Happy New Year!

May you all be pleasantly Brent Musberger’ed tonight (but be safe, of course)…See you in 2008!

And in case you were wondering, I’ve given up on the whole “Bowl Extravaganza” thing for now.  Maybe I’ll revive it in the coming days if I feel like it, but it’s felt like more of a chore than something fun to do.

Also, it seems that even Vegas could care less about today’s basketball game against Lehigh, there’s no line for it.  No line = No prediction, No prediction= No contest between me and Rants From The District

Blue-White Roundtable: Die-Hard Fandom Lives Here.

 

You didn’t think I was going to forget about this, did you? The Nittany Line has this week’s questions along with everybody else:

 

Black Shoe Diaries
There Is No Name On My Jersey
The Nittany Notebook

Run Up The Score
William Yurasko

1) Will the loss of Hahn and/or Odrick have a big impact on either the offense in Hahn’s case, or the defense in Odrick’s case?

Hahn was having a career game rushing the football against Indiana last week before suffering his career-ending ACL tear. His running and blocking skills surely will be missed, and it’s now up to Dan Lawlor to pick up the slack. I can’t emphasize just how critical it is that Lawlor has a solid game against a stingy Buckeye defensive crew.

Odrick’s loss will hurt as well, as he was having a fine season himself. Thank goodness we have quite possibly the deepest D-line unit in the country as it seems that Abe Koroma is 100% after his pre-season foot injury and Tom McEowen should be getting back into the mix.

2) Has Anthony Morelli redeemed himself in your eyes?

Hmm, I’ll have to think hard about this one…

3) Is the offensive play calling where you want it to be now or do we still need help?

It’s sad that it took us a couple of losses to get it right, but the play calling for the most part has been solid. We’re throwing on first downs, we seem to be playing the best guys at their respective positions, and we overall seem to be playing a tad more loose. I expect us to be more conservative though against OSU, being that their defense is way better than the ones we’ve faced during our 3-game win streak. Expect lots of swing passes or 5-10 yard out patterns along with trying to run it down their throats with Rodney Kinlaw and Evan Royster (Or as Run Up The Score likes to call: “Rodan Kinster”).

Lightning Round

-Are you lucky enough to have scored tickets this week?

If I were going back for the game this weekend, my dad would’ve had a ticket waiting for me. Since I’m going to be watching it with some friends at a local establishment here in DE/PA, a friend of the family’s (who lives in Columbus and is a hardcore OSU fan) son is going to be taking my ticket…I just hope my dad’s instructing him to take off that Troy Smith jersey.
-Which Ohio State offensive player scares you the most?

Brian Robiskie: He has height (6’3″), which could pose a problem for our corners, he’s got twice as many receiving yards as the next-best receiver on the team, and I have permanent memories of Troy Smith’s Heisman-like sack escape and TD throw to him during last year’s disaster in Columbus.

-For the game Saturday are you : giddy, apprehensive, or on suicide watch?

I’m giddier than a teenage slumber party. How can you NOT get excited over the #1 team in the country visiting Happy Valley for the first time ever in my long career of PSU fandom, an 8 PM kickoff with 108,000+ screaming fans and one whited-out, crazy-ass student section, not to mention the fact that Brent Musberger’s BAC level will be higher than the average GPA of the entire OSU football team.

Jake Locker Is My Homeboy

It’s amazing what a couple of wins will do for your popularity, especially if one of those wins is against the defending Fiesta Bowl champs. Jake Locker, the Washington QB who I’ve been touting as the “next big thing” for over the past week has helped me immensely in breaking the century mark for the number of viewers in one day (114 on Thursday).

In case you haven’t noticed yet, Jake Locker is kind of a big deal.

Through yesterday and today, I’ve had a total of 73 Jake Locker-related searches lead to people finding my site. I dunno how you all found this page because I just did a google search for “jake locker” myself and my website doesn’t seem to appear within the first 12 pages, you guys obviously must have a lot of free time on your hands. Nonetheless, I hope you’re enjoying the site, and feel free to leave a comment if you feel there’s something else about college football’s latest rising star that needs mentioning.

I really feel a win over Ohio State (-4) this weekend will catapult Locker to a Keanu Reeves savior-like status amongst the Husky faithful. Not to mention “Locker Nation” would multiply in size and become large enough to overpower the KISS Army, and that’s exactly what I’m predicting: UW will win 21-17 in a classic Big10-visits-Pac10 trap game.

Now, let’s move on to my Friday predictions of other relevant contests:

Notre Dame (-7.5) at Michigan – In what should end up being the “Cripple Fight Of The Year” Two freshman QB’s in battled-tested Jimmy Clausen and Ryan Mallett will square off in a game that will be played on ESPN Classic for years to come. The thing to look for in this game is how many people walk out of the Michigan locker room alive when Mike Hart goes Latrell Sprewell on his teammates should Michigan lose this one. Look for ND to end its offensive TD-less streak when Jimmy Clausen throws a couple of TD strikes but it won’t be enough because Mike Hart is going to run all over the “Little Giants” caliber Irish defense. Michigan wins this one 28-17.

That’s ONE…ONE offensive touchdown! TWO…TWO offensive touchdowns! HA HA HA HA

Tennessee (+7.5) at Florida – Tennessee’s apparently banged up and so is Florida. However, Tennessee’s already shown it can’t defend worth a lick against teams with a solid offense (see: Tenn-Cal game) and Florida’s shown no signs of slowing down offensively despite losing Andrew Caldwell at wideout. This game will likely be a shootout with the Gators coming out on top: 41-31.

