JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com
THE GAME: Ohio State (4-0 Big Ten, 8-0 overall) @ Penn State (3-2 Big Ten, 6-2 overall), Saturday, 8 p.m., Beaver Stadium, University Park.
NOT SO FAST MY FRIENDS: ESPN’s wildly popular College GameDay show will be broadcasting live from the Beav. Air time is Saturday from 10 a.m. until noon, with Chris Fowler, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit holding court. Corso is the guy with the pencil, and the guy who will plunk the Nittany Lions’ mascot head on just before noon, picking Penn State to knock off the No. 1 team in the land. Remember, you heard it here first.
RANKINGS: Got a pen? Penn State is 22nd in the USA Today poll, 24th in the AP poll, 25th in the BCS standings, and 24th in something called the ESPNU Allstate Fan Poll Standings. Alrighty then. … Ohio State is No. 1 across the board: BCS, AP, USA Today and that ESPNU thinger. I wonder if that ranking is factored into the BCS standings? I’m guessing no. Definitely no.
MORE RANKINGS: Neat stuff here. Listen up: Penn State will be playing the country’s No. 1 team for the second time in Beaver Stadium – in 1989, No. 1 Notre Dame (ugh, it pained me to type that) beat Penn State 34-23 in the Beav. … Ohio State was also No. 1 when the Buckeyes met Penn State last year (OSU 28, PSU 6 in Columbus). … Penn State is 4-9 against No. 1 teams – 11 of those games were under coach Joe Paterno. … Two of those victories came in National Championship games: 1983 Sugar Bowl (Georgia on that sweet throw by Blackledge) and the 1987 Fiesta Bowl (Miami; still can’t believe Vinny Testaverde didn’t see Pete Giftopoulos).
ON THE TV: ABC will handle the broadcast, with Brent (for a good laugh, count how many times he says the word ‘folks’ during the game) Musberger and Kirk (aka Herbie) Herbstreit in the booth and Penn State grad Lisa Salters on the sideline. That’s two weeks in a row without Bonnie Bernstein. Grrr. … Here it comes – this will be the 160th time in 162 games that the Nittany Lions will be on TV. For all that cash and the trip to Cancun, please tell me which two games weren’t on TV (there is no prize, by the way. Seriously).
ON THE RADIO: Penn State Radio Network with Steve Jones and Jack Ham. I think Jones had like three coronaries during the Wisconsin game a few weeks back. It was hilarious. Listening to him call a big play or a Penn State sack is priceless. He’s a homer, but I love the guy.
THE COACHES: Penn State’s Joe Paterno is in his 42nd year and he’s 369-123-3 overall. Paterno is 7-11 against the Buckeyes. … Ohio State’s Jim Tressel is in his 7th year and he’s 70-14. Overall, in 22 years, Tressel is 205-71-2. He is 4-2 against the Nittany Lions.
PATERNO ON PLAYING A TEAM RANKED NO. 1 IN THE COUNTRY: “You have to keep your team playing your game. If we’re good enough, we’re good enough. If we’re not good enough, we’re not good enough. I don’t think you can go in there and say, ‘Hey, that’s the No. 1 team, so now we’ve got to do this and we’ve got to do that.’ We’ve got to play the football we know how to play. And if somebody happens to be as good as Ohio State, you hope you can compete with them. Whether you can or you can’t, you never know until you play. But they’re a fine football team.”
THE SERIES: This is the 23rd meeting between PSU and OSU, and wouldn’t you know it? The series is tied 11-11. The tie will be snapped Saturday. … The Buckeyes won 28-6 last year, and the Nittany Lions won 17-10 in 2005 in the Beav. … The home team is 12-2 in this series since 1993, when Penn State joined the Big Ten – which is really 11, but don’t get me started on that. … Next meeting: Oct. 25, 2008 in Columbus.
PENN STATE SCHEDULE/RESULTS: 9-1 Florida International (W 59-0), 9-8 Notre Dame (W 31-10), 9-15 Buffalo (W 45-24), 9-22 @ Michigan (L 14-9), 9-22 @ Illinois (L 27-20), 10-6 Iowa (W 27-7), 10-13 Wisconsin (W 38-7), 10-20 @ Indiana (W 36-31), 10-27 Ohio State (Whiteout! Saturday, 8 p.m., ABC), 11-3 Purdue, 11-10 @ Temple, 11-17 @ Michigan State.
LAST WEEK: Penn State improved to 11-0 all-time against Indiana with a 36-31 win in Bloomington (insert growling nittany lion sound here). Anthony Morelli went 22-of-32 for 195 yards and two TD tosses, and the Nittany Lions (drum roll please) became bowl eligible. Just a crazy hunch, but Penn State is going to go bowling, making it 34 bowls under Paterno, who is 22-10-1 in postseason games. … CB Justin King was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts against Indiana. He made a career-high nine tackles (eight solos) and broke up three passes. … K Kevin Kelly booted three field goals, giving him 52 in his career – breaking Cray Fayak’s program record of 50. Wow, Craig Fayak. I pegged Matt or Chris Bahr for that record, but what do I know?
