2008 Big Ten Champs

The Grandaddy of them all.

"For every moment of triumph, for every instance of beauty, many souls must be trampled"- Hunter S. Thompson

by phishead_psu on Nov 22, 2008 11:43 PM EST 0 recs

Congratulations on winning the big ten and going to the rose bowl.

now lets hope you can play USC instead of oregon state.

by Hook'em13 on Nov 23, 2008 12:19 AM EST 0 recs

Let’s hope you can win the Big 12 and play for all the marbles, too. I’ll be rooting for ya…actually, I’ll be rooting for anyone but an OMGSEC team, but of all the 1-loss guys, I think Texas has the best resume.

by jimbo2psu on Nov 24, 2008 10:11 AM EST up 0 recs

I hope we play usc instead of the beavers, too

but I think it’s important to recognize that the oregon state team today, is a lot better than the oregon state team that came to beaver stadium in September. If we do play them in a rose bowl, we won’t blow them out again.

I wouldn't trust old rooster me neither.

by spakajewia on Nov 23, 2008 12:37 AM EST 0 recs

and osu

won’t have to travel all the way across the U.S.

by Hook'em13 on Nov 23, 2008 12:43 AM EST up 0 recs

I just wish

Oregon State could go to the Rose Bowl, and we could go to a different bowl. Oregon State has play very well this year and deserves a shot. I would hate to root against them, however I just am bored by the idea of a rematch. The BCS is such crap.

by millzners on Nov 23, 2008 10:00 AM EST up 0 recs

Although...

without the BCS I think we’d be guaranteed a rematch anyway. Right?

by jimbo2psu on Nov 24, 2008 10:12 AM EST up 0 recs

Clinching that at home was awesome

Sooo much better than watching it happen in Sparty’s house three years back.

It was real hard not to get misty in that stadium though- I’ll never be back as a student, and I saw five years worth of a program getting reborn. I saw it die (6-4), saw it reborn (tOSU 17-10) and saw it grow up all over again. I just know that even if I can make it back for a game or two later in life, it’ll never be the same.

On a lighter note, I’m no longer a human popsicle. Which is nice.

John Madden told me 90% of the game was half-mental...

by TheK-GunNeedsReloaded on Nov 23, 2008 1:18 AM EST 0 recs

And lest I forget

D’antonio, I will hunt you down. If you were trying to fan the flames of hate for this made-up rivalry, consider it done. Two timeouts with 0:09 left and down by 31 when the temperature is considerably less than 31? You’re a bastard, but guess what? Roses don’t lose their bloom that quickly.

John Madden told me 90% of the game was half-mental...

by TheK-GunNeedsReloaded on Nov 23, 2008 1:34 AM EST up 0 recs

Seriously? Come on. Penn State is up 42-7, and throws a long bomb to the end zone? They’re up 49-7 and go for it on fourth down? I’d say that making you chill out for a few extra seconds is more than justified.

Don’t bother hunting him down. I’m sure he’s marking the calendar for next year in East Lansing. I just hope we get an offensive line that can block by then.

by DoctorWorm on Nov 23, 2008 8:47 AM EST up 0 recs

Doctor………what would you suggest PSU had done for the entire 4th quarter?

by MrBrianPSU on Nov 23, 2008 9:30 AM EST up 0 recs

You were the #15 ranked team playing for a Big Ten Title

If you can’t be competative for 3 quarters of football you don’t deserve to be on the field. I like MSU, they’re a good program, but don’t give me that crap about still trying to score in the 3rd quarter and going for it on 4th down. That’s just embarassing to your team that you even said that.

by millzners on Nov 23, 2008 10:05 AM EST up 0 recs

Seriously.

That TD was with 12:50 seconds left in the fourth quarter and thown by the backup quarterback. There is nothing wrong with getting second string work. I don’t think people were bothered at all by his “don’t give up” play calling; if MSU want to continue to run plays that’s fine. You can even call time outs as long as they are being used as part of a competitive game plan.

But to call two timeouts like that, in a row without even running a play in between, just comes off desperate and pathetic. If you guys want to lose the “little brother” tag then hire a coach that doesn’t act like one.