Texas (-18) at UCF – This is a rare sight: A BCS conference team agreeing to play a game on the home field of a non-BCS team. In my “College Pick ‘Em” league on Yahoo, I have UCF beating the spread, the Knights appeared to have some problems shutting down the pass but against the run, they’ve been okay. Albeit, UCF’s only played one game and that was their 25-23 “upset” over NC State. I just have the feeling though that this game will be closer than the oddsmakers have it. I’m not calling for another UCF upset by any means though, Colt McCoy at QB and Jamaal Charles running the ball will be too much for UCF to handle in the end. Did I mention how good Texas’ defense is? Longhorns 27, Golden Knights 17

USC (-9.5) at Nebraska – Make no mistake about it, Nebraska will keep this one close. Memorial Stadium will be the loudest its been since the glory days of Nebraska football and the “Sea of Red” will no doubt make TV viewers’ eyes bleed. USC is also coming off a 2-week layoff from a game against Idaho in which they looked far from impressive so there’s definitely a chance they could start off rusty which in a game like this could give Nebraska some early opportunities to score first and build a lead, forcing USC to rally in a raucous environment. Meanwhile, Nebraska’s defense has been solid against the pass thus far this season but they’re gonna have to kick it up a notch in order to give John David Booty and company a difficult night. Nebraska’s QB Sam Keller also needs to play the best game of his career, not necessarily in the stats department but simply in terms of making smart decisions and keeping mistakes/turnovers to an absolute minimum and their RB Marlon Lucky needs to be able to run until his legs pump battery acid…and then run some more. I’m extremely tempted to take Nebraska in the upset here but my gut feeling tells me they’re gonna come up just a tad short. USC escapes with a 24-21 victory.

On a side note:  here’s to hoping that ABC/ESPN gets smart and decides to have Brent Musberger blow into a breathalyzer before every game and during every TV timeout, and then flashing the results on-screen much like those “decibel meters” they sometimes show on sports broadcasts to measure crowd noise.  That way, when he starts going on one of his off-topic conversations with Kirk Herbstreit, we can all confirm the ambiguous.

You gotta ask yourself one question: “Do I feel Lucky?”

Last but not least: I am still sticking with my 45-3 prediction for PSU over Buffalo tomorrow (that’s right, we’re beating that 34-point spread). The offense will put up a performance similar to the FIU game and the defense will continue to keep our opponents’ rushing totals in the negatives. This game will be over by halftime. End of discussion. Enjoy the games, everybody…Viva La Jake!

“Real Men of Genius”: Mr. Delusional Michigan Fan

So I was simply surfing my favorite message board when I came across a new”Real Men of Genius” parody.  I don’t know which message board the poster originally found it at (no link is provided) but nonetheless I felt I would share it with you because I got several good chuckles out of it.

Bud Light presents Real Men of Genius
(Reeeeaaal Men of Genius)

Today we salute you, Mr. Delusional Michigan Fan
(Mr. Delusional Michigan Faaaaaan!)

Season after season, year after year, you try to
justify your absurdly high preseason ranking
(clutching at straws!)

Season after season, year after year, you scramble
to make futile attempts
at damage control when the Wolverines lose to a
grossly inferior opponent
(How’d Appalachian State score Thirty Fouuuuur?)

Inevitably, you’ll bring up the past, boast of
National Championships won 40
years before you were born (those were the
daaaaaays!)

You will point out that you have more wins than any
other program as though
that is relevant to the current season (been playing
since the 1870’s)

Go on, ignore that loss to Ohio State in the regular
season finale and
continue to believe that you’ll defeat your bowl
opponent with striking ease
(we’ll win by thirteeeeeey!)

So crack open an ice cold Bud Light, oh Emperor of
Excuses, and take comfort
knowing that when you finish ranked number twenty,
you’ll be back to number
five when the preseason polls come out next year
(Mr. Delusional Michigan
Fan!)

Countdown To College Football…After Dark.

First of all, I’d like to thank Run Up The Score and The Nittany Turkey for pimping out this site. As a result, I ended up with 77 views yesterday (technically speaking, it is Tuesday morning here in Delaware), crushing my previous record of 27 views. I am now anxiously awaiting the day that this blog hits the century mark…

And now boys & girls, it’s time once again for another YouTube dandy to get you psyched for the start of the season (Only 2 days away!). Tonight’s video takes us back five years to 2002 where Ohio State, down 6-3 at Purdue and facing a “4th-and-BCS title hopes” situation scored the winning TD on a deep connection from Craig Krenzel (rumored to be the first student-athlete in Ohio State football history) to Michael Jenkins, subsequently causing Brent Musberger to have a seizure from the excitement of watching his adopted team win in such dramatic fashion. Enjoy.

Brent Musberger’s “New Year’s Sloshin’ Eve”

Recently, FOX Sports announced that Ryan Seacrest will be the host of its Super Bowl pregame and halftime shows. Naturally, this is has caused further cringing from people who believe that the Super Bowl has become too watered-down by entertainers and crass commercialism.

Personally, I could care less what FOX chooses to do with pre-game festivities because I really don’t care anymore. I just want to watch the damn game, one that’s sadly become the most overrated event in all of sports. However, I do propose that we revert back to the good ol’ days when sportscasters would occasionally cross the line over to pop-culture events. Brent Musberger provides a shining example of what I’m talking about in the video below, drunkenly trying to fulfill his fantasy of being Dick Clark.

Fortunately, Mr. Musberger hasn’t allowed age to slow him down one bit. Take for example, his most recent bacchanalian escapade back in 2005 right after announcing a pure cripple fight between Pitt and Nebraska.

It’s not too late ABC, imagine what a dynamic trio you can have this upcoming New Year’s Eve with Musberger joining Seacrest and Dick Clark in the booth to ring in 2008!