Mullin' Over Mullen

One of the potential candidates for the Penn State coaching position is Dan Mullen of Mississippi State.

A news source WAPT is reporting:

Sources close to Mississippi State University's program have said that football coach Dan Mullen is close to signing a deal to replace Joe Paterno at Penn State.

Here is a YouTube Video of Mullen:

What are your thoughts, Nittany Nation?

Here is a man who has composed a most unimpressive record of 20-17 in three seasons at Mississippi State.  The only jewel I can see is the pounding of the wolverines in the Gator Bowl, 52-14. 

This season, his team is 6-6 with losses to Auburn, LSU, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Arkansas.  The Bulldogs don't have a victory over a ranked team.  In his best season, 9-4 in 2010, the team lost to the usual suspects:  Auburn, LSU, Alabama and Arkansas, but did beat Florida 10-7 and then spanked the wolverines silly in the bowl game.  The win over Florida, and a win over Ole Miss ranked 25th in 2009 are the only wins over a ranked team in that period.  Miss State's best conference finish was fourth in a division with six teams.

Am I missing something here?

Of course, you probably could say the same thing about Penn State over the past three seasons, albeit we did tie for first in our division this year.  But beating ranked teams is not something that Penn State seems to do anymore.  At best, we appear to be aspiring to the status quo.

Hypocritical Media

Should we be surprised that the media is hypocritical?  Do as we say. . . not as we do?

Tom In Paine talks about this in his blog:

Two major events have occurred since the firing of Joe Paterno which prove that the news media are not only incompetent and dishonest but hypocritical beyond anything anyone would have thought possible.

The first revelation concerns the molestation charges against Syracuse assistant coach Bernie Fine.One of Fine's accusers secretly tape recorded a phone conversation he had with Fine's wife in 2002 in which the sexual contact with Fine was discussed and where Fine's wife admitted she knew everything her husband had been doing. Fine's accuser says he took the tape to the Syracuse Post Standard in 2002 along with his allegations against Fine and played the audio tape for them. The newspaper declined to report the allegations saying that, even with the tape they wanted more corroborating evidence before they would report it. In other words the Syracuse Post Standard gave more of the benefit of the doubt to an accused child molester than the news media in general gave to Joe Paterno, a man with a polished solid gold reputation for 60 years. And there has been no outcry by any of the sanctimonious self-serving members of the media who railed against Joe Paterno focused on the Post Standard for "having knowledge of" sexual abuse and not reporting it.

It gets a lot worse. It has also been revealed that the victim took the same audio tape to ESPN more than ten years ago with his allegations against Fine and played the tape for them, No one at ESPN did a thing. For ten years. They didnt talk to their own lawyers.They didnt refer it to any child protective agency. They didnt refer it to any law enforcement agency. They did nothing.

This is the same ESPN whose commentators called for Joe Paterno's firing immediately for, in their factually challenged hypocritical world, "not going to the authorities". The same ESPN whose commentators said Joe Paterno going to the administrative head of campus police the next day with McQueary's non-specific report wasn't enough. The same ESPN who accused Joe Paterno without a shred of proof, of being aware of child sexual abuse and "not doing enough". The same ESPN that had an audio tape confirming from the mouth of the abuser's own wife, the sexual abuse of a ball boy at Syracuse university. And did nothing.

And are the same sanctimonious self-righteous group of journalists insisting that anyone at ESPN who had been aware of those tapes for the last ten years and who is still with ESPN be fired? No. Of course not.
 
Unfortunately the second set of revelations makes it even worse for the media.
 
According to the mother, in a piece that can be read here, the principal of the high school her son attended, Karen Probst, was present in 2002 when her son openly accused Sandusky of molesting him and not only did the the school principle do nothing, according to the mother the principle actually tried to talk her and her son out of reporting it.

Additionally, according to the mother, Steve Turchetta, the boy's high school coach in 2002, repeatedly allowed Sandusky to come to the school and take the boy out of school not only without parental consent but without even any parental notification. And Turchetta continued to allow Sandusky to take the boy out of school even after the mother found out and protested.

It was Joe Paterno's picture that sold newspapers and got web hits, not Karen Probst's. It was going after Paterno that made the very small and sanctimonious feel very big.

