Oh, this will be fun!

Hey, anybody heading over to the game Saturday? Yeah, check this out:

Wanna rethink that?

If you live outside of central PA, I swear to you it is snowing right now, fucking snowing! In the middle of November... wait its October, FUCK!!!

There is nothing , and I mean NOTHING worse than bone-chilling "almost snow," or as you Southerners like to call it rain (around the freezing mark). I would rather sit in a blinding snow storm tied to a chair forced to listen to Miley Cyrus' attempt at a rap song on an endless loop than stand in bone chilling almost snow soaked and cold as Hell. In my youth I was a hunter (its central PA, by law we have to shoot some furry woodland creature to get a driver's license) and I've sat through temperatures so cold that the trees were freezing and cracking open before my eyes and it doesn't compare to being soaked at 32 degrees. Thank God I'm not going into the game, good luck you Nittany Lion faithful with tickets, I pray for you.

Former Foes: the extreme schadenfreude edition

Time, once again, for our weekly look back at Penn State's past competition and see how they are faring after getting beat by the Nittany Lions. How is Coastal Carolina doing anyway?

Coastal Carolina (4-6)

Bye

Next up: Gardner-Webb

Oregon State (5-3)

Oregon State intercepted a 2-point conversion attempt with 21 seconds left to preserve a 27-25 victory over Arizona State. OSU backup quarterback Sean Canfield threw for 218 yards and two touchdowns replacing starter Lyle Moevao who left in the second quarter with a sore shoulder. The Beavers' Pac-10 leading rusher Jacquizz Rodgers ran for 133 yards and his brother James had 8 catches for 102 yards.

Next up: UCLA

Syracuse (2-6)

Holly Crap Syracuse won a game!!! 'Cuse running back Curtis Brinkley broke the Syracuse single-season record of consecutive 100-yard rushing games in a 28-21 victory over Louisville. Brinkley rushed for a career-best 166 yards and a touchdown. The Orange scored a touchdown in each quarter and outrushed Louisville 207 to 137.

Next up: Rutgers

Temple (3-6)

Temple led Navy by 20 points with 13:41 to play in the fourth quarter. And lost. In overtime. This is the third loss on the final play of the game for Temple, if Al Golden isn't on suicide watch… well, he should be. Erstwhile Penn State recruit and Owl starting QB Adam DiMichele completed 21 of his 28 passes for 340 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. But he lost. In overtime.

Next up: Kent State Golden Flashes

Illinois (5-4)

Iowa trailed Illinois the entire game until 2:46 of the fourth quarter when RB Shonn Greene tied the score at 24 with a 5-yard touchdown run. But Juice Williams, erratic for most of the game, put together the best drive of day covering twelve plays and 51 yards in 2:22 that ended in a 46-yard field goal for the victory. The Fighting Zookers' defense held Greene in check until the fourth quarter as Illinois was outrushed 138 to 60.

Next up: Western Michigan

Purdue (3-6)

Against Michigan's defense Purdue's third string quarterback who was a second string running back passed for 266 yards and 3 touchdowns, the last coming with 26 seconds left on a hook-and-lateral from Greg Orton to Desmond Tardy…

Excuse me for a minute.

BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA!!! HAHAHAHA!

HA!

Next up: Michigan State

Wisconsin (4-5)

The Badger defense shut down Javon Ringer and two Wisconsin running backs had over 100 yards but a 44-yard field goal with 7 seconds left gave Michigan State a 25-24 victory. Wisconsin led the entire game and outgained Michigan State 430 to 312 but the Spartans would not go away. Brett Swenson had four field goals two over 40 yards in the fourth quarter alone, to keep pace and set up the last second heroics.

Next up: Indiana

Michigan (2-7)

Hook and LATERAL! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA 26 seconds!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAA!!!!

Next up: Minnesota

Ohio State (7-2)

Yes they're still 7-2 they decided to take a week off just like Penn State.

Next up: Northwestern

Come to think of it... maaaayybbee laughing Jesus was a bit over the top.

And you thought ESPN loved the SEC before…

Now they have 2 billion more reasons why.

The Southeastern Conference has signed a 15-year deal with ESPN reportedly worth more than $2 billion to televise sporting events, including football and men's and women's basketball.

"This agreement makes the SEC the most widely distributed conference in the country," said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive.

ESPN will have rights to every SEC home football game not on the network package and all league matchups will be shown on some outlet, including at least 20 a year on ESPN or ESPN2. That includes two primetime Thursday night matchups and Saturday night games.

15 years, and 2 billion (that's with a 'b') dollars!?!?! Think the rest of the college football world will get equal billing on ESPN from now on? Yeah, think again. I didn't think it was possible for me to hate ESPN more but they just keep pushing the boundaries.

The real issue at hand is now you have a major network with a tie in to a second major network (ABC) who has an underlining agenda. They just paid 2 billion dollars for a product (SEC) that they need to succeed so they are going to promote them every chance they get, I know I would if I paid that kind of coin. Can we really trust Kirk Herbstreit or Lee Corso when they suddenly start pushing for Florida or LSU at the end of the year when there are only three 1-loss teams left? Maybe, but you get my point it's going to tough to take ESPN as in impartial observer/reporter of college football from this point forward.

Welcome to Central Pennsyltucky

The Centre Daily Times is running down its "7 wonders of Centre County" (stop laughing!) and of course Beaver Stadium is one. Oh, it's a rich tapestry of northern redneck fantasy and I'm saddened that this is what fellow denizens of my area consider wondrous but hey, I've come to expect it over the years. The most telling sign you're a Pennsylvania redneck? When you consider the Grange Fair "a blast."

