Weekly Game Guide: Farmer's University Edition

It's Thursday night and the Golden Knights are beating the Scarlet Knights 38-14 early in the fourth quarter.

This weekend, Penn State hosts Nebraska . . . .


They are Farmers, bum ba dum bum bum bum bum!

This appears to be a game that could go either way for either team.  Penn State opened a two-point favorite and is sitting around 1.5 points as I type this.  Nebraska's offense is ranked 45th in the country and fields a defense ranked 42nd.  How's that for balance?  On our side of the ball, the Lions are ranked 50th offensively, and a surprising 46th nationally in defense.

The intangibles, though, lean toward Penn State . . . home game, senior day.  I think if PSU can get the running game going and minimize the mistakes (is it even possible to play a game without a fumble anymore?) they can and will win this game.  But if the defense is on the field a lot, and we make mistakes that give the Huskers field position or cost us points, senior day may not be so happy in Happy Valley.

My prediction:  Penn State wins by a touchdown.  Unless the refs review it.

IN THE B1G TEN:

Ohio State is a 34.5 point favorite over Indiana.  Can the Hoosiers make some magic?  I really doubt it, but we can dream can't we?

Illinois faces off as a favorite over Purdue, neither of which has won a conference game yet.  That will change this weekend.  Personally, I'd like to see Purdue get the W, but my Gawd they look awful.  I don't think they could beat an egg, in a bowl, with a mixer.  Of course, there's no chance of that happening--they won't be in any bowl this year.

The Spartans travel to Evanston to face a Northwestern team that also has not won a conference match-up yet.  MSU is favored by 7.  Barring a breakdown on the green and white side of the ball, I don't think that will change this week.  GO SPARTY!

Wisconsin is a 16.5 point favorite over Minnesota.  Really don't care who wins this one.  We've already mucked up the Minnesota game, and have a theoretical chance of beating the Badgers, so GO GOPHERS!  (I have a theoretical chance of winning the lottery, so keep that in perspective.)

Iowa is a 6 point favorite over THEM.  I'm okay with that.  GO HAWKEYES!

Future members:  Rutgers is losing to UCF tonight, and Maryland is a pick against Boston College.  GO TERPS!

IN OTHER GAMES:

Alabama plays Chattanooga (no line).  ROLL TIDE ROLL!

F$U is heavily favored (57 points) over Idaho. 

Baylor is favored by 9.5 over Oklahoma State and hopes to jump O$U in the BCS bonanza.  The Buckeyes could beat Indiana by 1,000 and the BCS won't care.  Sucks to be them.

Notre Dame and BYU are a pick.  GO COUGARS!

And that's a wrap!

Weekly Game Guide: Train Wreck Edition

It's Thursday night and time for ACC football on ESPN.  Clemson is ahead of the Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech 27-10 at the half.

Speaking of wrecks . . .

What has happened to Purdue?

Penn State, with a struggling offense and a defensive backfield that has been likened to four drunks chasing an empty donut bag blowing down the street, is a 21.5 point favorite.  Wow!  I'm not surprised we're favored.  But 21.5?  Have they seen our offense lately?

Sadly, the spread probably reflects more on just how bad Purdue is.

While I have said many times there are no MUST WIN games on our schedule, given the circumstances, this is a MUST WIN.  You simply cannot lose to a team like Purdue and look in the mirror at yourself the next morning.  A loss for any reason is simply unacceptable.  This would be worse than losing to Toledo--that Toledo team won 10 games and went to a bowl.  This Purdue team is going nowhere--and fast.  With games left against Illinois and Indiana, it is unlikely Purdue will win another game this year, although Illinois at home might be their best chance.

If we don't beat Penn State, I swear I'm going to jump!

In other Big Ten games:

Wisconsin is a 22 point favorite over Indiana.  Let's see--mediocre Hoosier defense against pretty good Badger defense means points for da badgers.  I don't have a favorite in this game.  We'll go with Wisconsin, but for no real good reason at all.

Ohio State is favored by 7,000 over Illinois.  Actually, it's about 32 points, but it really doesn't matter, now, does it?  Unless the Buckeyes lose their starting three quarterbacks, two linebackers and their coach, this game won't be close.  But I can't bring myself to root for O$U.  I don't want to root for Illinois.  Guess I won't be watching this game this weekend.

