And with that, the last of the respect for the non-USC PAC-10 goes away

Wow. I mean... wow. Losing to a second tier conference team is bad enough. But to get blasted to the tune of 42-14? That's just awful. And they're probably going to be a middle of the PAC-10 team. After Cal's recent bend-and-submit, things aren't looking good for that conference. But enough about the irrelevant teams who play on thursdays and saturday afternoon after the rest of the civilized world has gone to the bars, it's time to talk important things. Like ND. And their upcoming domination of the crotchety undead from State College.

I see an awful lot of extremely confident State Pen fans these days. I really don't know why. They like to ridicule ND's offensive performance last Saturday against GT, but don't seem to realize that they have a guy who managed 50% completions and somewhere south of 300 yards of offense. Against Akron. I don't care if it was raining, if you can't move the ball against a middling MAC team, you don't scare me. And for all the talk of "617 yards"- that was one game. A game in which we gave up 4 of the 6 longest scoring plays of the year. Penn State doesn't have Troy Smith, Ted Ginn, Santonio Holmes, or whatshisface the running back. Matter of fact, they averaged a little under 3 yards per rushing attempt. Again- this was against AKRON. So, I really don't think there's a whole lot to worry about as far as the zombie's lad's scoring. Maybe 14.

As for the gentleman warrior princes of Notre Dame (kudos to Marco for that moniker), they had an ugly start against GT. But, after about a quarter and a half, they figured out the blitz package, and moved the ball right down the field for a TD to close out the first half. Then did so again to start the second half (after a quick defensive stop). Then had a couple of drives with moderate success (though one ended in a punt) and took the ball back with a little over 5 minutes left. And, as was the clear goal of the second half gameplan, ran out the clock. I have a feeling the opening night jitters are done with, and that was really the only thing keeping the GT game from being a blowout (well, that and the fact the refs were on the take and called several early penalties that noone in the stadium saw but them, killing ND's opening drive- they tried to cover this up by later calling a questionable incompletion on Calvin Johnson from the replay booth, but really, that ball moved when he landed so it's not much of a makeup.). So, since ND is home, I figure the boys in black and white won't be so anxious to screw us over. ND will thusly put up about 35, a little sub-par from last year, but still respectable and still handily winning the game.

And as a final note, the mighty Chippewas of CMU will appear to be giving Michigan a good game, but will do themselves in with a retarded play call like last Thursday's decision to go for it on 4th and 8 from their own 27, and this will turn the tide and they'll lose by about 31. (with UM's final TD coming after they convert an on-side kick up by 24 with 2 minutes in the game, just so CCLoyd* can appease those who feel he didn't pound Vanderbilt by enough last week).


* L=50, C=100... 5 L's =CCL