The Penn State Football Show

Although the road ahead is much easier than it was in 1999, let's at least acknowledge that there are still some tests ahead. Alabama and Texas are going to the BCS National Championship right now, and unless they lose, we will be left out. At the same time however, I have a feeling that we will win our three remaining games, and that either Texas, or Alabama will lose. If Texas loses to Texas Tech however, things could get pretty crazy and the Red Raiders could very well leave us at No. 3. I will admit that I have been looking at ticket prices and plane tickets for a month now. This team is good, and what they did on Saturday, although not what any of us expected, was a thing of beauty.

They altered their game, they adapted, and they went old school on us, and I liked it. That defense was unreal. The linebackers played phenomenally, and I was impressed by the way that Hull and Sales stepped up. Obviously Rubin and Bowman were out of their minds, but overall the team tackled extremely well against two players who are two of the toughest men in college football to bring down. Maybin had a huge sack, and Mo Evans played great at end as well. Evans was the man who punched the fumbled football back about 5 yards, allowing PSU defenders to pounce on it. Had he not done that, this football game may have a different ending. About Clark...yea he was very upset on the sidelines, but I don't think that he was all there either. After the hit he took, A.Q. Shipley went up to him holding up two fingers asking how many he was holding up. Minor concussion, and with this week off, he will undoubtedly be back and ready for Iowa. Devlin did his thing, and more importantly, when he came into the game, no one was scared. I was worried about Clark's health, but not worried about our offense. It is an extremely fortunate luxury for us to have two outstanding players at the most vital position on the football field. Teams like USC have great depth at places like running back, wide receiver, and on defense, but no one in the country has two better quarterbacks.

Kevin Kelly...yea he missed the FG, and it was makeable, but hey, it's a 45 yarder and he nailed the one at the end that put PSU up by 7. I have confidence in him. It's a tough position to play, and yes he has missed some FG's he could have made, but they weren't shanks, he just pushed them a little. He's fine. Scirrotto, the next item. He has missed some tackles, but again, I feel comfortable with him, and the rest of the secondary. They got beat a few times last night, but when you're selling out against the run like that, it's going to happen. Pryor did impress me though as he was able to complete a solid percentage of passes, but as I have said all along, he's a weak runner. He weighs 235 pounds but Jordan Norwood runs tougher than him.

From the very beginning of that game, you could just tell that the defense was going to make a statement. The penetration was unreal, they played with great speed, intelligence, and tackled well. They have gotten better every game, and I don't see them giving up more than 10 points in any other regular season game from here on out. They can win the shootouts, and they can win the defensive struggles. They can spread you out, or they can grind it out. No matter who this team comes up against in whatever bowl they play in, they won't see a defense akin to Ohio State's. If they do make it to the BCS Championship, they will most likely face either Texas or Texas Tech who have great offenses, but defenses that are suspect. People continue to ask if Penn State belongs in the same sentence as Texas and Alabama, but in my opinion Penn State is the best team in the country. I am truly proud of that program and could not be happier to say that I graduated from the Pennsylvania State University. Let's take it all way