Northwestern is favored over THEM by 2.5 points.  I think Northwestern has suffered enough, and THEM can never suffer too much, so GO WILDCATS!

Michigan State is favored by 6.5 over Nebraska.  Since they are probably the only team that can beat O$U, I gotta go with Sparty on this one.  GO SPARTANS!

Minnesota and Iowa are off.

Maryland is a 15 point underdog to Va Tech.  They manage to beat Miami, so now they must be undefeatable.  Pffhhht!  GO TERPS!

Rutgers is a one point dog to Cincy.  GO KNIGHTS!

In other games of passing (or running) interest:

F$U is favored by 39 over Syracuse.  GO NOLES!   (Must.  Keep.  Buckeyes. Out. Of.  Title. Game.)

Alabama is a 25.5 point favorite over Mississippi State.  ROLL TIDE ROLL (see above.)

Baylor is a 27 point favorite over Texas Tech.  GO BEARS!

Stanford is a 3.5 point favorite over USC.  GO TREE!

Weekly Game Guide: Better Late Than Never Edition

Hopefully Penn State will take the field on Saturday faster than this post hit the web.

Last night, Baylor pounded Oklahoma 41-12, hoping to leap frog Ohio State in the BCS Bonanza.  Meanwhile, Buckeye fans were celebrating Stanford's 26-20 win over Oregon.  If a tree falls on a duck in the forest, does it make a sound?  Maybe Baylor AND Stanford leave O$U in the dust?

The line with the Gophers opened around 2-2.5 points, and is currently 1.5 points this morning.  Penn State has not played well on the road, with somewhat embarrassing losses to Indiana and Ohio State.  It is clichéd, but the Lions must control the line of scrimmage, hold the Gophers on the ground, limit their mistakes, and come up with a few big plays.  It's a formula that will win a lot of games, but you still have to execute it.  We fumbled on the goal line last week and still won--but you can't depend on that kind of tenacity to win games on the road.

On to the Big Ten . . .

Nebraska is a 7 point underdog to THEM in Ann Arbor.   GO HUSKERS!

Wisconsin is favored by 7.5 points over BYU.  ON WISCONSIN!

The Hoosiers are favored (will wonders never cease?) by 9 points over the hapless Illini.  GO HOOSIERS!

The Hawks are favored by 15 points over Purdue.  Sooner or later, Purdue is going to win a B1G game.  It could be this year.  Maybe 2020.  Who knows?  I'd rather it not be against us, so let's hope the little Boilermakers are Spoilermakers this weekend and upset the Hawks.  GO PURDUE!

Ohio State is off this week, which will likely hurt them in the BCS rankings.  As suggested above, both Stanford and Baylor may pass them up due to performances over top 10 teams this week.  Northwestern and Michigan State are also off this weekend.

In games around the country:

F$U is heavily favored over Wake Forest and looks to move up in the wake of the Ducks loss.  GO NOLES!

Bama is favored by, let me check that--double digits!--by 12.5 over LSU.  ROLL TIDE ROLL!

Notre Dame is favored by 4.5 over the Panthers.  I don't normally root for Pitt, but this is the Irish we're talking about here.  GO PITT!

Future B1G team Maryland is favored by 5 over Syracuse.  GO TERPS!

GO STATE!  WHACK GOPHERS!

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.

Weekly Game Guide: The Bucks Stop Here Edition

Another week of college football is upon us, as Mississippi State leads Kentucky 21-10 at the half.

Cow bells ring . . . can you hear them?  During the game . . . can you stand them?

They're clanking in cheer, now I'm deaf in one ear

Cheering in a Southern Football Land.

Sure--Penn State has it's own Cowbell Man.  But that's one cowbell . . . in 108,000 fans.  Not a whole gaggle of clinking, clanking, clattering collection of caliginous junk!  But I digress.

Penn State travels to Columbus, OH to take on the Nuts of Columbus in a late brawl on Saturday evening.  Penn State is hoping to build on it's emotional, if not pretty, win over the wolverines in their last outing, while the Bucknuts need a marquee win to improve their BCS ranking, which is currently fourth, behind Alabama, Florida State and Oregon.

