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Pretty sure Notre Dame got crushed in Beaver stadium last time the 2 schools matched up.

The pirates are painful. A shot at .500 would be like a pennant race in most cities. Seriously if Nady, McLouth, and Bay were still around this team would be fighting for a winning record and maybe more and the fans would have responded. Come september with the bucos battling for a chance to halt the most embarassing current streak in baseball the fans would not hate the ownership as they do now, and would be flocking one of the nicest stadiums in the US. I still go to games but only b/c you can find someone in the parking lot selling tickets for 5 bucs.

And don't tell me that you don't believe that OSU wouldn't have won at least 5 out of 10 games against Florida two years ago...that was a stacked team who **** a brick...the Big 10 should really look into extending their season at least a week. I would like to see them play a roundrobin 10 game Big 10 schedule cutting one nonconference game and adding a game overall.

Also as crazy as it would seem going into the season, penn state's schedule suffers from not playing Minnesota and Northwestern...a good team and an average one. I'm tired of hearing about the nonconferece schedules. They are set up so far ahead of time that you have no idea what you are going to get. I mean, they are usually set up 5-7 years in advance, and so much can happen in that time. Think about the landscape 7 years ago. Penn State, Alabama, OK State, Texas Tech, and USC were all pretty bad. Miami, Nebraska, and Colorado were 123 to finish before the bowls. Tennesee, Illinois, Washington, Washington State, Syracuse, Toledo, Maryland, South Carolina, and Standford were all ranked. Miami won the Big East, Maryland the ACC, Illinois the Big 10, Colorado the Big 12, Oregon the Pac 10, Tennesee the SEC. If you had were an independent, and scheduled the 6 conference champions from 2001 as your toughest games, you would have a really weak schedule this year. You really can only look at how many BCS teams, and D1 teams are scheduled. Those knocking the Big 10 have to compare to the other conferences. The Big 12 is the best they have EVER been. The SEC is a far back 2nd place. I think the ACC has the depth to be 3rd. Big 10 4th. Pac 10 gets a slight nod over the Mountain West for 5th. Big East 7th.

The biggest reason why the Big 10 gets a bad rap is the bowl records over the last 2 years, but look at the games they have played.
#1 team looses to the national champion both years, one is an away game against LSU
#2 team goes on the road both years against USC teams who dominate in big games
#3 team plays the #3 team from the SEC both years...in FLORIDA
#4 team plays the #4/#5 team from the SEC both years...also in FLORIDA, and no one can argue that with the depth of the SEC, the best 3rd and 4th teams in the nation came from that STACKED conference the last 2 years
#5 team plays the #4/#5 team from the Big 12...in TEXAS. Anyone sensing a trend in playing bowls in the oppenents back yard?
#6 team playing the #4 team from the ACC in Florida both years
#7 team plays the #5/#6 team in the Big 12 in Arizona
# 8 team plays the MAC champ in Ohio (only 1 year)

Do you ever wonder how SEC/USC/Big 12 teams would do playing in the elements in Dec/Jan up in Big 10 country? I am guessing some of the past results would be different.

I think that the point that Biminator is trying to make is that PSU's offense has not played as well in the last few weeks as they had at the beginning of the season. Purdue, Michigan for a half, and now Ohio State have shown that this isn't a unit that will dominate a solid defense. As far as how well teams are playing right now, I would Penn State behind all 4 teams in the Big 12 South although it is very close. Yeah, I think the Big 12 is that good and I see a great chance for Texas Tech to pull the upset next weekend. I would also put them behind Florida and just ahead of Bama and USC. Bottom line, I think JoePa is done after this year b/c of the health and if they don't make the championship game, a Rose Bowl win over USC would be almost as good a way to send him out. By the way, I hear a lot of pundits saying "Penn State has cleared its last major hurtle". If that is true, than Ohio State was the only hurdle to the season since both at Iowa and Mich State are tougher games than any others but the Buckeyes. Only Oregon State is really close but they are now a different team.

