Lions win! Lions win!

But it just doesn't feel as good as I thought it would (story o' my life; story o' my life) -

Anywoo - The tailgate was great (or "grayt" as they say in Scotland) - I'd looooooove to post some pictures, but, for the 2nd week in a row - I forgot the camera - I'm sorry. But - there was tons of good food (even I was impressed by the reaction generated by the meat pies) and great friends.

The time went by pretty quickly - there was a moment in the late morning, when I thought it might never be game time - but it was 5pm before I knew it.

The stadium looked amazing - I was very pleased with the fan participation.

I was really excited for the game, if a little anxious - the beginning of the first quarter didn't do much to make me feel better - I just got angry. It was deflating - and I just wasn't as "up" as I had been. Yes, it's great to win, and to beat notre dame - but for as stunning as our defense was, aided by the insane amount of crowd noise (although I know that we can be louder), their offense was pretty terrible. Whether it was conservative play calling or lack of execution - nd just looked bad - I was more concerned about field position and points against us when our offense was on the field.

I've watched the game at home twice now (I fast forward through a lot - especially the beginning and ending of the 1st half) - and Penn State still wins every time - but I do wish that they had scored more points and posted another shut out (nd's scores had nothing to do with the defense). What is undeniable about the commentary is that the announcers were (and, yes, this includes TB) embarrassingly kind to notre dame in their assessments. I'm really glad that we don't play this team again, because the stank of favoritism is sickening.

PSU has a lot to improve on before they hit the big ten portion of the schedule. Regardless of what the national media says, the big ten is a tough conference to win and it's especially difficult to go undefeated. I have no idea what's going on in Ann Arbor, but it almost scares me more than if they were playing well - it's just confusing. I posed the question, to fellow fans this weekend, if this is how "the rest of the world" felt when PSU was imploding not so long ago. There's a certain sense of contentment at a big time program's receiving some "comeupins" - but it's disappointing to see a marquee big ten team do so poorly - and it's disconcerting - that isn't the way things are supposed to go - Penn State has to be ready for every game they play - regardless of their opponent's record - we don't have an electrifying offensive attack so we have to analyze and determine how our foe's weaknesses match up to our strengths - and, we need to realize that these other teams will be doing the same thing.