Month: October 2017

Gameday!

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Get up, its Gameday! For the first time since 2009, ESPN’s College Gameday will be broadcasted live from Penn State, and for the first time ever, from iconic Old Main. Every week the show picks the best game of the week and hosts their show from the campus of the host team. They decided that this week, the whiteout showdown between 2. Penn State 19. Michigan, is the place to be.The atmosphere around campus is electric and campus is soon to be packed. James Franklin is calling for Beaver Stadium to be #110kstrong, and an all time large crowd is expected.

The College Gameday Crew

Everyone around college football knows that Penn State is relatively untested so far this season. Crucial to their national championship hopes is the upcoming three game stretch of 19. Michigan, 6. Ohio State, and 17. Michigan State. Penn State has done well enough to get to this point 6-0. They survived the upsets and turmoil, and now find themselves on the cusp of an actually attainable birth to their first ever College Football Playoff. Several key upsets have led to the Lions being ranked second, their highest ranking since 1999. Coming off a strong win (albeit there was much concern about a porous offensive line) against Northwestern, an advantageous bye week propelled the Lions forward. The sights are now set on Michigan. A team who humiliated the Lions 49-10, a team who may have kept the Lions out of the CFP with the trouncing, now comes to town with a chance for revenge on primetime at 7:30pm, in a whiteout, with College Gameday coming. One could argue this may be the single biggest game in terms of coverage in Penn State history. A convincing win could solidify the Lions as contenders, and Saquon as the premier Heisman favorite. The spread of 11 points for this game is a little high in my opinion, I do not know if i would take the Lions, but in this environment I think the Lions will get the job done.

Assuming the Lions win, the next two games, both away at ranked opponents, will decide the fate of the Lions. One Vegas opening line has Ohio State as 9.5 point favorites which is both insulting and astounding.

Elsewhere around college football this week we have a CFP eliminator game in 11. USC vs 13. Notre Dame. Both teams have one loss and with other gaining a huge advantage with a big win, the other will be eliminated from contention. At the midway point of the season, it appears that there may, for the first time ever, be one conference that gets more than one team in the CFP with the ACC, PAC 12, and Big 12 having teams with outside chances of getting in. This begs the question, assuming everyone goes 11-1, who gets in? Ohio State and PSU, or UGA and Bama? Personally, I feel that the SEC teams have incredibly weak schedules, so the Big 10 should get the nod. Only time will tell.

The honor of #dontbethatguy goes to Auburn for losing against a lackluster LSU team when up 20-0.

Don’t forget to tune into gameday at 9am, and the whiteout on primetime at 7:30ET on ABC

Just a friendly reminder of what happened last time Michigan vs. PSU whiteout was a night game.

National Title Dreams and a Heisman Hopeful

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During the last blog I touched on how a game in Iowa at night is a scary one. Upsets just happen. Depending on how this season turns out, what transpired that night may go into the halls of Penn State Football’s all time lore. Per usual, Iowa’s magic at home was working and a Penn State team that seemingly dominated the game (absolutely destroying Iowa in yards gained 579-273) found themselves unable to pull away. The catalyst of the Lion’s offense and emphasis of the pregame hype, Saquon Barkley shined. In arguably the best game of his career the junior put up a staggering 358 all purpose yards, while making play after play that left those watching wondering, “how is that humanly possible?”. Barkley carried the team and solidified his case for the Heisman trophy in front of a national audience, saving PSU from a loss that would have left no room for error in their quest for a championship. Barkley’s heroics, however, were not enough to put Iowa away. In Kinick Stadium, nothing works, and PSU found themselves 80 yards and 1:42 away from no longer being perfect. Displaying incredible composure and leadership, QB Trace McSorely led the Lions down the field to the 7 yard line, converting on a 4th down along the way, with just four seconds left. 4th and Goal. One last play. Penn State needed a miracle- and got one. Juwan Johnson caught his first career touchdown pass as time expired to keep his team perfect and shock the nation.

 

The game winner- miracle.

Miracles like this happen in special seasons, just look at Clemson’s miracle against NC State last year when a kicker missed a chip shot and gave the Tigers a chance in OT.

How does one follow up an incredible performance in a hard fought game? He runs the opening kick against Indiana back for a TD. Saquon Barkley showed the nation that the Iowa game was no fluke. He is the real deal.After Iowa, PSU had a 3:30 start against Indiana. The Lions quickly found themselves up 21-0 in the first quarter although it was because Indiana just made a lot of mistakes. After falling behind 21-0 that early, IU never really had a chance to get back into it against the stout Lion defense. To put an exclamation point on the game, Barkley even threw a touchdown pass prompting the announcer to exclaim, “What can’t he do!” Final PSU 45- IU 14.

After 5 games, Saquon Barkley and Baker Mayfield of OU have separated themselves from the rest of the field of Heisman hopefuls. One dark horse, Bryce Love of Stanford, may give those two a run for their money, however. Elsewhere around CFB, it finally happened. An overrated USC was not able to shake off a horrible game and took the L. They dropped to 15 in the poll while the team that knocked them off, Washington State, climbed to 11.

Next up for the Lions: Northwestern. Another sneaky trap game, 12pm kickoff- 11am in Chicago- has notoriously left the Lions starting slowly. Assuming they take care of business, the Lions will head into their bye 6-0, knowing that their season has just begun and on the other side of that bye waits 7. Michigan in the whiteout, and 10. Ohio State in one of the most dreadful places to play- the Horseshoe.

Lastly, #dontbethatguy goes to the kicker of ECU who punted the ball straight into the back of his teammate. Nice.