To the East Side [To a Deluxe Apartment in the Sky]

With Penn State’s win over Illinois yesterday, the voters finally got to see that “more” from Penn State, and bumped us all the way up to #6, in both the AP and Coaches Poll.  A special thank you to Oregon State, Ole Miss, Georgia, and dare I say Michigan for knocking off teams ranked ahead of us.

We’ll have a write-up of the game later this week, but let me just say having been at that stadium may have been one of the most incredible sports experiences of my life.  I lost my voice midway through the first quarter.  And camping out is incredible-any PSU students out there reading this: you’ve got to do Paternoville at least once.

Now, I take every ESPN poll with not just a grain, but perhaps a shaker of salt.  But it certainly warmed my cockles to see this:

Woohoo!  We’re #1!  Now go out there tomorrow and EARN IT!

What now Ohio State?

Now I just feel bad for the Illini. Oregon State got crushed by a Penn State team when the students could barely be bothered to fill the stadium by the second half. Imagine the buzz saw they are walking into when the lights are on in Beaver Stadium and the White House is in effect?

Word of advice to Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Declare a state of emergency now and prepare for the worst. Maybe by doing so FEMA will be ready for the disaster that is about to befall the Illini.

There are crowds, and then there is Beaver Stadium.

Even Boise State and Hawaii had their years. But like them, the Illini will soon learn there is a hierarchy in college football, and eventually order will be restored. Even Rutgers is complying by losing again.

First of all, I’m going to say this once and once only. If you are going to be at the game this Saturday, WEAR WHITE!

The students got it down with a simple declaration on the jumbotron. For every vice Penn State alumni consistently finds with current Penn State students (tailgate behavior, use of profanities, not filling up the student section at ungodly noon kickoff times for teams people didn’t even know existed before they played Penn State, you get the drift), there are plenty of gray-hairs that still find it necessary to don their blue. Get with the program, even when there isn’t a declared whiteout, it is obvious that white has become the new rage in Happy Valley. The last 3 home games are evident of that. Look around Beaver Stadium and you’ll see a massive block of white (student section) and a mass of white littered with little dots of blue. It’s time to get with the program people.

And on a side note, boy is Illinois walking into a buzz saw this weekend. They’ve played at Penn State 2 years ago, lost. But this year they are playing a night game in the White House. Boy will they be in for a rude awaking. For all the Illini fans that believe their rightful place is the miracle season of 2007, its time to wake up and maintain their rightful place at the bottom of the Big Ten. This weekend will be proof of that.