Penn State #2

Alas, the Nittany Lions trail . . . wait for it . . . number one ranked . . . NORTHWESTERN. No--we're not talking academics or chess championships either.

Unfortunately, this ranking is based on out of conference football schedules, according to Bruce Feldman of ESPN.

Here's his list:

1. Northwestern (Towson; EMU; at Syracuse; Miami [Ohio])
2. Penn State (Akron; Syracuse; Temple; Eastern Illinois)
3. Ole Miss (At Memphis; Southeastern Louisiana; UAB; Northern Arizona)
T4. Kansas State (UMass; at Louisiana; at UCLA; Tennessee Tech)
T4. NC State (South Carolina; Murray State; Gardner-Webb; Pitt)
6. Rutgers (Howard; FIU; at Maryland; Texas Southern; at Army)
T7. Kentucky (Miami [Ohio] in Cincy; Louisville; ULM; EKU)
T7. Arkansas (Missouri State; Texas A&M in Arlington; EMU; Troy)

As I am not an "insider", I do not have access to the last two teams, one of which is another Big Ten team, and I also won't know why I should know the name Andrew Datko. Well, Bruce, unless you are an insider here, you won't know why you should know the name "Dick" Foust. So there!

Of course, this run-down only takes into account non-conference games, so I won't delude myself that we have that easy of a schedule. But, it is possible that this scheduling snafu could hurt us--how could we know that Syracuse would suck so bad!!!!

First, will this schedule prepare us for Big Ten play? In Akron, at least we will face a passing QB and an early test for our reconstructed secondary. But I doubt that will seriously prepare us for Iowa. It might at least let us know if we should start worrying early! Overall, I don't think the OOC schedule helps us get ready for Big Ten play and may make us over-confident. On the flip side, we may get to see a lot of players, gain some depth, especially at QB, and probably avoid too many injuries.

As far as a title run, Paterno already said he thought he was a few players short of a championship team. Is he correct? Who knows at this point. But if Penn State is fortunate enough to run the table, it is certainly conceivable that our schedule strength will send us to the NIT instead of the big dance, if you know what I mean. In other words, a one loss Big XII or SEC team or someone like USC may get the nod over an undefeated Paterno team because of the scheduling perception.

But we have no control over the schedule.