What follows is definitely not sanctioned by above labeled authority.

I have a theory I'm not really sure I believe in but made sense to me one Saturday afternoon while talking over the pre-Penn State games with a friend.  The theory? That Big Ten teams are built a bit differently than those in other conferences is order to survive in the unpleasant conditions of the late season.  Now, for the first half of the schedule Big Ten weather isn't much different than the rest of the country, but what happens when your high flying Texas Techish attack is playing in 25 degree, 30 mph winds?  I'm not suggesting that the Big Ten is "slow" or "old" or any of the other crap that comes with that line of conference blather, but it is almost a certainty that, playing in the midwest, you will face a situation where talent advantages are marginalized by mother nature at least once during the season and the winning team will be the one with the bruteness and balance that always seems to prevail on the muddy, wet, cold, windy gridiron.  The chances of the Big Ten's leader stumbling to an inferior team in these conditions is higher than it would be in, say, southern California. 

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Sometimes in life it's better to let other people do the talking. You are a homer anyway, and so quoting someone else will probably make whatever is said more credible.

Penn State > USC? Yeah! The most disappointing thing about the post-Iowa polls (other than them showing Penn State with a loss, of course) was the fact that so many pollsters found it a forgone conclusion that USC was a more worthy one loss team than the Nittany Lions. My spitting into the rain seemed futile, but the MSM just might catch on after all.

If Oregon State beats Oregon, then could you put USC in the national title game over Penn State? How? Penn State blew out Oregon State and beat Ohio State in Columbus. USC lost to Oregon State and beat Ohio State at home. Besides, USC, in this scenario, doesn't even earn the top spot in the Pac 10, even if it does win a share of the Pac 10 title.

Ok, so that's just one writer who probably doesn't even vote. But the point is not that everyone needs convinced, just that they need to justify it either way.

Computer polls going all "I, Robot"? Yeah! I used to support the fact that the computers are included in the BCS; they seem to apply objective criteria to everyone equally and, therefore, help guard against any sweeping bias. My high regard for the digital changed this season. Dr. Saturday explains it's not the computers' fault.

This is the kind of absurdity that results when you withhold information: If the computers were allowed to take into account margin of victory instead of treating every win as exactly the same, those algorithms would make infinitely more sense (the poll Sagarin would submit if he could has Oklahoma No. 2 and Tech fourth).

Including margin of victory is a double edge sword and, to be honest, those running the BCS are totally justified in excluding it from the formula. It allows the computers to come up with much more logical results, but the problem of excluding them is replaced with the problem of understanding them. Coaches feel the need to take unnecessary end zone shots after the opponent has already put in the second string defense, all to make the victory a +28 instead of +21. When voters see these things they often are able to put them in context, but a computer will not. 

Dr. Saturday expands later:

[Computers are] forced to throw out margin of victory by BCS rules, eliminating the difference the humans see in winning 65-21 and winning, say, 3-2. When there are so few games to compare, no win is really just a win, period, but them's the rules.

That's right, of course, but it's not the golden ticket. In my example above, if the team that wins by 28 with a late TD against non-starters better than the team that, up 35, is scored on a la last Saturday's late Michigan State drive against third team players? That two point conversion at the end would make a computer think so. It allows too much manipulation and, besides, doesn't take into account things like weather and officiating.

So what do I think after seeing Penn State two spots lower in the BCS than their consensus human poll average? Seeing them ranked behind Ohio State in Billingsley's poll? Trailing Georgia and Oklahoma State in other formulas?

Just get rid of them. They are imperfect machines that aren't being allowed to use all the data available and don't seem to be adding any value. If you want a broader base for the BCS average, there are other ways of achieving this.

A rivalry is born? Umm...Yeah! No. Adam Rittenberg at ESPN wonders if the fake rivalry didn't "get legs" this weekend.

Dantonio said later that his two timeouts were not a reply to Devlin's touchdown pass.

"There's no motivation there. I think the problem was earlier in the game. I was just trying to give our guys a rest."

Hmm, not so sure I buy that.

One of the things I love about Dantonio is that he doesn't downplay games or certain opponents. He certainly doesn't minimize the Michigan rivalry, and he might have just injected some flavor to a previously bland rivalry with Penn State.

