Newsweek

If you get your hands on this weeks Newsweek, Joe Paterno made the thumbs up/down column. Of course they gave him a thumbs up for going from the "Joe must go", to "coach until you are 100".

Joes is the MAN...

Credit Card Offers Getting Annoying

Opt out of them.

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Polls

With the off week and LSU's tight win against big underdog Arkansas, the Lions move to #3 in the Harris Poll. PSU was #4 last week which caused many to worry about LSU jumping PSU in the BCS to take over #3. This poll taking by the lions should help keep that from happening. Although there is no real difference in finishing either 3 or 4, the obvious advantage is the #3 will most likely move up to #2 in the even that Texas or USC loses this weekend. There have been several close calls w/ Texas' game w/ A&M this weekend and last weeks final minutes USC over Fresno State game. One more week for a miracle to happen.

Go Bruins... Go Buffaloes... And even more GO STATE!!!!!!!!!!!

ESPN.com - NCF - College Football Rankings

Recruiting Update

It has been a while. With the regular season over for PSU and turkey day, there has not been a lot of news.

Brandon Graham (5 star LB from MI) is a Michigan commit, however Brandon will visit Happy Valley 1/14/2006. He will also visit Michigan 12/2/2005. Brandon describes his status as "still committed to Michigan", but wants to "take the visit and wee what else is out there". Graham has been selected as a U.S. Army All-American at linebacker. He is the second ranked LB in the nation according to scout.com.

Scout.com: Brandon Graham Profile

LeSean McCoy was in Hershey this past weekend for McDevitt's game with the Little Lions of State College. McDevitt came away w/ a close win earlier in the year, however, this time, McDevitt did not have Shady McCoy at back. Even with LeSean out with his injury, McDevitt won the game and the district III title.

As he went out on the field to congratulate State College, several of the Little Lion's players were chanting for LeSean to go to PSU. McCoy's leaders are Miami, USC, Virginia Tech and PSU.

Scout.com: Catching up with McCoy

Johnnie Troutman is a 3 star defensive lineman from NJ. Johnnie was in attendance for the Ohio State vs. PSU game and mentioned that he "won't ever see that again, unless I [he] goes there [PSU]". Troutman's top schools are PSU, Ohio State, Virginia, Michigan State and Maryland. Johnnie has an official scheduled for Dec 2nd to Happy Valley.

Scout.com: Johnnie Troutman Profile

Walton and Gibson Updates

J.B. is still playing football as his team moves to the second round of playoffs after winning the first round on a last second play from the 1" line. (the team actually ran toward J.B., dumb) J.B. mentions that PSU and Nebraska are still tops but neither is leading the other. However he has not yet ruled out visiting Florida State. He plans on making a PSU trip in mid December.

Scout.com: Lions and Huskers still on top for Walton?

Thaddeus Gibson visited Michigan last week for their game with Ohio State and came away very impressed. He says that Michigan moved up in his mind. PSU, Ohio State and Tennessee are still in the hunt as well as Michigan. He has officials set to all schools but PSU.

Hopefully the last one to give the latest impression. One thing I did not understand is that he said it was so loud in Michigan that he couldn't hear himself think. Well, after my UM visit this year to watch the lions, either they get louder for OSU or this is a little exagerated. The stadium was relatively quiet and their fans knew it was. I joked with Michigan fans the entire game about how quiet it was and that the PSU Blue Band was louder than 100K of their fans. They simply just agreed. "I can't argue with that", they said. At least 20K fans left after MRob scored PSU's final touchdown and were not even in attendance for the end.

I know how crazy it got in Beaver Stadium for Ohio State so I am not ruling it out. Just from my experience, it seems that he may have needed to take a trip to Happy Valley to compare loud...

