Weekly Game Guide: Us vs. THEM

For those who have followed this blog, THEM refers to the Wolverines.  That "team Up North" was already taken by Woody Hayes, and from a Penn State point of view, Ann Arbor is Up Northwestern.  And there's already a Northwestern, so that didn't make any sense.

Hence, THEM.  As in, THE M.  You know--that big block "M" that marches to the fight song that makes 110,000 idiots pump their fists in the air while yelling about concrete heroes and liters of the best.  They are too sexy for their helmets.  Their helmets have wings.  Like a maxipad.  Whatever.

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.  I racked my brain to come up with a positive and this is the best I could do:  We didn't have any serious injuries in a TWENTY point loss to a team that had never beaten us in the history of college football.

Now, I'm not so sure how we'll handle THEM.  But with a few beers and watching Louisville struggle a bit against Rutgers, I'm confident that we are not in Indiana anymore Toto.

I'm not sure where we're at, but I do know this . . . WE ARE . . . PENN STATE!

BEAT THEM!


In the Big Ten (favorite noted in parentheses with points):

Michigan State (9 pts.) is favored over the Hoosiers.  Was last week a fluke, or is Indiana that capable?  The Spartans may have a better defense than PSU, but MSU is averaging 21.5 points per game against FBS schools (they scored 55 against Youngstown State that I didn't include because they are FCS and it didn't help my argument here.)  I'm leaning toward the Hoosiers on this one.  GO INDIANA!

Nebraska (14.5 pts) is favored over the Boilermakers.  GO BIG RED!

Wisconsin (10 pts.) is favored over Northwestern at Camp Randall.  ON WISCONSIN!

The Illini, Iowa, Minnesota, and the Buckeyes are off this week.

In Games from around the country:

Alabama (27 pts) returns to their old Kentucky home.  ROLL TIDE ROLL.

Can Rutgers beat Louisville tonight?  They're down by 10 heading into the fourth quarter.  Looks like Papa's in the house tonight.  The Rutgers QB--Nova?  Shouldn't he be playing for Villanova?  And doesn't Nova mean "it doesn't go" in Spanish?  Hopefully the Cardinals don't speak Spanish.  I hope Rutgers pulls this out.  After watching the Pirates, I've seen way too many happy Cardinals recently.

Maryland take son Virginia (no line.) GO TWERPS!

Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain, takes on Mack Brown's Texans in Dallas.  GO SOONERS!

LSU (7pts.) plays Florida.  GO GATORS!

Temple (0-5) is playing worse than the Steelers (0-4) at least to this point.  They are 21.5 point dogs to Cincinnati on Friday.  I guess the Owls are hoping for a #1 draft pick next year.