Weekly Game Guide: Ill-annoyed Edition

It's Thursday night!  Do you know who's playing this weekend?

Penn State hosts the Illini at Beaver Stadium in a NOON kick-off.  Now I don't usually shamelessly copy borrow previous posts, but I can save myself a lot of time here.

After losing to Indiana, I typed thusly:

THEM is favored by 2 over the Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium.  Two weeks ago, I thought this was a pretty sure win.  We seemed to be improving each week.  Our defense seemed capable.  THEM was struggling to beat the likes of Akron and UConn.

But then a funny thing happened on the way to that sure thing.  We played one of our worst games top to bottom of the Bill O'Brien era.  Nothing seemed to go right in Bloomingdale.

With a few minor changes . . . .voilà!

Penn State is favored by 10 points over Illinois at Beaver Stadium.  Two weeks ago, I thought this was a pretty sure win.  We seemed to be improving each week.  Our defense seemed capable.  Illinois was struggling to win it's first Big Ten game.

But then a funny thing happened on the way to that sure thing.  We played one of our worst games top to bottom of the Bill O'Brien era.  Nothing seemed to go right in Columbus.

It's like Groundhog Day all over again.  Okay campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties cause it's cooooold out there this Saturday. It's coooold out there every day.  What if there is no tomorrow?  There wasn't one today!

I don't know what to expect from this team on Saturday, but I am praying that we see some leadership--on offense.  On defense.  On the sidelines.  Looking at the pattern, this should be a winning week. 

"Whatever you do, don't play for a field goal!"

We are far from a must win, but another loss, to a team that we should clearly beat, will be hard to sell to fans and recruits. 

We want execution, not excuses.

And in an interesting tidbit of news, Illini QB Nathan Scheelhaase's father has been banned from the Illinois campus for one year, following an incident during the Illini loss to MSU.

IN THE B1G TEN:

Wisconsin is favored by 9.5 over Iowa in Iowa City.  GO BADGERS!

MSU is favored by 5.5 over little brother THEM in East Lansing.  GO Spartans!

Ohio State is favored by a gazillion (or roughly 31.5) over Purdue.  Yea Boilers!  Fat Chance.

Indiana is favored over Minnesota by 9.5 points.  GO HOOSIERS!

Nebraska is favored by 7 over Northwestern.  NU has yet to win a Big ten game.  GO HUSKERS!

Maryland is off, but future Big Ten Team Rutgers is favored by 13.5 over Temple.

IN OTHER GAMES:

Notre Dame is favored by 17 over Navy.  GO MIDSHIPMEN!

Florida State is favored heavily over undefeated Miami.  Normally, I'd go with Miami here, and it's nice to see Golden have some success down there.  But a F$U loss means the Buckeyes move up---GO SEMINOLES!  GO SEMINOLES!   GO SEMINOLES!

Oregon and Alabama are thankfully off and can't lose.

Pitt is a 10 point do g to Georgia Tech and the Ted Roof defense.  GO TECH!

Florida and Georgia face off in Jacksonville.  Georgia is favored by 2.5.  Pick you own poison here.