Scout.com: Gibson Back from U-M

2005 All-BigTenTeams

The 2005 All Big Ten teams have been announced. Selected lions below:

Selected by Conference Coaches:

First Team
Offense:
Levi Brown

Defense:
Tambi Hali
Scott Paxson
Paul Posluszny
Calvin Lowry
Alan Zemaitis

Second Team
Offense:
Michael Robinson
Tony Hunt

Honorable Mention
Jay Alford
Deon Butler
Chris Harrell
Jeremy Kapinos
Matthew Rice

Offensive Player of the Year - Michael Robinson
Defensive Lineman of the Year - Tambi Hali

Selected by Conference Media:

First Team
Defense:
Tambi Hali
Paul Posluszny
Alan Zemaitis

Second Team
Offense:
Michael Robinson
Levi Brown

Defense:
Jay Alford
Matthew Rice
Calvin Lowry

Honorable Mention
Deon Butler
Chris Harrell
Tony Hunt
Scott Paxson

Dave McClain Coach of the Year - Joe Paterno

Big Ten Sportsmanship Award Honorees:
Michael Robinson

Big Ten

Recruiting Update

There were a number of updates on some top recruits today. Here is the rundown.

Antonio Logan El has scheduled all his official visits. He will be visiting Maryland, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia. Oklahoma already had a visit. So where is PSU? They will not be getting a visit, however he did say that "PSU may not get a visit but they are very much in this."

Scout.com: Scout™ Database

Aaron Berry (3 star CB) of Bishop McDevitt was updated as he scored a TD in the semi-final game vs. Hempfield. A game which the Crusaders won to move onto the finals which will be played at Hershey Stadium this weekend. Scout.com still has Berry listed as medium interest in PSU.

Scout.com: Scout™ Database

Jared Odrick returned from his Virginia visit and all went well. Jared still says that there is no leader and all 5 schools have a chance. Jared did mention that he may not wait until the US Army All American game to decide as originally planned.

Scout.com: Scout™ Database

A.J. Wallace is another recruit that will be in the US Army All American game and he plans on announcing his committment at that game. PSU is still looking to hopefully get an official visit from A.J. It is between Florida, Miami, PSU and USC for the final two visits. A.J. did mention that he would like to have the ball in his hands as opposed to being on defense and PSU and Nebraska are the only two recruiting him as a RB.

Scout.com: Scout™ Database

#3

Penn State moves to #3 in the BCS after Miami loses. The lions could be jumped by several followers since the still have games yet to play, however as of now, they are only behind USC and Texas. One of those two would have to lose for State to have a chance at going to the Rose Bowl. Either way, what a season.

ESPN.com - NCF - Penn State moves to No. 3 in BCS

Robinson for Heisman

FightOnState.com gives a run down of the Heisman voting thought process and why MRob should be invited to New York.

Scout.com: The Heisman Case for Robinson

BIG 10 CHAMPS!!!

Long wait but worth it. Penn State clinched the Big 10 Championship with yesterdays win over Michigan State. There were a lot of doubters, but the lions prove they are back. One second and one play away from a perfect season. Even with that, way more than anyone could have expected. With a little help, maybe even a chance to play for the national championship. Not giving up hope yet. Miami lost a game that it should not have. No reason why Texas or USC can't. Go Bruins...

BCS possibilities

A long shot but I thought I would still post this article. The guy that runs collegebcs.com mentioned that if PSU wins this saturday that they may jump Miami in the BCS rankings to #3 even if the human polls keep Miami at #3. The reason being the lions strength of schedule and the computer polls. Root for the lions on Saturday, then root for Fresno State, UCLA, Texas A&M among others. Long shot, but still a shot.

KRT Wire | 11/16/2005 | Penn State, other teams try to master BCS possibilities

Recruiting Update

Bani Gbadyu is a 3 star LB/S from MD. Bani committed to LSU earlier however is still taking visits. As I wrote a couple weeks back, PSU is one of those schools that received a visit. Gbadyu said that "Penn State was amazing". He also talked about his LSU (soft) commitment stating that things have occurred in his family recently that is making him thinking about not going away too far from home. LSU and Georgia (he is visiting UGA this weekend) are further from MD than Happy Valley. After returning from UGA this weekend, Bani said he would sit down w/ his family and coach and make a final decision.

