That's what I find myself saying this week. I remember last year at this time Penn State had wrapped up their season with an impressive 10-1 record and a #3 BCS ranking. But Nittany Lion fans were still glued to the television sets this first weekend in December hoping Colorado could upset Texas in the Big XII championship game or that UCLA could upset USC to give the Lions a shot at the title. It wasn't meant to be as Texas beat Colorado 70-3 and USC easily handled UCLA 66-19, but it was still fun to be a part of the MNC picture after the calendar flipped to December.
We all start out with dreams at the beginning of the year. We all have visions of Lee Corso wearing our favorite mascot's headpiece on January 8th. But each season 117 of the 119 Div I-A teams reach a point when they realize they will not be winning the National Championship this year. Half of them come to that realization after the first week. And each week after that more and more teams fall to the wayside until the end of the season there are just two left.
For Penn State this year, the realization came after week two when we looked terrible against Notre Dame. It was further confirmed two weeks later against the Buckeyes. Maybe it was easier that way. The further you go in the season, the more it hurts when you come to the realization. The Michigan loss last year hurt a lot more than any of our losses this year. I can only imagine how Michigan fans felt after their loss to Ohio State, but at least they are still clinging to hope this weekend. At least they will have something worth cheering for even though their team is done for the year. I feel like I have nothing to cheer for this week, and frankly it sucks.
So I'll watch the games this weekend as a college football fan, but as a Penn State fan it will be hard to get into them. I'll check the internet on Sunday night to find out who Penn State will play in the Outback Bowl. Then I'll say "That's nice" and go do something else. But I probably won't be motivated enough to do any kind of posting on it until Monday. Oh to be important again.