Kevin @ Black Shoe Diaries

by Kevin HD on Nov 23, 2008 10:14 AM EST up 0 recs

Calling off the dogs is a two way street...

…which involves them giving up.

You can’t put eight guys in the box then get pissed if we pass. If they had played a straight defense, we’d have run out the clock running the ball. But Michigan State wanted to play all four quarters, so they got their ass kicked for all four quarters. Period.

"I honestly think the "Spread HD" is going to work pretty well, and we’ll be just fine this year". - 8-27-2008

by jesse. on Nov 23, 2008 2:50 PM EST up 0 recs

my 2 cents on this one...

If you’d like to think that bombing a long TD to Butler was running up the score, I’d be hard-pressed to argue with you. I think a justifiable reaction to that would be going for 2 after the touchdown to make it 49-18.

After that, the onside kick was a dick move, the first timeout was a really dick move, and the second timeout was the type of thing you get kicked in the balls for.

by jimbo2psu on Nov 24, 2008 10:17 AM EST up 0 recs

You know what prevents us from scoring with our second string QB?

Your defense showing up.

We went for it on 4th with our 3rd string QB who’s been here on the Van Wilder plan (seriously, I think Cianciolo started school when Collins graduated), and will never play in that stadium again. Go cry somewhere else.

John Madden told me 90% of the game was half-mental...

by TheK-GunNeedsReloaded on Nov 23, 2008 11:20 AM EST up 0 recs

and from the spot on the field

it would have been a pooch punt or go for it at any other point in the game so I could justify that one.

If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

by TheMightyErik on Nov 23, 2008 12:20 PM EST up 0 recs

what a baby

too bad you couldn’t take the ball and go home. WE ARE the bosses on the Big Ten

"It was an attrition football game and you know we like that."

by showtime on Nov 23, 2008 11:21 AM EST up 0 recs

Going for it on 4th down was to (a) avoid a dink/donk punt and (b) try to get the first down to continue running the clock. And, the playcall was an ultra-conservative run at Sparty’s heart. If PSU threw a bomb, or even a slant, it’d be different. But, you know what was coming, we did, and Mikey D knew.

I always hate the whines after any blowout. Division I-A is just that. Put a competitive team on the field, or have a strong game plan (Iowa did). But don’t look ghastly unprepared, including when the second team torches you, and then complain about no mercy.

by MainLion on Nov 23, 2008 12:24 PM EST up 0 recs

An offensive line that can block

Won’t be enough next year, even in East Lansing, and even with a pissed off Dantonio. Because, you see, our Dline will be back. And more brutal than this year even.

pax et amor

by jtothep on Nov 23, 2008 4:17 PM EST up 0 recs

the conditions

Penn State’s backup QB threw that long bomb with nearly the entire 4th quarter left. Sure we could have just run the ball the whole time.

To be honest, I’m actually kinda mad we kept scoring all those 50+ yard TD passes you guys refused to defend (what was it, like 3 at the end there?) because it didn’t allow us to move the ball into the red zone to allow our senior kicker to extend his long streak of games with at least 1 FG in it.

Going for it on 4th and I think 2 at the end of the game made sense to me, since it was a) too far for a FG, b) too close to punt, and c) if we get the first down, it basically ends the game.

I’m all for being competitive up until the end. Sparty did a good job of at least trying, but then you guys can’t turn around and be mad that we don’t just lay down and give you TDs. I hate running up the score, but I don’t really think that was happening at the end there. At most you can accuse us of using the weak Sparty defense trying to get our backup seniors some highlight reel material.

On Dantonio calling those timeouts: As I said, I’m all for being competitive until the end. If Dantonio was calling the TO’s to set up a play, or for some other strategic advantage, then I wouldn’t be complaining about them. Sure, I’d probably boo them anyway, cuz damn it was cold and I want to leave. But it appeared that he had zero reason to call the TO’s other than a passive aggressive “F you” to Penn State because he was pissy he got blown out. Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s definitely how it appeared. It also didn’t help that all the MSU assistant coaches and bench players all wandered onto the field during the timeouts and started taunting the fans.