Scout.com: Bani Gbadyu: In Search of Best Fit

Jason Kates (3 star DT) from Bishop McDevitt talks about Notre Dame. He mentioned that the Irish are still recruiting him. However, Notre Dame has had an unbelievable recruiting year and do not have many open spots left.

Kates did also mention that he is very interested in PSU, Michigan State, Maryland and others as well.

Scout.com: Kates Talks About Irish

Colin McCarthy's chance of being a lion is not sounding good. Colin is a 3 star LB/WR from Florida. Colin talks about his visit to Nebraska. He mentioned that "It was a lot more than I was anticipating from Nebraska". Colin has visited Indiana, Ohio State and now Nebraska. He puts OSU and NU on top. He says that he plans on visiting Miami and Georgia Tech yet for official visits before making a decision. He makes no comment about PSU that was published.

Scout.com: Colin McCarthy Profile

Jared Odrick (4 star DT from Lebanon) talks about his visit to Georgia last week. He mentioned that it was "Probably the best so far". Odrick already visited the lions earlier in the year. It sounds as if he really likes UGA from his comments. I had a pretty good feeling about PSU's chances w/ Odrick prior to reading this article. Now it has me wondering. Jared visits UVA this weekend for the VT game.

Scout.com: Scout™ Database

Recruiting Update

Dan Wenger (4 star OL from FL) just returned from his Notre Dame visit and mentioned that the trip went "real well". Dan has PSU in his top 5 along w/ Notre Dame, Purdue, Florida and Duke and says there is no leader with them all "still pretty equal".

Scout.com: Scout™ Database

Jared Odrick has been named a finalist for the Gatorade PA Player of the Year award. Jared visited Georgia last week (loss to Auburn) and visits Virginia this week (plays VT). He saw Penn State in action for the Ohio State game (which he said was an "Amazing" visit) and the Purdue game (did not see any confirmation/remarks on this one)

Last year Justin King won this award. Past award winners include other Penn State greats Lavar Arrington and Kyle Brady.

Scout.com: Scout™ Database

Dan Sheeran de-committed from Wisconsin this week. Since his recruiter is leaving Wisconsin and Barry is stepping down, he decided Madison did not fit him any longer. PSU has not offered, but Dan said they were recruiting him hard before he committed to Wisconsin. Dan is a 2 star WR from NY that runs a 4.45 40'. Dan mentioned to scout.com that he will be sending tape to Penn State and Virginia Tech.

Scout.com: Scout™ Database

PSU Football - Tamba Hali

One thing to say:

Tamba Hali is THE MAN!!!

PSU Football - Tamba Hali

Toughest Schedule

Every day you hear someone still talking about how Penn State plays cupcakes. Next time you hear this, (already obvious that the person is a complete moron), send them this link. Penn State (as of 11/13/2005) has played the 10th Toughest Schedule of all Division 1A teams. The lions opponents have a cumulative win/loss percentage greater than 60%.

ia_9games_cumm.pdf (application/pdf Object)

No More 411

You want to call ahead to a restaurant after leaving the movies, but you don't have the number. Why not just use 411 and have them connect you? Well, because they charge you approx. $2 to do so.

Google to the rescue. Just text message certain query words to "GOOGL" (46645) and have your answer for the price of text messaging (based on your specific plan).

Here are some samples:

"From 17074 to BWI" - get directions from Newport, PA to BWI airport
"movie: showtimes harrisburg pa" - find theatres and movies they are playing in Harrisburg, PA
"pizza 17074" - get a listing of the local pizza places
"weather state college pa" - find the weather on the way to Beaver Stadium

Google SMS

Game Day

So ESPN's Game Day is heading to East Lansing to watch the battle for the Land Grant Trophy. Now I wish even more that I made plans to go to this game. I told myself 2 away games a year and I picked Michigan and Illinios. I wanted to see the big house this year and did not really want to travel to the state of Michigan twice in one year. I have been to Game Day plenty of times, but missing the Big 10 clincher in person is driving me nutz.

