Thoughts From The Valley
October 26, 2008
The Hangover
How I am feeling: Tremendous! My beloved Penn State Nittany Lions have just completed a truly sweet trifecta: Beating Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio State in three stright weeks. True, Wisconsin and Michigan may not be very good this year, but no matter—these are good days for Nittany Lions fans. Aaron Maybin, Mark Rubin, Jared Odrick, Lavarro and the rest of the Penn State defense limited Beanie Wells to just 55 yards on 22 carries and the Nits won in Ohio Stadium for the first time since Your Editor was two years old.
What I am drinking: Victory Storm King Imperial Stout. This is my special occasion beer. And Ohio State-Penn State is a special occasion. This wonderfully robust beer was a nice complement to Your Editor's special Saturday evening feast: A clam-bake for two, which ended up being consumed by one (i.e, Your Editor).
What I am listening to: Oasis, Definitely Maybe. Yeah, 1990s flashback! Things are feeling very 1994-ish around The Beautiful Wissahickon Valley of late, so I dug up some of my old 1990s records. None is better than this one: A Brit pop classic. I mean, how good is "Supersonic?"
My thoughts on the weekend: As excited as I am about Penn State's truly fantastic season, I am also a realist. And I understand how college football works.
So, fellow Penn State fans, consider this following column something of a public service announcemnt. Or file it under, "Fair Warning."
Here goes: It now appears that Penn State will have a great chance to run the table and finish the season 12-0. We're not quite there yet, no, and that road trip to Iowa, I assure you, will be a tough one. But at the very least, we can probably all agree that the Nits will be favored in each of their remaining games.
Which would be great, of course.
Unfortunately, I believe both the Texas Longhorns and the Alabama Crimson Tide are going to finish the season undefeated, too, which means that Joe Paterno could very well see one of his teams finish undefeated and uncrownded for the stunning fifth time in his career (it happened previously in 1968, 1969, 1973 and 1994).
The way Texas is playing right now, I just don't see anybody beating them. Reality is, the 'Horns have one game left—next week's sure-to-be-a-shootout against Texas Tech. Win that one, and there's nobody left on the schedule that even has a chance to hanging with the 'Horns. And that includes whoever they might play in the Big 12 Championship game. Remember, the best team in that division is Missouri, and Texas blew them out of the water earlier this year.
As for the Tide? Well, they also have just one challenge left—very likely, either the Georgia Bulldogs or Florida Gators in the SEC Championship game. Obviously, you have to like their chances against Georgia. Florida? Well, I'm not so sure. But they certainly would be favored. Fact is, the two games that most folks figured would be Alabama's toughest—against LSU and Auburn—look anything but tough right now.
I don't know. Maybe I'm just a pessimist.
Maybe I'm giving Texas and Alabama too much credit. And maybe I shouldn't even be thinking about 12-0 when my Nits still have three games left to play.
But the season is beginning to reveal itself to us. By now we know who's good, and who's not. It's much easier to project how things are going to end up in early December.
And unfortunately for Penn State, I think things are going to end up the way they ended up four times before: With a deserving Penn State team not even getting the chance to win it all.
Three Yards and a Cloud of Dust
Three: OK, no more Penn State talk, I promise. We'll instead move on to another topic near-and-dear to my heart: Dave Wannstedt's coaching inadequacies. I mean, come on. Pitt was finally playing like we expected them to play (they scored back-to-back impressive wins over South Florida and Navy), had climbed all the way to a No. 17 ranking and had the look of a championship-caliber team. Really, I thought Pitt was headed to the BCS> I mean, I was sold on the Panthers. So what happens? Well, of course, this: They give up 54 freaking points to Rutgers, at home, and lose 54-34.
Two ...: As you all know, I long maintained that the Big Ten has some of the worst officials in the country. Yesterday, they proved it. First, there was the absolutely bizarre ruling that gave Michigan a touchdown against Michigan State, even though there is absolutely no way it was a touchdown. I mean, last time I checked, you had to, you know, actually make a catch in order to have a "touchdown catch." But I guess that rule is open to interpretation, especially at the Big House. Second, there was the bizarre decision (at least I hope it was a conscious decision, and not pure incompetence) to completely stop calling holding during the Penn State-Ohio State game. There were defensive players being tackled—I mean, they were being pulled down by their jerseys—and yet no flags were thrown. It was so bad that ESPN commentator and TCFA Hall of Famer Chris Fowler asked during halftime if holding was, in fact, still a penalty in the Big Ten.
One ...: Texas quarterback and Impending TCFA Hall of Famer Colt McCoy completed 31 of his first 33 passes on Saturday. His completion percentage for the 2008 season now stands at a staggering 81.8. That is simply unfathomable.
Touchdown ...: Next weekend brings us one of the great rivalries in college football: The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Georgia and Florida will battle for (in all likelihood) the right to play Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, and so there's more than a little at stake here. I mean, this game would be big—and nasty—no matter what. But let us reflect for a moment on what happened in this one last year. Ah, yes. "The Celebration." Do you think maybe the Gators remember that? Because I think so. My point? Simple: This. One. Might. Get. Interesting.