I'm on the Hunt - I'm after you!

SI.com - Photo Gallery - Top 25: Week 9

ESPN.com - NCF - Lineman levels JoePa during pregame warmups

ESPN.com - NCF - Lineman levels JoePa during pregame warmups

Joe, reportedly, had a few bumps and bruises, and had to "walk" out with the team (instead of run) - but he was able to get himself up and seems to be fine.

He's gotta be careful out there!

ESPN.com: Fan poll

ESPN.com: SPORTSNATION - Fan Poll

Click above to rank the College Football teams following week 9 of the season...

Why is PSU suddenly getting all these votes for #1?

;)

ESPN.com - NCF - BCS Rankings

ESPN.com - NCF - BCS Rankings

So, PSU is ranked #7 in the BCS - their "computer" ranking is actually #5 (which is ahead of UCLA, an undefeated team) - but when averaged with their #10 & #11 poll rankings - they end up 7th.

I know it's just torture - and crazy to even think about it - but can you imagine what might be "going on" if PSU had pulled out a win against UM? curse those 2 seconds!

The Penn State Football Podcast

The Penn State Football Podcast

PSU beats Purdue

Penn State, coming off a HUGE win over Illinois, and still nursing a few wounds from the Michigan loss, faced the Purdue Boilermakers as they celebrated Homecoming 2005. While Purdue has not lived up to their pre-season ranking - they are still a good team with a very good coach. Their loss against Wisconsin was hard fought and a lot closer than the score suggested. Their defense was tough against Wisconsin's top players - so it was a bit of a mystery as to how they would play against the Lions.

The commentators on TV reportedly kept referring to "pesky Purdue" - and that's just what they were - pesky. They never let PSU run away with the game and they played tough all 4 quarters.

Penn State got another win - and the Lions squelched any real momentum the boilermakers had in the 2nd half -

GoPSUsports.com -Game Day Central - PSU v uw

GoPSUsports.com - Official Home of Penn State Athletics

ESPN.com - PSU - PU - Recap

ESPN.com - PSU v PU - Recap

Homecoming Win for the Lions

GoPSUsports.com - PSU v Purdue wrap up

Click above for info, stats and quotes from the Lions' 33-15 win over Purdue.

PSU purdue pregame notes

GoPSUsports.com - PSU purdue game notes

Click above for the pre-game notes and statistics for this week's game (PDF format)

Paterno's pre-purdue press conference

GoPSUsports.com - pre-purdue press confence

SI.com - Photo Gallery - Weekend's Top 10 Performers

SI.com - Photo Gallery - Weekend's Top 10 Performers

Michael Robinson #2! 6 touchdowns in the first half!

PSU - wisconsin game time announced

goPSUsports.com - Senior Day game time announced

Game time is set for 3:30pm for the November 5th PSU wisconsin game. the game will be televised on ABC.

PSU defeats Illinois

GoPSUsports.com PSU still #1 in big ten after Illinois win

What an awesome display of offensive (and defensive) power! 56 points in the first half. Paterno basically shut down the offense in the 2nd half - but a lone touchdown came from an interception run back for a TD - you can't fault the kid for that!

Robinson - Big 10 Player of the Week

GoPSUsports.com - Michael Robinson Player of the Week

Paterno's pre game press conference

GoPSUsports.com - JoPa previews the PSU illinois game

Posluszny Named as Lombardi Semifinalist

GoPSUsports.com - Linebacker Paul Posluszny selected Semifinalist for Rotary Lombardi Award

The award is presented to nation's top defensive lineman or linebacker - Paul is one of 4 underclassmen named as a semifinalist.

Five Big Ten Teams Ranked in First BCS Poll

bigten.collegesports.com : Penn State Leads All Conference Teams at No. 10

Penn State v illinois pre-game notes

GoPSUsports - PSU/illinois pre-game notes

click above for links to game notes and stats (PDF format)

This hurts worst of all...

GoPSUsports.com - Williams out for season

Freshman wonderboy, Derrick Williams, suffered a season ending broken arm on Saturday. Click above for the story on GoPSUsports.com.

ughh

GoPSUsports.com UM game recap

Paterno Finds the New Age for His Unbeaten Team - New York Times

Paterno Finds the New Age for His Unbeaten Team - New York Times

ESPN.com - Midseason Review: Big Ten Conference

ESPN.com - Midseason Madness: Big Ten Review

PSU a big TV draw

GoPSUsports PSU OSU game record TV audience

No wonder the Big Ten wanted Penn State - golly people like to watch them on TV!

a little descrepancy about that #1 rated college football game from the ESPN article -

SI's Midseason All-America Team

SI.com Midseason All-America Team

They have Posluszny and Hali as projected All Americans.

I remember this feeling...