The irony is, that in the end, Joe Paterno did more and with less knowledge, and did it faster than anyone connected to either the Sandusky allegations or the Bernie Fine allegations, all of whom had more knowledge that he did.

So what will ESPN do now? Will they accuse themselves of "not doing enough"? Will they accuse themselves of allowing a sexual predator to remain free? Will there be any media condemnation by others of ESPN? Anyone hear any media condemnation? Anyone demanding people at ESPN be fired? Or will they all hide under their sheets?

I don't think I'll live long enough to see something like that happen.

And unfortunately for Joe, I don't think he'll live long enough to see his name restored.

Searching for an Answer

Fear not, beleaguered Penn State fans.  Help is on the way.  Penn State has organized a search party committee to find us a new head coach.

Yaaaaaaay!  Are you tingling like I am?

From the Penn State release:

Penn State President Rodney Erickson appointed Joyner to head the search committee, which is comprised of:

- Linda Caldwell, Penn State Faculty Athletics Representative;
- Charmelle Green, Penn State Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator;
- Ira Lubert, Chairman and co-founder, Independence Capital Partners and Lubert Adler Partners;
- John Nichols, Emeritus Professor, Penn State College of Communications and Chair, Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics;
- Russ Rose, Head Coach, Penn State Women's Volleyball Team

Joyner said the search committee will meet this week.

Let's analyze this line by line, just for $hits and giggles.

The committee is appointed by the cyborg Erickson--the stiff doing the commercials now for Penn State during the football games.  He's also president, so he's got that going for him.  Why are we still playing that?  Is it because all our other commericials are forever tainted with  JoePa or Spanier stink?  Could we pay LSU Freek to paste Erickson's head over top of Spanier and Tom Bradley over Joe in the old commercials???

Ok.  So then we have the list of party committee members, starting with Joyner at the top.  At least he comes with football experience, and is the ONLY committee member with any football experience.

Here is his bio:

Dr. David Joyner received his B.S. in Science from Penn State in 1972 and his M.D. from Penn State's College of Medicine in 1976. Following residencies in general and orthopedic surgery at The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and a brief stint in the World Football League, Dr. Joyner began a medical career with a sports medicine emphasis.

Dr. Joyner is a health care and business consultant as well as an orthopedic physician.

As a physician, I suppose I should be happy with a colleague in control, and a brief stint in the World Football League looks great on any resumé, I'm just not really sold that Dr. Joyner has found what makes him happy in life yet. 

Dr. Caldwell was appointed by the devil GRAHAM SPANIER.

Penn State President Graham Spanier has appointed Dr. Linda Caldwell, professor of recreation, park, and tourism management, to serve as Penn State's faculty athletics representative to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

A 1976 graduate of Penn State, Caldwell earned a master’s degree in recreation resources administration in 1982 from North Carolina State University. She earned a Ph. D. in recreation in 1986 from the University of Maryland.

She will bring a lot of recreational influence to this committee.

Charmelle Green was hired by Beelzebub Tim Curley, to "bring a broad combination of professional experience from Notre Dame."  And we all know how successful the Irish are at hiring coaches!

Most recently the head of the Office of Student-Athlete Welfare & Development and the sport administrator for women's swimming & diving, Green has spent the past six years in Notre Dame's athletic administration. During that time, she oversaw the student development program, with the mission of providing a balanced Notre Dame experience for student-athletes by focusing on five key areas: academic excellence, athletic success, career preparation, community involvement and personal development.
 
Prior to joining athletic administration at Notre Dame, Green was an assistant softball coach from 2001-05. During her tenure on the coaching staff, the Fighting Irish were selected for the NCAA Tournament four times and won four Big East Conference regular season championships.
 
An All-American softball player at the University of Utah, Green spent time in Salt Lake City after graduation working as a recreation program coordinator from 1995-98. Among her notable achievements was raising more than $700,000 in annual revenue. She was also an integral part of developing an advisory board for the development of an inner-city school for the arts.

Hopefully she can improve on that fund raising ability to put the down payment on a coach for Penn State.  Don't look too hard, but you won't see the word football in any of these other bios.
 
Ira Lubert sounds like he should have been a linebacker.  Lubert Trophy winner? 