It will be interesting to see if this actually creates some sort of rivalry between the teems from now on. It is classy acts like that, and planting your flag in the middle of another team’s field, that can really stick in a player’s mind. I just hope Penn State can just take the high road and make their statements on the field in the years to come.

by The JuggerNitt on Nov 23, 2008 5:08 PM EST up 0 recs

oh man

I didn’t think about how cold it was for everyone when dantonio took those timeouts. You guys probably wanted some pictures and then get the hell out of there!! haha

Good, anything to generate some hate for this team. Of course I’m saying that from warm sunny Tampa. That must have sucked.

come on down MSU, you’ll lose here too!

"It was an attrition football game and you know we like that."

by showtime on Nov 23, 2008 11:20 AM EST up 0 recs

For the record

Yeah, it was cold. I couldn’t feel my feet after the 1st quarter, which might say as much about my intelligence as the actual temperature out there but still, it was f’n cold standing there in the stands the whole night. I’m 99% sure Dantonio just wanted to have everyone sit and freeze that much longer.

By the way, does anyone have a clip of Dantonio’s post-game presser? Is this brought up at any point? He doesn’t seem like the type to shy away from a question about this, but I haven’t been able to find anything on it.

by jimbo2psu on Nov 24, 2008 10:22 AM EST up 0 recs

Dantonio's Postgame Presser

Can be found here, along with the Penn State coach and player quotes. Check it out for the full text. He sounds even more dickish than I had thought him to be.

There were three references to the running up the score / timeout antics:
1.

Q: Talk to us about how you went into the two-minute drill there when you were doing the timeouts. What was the motivation behind that?
A: There’s no motivation there. I think the problem was earlier in the game, trying to give our guys a rest.

WTF? ‘trying to give our guys a rest?’ At the end of the game in the cold? What a charlatan! Anyone believe ’there’s no motivation there’ for one second?

2.

Q: Did you take issue with the deep touchdown pass in the fourth quarter?
A: No. No. I didn’t. You keep playing. I was disappointed we didn’t make the play.

Not much to see here. This is pretty standard. He has to say this. And if not for the double dickish timeouts antics, I’d almost believe him.

3. This is from Trevor Anderson (#58, a Jr. DE, so he’ll likely be back next year)

Q: When they were converting all those third downs, did that start getting in your heads? Was it demoralizing?
A: As a team we kept playing. As far as demoralizing – never. Today just wasn’t our day. It was theirs and they got it and they deserved it, but we never quit. I’m glad our coaches kept calling those timeouts – they never quit.

Uh, they kinda did. Note they didn’t run any plays between them. They just gathered you all around like a bunch of tools.

Honestly, I’ve got zero beef with any of it except the backtoback timeouts. Going for two? I dig it; tryin to teach your kids to keep playing and you need every opportunity you can get. Same for the onside kick. All defensible. The timeouts? Serve nothing and teach only one thing: your coach is a baby. What else does that move teach your kids?

pax et amor

by jtothep on Nov 24, 2008 1:04 PM EST up 0 recs

I rewatched the game last night in a more sober state

I think our use of a time out to celebrate our senior defensive starters was just as bad as using the 2 time outs at the end of the game. I could not see any reason that we called timeout other than to celebrate.

We just needed a couple players, a couple people to buy in to the fact and we were able to do it. --A.Q. Shipley

by psu on Nov 24, 2008 1:32 PM EST up 0 recs

Ringer kind of threw his linemen under the bus...

No matter how good the running back is, you cannot do anything without your offensive line being pretty dominant up front.

Seems like he’s saying, yeah, I’m still really good, my bad performance is because of my linemen.

by Elihu on Nov 24, 2008 4:38 PM EST up 0 recs

Agree totally

As a fellow student who’s been here since 2004 and will be graduating this December, I really started to choke up when singing the alma mater. We were part of something special. We were part of a renaissance. We were part of history.

I didn’t think that any sports experience could ever top OSU 2005, and it probably won’t – but watching our senior 3 light up MSU in their last home game came close.

On to Pasadena! (Or dare I say it… Miami?)

by PSUMark2008 on Nov 23, 2008 4:08 AM EST up 0 recs

I love the students the past few years........

As a 1988 and 1997 alum, I couldn’t be prouder of the students and their respect and support of the team over the past few years. You have been a rock for JoePa when it wasn’t so popular to do.

