Archives for 2006

I want to say something here about the burgeoning practice of planting a flag at the center of a college football opponent’s field after a victory. Have you noticed that this nonsense is generally perpetrated by perennially second-rate teams that get lucky and beat a good team that performed uncharacteristically poorly? Planting the flag is a classless, “in yo’ face” maneuver that, I suppose, provides instant gratification for a group of live-for-the-moment losers who will go on to lose the next week. Grab the glory while you can, idiots, because it will be short-lived.

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UNIVERSITY PARK, PA, Sept. 30 — The Nittany Lions could have sulked following their loss to Ohio State, but they didn’t, and the result was an important victory over Big Ten rival Northwestern. The final score of 33–7 doesn’t reflect the complete dominance of the Lions over all aspects of the game. What’s more important is that some significant problem areas for Penn State showed some signs of resolution during the game.

The standout individual achievement award goes to Deon Butler, who broke O.J. McDuffie’s long-standing record for completion yardage in a single game. McDuffie had 212 yards in 1992 against Boston College; Butler eclipsed that with 11 receptions for 217 yards. The articulate sophomore received a call from McDuffie after the game and later humbly reflected that his great day was partly a result of the maturation of Anthony Morelli.

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COLUMBUS, OHIO, Sept. 23 — The #24 Nittany Lions (2–2, 0–1 Big Ten) outplayed the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes (4–0, 1–0 Big Ten) for the better part of three quarters before falling apart trying to clamber out of a hole in the fourth quarter, losing by a deceptive score of 28–6 before a hostile crowd of 105,266 in rain soaked Columbus.

You remember those old submarine movies? The little sub goes after the big battleship and stealthily fires a bunch of torpedoes. Suddenly, someone yells, “Runaway torpedo!” Yeah, that’s about what happened here. The Nittany Lions had the Buckeyes in their sights, right where we wanted them. Then, we shot ourselves in the foot. And then, we shot ourselves in the heart.

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