Mr. Lubert has thirty years experience in the real estate investment sector. . . Mr. Lubert holds a B.S. in human development from Pennsylvania State University and currently serves on the board of directors for Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, The Franklin Institute, and PREIT (NYSE: PEI).

Mr. Lubert also serves on community boards, and is currently on the Board of Trustees of Pennsylvania State University.

I wonder how he got this gig?  What more could you want from someone trying to pick a football coach?  He probably drew the short straw, or he was absent from the last meeting whereupon they nominated him as punishment.
 
John Nichols completed all his education in Minnesota, and by virtue of that fact, is a football connoisseur.

John S. Nichols, a member of the Penn State faculty since 1977, is a professor of communications and a specialist in international communications, comparative media systems and telecommunications policy.

He is the co-author of "Clandestine Radio Broadcasting," selected as a Choice "Outstanding Academic Book," and a contributing author to 18 other books in the fields of international communications and foreign affairs, two of which also won Choice awards. Books to which he contributed include: "Telecommunications in Latin America" (Noam), "Nicaragua in Revolution" (Walker), "U.S.-Latin America Policymaking" (Dent), "International Communication" (Anokwa, Lin and Salwen) and "Communications in Latin America" (Cole).

He reportedly watched a football game one time, and has stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.  How is a background in telecommunications in Latin America going to help us find a head coach?  Is our next coach even going to speak English?

Russ Rose.  At last!  A head coach!  Not in football, but at least we're getting warm here.

Record-breaking. History-making. Unprecedented. All of those words can be used to describe the tenure of Penn State women's volleyball head coach Russ Rose's career in Happy Valley. After 32 seasons leading the Nittany Lions, his name has become synonymous with the pride and tradition of the program. At the helm of arguably the most successful program in the country, Russ Rose continues to pass along the confidence and character he has gained during his career.

In 32 seasons at Penn State, Rose has collected wins at a staggering pace. Never having posted fewer than 22 wins in a season, he enters the 2011 season as the NCAA leader in career winning percentage, having won more than 86 percent of the matches he has coached at Penn State. He is just the third active Division I head coach to reach 1,000 career wins, having reached the milestone with an NCAA National Semifinal victory against Hawaii in 2009. A victory which earned the Nittany Lions a spot in the NCAA Championship match.

I like Russ.  I'm glad he's on this committee, even if he doesn't have any direct football ties.  He is a successful head coach himself, and of all the people on this list, he probably has the biggest vested interest in the next head coach at Penn State.  Why?  Because the football program underwrites all the other sports (with the possible exception of men's basketball, and let's face it . . . this program wouldn't be playing in the Bryce Jordan Center if Beaver Stadium wasn't next door.)  In other words, his salary depends on football and the success of that program.  Volleyball probably wouldn't be the first to go if cuts have to be made, but how far down on the list will the pain go if football falls apart???

Joyner said the committee will meet this week--over coffee and donuts.  Maybe they'll meet at the Tavern and see which big time football coaches are hanging out there!

Maybe they should have organized a committee to select the committee to search for the next head coach? 

I guess I'm just pissed they didn't ask me!

Wrecking Ball

Lions have "CHEESE TOUCH!"

Monte Ball rolled all over Penn State en route to scoring 4 touchdowns and leading the Badgers to a 45-7 victory over the Nittany Lions in Madison.  Ball brought his season TD total to 34, five behind all-time leader Barry Sanders.  And while the offensive output against this Penn State defense was impressive, the key to the Badgers success was four turn-overs.  Three fumbles--two on punts--and an interception gave the Badger offense great field position and kept our defense on the field a long time.  The Badgers had the ball almost twice as long as Penn State and they ran 36 more offensive plays.

I don't need to tell you how big this game was.  Although the Lions can claim a "share" of the Leaders Division title, the claim is hollow and meaningless, as Wisconsin will head to Indy to face Michigan State again.  But don't worry, football fans.  Rematches are in this season as it appears we will have to endure another LSU-Bama bore fest for all the marbles.

I could dissect this game in detail, but you probably watched it and you don't want to hear about it again.  In a capsule, we played sloppy and unfocused.  We lost time of possession by the largest margin since probably 1994, when Penn State's average scoring drive was around two minutes on the season.  Throw in a few turnovers and we never stood a chance.