PSU at michigan

Penn State heads out to the "big house" on October 15th to face the University of Michigan Wolverines; the game will be televised on ABC at 3:30pm. This will be the first time the teams have met since the 2002 season.

There has been a definite "reversal of fortunes" between these two teams this year. Michigan is 3-3 with 2 conference losses; while PSU is undefeated.

Michigan has a formidable defense and an excellent offense - they have very talented running backs and Chad Henne is still a good quarterback (as we had wished he would have been at PSU).

It's Michigan - PSU can't be too intimidated OR too confident going into the game. They have to play clean, smart football - just like they have the past 2 weeks. This is the Lions' second road trip of the season (they only have four this year).

This past week has been a media blitz for the Lions - hopefully they can keep their heads clear and ignore everything that is being written and projected - they still have to play football games - a lot of tough football games.

GO LIONS!

ESPN.com - GameDay draws record audience

ESPN.com - Tuesday roundup: GameDay draws record audience

Game Day at Penn State drew a record audience for the show - and the game itself was the 2nd most watched college football game in ESPN's history (2nd only to FSU-Miami in 1994).

Michael Robinson Chat

GoPSUsports.com - Robinson to chat on ESPN.com

click above for information about Michael Robinson's 10/12 chat on ESPN.com

PSU wins National Team of the Week Honor

GoPSUsports.com Penn State named Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week for win over OSU

JoPa's pregame Michigan Press Conference

GoPSUsports.com Michigan press conference

SI.com - Power Rankings

SI.com - Stewart Mandel's Power Rankings

Sports Illustrated "power ranks" PSU at #6 - and to whom does the "shout out" go this week? The STUDENT SECTION!

College football - it's the greatest.

Yahoo! Buzz Index - Football Fracas

Yahoo! Buzz Index - Buzz Log - Football Fracas

Yahoo compares the elite of College and NFL ball - PSU is named as this week's most popular team - you gotta love the internet!

ESPN.com Maisel and Forde: State of the game

ESPN.com - Maisel and Forde: Take a look at the first half of the season

Click above for an enjoyable banter between Ivan Maisel and Pat Forde discussing the first half of the college football season. Yes, they talk about PSU quite a bit.

Most interesting part for me was the "rumor" that Joe is letting Galen call the offensive plays - NOW IT ALL MAKES SENSE!

PSU ranks 7 in ESPN's Power Rankings

ESPN.com - Power 16

Check out ESPN's Power 16 for this week - PSU is ranked 7 (yeah, that's right, 7!)

PSU OSU game notes

GoPSUsports.com - Penn State / Ohio State Game Notes

Click above for links to the game notes and statistics (PDF files) for the Penn State v Ohio State game.

Posluszny Big Ten Honors, Again: Sets Record

GoPSUsports.com - Posluszny named Co-Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week

Paul Posluszny, junior linebacker, has, for the 3rd week (well, all 3 weeks since conference play began) in a row, been named (Co) Big Ten Denfensive Player of the Week. Posluszny is the first athlete to be selected a Big Ten Player of the Week (in any catagory) three weeks in a row.

Limited Number of Tickets for Last 2 home games

GoPSUsports.com Purdue/Wisconsin Tickets

Although they had previously said that the Purdue game was sold out - PSU seems to have "found" a couple more empty seats...

Tickets are still available for Purdue and Wisconson games.

Check out the link above for information.

Member when?

I was so excited that the sports writers thought that PSU could make it to a bowl game? Well, now they're saying PSU is going to win the big ten, go to a BCS game AND play FSU - excuse me, I need to sit down - what? I am sitting? ok - check out the predictions at the link below.

NCAA Football Bowl Predictions - CBS SportsLine.com

SI.com - Penn State is back

SI.com - Stewart Mandel: Penn State is back in a big way

Penn State stifles Ohio State for 6-0 start

SI.com Penn State stifles Ohio State for 6-0 start

ESPN.com - Penn State makes 16-to-8 jump in AP poll

ESPN.com - NCF - Penn State makes 16-to-8 jump in AP poll

Penn State / Ohio State

I don't know where to begin... There are a billion articles out there about the game and Penn State being undefeated and vaulting to NUMBER 8 on the AP poll, etc., etc. - (and I'll try to link all of them) - but I wanted to get down a few thoughts of my own...

I wish I had some. The Ohio State game was like none I had ever seen before - sure I've seen PSU beat a top 10 team, dominating with defense and "get the job done" offense, at night, as underdogs, in the rain... But this was different. After the win against Minnesota, which was almost flawless, I had no idea what to expect in the OSU game. Sure the defense had been good in the first 4 games, but they had not looked "big ten ready" - And then they SHUT DOWN the Minnesota running game. The PSU offense had scored enough points to win the games (ok, they scored a lot against Central Michigan), but mistakes (turnovers) and play calling did not result in many "happy thoughts" when considering the defenses of the Big Ten - And then in the Minne game they played mistake-free, creative, effective football. The freshmen had already proven themselves to me in the early games; they play the game like seasoned veterans - running their routes, keeping aware of the coverage and their quarterback, giving 100% even if theirs wasn't the number called... and even they brought it up a notch against the Gophers. *** So yeah, I had a lot of questions and nerves going into the OSU game - because I thought they could win, and that's a feeling we haven't had for a while. Now don't get me wrong, I think that PSU should win every game they go into and I'm disappointed when they don't - but this was different.