I have to admit, late in the fourth quarter when the students started the JoePa -Terno chant I got a little choked up!

Way to go students. You are going to make great Alumni!!!

by Lovethosefreakinnittanylions on Nov 23, 2008 10:41 AM EST up 0 recs

Its great that...

even though some technicality makes us Co-champs, everyone knows the real deal. Anyone know how long that rule has been around? Sounds like a way to make sure Ohio St. and Michigan always get a piece of the championship even if they drop a game they weren’t supposed somewhere in a season.

I was out in the trenches, which enables me to paint such a powerful picture, like Apocalypse Now.-Cormega

by OMEGAMAN on Nov 23, 2008 8:51 AM EST 0 recs

haha

I appreciate the homerism there, but it could just as easily have been Ohio State that beat us and dropped a game somewhere else along the way to make us co-champs with them.

by jimbo2psu on Nov 24, 2008 10:24 AM EST up 0 recs

Yeah But...

We may have to share the big ten title but they will never take the Land Grant Trophy from us

by farrellpsu on Nov 23, 2008 9:11 AM EST 1 recs

I’m beginning to think that trophy should go to the loser of the game, that thing is godawful.

John Madden told me 90% of the game was half-mental...

by TheK-GunNeedsReloaded on Nov 23, 2008 11:22 AM EST up 0 recs

lol... yeah, thanks for reminding me about that wonderful trophy

If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

by TheMightyErik on Nov 23, 2008 12:22 PM EST up 0 recs

I want an SEC team so bad...

What do the bowl matchups look like at the moment?

by WarBird on Nov 23, 2008 9:38 AM EST 0 recs

We won't get an OMGSEC team..

We’re in the Rose Bowl against the PAC-10 winner for better or for worse. Just one of the wonderful effects of conference affiliation there. Here are the latest bowl projections from ESPN:

National Championship: Florida vs. Oklahoma/Texas
Rose Bowl: Penn State vs. Oregon State
Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs. Utah
Capital One Bowl: Ohio State vs. Georgia
Outback Bowl: Michigan State vs. South Carolina

Those are all the OMGSEC/Big-10 matchups as well as BCS games involving teams from either conference. All speculative at the moment, but there aren’t many games left for things to change up a whole lot. The title game depends on the Florida/Alabama winner and the Big-12 winner, of course. Other than that, I like the Big Ten’s matchups compared to the SEC. We’ll see how they end up

by jimbo2psu on Nov 24, 2008 10:30 AM EST up 0 recs

All I can say is I just became a huge Ducks fan!

I do not want to see a repeat of the Oregon State game. Penn State has nothing to gain from that. People will say if we beat them, then we beat a team that we already demolished. If we lose, then we weren’t as good as our ranking.

I want to see PSU vs. USC sooooo bad.

That will be a true test for us, and if we win we may finally get some national respect. If we lose, then it was fun but we probably don’t deserve to be top 10 ranked.

GO DUCKS!!!!!

by Lovethosefreakinnittanylions on Nov 23, 2008 10:46 AM EST 0 recs

Just back from State College

And my friends, those metal bleachers are COLD. When the sun went down, the wind was supposed to stop. It didn’t.

I was on the field for pre-game and managed to get a few nice photos and movies, although the combination of the stadium lights and snow often threw off the focus. Spotted some sweet Orange Bowl formalwear, though.

by Run Up The Score on Nov 23, 2008 11:45 AM EST 0 recs

I told you I was going to wear the Indiana Jones hat, now we both look like idiots.

I don't know, Mello Yello is pretty awful. What's the worst that could happen?

by psu on Nov 23, 2008 12:05 PM EST up 6 recs

nice... +1 to you

If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

by TheMightyErik on Nov 23, 2008 12:23 PM EST up 0 recs

Not so much Orange blazers as yam-colored blazers. I cannot wait for Thanksgiving!

by MainLion on Nov 23, 2008 12:26 PM EST up 1 recs

Forgive me for asking,

but why were the Orange Bowl people there? If PSU wins, they go to the Rose Bowl. If MSU won and Ohio State lost, MSU goes to the Rose Bowl.