It was a whine and cheese party in Madison.  They brought the cheese, and I will provide the whine.  Yes.  I'm going to say it.  I am going to go there.  The officiating sucked.  IT DID NOT COST US THE GAME--Wisconsin was too good for that.  But that makes the piss-poor officiating all that more egregious.

The night before the game I was talking with a friend about this.  I knew that Penn State could not hope to blow-out Wisconsin.  Our only hope was a close game.  But in a close game, the referee can make the critical call that swings things.  I told my friend that the Big Ten had already decided that Penn State could not be in this title game.  They did not want that kind of publicity.  Who am I kidding?  They never wanted us in any title race.  But the point I made to him was that the referees would favor the Badgers at all costs.

Not even half way through the game--at 4:30 PM--he texted me saying I was right about the referees and he bows to my greatnesss.  There are times when I hate to be right.

Seriously.  Wisconsin did not need the help.  And the bad calls--like the blatant PI on Haplea that wasn't called and the unsportsmanlike penalty on McGloin for throwing the ball incomplete after the play was whistled dead for a penalty--only kept Penn State from ever having a chance to climb back into this game.  Again, the calls did not keep us from winning--we weren't good enough to win this game.  But they made an uncompetitive game even more lopsided.

And why was Russell Wilson still taking snaps in the fourth quarter?  You never want to see a player injured, but there would have been some poetic justice to watch Bielema's face if his star QB suffered an injury slipping on the wet field when he didn't need to be out there.

In the end, the game was disappointing beyond words.

And now the fate of this program is in the hands of the Board of Trustees and David Joyner (who was on the board!)  The list of potential candidates has shrunk due to circumstances beyond the football field.  Will they rush to fill the position, perhaps making a bad choice just to make a choice?  The precedent has been set:  they rushed to fire Paterno before they even investigated the situation.

My how the tables have turned.  At the beginning of this season, a large number of PSU fans were hoping Paterno would retire and that Penn State would direct a national search for a replacement instead of staying in house like Paterno wanted to do.  Now, just months later, we miss Paterno and would prefer to see Tom Bradley take the helm, rather than a second-rate coach with no proven ability.

Think about it.  Who do you want to coach this team?  Al Golden does not have the experience.  London at Virginia?  Did you see that Virginia team against Va Tech?  Meyer might be a good temporary choice, but it doesn't look likely that will happen.  He's either a liar and he is going to Ohio State, or he's not going there.  I've heard rumors of Tony Dungy, and of all the candidates I've heard so far, that might be the best.

Unfortunately, the buffoons on the BOT either don't realize how importnat this football program is to the University--or they don't care.  Either way, I fear a knee jerk move to erase Paterno completely from the picture and anyone ever associated with him.  They will act too quickly in the name of wanting to do something, to start the healing, and to move forward.  But making a bad decision is worse than making no decision in this case.

Say what you will about Paterno.  Maybe he knew more about Sandusky than we know.  Maybe he should have done more.  But he still built this program to what it is today--or at least to what it was before November 5th.  He graduated students.  He cared about the athletes under his supervision.  He spurned changing uniform designs to make a buck or show off.  He benched players for celebration.  He did football the way it was meant to be done, even if he didn't always win and didn't always make us armchair quarterbacks happy.

But in its time of need, Penn State has seen fit to expel the strongest moral compass in collegiate football--EVER--just when we need morality the most. 

We can only pray that his replacement is a fraction as noble and successful as Paterno, while still doing football the right way.

BY THE NUMBERS:

From the GoPSUsports site:

