One Last Hoorah

Yinzers,

Well, it's going to be an emotional weekend at Beaver Stadium. This weekend marks the last home football game for the Pennsylvania State University class of 2010, of which yours truly is a part. As of November 13, 2009 MY Nittany Lions hold a record of 37-10 including a Big-10 title (2008), an Outback Bowl win (2006), an Alamo Bowl win (2007) and a heartbreaking loss in the Rose Bowl (2008) for which I flew to sunny, southern California to bear witness. There are too many memories to list on the MSM; however, there are several traditions that will be sorely missed: the drum major's front flip, the Floating Lions pregame show, one armed push ups, touchdown tossing in the stands, crowd surfing the lion, and my personal favorite, singing of the Alma Mater arm-in-arm with people you have never met, yet still are your brothers and sisters on game day. Experiences such as these are what makes Happy Valley what it is. I missed only two games, excluding bowl games, in my 4 years at Penn State. I would not trade the long Saturdays at the stadium in the blistering sun, pouring rain, freezing cold, or dumping snow for anything. But enough sap, let's talk football!


This weekend pits the Indiana football Hoosiers against your Nittany Lions. The Hoosiers come into the contest with a 4-6 (1-5) record in the Big-10. Indiana has not beaten the Nittany Lions in all 12 meetings between the two institutions. The Hoosiers are fighting for bowl eligibility (6 wins) but, in order to get there, they would have to pull off wins at Penn State and Purdue. Indiana does have some hope for at least one year. Junior QB Ben Chappell has the ability to be a very gifted passer and showed it by putting up 300+ yards on Northwestern. This is a big upgrade from Kellen Lewis last year. If the Hoosiers want to run with the big dogs in Happy Valley, their only hope will be to rake in about 6 interceptions and 5 fumble recoveries to get enough attempts at the end zone.


As for your Nittany Lions, the key is playing sound, fundamental football. As long as Penn State can do the little things right, there should be no problem in this game. Stefon Green should be back in the lineup after missing a few with an injury. The biggest concern should be staying healthy in this game and finishing strong at Michigan State the week after, not to look ahead. If Penn State can win out, there is an outside chance that we could make it back to the Orange bowl. I just hope we do not overlook this week's game in light of the former sentence.


Elsewhere on campus, across the street more specifically, other Penn State teams' seasons are rolling. The NIT Champion and 65th best team in the nation opens up their 114th season tonight against PENN. The Nittany basketball Lions are getting more and more popular on campus. The future looks bright with the return of guard Taylor Battle in lieu of the loss of power forward Jamelle Cornley. It will be interesting to see if Penn State can fill those shoes under the rim.


On the West side of town, the #1 Penn State women's volleyball team continues to be undefeated even since winning back-to-back national championships. This brings their current match win streak to 90, sitting them 3rd in the record books. Just in case ynz didn't know, the mecca of collegiate volleyball IS Happy Valley. The men's team, a Spring sport, will start off-season tourneys after winning the 2008 national championship.

In closing, game time this weekend is 12:00 pm. Thank you to the football team for adding to my Penn State stories and thank you to the senior class for sticking it out to completion.

For the Glory,
B Brog

The FIFOs Are Coming

Yinzers,

So last night I am sitting on my couch watching "The Dark Knight" on HBO, when Capitan comes through the door with the proposition of "Do you guys want to go to 'the Den' in like 45 minutes?" We look past the fact that he is from Eastern PA on the grounds that he believes the city of Philadelphia is deplorable and the fact that he has yet to catch on to the terms "ynz" and "ahr." So why not? We head down to the Den around 9:30 pm and sit down next to these classy gents that have a case of Rolling Rock ponies. They catch us eye-ing up the ponies, and go ahead and buy a case for us. Three cases later, we find out it was two Anheuser-Busch reps and the owner of the Den. A good time was had by all.


Now it's time to get down to the real thing. This weekend, Nittany Nation hosts the best football team the illustrious state of Ohio has to offer (sarcasm? you be the judge). Ohio State will ride into Beaver Stadium carrying a 7-2 (4-1) record. I tried to find some articles comparing the two teams, but I was not surprised to find every "head-to-head" article to be mostly praising Jim Tressel and the Buckeyes. Yes, they are a very good program and the Big 10 loves them, but number 1, they are from Ohio, and number 2, they have done the same thing the entire Big 10 has done in years past: nothing. It will be interesting to see how the Buckeye defense matches up on the outside with the hot-handed Derek Moye, Chaz Powell and Graham Zug. The keys to the Buckeyes for not having a repeat of last year's defeat: 1. pressure Daryll Clark 2. take care of the football and 3. keep Penn State's defense on the field


As for your Nittany Lions. Once again the deciding factor will be the ability to continue playing their brand of football. As long as the now gelled offensive line can give Daryll Clark time to find the open man, the offense will march right down the field. On the defensive side, Sean Lee, Josh Hull and Navarro Bowman are healthy and thirsty for some Buckeye blood. The biggest key for the Nittany Lions this weekend will actually be keeping Terrelle Pryor inside the pocket. Pryor is fast enough off the edge that when the pocket breaks down, he can scramble better than most quarterbacks in the nation, extending the play and allowing his receivers time to get open. The Nittany Lions' front 7 have to keep him contained inside the pocket, get in his face, and force him to make the costly mistakes he is prone to making.


The Blue Band is making their 3rd attempt to march the Chicago/Earth, Wind, & Fire halftime show. They were scheduled to perform this very show versus Iowa and at Michigan, but both times were unable to do so either due to weather (in State College) or chodes (in Michigan). So I am looking forward to finally seeing this shindig. As for news in State College, there was a Miley Cyrus concert at the Bryce Jordan Center last night. I apologize to any Hannah Montana fans out there, but if you are 16 and already a multi-millionaire, you don't know what this "hard life" and "hard work" your songs talk about really is. Stop letting daddy write your songs and let the people see if you actually do have any talent.


Game time is 3:30 pm on ABC.

For the Glory,
B Brog