If MSU won and Ohio State won, I guess I could see MSU or PSU being picked by the Orange Bowl, but it would be a stretch. They would not be picked ahead of the Big East champion nor all of the non-con undefeated schools. Still what were the odds of MSU and Michigan both winning on Saturday?

by Cairo on Nov 24, 2008 9:45 AM EST up 0 recs

My guess

If MSU had one, tOSU would have gone to the Rose Bowl. So the Orange Bowl guys were there to look at PSU and MSU as possible at large selections.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

by BSD on Nov 24, 2008 11:21 AM EST up 0 recs

Now We Know

We now know that this team has the true character needed to deal with adversity and come back stronger than ever. This team could have collapsed after Iowa. It didn’t.
This team came back to smack Sparty and win The Big Ten championship.

That speaks more about these guys as men than as football players.
A great win to be savored

Reg4

by Regulator4 on Nov 23, 2008 11:54 AM EST 0 recs

This makes up for the tears shed during the Iowa game!!!

by etifupleez on Nov 23, 2008 12:17 PM EST 0 recs

Great Pics!

I absolutely love the rose inserted into the air hole of the helmet.

pax et amor

by jtothep on Nov 23, 2008 12:45 PM EST 0 recs

Rose in Helmet

Awesome. It looks like the alien things from Pikmin or when you whack someone with the flower in Smash Bros.

by Grapenapalm on Nov 23, 2008 2:57 PM EST up 0 recs

Or the bird-like alien things that used to be with Marvin Martian on Looney Tunes.

by MainLion on Nov 23, 2008 11:54 PM EST up 0 recs

Great game

great weather (seriously!), great result, great group of seniors with 2 Big 10 titles in four years, a spectacular performance to end the season and clinch the title.

Now if PennDOT could finish all their road construction so that it doesn’t take me 75 minutes longer than it should to get to Happy Valley . . .

by Joe 96alum on Nov 23, 2008 12:53 PM EST 0 recs

I just........

watched back to back episodes of some show on Discovery Channel talking about how painting The Golden Gate Bridge and working on the PA Turnpike called for workers 24×7×365. Interesting.

Eric Watters Atlanta, Ga.

by ech2os on Nov 23, 2008 1:44 PM EST up 0 recs

To steal from Will Ferrell on SNL...

that’s 24 hours a week…7 months a year…for 365 years.

by jimbo2psu on Nov 24, 2008 10:34 AM EST up 0 recs

I wasn't online during the game, so I didn't add this to the open thread...

If, like me, you are in “ACC country” & didn’t see the game on ABC or ESPN, you might have been able to see it on standard definition ESPN even though it wasn’t on ESPN HD. If you read the small text in the ABC coverage maps (here) in the box under the second map, they say that.

I wish BC were in the same conference as us. I really hate how often here in MA I get stuck with some boring ACC game instead of PSU.

by Elihu on Nov 23, 2008 3:54 PM EST 0 recs

I would take BC in the Big10 to get us to that wonderful

championship level that seems to matter so much to the OMG ESS EEE SEE, Big 12, etc etc… I used to think it would be ND but now I think they would hurt our SOS. :P

If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

by TheMightyErik on Nov 23, 2008 4:06 PM EST up 0 recs

Yeah! What's with that?

I’m in ACC/ ESS EEE SEE country, and the game was only available on ESPN SD. Meanwhile, on the beautiful ESPN HD channel, they just ran updates and random scores and news while the INFO for the channel said it would be either PSU or the Wake Forest Game. What the hell is with that? Can’t I watch my GAME instead of some lame stat repeats? I understood last week when it was PSU v INDIANA< but dammit! It’s the BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP equivalent this PAST week!! We’re freakin’ banished to SD channels because, OMG! ESS EEE SEE country! grrrr.

by MsYvone on Nov 24, 2008 3:47 PM EST up 0 recs

Anybody else

catch the interview with Daryll Clark on the BTN after the game? I’ll paraphrase what he said as I don’t remember it exactly but it was something along the lines of “Winning the Big 10 outright and not having to share with anyone”. It was a pretty blatant shot at the whole Big 10 co-champ BS and I absolutely loved it.

by skarocksoi on Nov 23, 2008 5:05 PM EST 0 recs

My takes from the game...

