Penn State Has Fallen And They Can't Get Up

Thanks Penn State, for doing the Big Ten proud, you clowns. You have the road paved for you to either make the BCS national title game OR at least make a case for (again) why this system sucks. Instead, you laid a smelly egg in Iowa and lost the game to a team that really shouldn't have been on the same field with you.

I often say I hate being forced to defend teams that I don't like. But I live in Big 12/SEC country now and so that happens a lot. I am a Big Ten loyalist -- not that I root for Big Ten teams, necessarily, but I don't like it when the idiotic statement is accepted as fact that the Big Ten is lousy. It's not that bad.

There was a guy in my office two weeks ago who claimed that he thought Penn State was "maybe #25 in the nation." Now no matter whether you think the Big Ten is down or not, that's just silly and I told him so. When teams from the MAC, the WAC, the ACC and the Big East are in the Top 25, you simply cannot make that claim. Penn State is a good football team. But again, I hate to defend them because, well, I can't stand them or their senile coach (hint -- when you're too old and decrepit to even stand on the sidelines, it's over).

And then PSU goes and loses by a point to Iowa. And while I do think Iowa isn't nearly as good as PSU, they're having a quietly decent season. Which brings me to another point.

How come when a mediocre SEC team (like, oh, say, Ole Miss) squeaks one out against Florida, people say that just shows how tough the SEC is, but when the exact same kind of thing happens with Iowa and Penn State, it "proves" that PSU isn't for real? I don't follow.

While I do agree Florida is the best team in the SEC (Alabama will find this out in the conference title game), they lose to a team they never should have lost to. Why doesn't this disqualify them in voters and media memebers minds? Ah, because they've all collectively decided that the SEC is "so good" that it's "hard" to go undefeated. Yeah, it's hard to go unbeaten in any conference, stooges. Including the Big Ten.

The other frustrating media thing is when they all sing the praises of a darling like Ball State or Boise State and how they can go undefeated and "not get their shot." Yes, see, that's because they play cream puffs and come from truly second-tier conferences. Yet it's fun to act like they deserve a shot and a one-loss (or, let's face it, even if they'd been unbeaten) PSU team doesn't because the Big Ten is "down."

Whatever, I'm salty.

In Other Moron Media News

Todd Blackledge of ESPN fame was on ESPN radio this morning talking college football and he shocked listeners by saying he has no problem with no playoff and doesn't even think we need the title game that we have... basically saying he liked the old bowl system where if two unbeaten teams played in different conference-affiliated bowls and both won, that the voters got to decide... and that if they split the national title, then it's "okay to have several winners."

What is this, peewee football? Unbelieveable, that a clown like Blackledge could think that. I'm so tired of this arcane argument that the lack of a playoff system makes college football so much more interesting. It's a tired and ignorant argument. Yes, it creates discussion and arguments on The Sports Reporters. But so what? Don't you think it'd be more interesting to actually see the top 6 or 8 teams (or, hell, the top 4 teams) duke it out for a title? I just fail to see how one meaningful bowl game (and 30 meaningless ones) at the very end is better than some incredibly meaningful playoff bowl games followed by a true national champ. You can still have your useless Pointsettia Bowls and Music City Bowls and Sun Bowls. Nobody cares about those besides the schools playing in them (and Vegas) and that would continue. They're meaningless now and they would continue to be just as pefectly "traditional" and meaningless as the deceitful powers-that-be want you to think they care about them being.

College football is so much fun and so exciting and yes, there's a desperation involved because of the system. But the little bit you'd lose would be far outweighed by actually deciding a champion on the field.

I'm sure this won't be the last time I ramble about this before January.

Predictable...for some

I guess the next time when I'm faced with choosing should I go with logic or my gut, I should choose logic. I was pretty sure Purdue would lose, but thought for some reason they'd pull out the victory. I was wrong...

I'm pretty angry about this loss, so I'm not going to post a whole bunch. But here are some thoughts:

-Bryant played very well and was vocally-leading the offense on the sidelines as well. He's a great kickoff returner...but either PSU's kicker is ridiculously fast, or Bryant doesn't run a 4.35 as it's claimed that he does.
-Summers looked great- He kept Purdue in the game.
-Taylor's arm seemed to have made a difference in his play today (he had a fumble and dropped an easy pass).
-While Painter holds onto the ball to long on many occasions, this O-line looked pretty shabby again. The pocket was collapsing all afternoon.
-Greg Orton, who I thought was sure-handed had a couple of costly drops again...and Lymon, conversely had some big catches (even a TD that he didn't get credit for).
-This Big Ten officiating crew needs to either be investigated or at minimum get sent back to officiating school for a refresher. They flat-out missed a lot of calls and didn't seem to understand the rules during important situations.
-Players make plays...not enough plays were made by Purdue to win. That said, Purdue competed and should have gotten their eighth win of this season. Shoulda, coulda, didn't. Purdue was a seven-point dog and lost by seven...Surprise, surprise.

This quote by Dustin Keller sums it up:
"Three of the biggest games on the schedule, and we folded in each of them."

