And so it begins.

May I remind everyone that the first order of business is for Penn State to beat iowa this weekend.

After that, one's secondary and tertiary alliances should fall to the Tigers of LSU and the Ok State Cowboys (we aleady love their coach!).

And yes. They (or their weekly replacements) must win.

Why? Here's why.

Penn State is currently ranked 2nd in the Harris and USA Today Polls (of course they are #3 in the AP, but that doesn't really matter) - regardless of this, Penn State is ranked 3rd in the BCS standings.

Because of the computers - and sure the computers themselves are unbiased - but the software is completely subjective. And PSU's strength of schedule and "quality wins" are lacking when compared to the surrounding teams in the top 5. And it's only going to get worse.

We not only have to root for the teams playing the other undefeated squads - we have to hope for "help" against the 1 loss teams as well. Currently, even with the loss on Saturday, Texas is ranked #3 by the computers (PSU is #4 - texas tech and alabama are tied for #1); the Longhorns are ranked in the human polls #6 and #7 - but their computer ranking boosts them to #4 in the BSC standings. Texas' remaining schedule (including the Big 12 championship game) is very winnable. If the gators or the sooners stumble, and if tt loses, Texas, with a higher "human" ranking could end up at #2 in the BCS. Florida, currently ranked #5 by the computer, could see that ranking spike if they win out - especially if they are the team to hand Alabama their only loss.

After PSU wins on Saturday (whoo!) - if the Tigers are successful, then, logic follows that PSU is ranked #1 in the human polls - They will, most hopefully likely, then be in the top 2 in the BCS. If the Cowboys win - then PSU is still in the top two - but not as securely.

What the Nittany Lions need is to win their remaining games - no doubt about it - but they are going to also need some seriously positive karma for the remaining opponents of their top 5 neighbors.

But it had to happen this way - because texas will likely win their remaining regular season games - so this is a necessary storm to weather.

Just focus your fan energy on Penn State winning every game they play - That's all we can do.

GO STATE BEAT THE HAWKEYES!!!