The Nittany Turkey

Primarily about Penn State football, this is a tale told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

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Home 2009 Archives for September 2009

Archives for September 2009

You Gotta Have Heart

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Nate Mink of The Daily Collegian is getting pumped up for a pivotal game with Iowa but he wonders whether the Nittany Lions are similarly pumped. He seems to doubt it. So do I. From the beginning of this season, I’ve been saying that these guys are emotionless out there.

I’ve characterized the emotion level of this team as being like guys heading off for another day of work in the coal mine. I’ve been trying to figure out why that is the case. ????? ????? ??? ???? Is it because their coaches are telling them to be cool, to act like they’ve been in big games before? Is it because they take valium and beta-blockers before the game? Is it because they are aliens from the planet Alia, or perhaps, Vulcan?

How does one not get himself up for playing in a game in front of 110,000 crazed fans, all dressed in white, many of whom camped out in tents all week to see him play?

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Corn, Hogs, and Eye of Hawk

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Come Saturday evening, there’ll be some kinda hoedown in the whitened out confines of Beaver Stadium, as the almost-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes (3-0, 0-0 Big Ten) come to town to square off with the #5 Nittany Lions (3-0, 0-0 Big Ten) in the first conference game of the season. The Lions’ official terminology czar, Guido d’Elia, demands that we call this a Whitehouse game, so we will. Any way you slice it, Beaver Stadium will be visible from the moon, a vast white blobule with a small wedge of black and yellow in the crappy seats in the northeast corner.

A lot of big shots are attending the game. Katie, from our local chapter of the alumni association will be there. Mike of Black Shoes Diary will be there. Because of their presence, I suppose, ESPN has decided to air College  Gameday from Beaver Stadium this weekend, too. The folks at ESPN/Disney/ABC are no fools, you know.

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Pat Devlin Watch

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I was bored, so I thought I would check in on former Nittany Lion #2 quarterback Pat Devlin, now the starting quarterback at Delaware (2-1).

The Blue Hens’ most recent outing was a 27-17 win over Delaware State. ?????? ???????   About that game, and Devlin’s performance in it, the Delaware athletics web site reports the following:

Delaware junior quarterback Pat Devlin ran for two scores and threw for 227 yards, including a fourth quarter touchdown to freshman Rob Jones, and the stingy Blue Hen defense held the Delaware State offense to just one touchdown on the day as the Hens (2-1) outlasted the Hornets (0-2) in the first-ever regular season matchup between the two teams. The game drew a spirited crowd of 20,585.

I guess it’s better to play before a spirited crowd of 20,585 than to pick splinters out of one’s butt in front of 110,000 maniacs at Beaver Stadium. ??? ??? Devlin might have made the right move, considering the NFL visibility Joe Flacco brought to Delaware. Flacco is playing a large part in the Baltimore Ravens’ offensive renaissance. But is Devlin worthy of comparison to Flacco?

After three games, he ranks 36 in pass efficiency and 31 in total offense in the roughly 120 teams of NCAA’s FCS. ???? ?????? Not bad, but not stellar.