The back-to-back timeouts at the end of the last weeks game made me realize something, but it wasn't that Michigan State is now a rival.  It's that MSU might have just done the impossible: replace John L. Smith with someone just as ridiculous and pathetic.  Michigan State fans: if you want to lose the "little brother" tag, stop defending a coach that acts like a whinny brat.

The letters come with the bus? Yeah!  The first blue bus has been sold, winning bid?

The "ultimate tailgating vehicle" was recently auctioned off on eBay -- a bus Penn State used to transport its football players to Beaver Stadium for home games from 1980 to 2007, the first of several to put up for sale. The winning bid for the first bus on the block: $4,050.

And who says the marketing people at PSU don't know what they are doing?  In a line right out of The Price Is Right:

"Entertain friends in style at next season’s tailgates with a vehicle steeped in Penn State football history," read the promotional copy.

Now that Paterno's BCS fate has been jinx-proofed via a Big Ten Championship, it's time to take a look at what others have to do with Penn State's eventual situation.

So what are we to do, as Penn State fans, about this unexpected third party interest?  The Civil War is set for Saturday (7:00 pm EST on everyone's favorite second rate sports network: Versus).  So after I take down my fifth plate of Thanksgiving leftovers, these are the things that will be running through my head before the game.

A shot at USC would be fun.  Yes, playing USC in LA has it's downside.  They are essentially at home.  They are incredibly comfortable playing there (they've been to the game four times in the last five years, plus the "road games" they play in the Rose Bowl against UCLA).  They almost always perform up to their talent level in big games and, as you might have heard, they are incredibly talented.

Still, there is definitely something to gain.  Where Ohio State failed miserably, Penn State can succeed.  They can make people question the structure of the Big Ten and further drive home the differences between the Big Ten Champion and their co-champion impostor.

Rematches are less fun.  Especially when the team you root for completely dominated the first version of the series.

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Quarterback

I normally start with the offensive line because, well, the offense starts with the offensive line. Well today we start with Daryll Clark, who did in fact get his swagger back. His 341 passing yards were the most a Penn State quarterback has thrown since 2003 and that, along with the rest of his ridiculous stat line, was enough to earn him a Big Ten Player Of The Week award for the second time this season.

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Some of the players on the team have been quoted discussing internal strife over play calling.  It was a topic after the Iowa game, in which it seemed like the coaches weren't playing to win.  Well now it sounds like the players are echoing some of the sentiment expressed on the interweb over the past couple of week.

"Obviously we've got a lot of guys on the team who have played a lot of football, we know what we're talking about when we see a defense thrown at us," Butler said. "Sometimes we got a little carried away with 'We should be running this play or that play.' Whatever play they call, let's execute it, and let's not get carried away with what plays we aren't running."

He's not the only one speaking up:

"We were running the ball a lot, and then these last two games, we've kind of gotten away from it a little bit," Shipley said. "We started to question that a little bit. We're all guilty of it."

[...]

"It's been a slight problem," Clark said. "We have to get away from it. Regardless of what the call is, it's not like it's new. ... If Jay [Paterno] calls it, if Galen [Hall] calls it, go out and make it happen. That's that."

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I just want to remind everyone of the stakes this weekend.  Hate Week comes but once a year.

[Creation of reader Cairo: "Defensive End Maurice Evans sports the newly redesigned "Abe Lincoln Land Grant Trophy" while signing autographs."]

Now before we get going: The BTN is a good thing.  I'm not upset about its existence.  Quite the opposite actually.  They cover games that otherwise would absolutely not be available to most of us and so maybe I shouldn't be complaining.  But guess what: I am.  Besides, complaining about TV coverage is fun.

The ability to follow the play.

If this was as "circus" as the announcers make it sound, it would have been fun to, you know, watch.  I know that the play-fake has taken it's toll on many a camera man, but this is actually kind of funny.  "Over there, no, over here! Wait, go back!".  Also, I can't see anything.

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Another tale of two halves..  It's probably a little troubling, a start like this against even an average team could be trouble.  But then again, it was a hangover game if there ever was one and it was the most points Penn State has been favored by against a Big Ten opponent since 1994.

Quarterback

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