1) Georgia…if they beat Alabama. Else, Oklahoma…the voters love them some Oklahoma.

2) It means we beat a 2-2 team. If OSU continues to win, it will be a quality win. Or, it could be the equivalent of beating Stanford last year. Only time will tell. But, considering how OSU pretty much dominated the LOS last night (at least from what I saw in the first half), I have to feel pretty good about PSU’s chances this year.

3) I’m going to state the obvious…keep winning. Also, keep things in perspective. Joe does a pretty good job of talking his kids down and deflating their heads, but I think it’s up to the leaders on this team to focus the players on the next game, the next task at hand. Hopefully the players don’t look too much into this game and overlook the Illini.

1. Georgia if they win this week…I think if they and Florida can stay undefeated going into the “Cocktail” party the winner of that will be the clear cut number 1. Oklahoma will self destruct at some point they always do.

2. It means PSU beat a team that showed it CAN be a quality team…if they continue to get better and string together a 9 win season we have a “decent” out of conference schedule…

3. Bottom line, like everyone will say PSU needs to win out to get a shot at the NC game. No one loss Big Ten team will get a shot.. I also think the offense needs to keep impressing so the pundits will buy into the idea of a decent PSU team…the thing I like is that PSU will be an underdog no matter what if they make the NC game…A one loss SEC team will be favored,a one loss Big 12 team will be favored…there won’t be an ACC, or Pac 10 rep…So it will come from either the big 10 or big 12…win out and it is PSU’s championship to lose…

Here’s a quick shot:

New #1 – depends on the games this weekend; conference play opens up ya know. If you want to call them “upsets” @ the top (I the polls are not soild and every year/every week the shuffle continues…) GA/Ala is the one most are looking at…
I want Alabama to win, if they do and Okl wins….I think Okl #1, Alab #2.

Means for PSU – that win opens up the BCS/NC door a bit. IF PSU can win-out and there are a few SEC teams with 1/or2 losses AND the pollsters STILL feel the Big10 is upgraded (in their minds) to “decent”; then I don’t think PSU will be passed-on for the NC game.

PSU needs to win out! Beat the lesser Big10 teams by the spreads – or better; play mistake free (I always have to state that). I doubt this 3rd point will happen BUT – have ONE PLAYER just have an AMAZING YEAR – heads above the rest of the country (you could say Heisman-Like) and that will help seat PSU in the BCS/NC chair. A-la 1994, we had (3) Heisman canidates…but esentially, being from the same team, they “stole” votes from eachother. The reason (I feel) the comparison will be comparable in 2008, the HD-offense spreads it out to many…and that is also WHY IT WORKS! “Many stars” each week…and it can differ next week!

Same goes for the defense…2 different guys shine each week…while the “UNIT” remains soild!

One thing that struck me driving in to work this morning, how overrated is Pete Carroll? The man is a fantastic recruiter. I can’t deny him that. But year after year his teams fail to live up to expectations. They don’t look motivated and they fail to show up for big games (Texas ‘05) and the little games (Stanford ’07, OSU ’08). I’m starting to see why he’s such a great college coach that couldn’t make it in the pros.

He has the personality to recruit enough talent to win ten games a year, but when the lights come on and it’s time to play he’s no better than any other coach. I’m sure we’ll see a YouTube come out where Petey plays a prank on his team like he does every year. I wonder how much time he spends preparing for those when he should be preparing for his next opponent.

and the prize this week is the Illini. We need to stay focused on what matters…this weeks game. We can’t afford to look ahead like USC did. We need to take it one step at a time.

We are a good team with the ability to become great. I would love to see JoePa get another undefeated season. We just need to stay on the same path of destruction we are on now.

with that said….if they both win, Georgia should jump Oklahoma

USC is a bunch of thugs. Did anyone else notice all of the after the play flags that were thrown?

Pete Carroll promises these kids he will get them to the NFL, and he does a pretty good job. They are a Professional college football team, the only show in town. They look like world beaters, but ever year they fall to a lesser team.

- Went to bed at 9:30 last night (girlfriend gets up at 5 for work, so goes to bed early, and I’m trying to earn brownie points so she doesn’t get pissed at all the PSU games I’m planning to go to, but haven’t told her about yet….just finally mentioned the Purdue game last night, and I’ve had tickets for that for 3 weeks now. Have to figure out the best time to break all the other games (haven’t bought tix yet, since my original source dried up on me, but been planning on going to every away game, as well as the Michigan & MSU games…if anyone has any tickets at reasonable prices, let me know :-) )

-Woke up this morning at 9 am (just because she gets up at 5 doesn’t mean I have to) and played with my puppy Nittany for a while. Didn’t turn on the TV, look at the paper, or go on the internet.

-Went to work, and logged on BSD first thing (yes, I DO do that).

-Wiped HUGE grin off my face so my lab-mates don’t think I’m slacking off.

As for PSU “looking ahead”, I don’t think there’s a single “big” game this year that PSU will look ahead of.
Illinois we need revenge.
@Purdue could be a trap
@Wisconsin is the biggest game of the year for us (at least as it looks so far).
Michigan – I don’t think our players could possibly look past that game. Need revenge X10
@OSU – if anyone looks past that game they’re an idiot
@Iowa – another possible trap. Perhaps if we start our second string the game might be close
Indiana – perhaps if we start our third string the game might be close
MSU – c’mon, it is our “rivalry” game, how could we ever look past it ;-) in all seriousness, though, they beat us last year, and look good so far this year. It could be JoePa’s last year at Beaver Stadium, and it is senior day. Could be the day we clinch the big 10, and could be the day we make our statement for the NC. Of course that’s a lot of potential stress and letdown factor, but it is in Beaver Stadium, and I think that the crowd and emotion would have to carry us to a win there. Just don’t remind me that our D will have to stop Ringer.

I guess what strikes me the most is how well our defense did against Rogers, and yet, he looked like Barry Sanders last night.

Can we nominate Mr. Crew-Cut-Ocho-Cinco-Jersey-Hand-Pounder for fan of the year?

Can we speculate as to what the rest of the poster on the right says?

Its Friday afternoon, I’m bored.

I can’t believe everyone is talking about a possible NC for Penn State in September…SEPTEMBER! Yes, I’m as fired up about this team as anybody, but let’s get a grip and take it one game at a time. Enjoy the games as they come. If you put too much pressure on any one game, it just takes away from the fun.

BTW, I am a loser who went to bed at 9:30 last night, too, but only because my satellite dish was whacked out due to rain and I couldn’t watch the game. Got up at 6:00, into work at 7:00 and BSD was the first place I checked. It totally made my day!

Seems my gut feeling was right!

Way to go guts!

But is the guy in the bottom of the picture actually wearing an ocho cinco jersey?

Doesn’t mean anything if we don’t do our business. There is so much chaos in college football anyway, so I don’t think it hurts USC as much as everyone thinks. One game at a time for us…and everything else will work itself out

is the new #1. It means Penn States SOS has just taken a giant step forward. And what we need to do now is "Just WIN Baby!!!