A lot of people point to a recent trend of athletes getting arrested. Athletes have been drinking underage or before getting behind the wheel, experimenting with drugs, and fighting since the beginning of time. As have a large portion of other college students. I am an upstanding citizen, but when I was in college, I did all of the above. If I was a high profile athlete, I probably would have been caught.

I would guess that when Rashard game to Illinois, he was told there would be a spot on the team for his brother. Then, when Zook came in, he didn't cut his brother since Rashard was still on the team. After heading to the NFL, Walter was out even though Rashard felt that the agreement he made to get Walter on the team should still stand.

As Ohio State didn't even offer, this is irrelevant

Too bad we can't keep PA recruits in state. Pitt has beat PSU in PA for the last 3 years in a row, and many of the best recruits head to OSU. Michigan and even Rutgers come up with big players. Getting MD recruits has kept our classes respectable the last couple years.

Actually, it is kind of news. Many schools shy away from recruiting players who have made a verbal to teams in the same conference.

Well VS is crap...but just as many people get VS as TNT which shows many NBA playoff games. Not having ESPN is tough for the sport, but I think this year people are getting used to tuning into VS....

back to back calls on hossa and dupuis were BS, (they lead to one powerplay goal), Crosby obviously had another which really could should have been called a goal, and overall Flyers got the breaks and still lost in game two. In game one, more breaks/calls went the Penguins way.

Hate is a strong word...I don't think we'll be seeing any ruff/murray like shouting matches. That's classic though "don't go after my F****** captian! Then ruff gets fined $10,000 for throwing the brute squad on the ice for a fight, and the buffalo fans collect money to pay for it! And of course Ruff does the right thing and donates the money to charity. Sorry to reminisce, but that was one of the best stories in hockey last year. Go Pens.

Hey Flyer fans, does it hurt to think that the NHL is sad that Phili is still around. Being a 1st expansion team (like the pens) and having a large market seems to have gone to Flyer fan's heads, but after falling off the map last year, no one cares about Flyer hockey like they used to. NY, Washington, Montreal, and maybe even Ottawa and Boston would have been better for the NHL (I think that fans are tired of seeing boring NJ). You are irrelevant, and after the Pens win in 6, your season will be forgotten outside of Philadelphia.

Lt...Pens won two cups in 91 and 92...I'd say they were "around" in the early 90s

well the bottom line here for everyone saying "malkin better keep he head up" is that the rangers won't have another chance for payback until next year...good teams have a 4-5 year window to win...the rangers window just slammed shut after two years.

Jagr will get a huge 1-2 year contract with a NHL team other than the rangers. And it won't be NY, and probably won't be with any of the other playoff teams, at least not those who made the 2nd round. GMs and coaches are wary of disrupting an already good team b/c he Jagr is a crappy teammate and he will have to play on a team where he is assured all the powerplay minutes he can handle.

Idiot move by Malkin. Crosby on the other hand was trying to make a statement, trying to fire up his team, and I thought his attempt at being tough was brilliant. Nothing motivates a team more than seeing its star player (who is probably one of the worst fighters in the league) trying to stir things up. Up 3-0, he was sending a message to his team that the Rangers weren't going to forget to show up for one of the games, and that his team would have to earn the last win on the ice by playing better. The hit on Jagr after his goal wasn't cheap either, what do you expect in the center of the ice?. Jagr is a faker...always liked to stay down after getting hits, and then show what a "warrior" he is by not missing a shift. If pens don't win tomorrow the pressure is going to be on that young team....

But still not a big deal at all, pulling in a PA recruit...PSU is certainly not at the level they once were when they'd be taking big recruits from other areas

By the way, many times rivals/scout have no clue about a kid at this point, and bump up his stars and rankings based on information they get after they interest from big programs

Check Scout.com, better than rivals anyways. He is given 3 stars, # 33 ranked tackle with offers from most notably Florida, Notre Dame, West Virginia, Rutgers, and Army which means he is smart too.