Cuz I know you guys love these, more perspective on the USC-PSU Rose Bowl matchup from the west coast.

The Rose Bowl is bittersweet for USC.

Had Oregon State beaten Oregon, USC could have faced an opponent from the Big XII or SEC in the Sugar Bowl or Fiesta Bowl.

“I would like to play somewhere different, but if the Rose Bowl is what it is, then the Rose Bowl is what it is,” defensive end Kyle Moore said.

 

USC’s roster is littered with seniors set to make their fourth-consecutive Rose Bowl appearance with a victory against UCLA on Saturday. It would set up the Trojans’ third consecutive meeting with the Big Ten — Penn State has already clinched its spot.

After losing to Texas in the 2006 Rose Bowl, also the BCS title game, USC has won handily the past two seasons against Michigan and Illinois.

“Of course we want to go somewhere else and play other people. It’s whatever now,” senior defensive end Fili Moala said. “I definitely would like to play someone they think we can’t beat.

“I think if people take a good look at our team they’ll notice we’re one of the two best teams in the nation. I don’t think anyone can touch us.”

They just feel like they don't have much to play for anymore.

When you consider USC coach Pete Carroll proclaimed this his best defense and the Pac-10 Conference is worse than ever during his tenure, one would think the Trojans should be playing for the national championship.

But the Trojans instead face struggling UCLA with only the Rose Bowl at stake. That is the prevailing view anyway, except for Carroll.

Only the Rose Bowl, eh? Well I guess they like their chances.

USC, though, looks to be the clear favorite. Playing in their fourth consecutive Rose Bowl, the Trojans have disposed of two straight Big Ten opponents-Michigan in 2007, Illinois in 2008.

Now, Penn State coach Joe Paterno gets his shot. In a matchup of two top-10 squads, the difference could well be the USC defense and the ability of both Carroll and Paterno to adjust.

If that's the case, one has to like the Trojans' chances at taking a third straight Rose Bowl win and landing in the top four national rankings for the seventh straight season.

I don't understand. If the game comes down to adjustments it favors USC? How so? You think Joe Paterno won 380-some games by throwing rock every time?

Is USC actually considering throwing the UCLA game just to get a matchup against a Big XII team?

The ironic part is that whoever winds up as the Big 12's third-place team -- Texas, Texas Tech or Oklahoma* -- will probably provide a better game than Penn State. By beating the Bruins, the Trojans actually condemn themselves to a lesser bowl opponent.

Nice work, football gods.

Yes, because it would be so much more fair on the part of the football Gods if Penn State had to play Oregon State, a team they already defeated 45-14 earlier this year, instead of creating a matchup between two top 10 teams steeped in rich tradition in the greatest post season stage of them all. That would suck. And of course, if the Big XII gets two teams into the BCS, that means USC would face the Big XII's fourth place team, and not the third place team. That would probably be Oklahoma State. So if you think it looks better to lose to UCLA just so you can play Oklahoma State, go ahead and knock yourself out.

If this kind of stuff angers you to read, good. Get used to it. There is going to be a steady diet of it over the next month, and  BSD intends to see to it that you read every word of it.

When we last left our heroes they were about to begin a four game road stretch that was going to go a long way toward determining how successful their season would be. We're three games through that stretch, and so far the results are mixed.

The Nittany Lions started off well with an 85-73 win over Penn at the Palestra. They dominated the first half doubling up the Quakers 49-24 by the intermission. But they coasted in the second half and allowed Penn to cut the lead to ten, but they held on thanks to some solid free throw shooting to get the win. Talor Battle and Stanley Pringle were sensational scoring 24 and 25 points respectively. Cornley chipped in 16 points to go with his 9 rebounds.

Penn State stayed in Philly to take on Rhode Island as part of the Philly Hoop Group Classic. After trailing for most of the game, Penn State rallied and had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds, but Pringle's three point attempt was off the mark and the Nittany Lions suffered their first loss of the season. For the first time this season our guards were outplayed. Jimmy Baron scored 20 points and gave Battle fits on defense all night. Battle finished with 15 points on 4-of-16 shooting.

So Penn State was forced to settle for the consolation game against Towson on Saturday. It was a dangerous game for State. They could have come out hung over and tired from the night before and played down to the level of their inferior opponent. But instead they came out firing on all cylinders and responded with a resounding 78-54 victory. Battle nearly scored a triple-double with 15 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists.

What we've learned so far...

• Talor Battle is a star and easily the best kept secret in the conference. If he played in the Big East or the Big XII everyone would be talking about him being a future lottery pick. When he and Stanley Pringle are on we can play with anyone in the country.
• We are not very deep. Ed is playing just six or seven guys for most of the game. Battle in particular is playing a ton of minutes. If Woodyard and Babb can't get up to speed and allow him to rest for a few minutes here and there I'm afraid we're going to wear down late in the season.
• This team has learned how to win away from the Jordan Center. Does everyone remember the big fat egg we layed in the Old Spice Classic last year? Though it would have been nice to beat Rhode Island and get a shot at Villanova, they responded well following the loss and played solid basketball against Towson. Last year they would have never got their mojo back until they went back home.
• Somebody has to step up and help Cornley in the paint. Jones took a big step toward that with eight points and 13 rebounds against Towson.

Next up the Nittany Lions travel to Georgia Tech on Wednesday (7:30 PM) to compete in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on ESPN2. Then they return home on Saturday for a huge game against Temple. That game will be televised on the Big Ten Network at 6 PM. We'll have your open threads here.

Here is my ballot for this week. 