Scout.com: GameDay to East Lansing?

PSU Wrestlers Win Pa. State Duals

Penn State start the season with winning the 2005 Pa. State Duals which they hosted in Rec Hall. The Lions won the first round over Pitt Johnstown (31-10), second over York College (47-3). In the finals, #12 PSU overcame the #8 ranked Lehigh in the final two matches of the evening. The link below will tell you all about the details of the matches.

Phil Davis pinned all 3 of his opponents for a combined time of 13:35 which allows him to win the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament. Way to go Phil...

Press Release - 29: "Pa. State Duals"

Carter Gives Update on PSU Visit

Brent Carter (3 star RB/WR) was on hand last week during the Wisconsin game for an unofficial visit. He he went on to say how much he liked the crowd,etc. He also mentioned that PSU is in his top 5 schools along w/ BC, Minn, Syracuse and Virginia.

Scout.com: Carter Gives Update on PSU Visit

PSU Video

If you need something to keep you pumped over the week off, just watch this from time to time. There are plenty of other videos stored in google's video search. Just do a search for "Penn State" at Google Video Search. Some others include the blue bank, Zombie Nation cheer and the lion dancing to Thriller.

over - Google Video

Awards Update

Paul Posluszny has made it to the finalist of the Butkus Award. The other finalist include Ohio States A.J. Hawk and Alabama's DeMeco Ryans.

Scout.com: Poz Still in the Hunt

Tamba Hali has also made it as a finalist for his position with the Ted Hendricks Defensive End of the Year Award. Hali's competition is Elvis Dumervil (Lousiville), Willie Evans (Miss St.), Mathias Kiwanuka (BC), Ryan Neill (Rutgers) and Darryl Tapp (VT).

Hali's a Hendricks Award Finalist

Recruiting Headlines

PSU is still in the hunt for A.J. Wallace (4 star CB/RB), but he did not put them in his top 3. All top 3 schools are ones he took officials with and he is still deciding whether he is going to give PSU an official or not.

Comparing Trips

J.B. Walton (4 star OL) talked about his trip to Nebraska. J.B. took the trip w/ A.J. Wallace, but unlike Wallace, Walton announced that Penn State is in his top 2. He mentioned that Nebraska is tied w/ Penn State for his top school and that he may not even take any further visits beyond that.

Tied for the Lead

Brandon James (2 star RB) has also placed Penn State in his top list along w/ Georgia Tech and South Carolina. However, Florida is showing interest again in him. Brandon and Jacques Rickerson (4 star CB) are half brothers and Jacques has Florida in his top 3. Jacques was irritated at PSU for cancelling official visits for the Ohio State game and removed them from his list. Brandon has been saying that it would be nice to continue to play w/ his brother, however they do not necessarily come as a package deal.

Florida Makes A Move For James

Back in Time?

Scout.com has reported today that Michael Robinson has told them that Derrick Williams is working to be back for a bowl game. It was talked about since the injury occured that it would take 3 - 4 months to recover and even a January bowl game would be 2.5 weeks from the time the injury occurred. Zemaitis has also been known to comment that he hopes Williams will make it back for the bowl due to all the intensity he brings with him to the field.

We can all keep our fingers crossed, but at the same time, if it is even close to borderline, I would rather have him for 3 more years instead of 1 game.

Scout.com: Back for a Bowl?

Awards Updates

Michael Robinson has made it to the semi finals (15) for the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award. An award that was won by Todd Blackledge (82) and Kerry Collins (94). I personally don't understand how Minnesota back, Maroney, and Wisconsin back, Calhoun, could at one time be Heisman canidates and MRob not after all that he has done this year. I understand that he probably has more than normal turnovers, but his on the field leadership should earn him a trip to New York.