The program and more specifically, the guys coming back next year need to win three in a row now. When facing criticism and concern, nothing silences like winning.

More Bad Officiating
The officials in Notre Dame stadium did their best to keep their Irish in the game, but the Middies dug down to beat UND in triple-OT. Not even the decided Xs & Os advantage of the Manatee could lead the more-talented, bigger and stronger Irish team to a victory at home. My favorite call of the game by the genius was going for it on 4th & long when a 45-yd. field goal would have won it for the Irish in regulation.

Up yours, Lou Holtz! Not even your cursed pep talk could with its reverse-psychology-riddled tone could help your Irish to a victory.

Hey Domers, wasn't this one of your guaranteed victories?

UND's magical season dances on to 1-8 (one more and it'll be a UND record...Dig deep, fellas, I have complete faith that you can do it).

Pre-Penn State Purdue Prognosticators

"Put it in Sharpie."

I said it at the beginning of the season- Purdue would lose to both Ohio State and Michigan...and I said we could put it in pen. Prior to the Iowa game a few weeks ago, I told my BS counterparts, they could put a PSU loss "in Sharpie." Why? Well, Joe Tiller-coached teams, without a quarterback named Drew simply don't win games in which they are not favored...further, they REALLY don't win in those contests on the road. Vegas thinks Purdue will lose by 7...and thinks the game will be relatively high-scoring with the over/under set at 52 (that'd have Purdue scoring just over three TDs.

Last year, Purdue faced a similar Penn State team and got worked 12-0. Although our Boilers only lost by twelve, it might as well been 120, because Purdue looked they simply could not score versus the always-stout Nittany Lions' defense.

The only time Purdue has won versus a Nittany Lion team in Happy Valley was in 2003 when the #10-ranked Orton-led Boilers took Purdue to 5-0...that Purdue was a much-better team than that PSU team, but Purdue could only manage to eek out a win. I think we're all in agreement that logic tells us our Boilers should lose at Noon tomorrow...Let's see the predictions:

Tim Says:
I predict Purdue will lose, but not because of who they're playing. They will lose because they cannot win 3 games in a row at this point in the season.

Penn State 20
Purdue 10

*That said, they COULD win. I wouldn't be surprised if they did in fact. But they won't. They COULD though. That's all I'm saying.


J Says:
I think we all agree that this is precisely the kind of game that Purdue loses. I agree with Tim, though, that of all these kinds of games, this is one that really does FEEL like we COULD win. PSU is not all that good. Morelli will not be the one who beats us. In fact, if we have a lead late in the game, I'll actually feel good because I don't fear that offense very much at all. However, as always, PSU has a pretty solid defense (despite the fact that OSU just pasted them) and the biggest factor, let's face it, is the home-field advantage.

Normally, I don't think home-field means SO much, but at Penn State it does. The students are impressively loud and literally shake the stadium by jumping up and down. Also, while I love our Stadium holding 60,000+ for big games, theirs holds 110,000. Damn. 50K more than ours. That's something our guys are not used to. And unlike the 100K+ at Michigan, this place is actually loud. The Stadium feels tall and like it's tightly surrounding the field and I imagine the visiting players notice this. And I think Purdue players and coaches will not be able to tune this out.

So in the end, I think we will lose. And this will be one of those extremely frustrating ones because I think, talent-wise, we can absolutely hang with PSU and, in truth, I think we've got more talent on the offensive side of the ball. However, we've all seen how Painter and crew react when facing a challenge against a Big Ten power.

Saying all this, it's of course tempting to pick your own team, especially when they're on a decent little roll here and beginning to make us believe again. However, when looking at this season objectively before it all began, I felt this was one of those games we absolutely would not win, no matter how well or badly things were going. Like Tim, I definitely wouldn't be shocked if we won and I plan to be watching and being optimistic for a victory. But to be realistic, I'm going to say it doesn't happen.

Penn St 23
Purdue 19

Boilerdowd says:
Purdue heads into the most intimidating venue in the Big Ten versus a team coming off of a loss...not a good combo. I said "Put it down in Sharpie" because I was positive Purdue would lose this game...three weeks ago. Now, maybe I'm an idiot, a Purdue shill, or maybe I simply am an optimist, but I think that sharpie is going to need some heavy white out.

Tiller pulled the Senior class aside following the UM debacle and asked them how they wanted to be remembered. They responded with two convincing wins...both with defensive dominance and a grit that we haven't seen in the last few seasons. In fact, Tiller-coached teams have only one three games during his tenure at Purdue in which they were down entering the fourth quarter...And they did so last week (in convincing fashion, mind you) versus a pretty-good NW team. Coaches coach, but players make plays...I think that will happen this week.

Plus, we're celebrating my younger brother's 30th birthday and the PSU game is the centerpiece of the get-together...And Tiller wouldn't want to piss him off on such a special day. So Purdue will win one for him. This brother has also seen Purdue beat PSU & UND on the road (how many Boiler fans can say that?)...so he's a lucky bastard.

Purdue 32
Penn State 24

Stat of the Week:
Big Ten teams that lose to tO$U this season are 0-4 the following week...Let's make that 0-5.