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama	--
2	Oklahoma	1
3	Texas	1
4	Florida	--
5	Penn State	--
6	Southern Cal	1
7	Texas Tech	1
8	Utah	--
9	Boise State	--
10	Ohio State	1
11	Ball State	4
12	TCU	4
13	Cincinnati	4
14	Michigan State	4
15	Oregon	5
16	Boston College	5
17	Georgia Tech	5
18	Oklahoma State	8
19	Pittsburgh	4
20	Brigham Young	1
21	Georgia	8
22	Oregon State	8
23	Northwestern	1
24	Missouri	12
25	Iowa	1

Ok, so Brian asked us to pay close attention to the Texas/Oklahoma controversy this week and describe our reasoning. So I gave it a lot of thought and I'll try to explain my reasoning for flip-flopping the two teams this week. I put together a list of pros and cons for each team. This is what I came up with.

As you can see, the pros pretty heavily outweigh the cons for Oklahoma in my book. I know Texas won the head to head matchup, but I watched quite a bit of that game and I can hardly say Texas established themselves as the better team. Both teams were trading scores and the lead all day long. It's a classic example of where the last team to hold the ball wins. If they had added an extra five minutes to the clock, Oklahoma probably would have scored and won.

So based on the overall resume, I have to go with Oklahoma here. They beat all the teams Texas beat more convincingly than the Longhorns did. They beat Texas Tech, who beat Texas, and they have the Cincinnati and TCU scalps on their belt.

Ok Penn State fans. You got your wish. Oregon beat Oregon State in the Civil War, and we have likely avoided a dreaded rematch with the Beavers. But be careful what you wish for.

It's funny how perceptions change. On Friday, everyone dreaded a rematch between the Beavers and the Nittany Lions. They feared that Oregon State would be grossly overmatched just like they were the first time the two teams met in Happy Valley where Penn State spanked them 45-14. But today it's a different story. Today, after the events in Corvalis, Penn State is now the team that is perceived to be grossly overmatched against USC. We have gone from being the heavy favorite to the undeserving underdog over night.

So prepare yourselves, Nittany Lion fans. I'm telling you this now. Nobody is going to give us a chance in the Rose Bowl against the mighty Trojans. Already people are saying USC deserves better than a consolation prize. Even the USC players aren't giving us any respect.

"If it's not in the national championship game, yeah, it's a disappointment," Maiava said. "But this is what we do. We win the Pac-10 and then own the Rose Bowl. That's our thing around here."

So just prepare yourselves now. Don't flood the USC message boards and blogs, because they don't care about you. You're just another moron Big Ten fan who thinks their team is going to beat them just like Iowa fans in 2002, Michigan fans in 2006, Illinois fans in 2007, and Ohio State fans in 2008. They are just as excited to play Penn State as we were to play Oregon State again. You're not going to change that.

So my advice is don't let it piss you off. Just soak it in. Let the media tell us we don't belong in the BCS. Let them tell us we don't deserve a game against an opponent as fine as USC. Let them tell us the Big Ten is slow and behind the times. Just let them say whatever they want to say, because it puts us exactly where we want to be.

Underestimated.

Any correlation between this image and Penn State's hopes
for a certain college football game this afternoon are purely coincidental.

Here's a thread to discuss the games. Enjoy.

November 27, 1919

(Yeah, ok so I'm a day late. Even BSD takes Thanksgiving off.)

The traditional Thanksgiving Day game between Pitt and Penn State was considered a tossup for the first time in years. Pitt was enjoying a six game winning streak over State and had not lost a home game in five years. But Penn State was riding a four game winning streak over some impressive names like Lehigh, Penn, and Cornell. (Trust me. Back then this was the modern day equivalent of beating Ohio State, Florida, and Texas in successive weeks.)

While scouting for the game, PSU team captain Bob Higgins noticed the Pitt players liked to rush nine or ten players on punts deep inside of enemy territory. So he devised a play to counter this and worked on it with the Penn State punter, Harold Hess. But due to his rocky relationship with head coach Hugo Bezdek, Higgins and Hess practiced the play on their own. One day during practice leading up to the game Bezdek noticed Higgins and Hess practicing the play and questioned them on what they were doing. Higgins explained the play to Bezdek who responded, "It sounds okay, but next time let me know what's going on around here."

Early in the game Pitt was driving for a score, but Penn State stuffed a fourth down rushing attempt at the six yard line and took over on downs. Higgins decided this was a perfect opportunity for "the play." It was common strategy back then to immediately punt out of poor field position without even attempting to achieve a first down. So Pitt had no suspicions of what was about to happen.

Penn State lined up in punt formation and Pitt moved in for a block attempt. The center snapped the ball, and Pitt rushed ten players leaving only one player back to receive the punt. Hess caught the snap in his endzone and drifted to his right. Then he lobbed a perfect pass to a wide open Higgins who had pretended to whiff on his block and released down field. He caught the ball at the ten yard line, and with end George Brown out in front to block, Higgins ran 92 yards for the touchdown. The Penn State fans in attendance went delirious.

Penn State grabbed the early momentum and went on to win the game 20-0. The play "took the heart out of Pitt, who appeared helpless from that stage on," wrote the Public Ledger, "There have been few games in the last quarter century where the Blue and Gold was beaten in the first two minutes of play."

Penn State finished the season 7-1 and many writers called them the champions of the east over Syracuse, Colgate, and Harvard. Higgins would go on to be named Penn State's first two-time Walter Camp All-American. The 92 yard reception is still the longest pass play in Penn State history.

(HT to the always amazing Penn State Encyclopedia by Lou Prato.)