Let's face it . . . . the Big Ten is not impressive this year.  Both Iowa and Northwestern are at 4-3 and NW has not won a Big Ten game yet.  Wisconsin is 5-2, and that was a respectable win.  Buffalo is also 5-2, but this was the University they beat, not the Bills.  They beat Cal, who is now 1-6, with a lone victory over Portland State.  Did you know Cal was that bad?  The bucks defeated Florida A & M by a score of 76-0, but FAM is 2-5 and Ohio State is the only FCS team they have faced so far (they beat Mississippi Valley State and Savannah State.)

Maybe a 4-2 Penn State team that somehow lost to Indiana for the first time ever won't improve their rankings, but struggling to beat a Penn State team that lost to Indiana will likely hurt them.  And if they lose, well then you can probably kiss a date with the national championship game good bye.

And it would be Urban Myers' first loss as THE head coach at THE Ohio State College.  I can't even begin to tell you how much I want to blog about Urban's first loss this Sunday.  I'd give up a Klondike Bar to see that happen!  Aside from winning the lottery, I can't think of anything I want more right now than a win over the Buckeyes this Saturday.

But enough about me.

In the Big Ten Conference this weekend:

The Hawkeyes are favored by 4 over the Wildcats.  GO HAWKS!

Michigan State is an 11.5 point favorite over the Illini.  I still can't bring myself to root for Illinois after their little recruiting expedition to Penn State in our darkest hours.  GO SPARTY!

Minnesota hosts the Cornhuskers, who are favored by 10.5 points.  This is a hard game to pick.  We have to play both teams, so from a strength of schedule point of view, it's a wash.  Nebraska is ranked, which makes a win by us look better, so we'll have to pick the Huskers here.  GO BIG RED!

THEM, Wisconsin, Indiana and Purdue are all off this week. 

Future Big Member Rutgers is favored by 8 over Houston.  GO KNIGHTS!

Future Big Member Maryland will try to upset the reeling Clemson Tigers, thought Clemson is favored by 13.  The game is at Maryland.

And in games of interest outside the Big Ten:

Notre Dame (favored by 19.5) plays Air Force.  GO FALCONS!

Alabama is favored by 28 over Tennessee.  Interesting.  ROLL TIDE ROLL.

Oregon is favored by 21 over UCLA.  GO DUCKS!

Florida State is a 29.5 point favorite over NC State.  GO NOLES!

UCF is a 22.5 point favorite over UConn.  GO KNIGHTS!

Until Ohio State loses, I have to keep rooting for Alabama, Oregon and F$U.

Weekly Game Guide: Hackenberg on the starboard side! Edition

Penn State has a bye week which gives us a chance to relish again the 4OT victory over the previously undefeated wolverines last week.

You can see a panoramic view of the game here.  I tried to find myself, but I was blocked by some people standing in front of me.  Down in front!  So much for my fifteen minutes of fame.

The game was far from perfect, but in the end, Penn State made one less mistake than THEM.  But the game was not about the Four OT's, the blocked field goal or the miss by Gibbons.  It was everything about losing a lead, and fighting back against all odds.  The team never quit.  The coaches never quit.  The Devin squared tandem of Gardner and Funchess are going to score points on a lot of teams.  And although Gardner was playing Funchess while our secondary seemed to be playing Funcheckers, our coach made some gutsy calls late in the game while Hoke seemed to be reading Paterno:  By The Book and playing conservatively not to lose.

Was the QB sneak in regulation brilliant or a poor call that just worked out?  It had already failed earlier in the game, albeit I think that fourth down was slightly more than a yard, rather than inches.  But what if Hackenberg hadn't made it?  What if it took them twenty seconds to unpile the mass of bodies on the goal line, with no touchdown signal.  With no time outs, the clock may have run out on what is now one of the best wins in the O'Brien era.

It's funny how Sunday Morning (or Thursday evening) Quarterbacking works that way.  When you win, you tend to forget about the bad calls.  When you win, there are no bad calls.  If the players execute, the coach looks like a genius.  If the kid boots the field goal wide, the coach looks like a conservative jerk who should have played to win.

But even some visiting fans had a good experience, the outcome notwithstanding.  Although not this guy . . .

What's worse than losing in 4 OTs?

From the above article . . .

This weekend was a different story. As the few Wolverine fans trickled into Beaver Stadium they realized that the structure was possibly even more impressive than our very own Big House.

