Real football. Finally.
Who Shot Who In The What Now? Illinois (2-1) at Penn State (4-0). Kickoff at 8 p.m. at Beaver Stadium. It's a White House night. Leave the hunting jackets at home.
Kicking Television: Coverage on ABC (coverage map). I'd really like to find out why that one little slice of south-central PA gets all of the southern games instead of Penn State. Have they seceded?
A Fool And His Money: Penn State is favored by a robust 15 points. The over/under is set at 58.
Weather: We'll throw it over to Jesse Ferrell of Accuweather.com:
Truth be told, it's really too early to call yet. This weekend's forecast is an extremely complicated one because of the two potential tropical storms off the East Coast and a front coming in from the west. While I can't offer frequent updates on the game status, you can rely on the AccuWeather.com AccuPOP forecast when we get within 24 hours (or, if you're a Premium member you can see it 4 days out by typing in "State College, PA"- current screenshot below).
So there you go. And again, just because it might rain doesn't mean you're allowed to break out the orange ponchos, losers. Find a white or clear one. Don't make Penn State look stupid on national television. That's Lloyd Carr's job.
Dubious Statistical Achievements: Illinois, who took on pass-happy Missouri in the opener before vanquishing tomato cans Eastern Illinois and Louisiana-Lafayette, currently ranks 81st nationally in rushing defense and 77th in third down conversion defense.
Lest We Forget: Anthony Morelli's one-man meltdown in Champaign last year, caputured in this YouTube clip and needlessly set to dramatic music.
The last five offensive possessions for Penn State last year? How does "punt, interception, interception, fumble, interception" sound? Joe Paterno's reaction to this, of course, was to blame the receivers for not making plays.
In Scores From Other Games: Mark Hasty's "Pickin' On The Big Ten" forecasts good things for the home team.
This Post Is Worthless Without Ron Zook Looking Ridiculous. And by "ridiculous" I mean "ridiculously BRAHsome."
A previous version of this preview nearly melted BSD a few minutes ago (I think it was an attempted embed of last year's PSU offensive drive chart), so let's cut it short, click "Publish", and hope for the best.
Your predictions and observations are welcome below.