This was my third game attended this season (with OrSt and Illinois). However, this one was more memorable because it was the first Penn State football experience for my sister and bro-in-law – they went to a small arts school, but love Penn State because I love Penn State.

So let me start by saying – yes, it was unnecessarily cold. And that lovely combo of the sun going down and the wind picking up? Yeah, not cool Mother Nature!

The entire tone of the game was set by our first defensive series. That opening play – dropping Ringer for a loss – got the entire crowd fired up. The offensive followed that up with a TD, and the tone was set.

DClark was definitely feeling like his old self again – or at least he was playing as much. And kudos to our receivers finding the seemingly endless amounts of open space and making the most of it.

Longest end to a game EVER! Somewhere between the back-to-back commercial breaks and the back-to-back timeouts, the crowd collectively froze to those bleachers.

Likely not on TV, but the Lion and Sparty squared off in the corner of the north endzone at one point. After circling for a bit, the Lion kicked Sparty square in the crotch. A collective groan/laugh from those witnessing. I was left dying in laughter.

The sing-along to CCR’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” was replaced with a lovely rendition of “Let It Snow!” Did I mention it was freakin cold?

A guy a few rows behind us had the sign everyone wanted a picture of: “Hey Terrell! Thanks for going to Ohio State!” The people around us couldn’t get enough of it.

And finally, on the way out, we passed the BTN stage. And I was no longer cold – I was filled with warmth. The warmth of FREEDOM!

All in all, it was a great game, and a great game for my sis and bro-in-law to have as their first experience. Nice to actually see the Big Ten Championship presentation at home this time.

And many thanks to this senior class – they came in and helped rebuild this program and made sure my final two years were leaps and bounds better than my first two. (Not to mention a couple more since I’ve graduated.) Gone, but never forgotten.

by IcersGuy on Nov 23, 2008 10:40 PM EST 1 recs

it was indeed a long end

I was up in the upper deck in the south endzone (I wish the fans up there got more excited, since there were maybe 20 people in the section I was in, SLU, that were cheering a lot and making noise, but that’s for another topic). When there was like 2:39 left in the game we decided to head down to the lower level to watch the end of the game and the postgame ceremony. I was rushing down cuz I didn’t want to miss anything (still took years and years to walk down all those ramps). By the time we got down to a seat there was still like 2:30 left on the clock. Then we found some seats and watched what should have only been another like 3-4 minutes of real-time, but it took like 15 more minutes.

Stupid Dantonio calling those timeouts at the end of the game. Didn’t you watch the 2006 PSU @ Wisconsin game? Don’t you understand what happens when opposing coaches do dick moves in a game? It gets JoePa angry….very angry. 2007 Wisconsin: 38-7. 2008 Wisconsin: 48-7. You guys might not want to even show up next year, cuz it won’t matter either way. Penn State will win by over 30 points again.

by The JuggerNitt on Nov 24, 2008 7:53 AM EST up 0 recs

Thanks for the writeup, Icers!

I definitely needed the vicarious descriptions this week!

pax et amor

by jtothep on Nov 24, 2008 9:18 AM EST up 0 recs

I like the BTN postgame reference

That J Leman reference wasn’t lost on me. I saw him too, and at one point walked past him when he was on his way back to the production trailer. I was close enough to touch him. Americaaaaa, FUCK YEAH

by jimbo2psu on Nov 24, 2008 10:39 AM EST up 0 recs

Thanks for the recap

I think right after Dantonio’s first timeout at the end is when I had to get up and turn on my air conditioning. The ceiling fan just wasn’t cutting it anymore.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

by BSD on Nov 24, 2008 11:25 AM EST up 0 recs

Shut up!

I remember not missing this PA weather when I was living down your way for three years (I specifically remember one year our family taking a stroll in the neighborhood in t-shirt and shorts while the Thanksgiving turkey was in the oven). But I lived through three of those Houston summers, too and my wife and I swore we would never complain about cold weather again.

I’ve always said, I can always put more clothes on . . . I can only take so many off before I get arrested.

"the secret to loving your job is having a hobby that you really despise"

by nitwit86 on Nov 24, 2008 11:30 AM EST up 0 recs