Team Totals	PSU	WIS
FIRST DOWNS	12	27
Rushing	6	13
Passing	4	13
Penalty	2	1
NET YARDS RUSHING	114	264
Rushing Attempts	27	49
Average Per Rush	4.2	5.4
Rushing Touchdowns	0	4
Yards Gained Rushing	114	279
Yards Lost Rushing	0	15
NET YARDS PASSING	119	186
Completions-Attempts-Int	11-25-1	19-29-0
Average Per Attempt	4.8	6.4
Average Per Completion	10.8	9.8
Passing Touchdowns	1	2
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS	233	450
Total offense plays	52	78
Average Gain Per Play	4.5	5.8
Fumbles: Number-Lost	4-3	1-1
Penalties: Number-Yards	7-58	4-35
PUNTS-YARDS	5-231	5-203
Average Yards Per Punt	46.2	40.6
Net Yards Per Punt	41.4	29.8
Inside 20	3	1
50+ Yards	2	1
Touchbacks	0	1
Fair catch	1	0
KICKOFFS-YARDS	2-127	8-457
Average Yards Per Kickoff	63.5	57.1
Net Yards Per Kickoff	39.5	41.1
Touchbacks	0	0
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD	4-34-0	2-24-0
Average Per Return	8.5	12
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD	6-128-0	2-48-0
Average Per Return	21.3	24
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD	0-0-0	1-0-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD	1-6-0	0-0-0
Miscellaneous Yards	0	0
Possession Time	21:43	38:47
1st Quarter	3:37	11:23
2nd Quarter	4:29	10:31
3rd Quarter	7:44	7:16
4th Quarter	5:53	9:07
Third-Down Conversions	4 of 13	9 of 16
Fourth-Down Conversions	0 of 2	0 of 0
Red-Zone Scores-Chances	0-1	6-6
Touchdowns	0-1	5-6
Field goals	0-1	1-6
Sacks By: Number-Yards	2-12	0-0
PAT Kicks	1-1	6-6
Field Goals	0-0	1-1

Again, time of possession and turnovers absolutely killed us.  The interception by McGloin occurred right after the Badgers had kicked out of bounds and we had good field position at the forty.  Bad pass.  Killed us.  The fumble by Redd on the opening drive of the second half was a killer too.  No chance to get back in the game.

INTANGIBLES:

The only thing we won on Saturday was the coin toss.  We deferred.

A wet crowd of 79,708 jumped around Camp Randall Stadium.

Wisconsin leads the all-time series 6-9.

THE BIG (TEN) PICTURE:

Michigan State and Wisconsin will square off AGAIN for the Big Ten title.  Personally, I think the tie breaker system sucks.  Why send Wisconsin back to face the Spartans.  Been there done that.  Head to head competition ought to play a rule in who they face, not just in the division.  Wisconsin had their shot and blew it.  The next ranked team in the division should have shot.  Otherwise, why did they even play the first game in the first place?

Illinois has fired Ron Zook, after becoming the first school to win their first six games, and then lose the last six.

SHEDDING TEARS:

1.  For college football fans--who will be forced to watch a rematch between LSU and Alabama in all likelihood.  See BIG PICTURE above. Oh yeah, like Georgia might win.
2.  Arkansas--pounded by LSU
3.  Pitt--WVU wins the backyard brawl by one point
4.  Notre Dame--LUCK is with Stanford, not the Irish
5.  Clemson - lost to South Carolina; must face Va Tech in the ACC championship

LOOKING AHEAD:

I'm not going to speculate on the bowl here.  We'll preview that after the picks are made.

Microphone Man #2

Hey!  It worked last week. . .

All right, Penn State!

This half of the Internet yells BEAT. The other half yells WISCONSIN.

BEAT.

WISCONSIN.

BEAT.

WISCONSIN.

I can't hear you!


BEAT . . . . WISCONSIN!



BEAT . . . . WISCONSIN!

Celebrate Thanksgiving . . .

Baste a Hokie!

And my favorite Thanksgiving clip . . . again:

Statistically Speaking: Monte Ball Edition

What IS behind curtain number 3?

The NCAA rankings don't favor Penn State well this week in the match-up with Wisconsin.