The game was at 7:45pm and we'd been tailgating since 8am - the weather was crap all day long - rainy, windy and cold. It had been a long wait for this game - figuratively and LITERALLY. The rain and wind subsided for most of the game - but it didn't really matter - the field held up great and the Lions seemed to do even better when it did rain. Ohio scored first with a field goal - not too bad; the PSU offense was moving the ball, but not enough to get into scoring distance. The punting game was horrible - worst of the year (by far) - our punter, who had been fabulous the whole season coming into the game, was totally off his game - he had one punt that went just 22 yards and one that went only 11! But the defense stepped up and kept the horse chestnuts from scoring. Penn State got the ball on the 26 yard line and strung together a few first downs to get into osu territory - PSU found themselves with 4th and 1 in limbo land (too close to punt and too far to try a field goal) so they went for it and Tony Hunt, channeling Barry Sanders, powered his way to a 2 yard gain. The sports writers have said that that was the turning point - Derrick Williams scored a rushing touchdown and on the next series Kevin Lowery intercepted Smith's pass running 36 yards to place the Lions on the 2 yard line. Michael Robinson scored on a keeper 3 plays later. Kevin Kelly our freshman kicker hit both extra points and PSU was leading 14 - 3. The crowd (as was I) was going crazy. It felt like old times - but these were new times and there was a lot of game to be played. OSU marched down the field and scored a touchdown 33 seconds before the half to make the score 14 - 10 at halftime. The second half was a game of attrition - PSU drove down the field on their first possession of the half and Kelly hit a 41 yard field goal - the score was 17 - 10. Neither team would score again. PSU picked some of their most conservative, predictable, ineffective plays on offense (now, that's Penn State football) - And while the defense played fairly conservatively as well - they did it effectively - they were on the field most of the 2nd half - and with a short osu field most of the time too. OSU put together a drive that was fueled mostly by bizarre penalty calls but the defense stayed strong and OSU was forced to attempt a 50+ yard field goal - which they missed. The PSU offense couldn't put the plays together to get the defense some rest - but Cappinos finally hit a quality punt - which Ginn, Jr. chose not to field and the Buckeyes were pinned deep with just minutes to play - a holding penalty pushed them back even farther in the direction of their own goal line - and into the chasm of the PSU student section - OSU was forced to burn a timeout because Smith couldn't hear/communicate - this was key, later. OSU did get out of the endzone, close to midfield - but with less than 2 minutes left in the game, Smith dropped back to pass, and Tamba Hali came charging across the backfield crashing into Smith and knocking the ball loose; Scott Paxson immediately tore away from his blocker and jumped on the loose football. The officials on the field called it a fumble - the crowd went nuts - but the officials called a timeout for review. The scoreboard showed the replay and the stadium exploded when the film showed clearly that the ball was loose before Smith hit the turf - the play stood and because OSU had only one timeout remaining - Penn State was able to run out the clock - Penn State beat Ohio State 17 - 10 with no tricks, gifts or prayers (well, fewer prayers than normal) - The crowd just cheered and cheered - no one left their seats. It was a great game. They did it.

Joe's pre-game osu press conference

GoPSUsports.com - Paterno osu press conference

Click on the link above for the transcript to JoPa's press conference

ESPN.com - Nittany Lions' roar returns

ESPN.com - Lions' roar returns

michigan game time set

goPSUsports.com um game time

PSU and michigan will square off at 3:30pm (EST) in Ann Arbor, MI on October 15th.

osu game notes

GoPSUsports.com osu game notes

Click above for links to game notes and statistics for Saturday's game against the buckeyes.

Posluszny National Defensive Player of the Week!

GoPSUSports.com Posluszny earns national and big ten honors

Click above for gopsusports.com's article about Paul Posluszny - he was named the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week and earned Co-Big Ten Honor!

PENN STATE beats Minnesota to go 5 - 0!

GoPSUsports.com - PSU game recap - Lions improve to 5 - 0

Click above for post game notes and statistics, quotes, photos and more.

Penn State defeated the previously unbeaten Minnesota Golden Gophers 44 - 14 on Saturday (Oct 1st). The Lions' defense held Laurence Maroney, who came into the game and the nation's leading rusher, to 48 yards. The offense put together drive, after drive, scoring nearly every time they got the ball. It was beautiful to watch!