"How many fairs do you see around where up to 1,000 families move into ugly green army tents for a week and have a blast?" wrote Jen Lee, of Pleasant Gap, among the many readers who nominated Grange Fair as one of the 7 Wonders of Centre County.

For those of you that have not had the thrill of attending the Grange Fair, I weep for you. I've been there once, a couple years ago, and I have yet to scrub the unmistakable stench of deep fried food off my skin. It's basically a collection of carny folk wanabies trying to con you into "winning" goldfish or fluffy stuffed animals in "games of skill."

But the Fair, as it's popularly called, isn't a private party. Tens of thousands of visitors arrive for the livestock shows, tractor pulls, concerts, exhibits and enough fried, grilled, baked and iced goodies to drain wallets and bust belts.

When the first two events of importance are "livestock shows" and "tractor pulls" you know you've hit redneck paradise. Oh and as for the concerts, yeah it's definitely not 50 cent.

Not an old pic it was taken last year – they just couldn't figure out how to get that new fangled digital camera off the B&W setting

<Insert State Penn Joke here>

ESPN jumps on the Chris Bell pile and there's actually some good news from the whole ordeal.

"Chris Bell, who had been previously suspended from the team, is permanently reoved from the team and will not be considered to be part of the team in the future," a Penn State spokesman said.

In other words you're gone for good buddy, thanks for being the 5 star dipshit you've been during your illustrious career at Penn State. I'd also like to take this time to thank all the rest of this wonderfully behaved team; because of you we have links on ESPN.com to 6 different off the field incidents.

NICE!

Another Lesson Of Be Careful What You Wish For

The Nittany Line has learned from multiple sources that Rich Kotite was on campus March 30th and 31st. His time at PSU included tours of the Lasch Building and the Penn State All-Sports Museum located in Beaver Stadium. He reportedly met with Paterno twice during his visit, discussing among other things their upbringings in Brooklyn. He has apparently earned his blessing to succeed Joe as head coach at Penn State and a press conference is expected sometime in late April to make the announcement that 2008 will be Paterno’s final season coaching, however, details regarding the rest of the staff was not yet determined. NFL head coaching failures have had mixed results recently in the college game. Personally selected by Graham Spanier, he is said to be hopeful Kotite will be more Pete Carroll, who he succeeded with the Jets, and less Bill Callahan.

French Toast?

..and while I’m at it, Joe Paterno is a smelly old man!

There's burning bridges then there's launching a full army brigade's worth of ammunition turning the bridge into a splintered pile of rubble, burning the rubble, and then taking a dump on the smoldering pile. Andrew Quarless chose the bombs-a-blazin' approach with respect to his career at Penn State.

Penn State tight end Andrew Quarless was charged Thursday with DUI after State College police say he was stopped early Sunday while driving with a blood alcohol level of .084 percent.

Quarless, 19, of Uniondale, N.Y., was stopped at 2:54 a.m. Sunday at the intersection of East College Avenue and South Pugh Street when police said he ran a red light in a white BMW... "Did I go through the red light?" police say Quarless asked the officer. A blood test taken about a half hour later showed Quarless had a .084 BAC, the complaint states.

Did you go through a red light? No son, you just went through what was left of a once promising career. Adios. (HT: RUTS who always beats me to these things)

Paying the Piper

Legally speaking, things are settled over that embarrassing Ohio State incident. What occurred between Judicial Affairs or the on the University of Pittsburgh end of things is uncertain. Here’s the tab:

Hi, I'm still a total fucking asshole.

Richard Eisenberger Jr. pled guilty to harassment and disorderly conduct charges and paid $537 in fines and court fees.

The fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha, also pled guilty to disorderly conduct charges and paid $327 in fines and court fees.

In other news, the Fight Club trial has been postponed until February.

There is a Special Circle of Hell

Where assholes like this will go. It's very difficult to restrain my anger after watching the video of the Ohio State fans being assaulted with beer. What's worse is that there seems to be some that feel the need to defend the actions of these douchebags. They say well they shouldn't have been down around the frats. Really, that makes it ok? Is that Buckeye fan from State College that he knows the geography? If I went to Columbus, I sure wouldn't know where I was. Regardless, this behavior is unacceptable, good natured ribbing and light-hearted booing is one thing, but this is an embarrassment of epic proportions. So, close and fine the shit out of that fraternity and if you know who this person is, let the proper authorities know, because this will not be tolerated.

Hi, I'm a total fucking asshole.

Update: RUTS is reporting that the University president's office was so swamped with e-mail that it has created a form letter for those writing in:

As Associate to the President for Administration, I help Dr. Spanier address the important issues that are brought to his attention.

Thank you for sharing your concerns about the behavior of some of our fans. Media accounts following the game indicated that fans were spirited, but overall exhibited better behavior, so I am disappointed to see the youtube video. Our Office of Police Services is investigating it in an attempt to identify those involved. It is extremely unfortunate and embarrassing that some fans engage in behavior that reflects badly on all Penn Staters, the majority of whom are respectful and well-mannered.

A group of students and administrators have been meeting to encourage better behavior from our fans. A number of initiatives are underway–posters have been placed around campus, ads have been placed in the student newspaper and on television promoting good sportsmanship. Prior to the Ohio State game, a message from the Athletic Director was sent to all students via the student newswire concerning appropriate fan behavior. Coach Paterno also addressed the issue when he visited the students camping outside the stadium. Clearly more can be done and we will continue to work on this.

Coordinating these efforts into an effective campaign that garners results does not happen overnight, but we are committed to the effort and to its success.
I will be sure the President sees your note. Thank you for taking the time to write.

Sincerely,

Tom Poole
Thomas G. Poole, Ph.D.Associate to the President for Administration

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