The white out stands for what separates the Penn State game environment from that of Michigan. During a maize out, Michigan Stadium has one maize section where the students stand and a mixed bag of maize and blue throughout the rest of the bowl. Fans don’t put much stock in participating in the game atmosphere but simply want to watch their team win. It’s tradition.

But in Happy Valley every single fan is ready to cheer like crazy for Penn State from the opening kickoff. The white out was breathtaking. Over 100,000 strong were decked out in all white and shaking white pompoms as Bill O’Brien led his team onto the field. This scene was unlike anything our little group of Michigan students had ever experienced.

Though it has a smaller capacity than the Big House, Beaver Stadium is built entirely above ground and is much more intimidating both inside and outside. Second and third decks keep all of the sound in while reaching up much higher than the final rows in Ann Arbor. If you’re wondering how a structure like this can be safe, you aren’t alone.

Penn State’s famous chant is the Zombie Nation cheer, which gets the entire audience involved in jumping and screaming along. Because it was one of the things I was really looking forward to, I asked our host, a senior at Penn State, about Zombie Nation.

“There’s a new rule that we can only do it two times each game,” he told me. “We were doing structural damage to the stadium so they had to limit us.”

At the suggestion of damaging a concrete structure like Beaver Stadium I was astonished, but when Penn State came back and tied the game with under a minute remaining in regulation, Zombie Nation blared and the back wall of the stadium was visibly wavering back and forth with the Nittany Lion faithful.

It was the most incredible atmosphere I’ve ever been a part of, and I wasn’t even in an appreciative mood.

Following such an emotional win I expected to be mercilessly harassed by the Penn State students all night, but was surprised when they continued a trend set before the game. . .  It was extremely strange. We weren’t sure how we felt about the hospitality because it didn’t feel right, but it was much better than being harassed in Columbus or East Lansing. After the game there were fans that laughed and jeered at us, but the number that told us good game probably outnumbered them.

Even though they always seem to beat Michigan in recent years, and they ended our undefeated season, it’s hard to hate Penn State fans because of how cool they were; both when they were sure they would lose and after they had won.

I have been to Michigan Stadium thrice, and have been a-maized at how quiet those games have been except for the odd play or two every now and then.  My experience outside of the Penn State section was BAD.  The two games I sat with other PSU fans were positive experiences, except for one loss.  The stadium is built into the ground, so it doesn't look like much outside on street level.  But it is a really big bowl that doesn't hold the sound in well.  We'll see how Indiana fares in that venue this week.

Speaking of this week, in the Big Ten . . .

THEM is favored by 9 points in Ann Arbor over the Hoosiers.  After losing to Indiana, I guess we have to root for the wolverines.  Did I just type that out loud?  Even if we can't win a Big Ten Title, that doesn't mean we can't win a fantasy title, does it?

Iowa travels to Columbus to take on the Bucks who are favored by 16.5 points.  GO HAWKS!

Northwestern is favored by 12.5 and expected to bounce back against the Gophers.

The Boilers travel to face the Spartans in East Lansing.  Sparty is favored by . . .wait a minute till we add this all up . . . 26.5 points!  I hope Purdue wins, but I gotta say, Sparty wins this one.  No OTs will be required.

The Badgers, favored by 11.5, head to Illinois.  ON WISCONSIN!

Penn State and Nebraska are both off again.

Future Big Ten Team Maryland is favored by 6.5 over Wake Forest.  GO TERPS! 

Rutgers is off.

In games around the country:

Miami (FL) is leading UNC 13-7 in the second quarter, but quite frankly, I've been watching the Pens who are up 2-1 on the Cryers at the end of two periods.  Philly accidentally scored a goal with 2 seconds left to actually make this a game!

Notre Dame is favored by 3 over Southern Cal.  GO TROJANS!

Stanford is favored by 5 over UCLA.  Hmm.  GO BRUINS!

Alabama is favored by 28.5 over Bret Beliema's Hawgs.  ROLL TIDE ROLL!

F$U is favored by 3 over Clem's son.  GO TIGERS!

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.

Weekly Game Guide: Feeling Corny? Edition

The under .500 Va Tech Chokies are down 13-10 to F$U in Blacksburg.  The Seminoles are favored by 13.5 points.  What the heck!  GO HOKIES!  Do the Hokie Pokie!