OHIO STATE SCHEDULE/RESULTS: 9-1 Youngstown State (W 38-6), 9-8 Akron (W 20-2; gotta love those safeties), 9-15 @ Washington (W 33-14), 9-22 Northwestern (W 58-7), 9-29 @ Minnesota (W 30-7), 10-6 @ Purdue (W 23-7), 10-13 Kent State (W 48-3; I thought Penn State’s non-con was weak), 10-20 Michigan State (W 24-17), 10-27 @ Penn State, 11-3 Wisconsin, 11-10 Illinois, 11-17 @ Michigan.
LAST WEEK: Ohio State jumped out to a 24-0 lead in the third quarter, then held off Michigan State (which features the player with the absolute coolest name in the country, RB Jehuu Caulcrick) 24-17. … The Spartans scored a couple of defensive TDs to make it close, but the Buckeyes improved to 8-0. … Chris Wells rushed for 221 yards on 31 carries for OSU, and QB Todd Boeckman went 15-for-23 for 193 yards and 2 TDs. … Michigan State managed just 59 rushing yards and had only 185 total yards, so OSU’s D is smoking.
PENN STATE STAT PACK: Rushing – Rodney Kinlaw 141-728, 5.2 avg, 6 TD; Passing – Anthony Morelli (come on, admit it: he’s been pretty good lately) 147-of-247 for 1,739 yards, 13 TD, 7 picks; Receiving – Deon Butler 30-418, 13.9 avg, 1 TD; Scoring – Kevin Kelly 14-of-19 field goals, 29-of-30 PAT, 71 points; Tackles – Sean Lee 35 solos, 44 assists, 79 total, 7.5 for loss.
OHIO STATE STAT PACK: Rushing – Chris Wells 149-863, 7 TD; Passing – Todd Boeckman 120-of-183 for 1,546 yards, 18 TD, 7 picks; Receiving – Brian Robiskie (covered him in the Big 33 Game; he’s good) 37-728, 7 TD; Scoring – Ryan Pretorius 13-of-16 field goals, 31-of-32 PAT, 70 points; Tackles – James (yep, his dad is a former pro wrestler) Laurinaitis 25 solos, 39 assists, 64 total, 5.5 for loss.
ABOUT PENN STATE: FB Matt Hahn (ACL) and Lebanon High grad DT Jared Odrick (ankle) are out for the season. … The Nittany Lions have won 19 of their last 20 home games, dating back to a victory over Michigan State in the last game of the 2004 season. … Penn State is 18-1 in the Beav over the last three years, the lone loss to No. 4 Michigan in 2006. … Nittany Lions have won seven games in a row at home. … This is Penn State’s second home night game this season – 110,078 fans were in the house on Sept. 8 for the Notre Dame game. That was the second-largest attendance in the history of the stadium. … Penn State is 31-19 in night games, including 6-5 at home, 15-7 on the road, 1-1 in regular-season neutral sites, and 9-6 in bowl games (man, who keeps these stats?). I wonder what Penn State’s record is against non-ranked, non-BCS conference teams on the road, at night in odd years. Geez-o, that’s way too much information for me, so I think I’ll quit while I’m ahead. Nobody should have that kind of info at their fingertips. I’m on numbers overload here.
ABOUT OHIO STATE: The Buckeyes returned 38 lettermen and 11 starters from last year’s team, which went 12-1 and won the Big Ten title before getting waxed by Florida in the BSC title game. … OSU returned just four starters on O and five on D. … OSU has won a program-record 26 regular-season games in a row, dating back to a loss at Penn State on Oct. 8, 2005. … Buckeyes have won 27 of their last 28 games, and the only loss, as mentioned (Michigan fans) was the title game to Florida last January. … OSU is riding an 18-game winning streak in Big Ten games. That’s one off the record of 19 Big Ten wins in a row, held by Michigan back in 1990-92.
PATERNO ON THE BUCKEYES: “Well, I think they will play the defense they’ve played the last couple of years: They hustle. They’ve got some people that are really quick and aggressive. I think it will be a tough football game. I wouldn’t expect anything less. (Ohio State) is a good, tough football team, and I their defense is one of the better defenses in the country. They’re a challenge.”
THE PICK: Sorry gang, but despite all of those flashy rankings (including that awesome No. 1 spot in the ESPNU Allstate Fans Poll Standings), Ohio State is hardly the No. 1 team in the nation. They wouldn’t beat LSU on a neutral field (at night, on a Tuesday, in the rain). They wouldn’t beat Oklahoma on a neutral field (noon start, on a Thursday, with no TV). And dare I say that I don’t think OSU would beat (gulp) Hawaii or even Kansas on a neutral field (even in a dome. Oh, on a Monday). Sorry. Buckeyes’ D has been stingy, but Penn State’s O has been cranking. And the Nittany Lions are murder in night games at the Beav. No way Penn State loses here. Book it. Penn State 16, Ohio State 13. Leaving Boston College as your new No. 1 next week. Super.
