If we had no actual interest in the outcome, I think most PSU fans would be rooting for the Beavers. I mean, there’s no real reason to dislike your program and you haven’t been to the Rose Bowl in what, 40 years?

Still, rematches are really only fun when there’s a rivalry involved, and getting a chance to play USC doesn’t come along often for us. So I would assume that most PSU fans are hoping for that scenario, although nobody should really get too bent out of shape about either outcome. I mean, what the hell, it’s the Rose Bowl. We’re happy to be there either way.

…despite the allure of a PSU-USC matchup, I find the Beavers and their fans to be a rather likable bunch and will be rooting for them.

But not because I don’t want a rematch. I want them to lose so we can get a shot at USC, the mighty USC. I want to prove to the national media that the Big 10 is not a joke and that WE ARE NOT tOSU. By beating USC it validates who we are as a team to the media. Beating Oregon State again doesn’t do anything for the national perception of the Big 10 or us.

As much as I want to watch Quizz Rodgers again, I just think playing USC, an overrated team (they get by on how many 5* they recruit the previous year) would really send the Seniors who turned the program around out on a high note.

I seem to be the only one who wants Oregon State to win next week.

My reasons:

1) I haven’t recovered from the Penn State Dark Years enough to complain about PSU’s opposition in the Rose Bowl. Just making it is still immensely satisfying. Does anyone think the January ’95 Rose Bowl is less great because it involved the Ducks?

2) The Big Ten would destroy their opposition in the bowl games if everyone was knocked down a peg (Ohio State to the Cap One, MSU or Iowa to the Outback, etc.). The reputation of the Big Ten is so low now that I think some postseason success would be better than anything to boost Penn State up near the top of the rankings. Plus I’d be satisfied knowing “co-champion” Ohio State would whine all the way to the Capital One Bowl.

3) I have no beef with the Beavers. Oregon State fans were good people who stayed all four quarters of a blowout at University Park. Also, my dad went to Oregon State so I there’s a bit of bias.

My friends think my reasoning is insane. They are totally non-hetero about playing USC.

First off, I have all the respect in the world for the Beavers. I think you guys did a great job of regrouping after the horrible start and rallying to make a good season out of nothing. If Penn State and Oregon State met again today on a neutral field I think the score would be a lot closer than it was back in September.

But, (I’m sure you knew that was coming) I would rather play USC at this point. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that playing a rematch between the two teams takes a lot of luster off the Bowl Game. An 11-1 USC team is a lot more sexy than a 9-3 Beaver team. That’s just the reality of the situation. We blew out Oregon St. in the first game, so anything less than that will be perceived as underachieving in the eyes of the media. Penn State really has nothing to gain by playing that game again. But knocking off USC would be a big feather in our cap and bring back some respect for our conference is really suffering image-wise.

But I don’t think any of us will be rooting against the Beavers. You guys became our second favorite team after you knocked off USC this year. We owe Oregon State a lot of gratitude for making us look better. Whatever happens in the Civil War happens, but I won’t really be rooting for either team to win or lose. I’m just patiently waiting to see who our opponent will be.

First off let me say that whatever happens, I’m still content with just being in the Rose Bowl, which is more than any of us expected to start the year.

Now for my ideal situation: The improbably sequence of events unfolds that puts Penn State in the National Championship game, and the Beavers in the Rose Bowl against Ohio State (who I could see getting an at large bid if we do go to the title game…but maybe not).

But out of the likely scenarios, the one I want most is for us to play against USC. People have stated how beating them will do a lot for our program’s image, and the image of the Big 10 overall. Since for that to happen, Oregon State must lose, then I will be hoping for a Ducks win (but definitely not rooting for them, or against you guys).

I’m also torn on what bowls I want the Big 10 to go to. Obviously it looks better if our conference can send 2 teams to the BCS and WIN those games, but I don’t know if anyone trusts Ohio State to actually win. They’d probably get matched up against Utah anyway and wind up losing to them, further humiliating themselves (but if PSU can win big over USC then that won’t matter quite so much to us :-D ). I think, again more likely, that if all the Big 10 teams go down a peg, they stand a better chance of winning, and making the conference look better.

Of course, I am at MSU now, and have a lot of Sparty friends, and would like to see them do as well as possible.

So yeah, torn on all angles, but I think the edge unfortunately goes towards OrSt losing.

