up the network is good news for every fan.

Last week, Penn State announced their schedules through 2012. -GoPSUSports.com-

We really love out of conference play and are thrilled to see three games a year against the Charmin Bears.

Toughest Non Conference Opponent Available

Playing Alabama doesn't cancel out the combo of Kent State, Youngstown and Temple.

On ESPN.com, Joe turned up in an article about football legends.
Kind of a no brainer. -ESPN.com-
Look for the same article about every sport at the beginning of their respective season.

Duke sucks at football. o rly? -Courier-Journal-

Notre Dame is going to bring their exceedingly average program to NBC for 8 more years. -Mediocrity-

Like us today, Mark Schlabach mailed in this article about faces to watch during the coming season. Tim Tebow? Really? Pat White? Way to go way out on a limb with those predictions.
-ESPN.com-

Again, look for this article just before NFL season starts. Swap some names, and some dude has a another article.

And finally, we close with this. -Weird People and their pets-
We're going to skip straight to the pumpkins. First, that's not a pet. Second, if you're going to decorate a pumpkin, isn't cutting it almost a requirement? Painted pumpkin = fail. Put on your man pants, and get out the knife.