Penn State travels to Lincoln (the city, not the vampire hunter) to take on the Huskers.  Nebraska is favored by a TD.  Mark May picks Nebraska.  Nuff said.   GO STATE!  SHUCK the HUSKERS!

Is she feeling Corny?

This weekend in the Big Ten:

Wisconsin has a huge game against Indiana . . . in football.  Who would have ever thought that was even possible?  But with OSU and PSU locked out of the post season festivities, this game could determine who goes to Indy.  The Badgers are favored by 7.  With PSU out of the title picture, I'm fine with Indiana playing for a Big Ten title.  GO HOOSIERS!

The Northwestern Wildcats travel to Ann Arbor to face THEM.  The wolvereenies are favored by 9.5.  GO CATS!

Iowa is favored by 5 over Purdue.  Will there be any (Danny) Hope after this season?  This is a must win for the Boilers and their coach.  Iowa has been up and down all year.  GO BOILERS!

Minnesota is favored by 3.5 over Illinois.  I'm okay with that.  GO GOPHS!

Michigan state and Ohio State have byes.

In games of previous opponents:

Bowling Green handed the Bobcats their second loss of the season last night, winning 26-14.  How did we lose that game?  Oh, to be able to do that one over again!

Navy is favored by 2 over Troy.  GO NAVY!

Temple is an 8.5 dog to Cincinnati.  GO OWLS . . . but good luck with that!

Virginia is favored by 1 over Miami (FL).   Seriously?  Whatever.  GO CAVS!

In other games of remote interest:

Alabama will be tested by Texas A & M.  The Crimson Tide is favored by nearly two TDs.  Roll Tide Roll!

Can BC party like its 1993?  The Irish aren't ranked #1, but they are undefeated and favored by 19.  GO EAGLES!

K State is favored by 7 over TCU.  GO WILDCATS!

Oregon is favored by 28 over Cal. That's just fine.  We don't want anyone ahead of Notre Lame in the BCS standings to lose.  GO DUCKS!

Weekly Game Guide: Halloween Edition

It's Halloween night here in Central PA--or at least the night the little hoodlums are allowed to venture to my door in search of treats.

Clemson is taking on Wake Forest.  Guess I'll watch the Big Bang Theory tonight.

But there are some great games on tap this weekend . . .

PSU takes on OSU at Beaver Stadium to what will probably be a sell-out crowd.  The line has fluctuated from PSU favored by 3 to the Buckeyes favored by 1.  This won't be the usual 17-10 slugfest we have become accustomed to.  I look for a good bit of scoring, and for the PSU D to outperform the Bucks.  Penn State 31- OSU 17.  Two touchdowns.  You read it here first.

In the Big Ten:

Wisconsin is favored by 6 over the Spartans.  Sorry Sparty, but I gotta go with da Badgers on this one.  We play them and not you.  You are of no use to me now.  You blew it against THEM.  You are the weakest link!  Good Bye!  GO BADGERS!

Northwestern is favored by 5 over the Hawkeyes.  No brainer here.  GO WILDCATS!

Purdue is favored by 3 over Minnesota.  Sorry Gophers, but we don't play you, and a win by the Boilers may make them less desperate to beat us.  GO BOILERS!

Illinois is favored by 2 over the Hoosiers in the who cares game of the week.  But sooner or later, the Hoosiers are going to win a Big Ten game and I'd just as soon it not be against us.  GO HOOSIERS!

The Huskers are favored by 2 over THEM.  GO BIG RED!

In games featuring previous opponents:

Temple is a 7 point dog to Pitt.  GO OWLS!

Ohio is a 7 point favorite over Miami (OH).  GO BOBCATS!

Navy is a 3.5 dog to East Carolina.  I thought the Atlantic Ocean was East of Carolina.  Oh, Sweet Carolina (bom, bom, bom!)  GO MIDSHIPMEN!

Virginia's six game losing streak since "beating" Penn State takes a week off.

In other games:

Oklahoma takes on the Irish.  The only thing worse than PSU not going to a bowl game is ND in the national title game.  OK is a 12 point favorite.  GO SOONERS!

And I guess there are some other games as well.  Whatever.