And we know it’s not personal. Hell, if we had just done our jobs and beaten Stanford and Utah, then an 11-1 (and most definitely top 10) Oregon State does look a lot sexier. But this is about what I assumed from PSU fans.

are good people from what I’ve gathered. We don’t want to root against you, but we have to look after the Nittany Lions first. Good luck and if we see you again, watch out!

but i’ll be rooting for the Ducks. If not for our choke against Iowa I would be rooting for you though. I want USC. I think a close loss to USC would gain us more national respect than a blow-out win over OrSU, even if it wouldn’t be reflected in the poles.

I have always followed Oregon State. I like seeing that they have had a good season. I like to see teams do well that haven’t done well for awhile. I would be very happy to see Oregon State play in the Rose Bowl. I had alot of fun tailgating with Beaver fans. They were excited about coming to Penn State for a game. Unfortunatley we already played them and beat them. It would be a damned if you win damned if you lose game for Penn State. We would not gain anything from that game. All teams play to gain something in the end. It just isn’t wise for us to want to play a team we already beat. Hopefully something happens where Penn State plays in the NC and Oregon State still plays in the Rose bowl and USC loses to ND or UCLA or both.

I mulled this a bit the past few days. But when I read this quote from Shipley, it all cleared up and I knew how to think about it right.:

"No matter how much is at stake, it’s a game and the reason I play this game is not to get uptight," Shipley said Wednesday morning. "The reason I play it is to be smiling, to just have as much fun as I can have on Saturdays.

He helped me remember one of my favorite things I love college football: regional fandom. As jacked up as a league with 120 teams and limited ‘major league connectivity’ (thx bb&w!) is, there’s a very cool result in that we have these pockets of fans in different regions around the country. We know from being PSU fans that we have a massive and passionate fan base that travels well and generally exhibits class (and hopefully other fans around the country know that too). In the few years since I’ve been not broke, I’ve gotten a whole lot out of visits to Miami, Nebraska and um, ahem, even Syracuse.

That quote also helped me remember how little interest I have in the concept of ‘national respect.’ I was 8 years old watching the 79 Sugar Bowl when my mom told me about Nixon trumpeting Texas in 69, and it’s been that way ever since. So it’s not a battle I’m interested in. Like Shipley, no matter how much is at stake, the reason I watch is to be smiling, to just have as much fun as I can have on Saturdays.

And you know what? USC fans don’t sound like much fun for me on Jan 1. They’re unlike me in that they’re still so very interested in ‘national respect.’ And I even read above how they’re hoping to not win the Pac 10, so they can get the kind of marquee matchup that they believe Penn State would not provide. Plus, I can’t blame them for wanting a trip to New Orleans when they live and breathe Pasadena all the time. So, I say, go on then!

And after that I thought about Oregon. They’re pretty easy to hate, really. Start with Phil Knight, which flows quickly to the hideous unis (many of them player designed!) and a whole university being corporate sponsored. I didn’t even really like Steve Prefontaine; he seemed like kind of a dick. I remember reading an awesome SI article (back when they wrote the most awesome sports articles) about 5-10 years ago about the Civil War (maybe Elihu can pull some archiving skillz again). It just sounds freakin awesome. Something about grandmothers spitting on players coming through the tunnel and families taking a ‘break’ from each other if members went to different schools. And the fact that Corvallis and Eugene are only 40 miles from each other. I guarantee I’ma get to one of those games before my time on this earth is done!

I also thought about how much fun the Beaver fans are, how much fun I had over at the Dam Sat night, how cool they sounded in our open thread here, when I was on vacation in Burgundy and missing meeting them in person. I thought about them not having been to the Rose Bowl in 40 years and I thought about their respectable coach and their mad talented skill players like Stroughter and Quizz (bad news he won’t be available sat) and Quizz’s brother (c’mon, his name ain’t half as cool as Jacquizz!) and even that backup lefty qb that looked so poised last Sat night.

So, yeah, given I don’t give a shit about ‘national respect’ (whatever that is) and given that one of my favorite parts of being a college football fan is the damn fans themselves, I say bring on the Beavers. Beat the hell outta them doucheyducks and bring your bad selves down to Pasadena to party and hang with us Lions again. And since this got ridiculously long anyways, I’ll leave yas with an Ice-T verse all this ranting reminded me of:

But don’t get me wrong, most fellas do rock
They put their hands in the air, they take the show to the top
They start rockin’ with the ladies once the show begins
They don’t stand lookin’ stupid like some mannequins
They don’t lean against the wall like they’re in some trance
They did not come with no intention to party or dance
You know what? you dead beats should just stay at home
Leave me, my homeboys, and the beavers alone