Pretty Good Saturday

"At 6:00 the next morning my future best friend Sharky and I left the dorm and walked over to library quad with some blankets wrapped around us for warmth..." - Notre Dame Bob

My mom wears blankets on gameday. I hope all that YouTubing was worth it. I propose a maximum of 5 for all future countdowns. If we're not careful we'll get a countdown from 200 from you in the offseason: "Robert Hughes is eating Froot Loops for breakfast, he's so focused..." "Today I woke up and farted and it smelled like a spring day in South Bend, SONS OF NOTRE DAME, ASSEMBLE!"

We got to see what happens to Penn State's D when Sean Lee and Navarro Bowman finally get on the field together. 0 points for Minnesota, a completely dominant performance by the Lions. We held them to 37 yards on the ground and 138 TOTAL yards. Eric Decker accounted for 1/3 of their offense with 1 catch for 42 yards. That one play in particular bothers me, not because of the pick up, only surrendering one big play that doesnt lead to a touchdown is still a great defensive performance, but the gain was a result of poor safety coverage. This has been going on all season, playing Big Ten teams hides this weakness a little bit, but trust me it's there. Eric Decker split Drew Astorino and Nick Sukay on that play because they both took poor angles because they overestimate their own athleticism. These guys cannot hang with elite recievers. Jared Odrick continues to wreak havoc, he pushes the line of scrimmage back half a yard every play. Look for him to be the 2nd Penn State lineman in as many years to be drafted in the first round this April.

The offense looked solid, the line is finally gelling! You all think I'm crazy but it's getting there. We've been shifting around personnel and Ako Poti - a former JUCO transfer - seems to have won the job at right tackle. DC had a very good day completing 21-32 for 287 and 1 TD to Derek Moye. We used Clark in the run game a little more, and while he only gained 8 yards on 8 carries it opened things up a little more downfield. When Galen Hall gets all caught up in the passing wrinkles of the Spread HD we end up trying to do too much, it was nice to see us keep them honest at the line of scrimmage. And finally Evan Royster, it's so good to see him efficiently chewing up yards for us again. He really makes everything go for us when we give him some room.

The Big Ten is terrrrrible, what are you doing Ohio State?? I hope they continue to start Pryor because at this point I've seen him lose games for his team and I'm convinced that Iowa is going to kill them, and I'm feeling way more confident about our chances against them. First we have to get through a good Michigan team, AT Michigan. Everyone knows the last time we beat Michigan at the big house was 1994. We almost ended that streak on that same day in 2005 that my opponent continually obsesses over, also on a last second play. A slant to Mario Manningham - whom I will never ever ever have on my fantasy team.

With the commitment of Khamrone Kolb Penn State has jumped to no. 2 nationally according to Rivals. This class has been so much fun. Sharrif Floyd, Marcus Lattimore, and Mike Thornton will all be on hand for the Ohio State game November 7th.