Alan Zemaitis has also made it to semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award. An award given to the top defensive back in the country. Zemaitis is definitely a leader on the team and you can tell by his actions on the field that he gets the team ready to crush people along side Pos.

Scout.com: M-Rob, A.Z. Make the Cut

In the Top 3 for Phillip Taylor

Phillip Taylor, 4 star OL/DT from MD has put PSU in his top 3 with Maryland and Virginia Tech. Taylor has a teammate heading to VT and another teammate heading to MD. Penn State is the only school so far that Taylor has made an official visit and it was back on September 10th (Cincinnati). His high school is currently undefeated and hoping to win the MD state championship.

Scout.com: Scout™ Database

06 Schedule Change

Louisiana Tech has cancelled their 2006 visit to Happy Valley. Ganter is trying to reschedule a new team to fill the gap, but obviously it is a little late. This could get real interesting. Wonder if Prairie View A&M has a game that week...

Press Release - 9

Google Web Accelerator Download

Google Web Accelerator is taking more registrations once again. I just happened to check it today and it allowed me to download the service. It has always told me in the past that the max users have been registered so you might want to jump on it.

Pretty nice. Shows you how much time you saved surfing by using it right in the browser.

Google Web Accelerator Download

Recruiting Overview - Wisconsin Game

According to scout.com, the following players were on hand to watch PSU man handle Wisconsin this past weekend.

• Andrew Quarless - 4 star WR/TE from NY


• Bani Gbadyu - 3 star LB - early commitment to LSU


• Cedric Jeffries - 3 star WR from NJ - commitment to Virginia - unexpected visitor


• Brent Carter - 3 star RB from PA


• Aaron Maybin - 4 star DT - PSU commit


• Brett Brackett - 3 star QB - PSU commit


• Isaiah Tapusoa - Soph DB from Utah


• Kori Lapati - scout.com still researching this one - believed to be from Utah as well


• Trevor Feltonbarger - Junior WR/DB from Utah


• Richard Muldrow - Junior OT from York, PA


• Henry Hynoski - Junior from Southern Columbia


• Josh Marks - also a junior from Southern Columbia

Scout.com: UW: Recruit Gallery

One More To Go

Penn State is #6 in the USA Today Coaches poll. Before the game yesterday, they were ranked 11th, but with UCLA, Virginia Tech, and Florida State losing and PSU's big win against at the time #
14 Wisconsin all helped the cause. Penn State also jumped over top Georgia (bye) and Notre Dame (win vs. Tennessee) to make the 5 position jump.

A win in two weeks at Michigan State (loss Purdue) clinches the Big Ten title and a BCS bid.

GO STATE!!!!!!!!!!!

ESPN.com - NCF - College Football Rankings

Another Visitor This Weekend

Brent Carter (3 star RB/WR) will be in attendance this weekend for the Wisconsin game. Brent will be making the unofficial visit to talk to the coaches to see what position they are recruiting him to play. He has made it clear that he prefers to play RB. PSU is in his top 5 with Boston College, Minnesota, Syracuse and Virginia as the others in the race.

Scout.com: Carter Looking for Answers

Get Ready For This Weekend

Burn a copy of this to listen to on the way to the game...

Take me to JoePaternoVille!

Never Too Early

Already looking ahead to 07 recruiting, Marvin Austin was at the game last week and hopes to come back this weekend for the Wisconsin game. Marvin is a DL from the Washington DC area as a junior. He already holds a good many offers and expects PSU to offer soon.

Scout.com: Austin Hungry for More After Visit

Home From USC

McCoy has returned home from his west coast visit last week saying that the "Trip was great". He went on to give a quick saying about some of his top schools but did not list a favorite saying each are equal right now. Some new news is that he dropped Tennessee from his choices and added Alabama citing the Vols losing season as the reason and vise versa for the tide.