NCAA Stats Comparison
Category:	Penn St.	Wisconsin	Delta
Rushing	45	10	-35
Passing Offense	95	57	-38
Total Offense	89	12	-77
Scoring Offense	106	5	-101
Rushing Defense	34	44	10
Turnovers Gained	14	61	47
Passes Had Intercepted	36	2	-34
Pass Defense	6	3	-3
Net Punting	92	70	-22
Punt Returns	80	5	-75
Kickoff Returns	26	91	65
Turnover Margin	23	7	-16
Fumbles Recovered	27	108	81
Passes Intercepted	14	19	5
Fumbles Lost	70	1	-69
Turnovers Lost	49	2	-47
Passing Efficiency	110	2	-108
Pass Efficiency Defense	4	10	6
Total Defense	8	6	-2
Scoring Defense	3	6	3
Fewest Penalties Per Game	20	32	12
Fewest Yards Penalized Per Game	23	25	2
Punt Return Yardage Defense	61	55	-6
Kickoff Return Yardage Defense	66	80	14
Offense Third-down Efficiency	92	3	-89
Offense Fourth-down Efficiency	17	10	-7
Defense Third-down Efficiency	41	39	-2
Defense Fourth-down Efficiency	35	69	34
Tackles for Loss	22	29	7
Offense Tackles for Loss	5	16	11
Pass Sacks	25	42	17
Pass Sacks Allowed	21	47	26
Time of Possession	40	27	-13
First Downs	83	22	-61
First Downs Allowed	12	4	-8
Red Zone Efficiency	86	3	-83
Red Zone Efficiency - Defense	115	69	-46
Average NCAA Rank:	45.81	29.54	-16.27
Weighted Avg. Rank:	51.25	19.33	-31.92

The Badgers are better than Penn State in almost every category.  Wisconsin's 29.54 average NCAA rank is good for FOURTH in the nation, behind LSU, Alabama and Stanford in that order.  In case you are wondering, PSU's 45.81 is ranked 20th in the Nation.

Even in the categories where PSU has an "edge", that edge is thin.  Kickoff returns and fumbles recovered is where it is at.  We need to recover fumbles and run back kicks to win this game.

Penn State is a 15 point underdog.

Well, throw out those stats.  Stifle Edith.  Come on Eileen.  Good Night Irene.

This game is going to come down to the team that wants it the most.  Penn State has overcome incredible tragedy and odds to even be in this position.  Yeah, they've won a lot of close ugly games against less than marquee opponents.  In fact, the two marquee opponents to date--Nebraska and Alabama--beat us.

But Ohio State beat the Badgers (in Ohio Stadium.)  And in case you forgot, Penn State beat those same Buckeyes (actually a better Buckeye team because they had Posey back) last Saturday in Ohio Stadium.  Michigan State needed a Hail Mary pass to beat the Badgers, but again, that was not in Madison.  The guys with a W on their helmet are averaging about 52 points per home game.

Make no mistake about it.  Penn State will be lucky if they are still in this game going into the fourth quarter.  But if they are still in the game--watch out.  This team is on a mission, and that mission is not to lose.

In my preseason assessment, I ranked this game as the second most difficult game to win behind the Alabama game.  It still is.  Here's what I said:

After I put this list together, I found out that Jon Budmayr, who was supposed to start for the Badgers at Quarterback, has been injured. NC State transfer Russell Wilson is going to be thrust into the job early on, according to the ESPN Big 10 Blog. Of course, he may be back by the last game of the season, but who knows if he can win his job back (ala Bolden last year) or if he will mentally and physically be able to manage the team.

Had I known this, I might have dropped the Badgers down to 4th. But maybe not. Does it really matter who is the quarterback? They are going to line up a herd of cattle across the field and pound the ball at you come hell or high water. They have depth at running back--Montee Ball (are you kidding me!), James White and Zach Brown. Despite losing two all-Americans on the line, the Badgers are expected to reload. That's what they do. Big. Offensive. Linemen.

Prediction: We lose. We might win, but I just don't have the confidence (stupidity) that I used to have. I think a lot will come down to how banged up these teams are after the Big Ten season. It should be an interesting finale, and hopefully will have some championship implications.

Well, well, well.  I wasn't far off.  But who knew a reject from NC State would end up being a star QB for the Badgers?  And while I'm not sure there's enough Kool Aid to really make me think we can or will win this game, I just can't shake the feeling that this team, these players, these coaches--won't find some way to pull this out and head to Indy for the Big Ten Championship.

And perhaps the stars are aligning.  Apparently, the starting center for Wisconsin is out due to an injury.

The Badgers are known for their outstanding offensive lines, but they are dealing with a key injury as center Peter Konz is out with a bad ankle. That has led to some shuffling on the line, which could be a break for Penn State's defensive front.

Tom Bradley has gone on record saying he wants the PSU head coaching job.  This is a big test, but if he brings home a win--and perhaps a Big Ten Title--can the Board of Trustees really look past him?

GO STATE!  BEAT BADGERS!