Nittany Lions roar

By Chris Preston  |   Tuesday, October 14, 2008  |  Comments( 2 )

Penn State Nittany Lions
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By now it's official: Penn State is a full-blown, national championship-caliber juggernaut. That was painfully obvious to the 80,000 partisans who witnessed at Wisconsin's Camp Randall Stadium the Nittany Lions' 48-7 shellacking of their typically blowout-proof Badgers last weekend. PSU turned this supposedly dangerous road game into a laugher under three minutes into the second half when running back Daryll Clark rushed for his second touchdown of the day to put the Nittany Lions up 31-7. The Badgers became just the latest blowout victim laying in mighty Penn State's wake. At 7-0 and with no team even coming within two touchdowns of them thus far, the third-ranked Nittany Lions have proven they are undoubtedly the premier team in the Big Ten.

Only two potential roadblocks remain between Penn State and not only an outright Big Ten title but a likely berth in the BCS national championship: a showdown at No. 12 Ohio State on Oct. 25, and a season-ending home date with No. 20 Michigan State on Nov. 22. The other three remaining games on PSU's schedule (Michigan and Indiana at home, Iowa on the road) are virtual gimmes. Given the wars of attrition going on in the equally loaded Big XII and SEC -- conferences so tough that it is unlikely any team will navigate their way through them without at least one loss -- it seems a safe bet that an unbeaten Penn State squad would be a shoo-in for the national title game. Beating both the Buckeyes (especially in Columbus) and Spartans will be quite the tall task; but should the Nittany Lions be up to them, they'll be playing on Jan. 8 in Miami.

Speaking of the Spartans (6-1), they posted the second-most impressive performance in the Big Ten last Saturday in a convincing 37-20 triumph at previously unbeaten Northwestern. Michigan State used a bend-but-don't-break defense against the Wildcats' spread offense - allowing 459 total yards but intercepting two C.J. Bacher passes and recovering a fumble - and played ball-control, turnover-free football to escape Evanston with the win. And as usual the Spartans rode their horse, Heisman candidate Javon Ringer. The impossibly strong running back piled up 125 yards on 35 carries in another tour de force performance that enabled MSU to win the time-of-possession battle by nearly five minutes despite snapping the ball only 63 times to Northwestern's 93 plays.

The big road win for the Spartans now sets up an even bigger matchup with the Buckeyes this Saturday in East Lansing. Whoever prevails in that nationally televised battle (3:30 EST on ABC) will emerge as the most imminent threat to Penn State's Big Ten title romp.
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