Scout.com: Scout™ Database

Awards Update

Joe has been named to the George Munger Coach of the Year Award semi-finalist. His competition is as follows:

Barry Alvarez - University of Wisconsin
Frank Beamer - Virginia Tech
Bobby Bowden - Florida State University
Mack Brown - University of Texas
Pete Carroll - University of Southern California
Larry Coker - University of Miami
Karl Dorrell - UCLA
Les Miles - Louisiana State University
Joe Paterno - Penn State University
Mark Richt - University of Georgia
Mike Shula - University of Alabama
Charlie Weis - Notre Dame

JOE-PA-TER-NO!!!!

Scout.com: Paterno Up for Coach of the Year

Posluszny has also been named a semi-finalist for the Chuck Bednarik Defensive Player of the Year Award. His competition is:

Elvis Dumervil (DE) Louisville
Chad Greenway (LB) Iowa
Aaron Harris (LB) Texas
Spencer Havner (LB) UCLA
A.J. Hawk (LB) Ohio State
D'Qwell Jackson (LB) Maryland
Mathias Kiwanuka (DE) Boston College
Tim McGarigle (LB) Northwestern
A.J. Nicholson (LB) Florida State Paul Posluszny (LB) Penn State
DeMeco Ryans (LB) Alabama
Patrick Willis (LB) Mississippi

POOOOOZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!

Poz Makes Bednarik Cut

Why you should fly the big airlines - Travel Tips

I know that I am a little biased about this subject, but I wish everyone realized the economic importance of Legacy carriers as much as this writer. Good story...

Why you should fly the big airlines - Travel Tips - MSNBC.com

Odrick Update

Jared Odrick (4 star DE) was at the Purdue game this past weekend in Happy Valley for his official visit. This is his 3rd visit overall with 2 unofficial visits earlier in the year. He talks about his visit with many positive signs. He went on to say that he respects coach Larry Johnson (his recruiter) and that PSU has proved they can play with the best in the nation, something that he had doubts about at the beginning of the year. Another good comment was that PSU is recruiting him at D End and that is where he would like to play (VTech is recruiting him at the DL position). Odrick has listed his top 5 to include PSU, Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Virginia Tech with scheduled visits to all 5 (Georgia and Virginia yet to come in Nov).

We have a great Defensive Line recruiting class going already. This would make it that much better. A needed player with players at those positions graduating after this season.

Scout.com: Jared Odrick Talks About Penn State

Google TV?

Here come the rumors again. Google TV rumors are starting to spread around the web which include Google starting a satellite TV service w/ DVR that would allow you to log into the DVR w/ your google account. Google would then track your emails, net browsing, TV watching, etc. and pop advertisements based upon your history. They could do many things like link to advertisers websites right on your television since it would be web enabled. This would be huge and as a TIVO guru, sounds very intriguing. I have yet to hear many rumors that have not come true in some way. Guess we wait and see.

» Google: Thinking about the future of TV ads | Googling Google | ZDNet.com

How Lethal Would This Be - Vidal Hazelton

With scout.com's #5 ranked wide receiver already committed to PSU, and the outstanding young talent already at that position, how big would this landing be for scout's #1 rated WR, Vidal Hazelton (VA). Vidal did not even have PSU in his top 6 at the beginning of the season according to his interview w/ scout but something brought him to Happy Valley last weekend for an unofficial visit. He spent Saturday and Sunday w/ coaches and players (DWill). PSU is in the running for the final official visit between Georgia, Florida State and Virginia. He is
already heading to Miami, Tennessee and USC w/ likely #4 being Florida.

Scout.com: Scout's No. 1 WR On Impromptu Visit

Recruiting News

J.B. Walton (4 star OL) visited Nebraska this past weekend for an official visit. So what did he think? After he left he said that Nebraska and Penn State are tops on his list as co-leaders.

Scout.com: Back From NU, Did Walton Enjoy His Trip?

A.J. Wallace (4 star CB/RB) was also in Lincoln for the weekend. A.J. came back giving the visit "a 10". Does not look good for the lions on this recruit even though A.J. was a surprise visitor to the Ohio State vs. PSU game (although Ohio State is a leader).

Nebraska Cements Another "10"