Can you say Top 25?

I look for Penn State to be ranked in several Top 25 polls this week. It will be nice to see the Lions back in the national rankings after a long drought. The first indication of how important Saturday's game was against 18th-ranked Minnesota was the appearnace of the Goodyear blimp above Beaver Stadium . . . so, it must have been considered a "big game" in the sports reporting community.

It's way too early to speculate on probable bowl opponents, but in all likelihood the Lions will return to the bowl circuit after being absent from post-season play since 1999. You may recall PSU's last bowl game - Alamo Bowl, PSU beat Texas A&M. After watching the Nits totally dominate Saturday's game against Minnesota, I get a warm feeling that this year's squad just might be a "team of destiny" about to surprise a whole bunch of people! Only time will tell. For me, it's cautious optomism, the team certainly has the potential to emerge as "The Beast of the East" once again!

Next week . . . Ohio State! The Buckeyes are ranked #8 in most polls. They are one of the 2 designated "rivals" on Penn State's schedule (we play OSU and Michigan State every year as designated rivals, the rest of the Big Ten teams rotate on or off the schedule). There is positively nothing sweeter than beating Ohio State (well, thumping Miami, Oklahoma, or Florida State is real close) and we finally have a squad that could do it. You have to give credit to Galen Hall for revising and reviving the PSU offense, and credit to JoePA for allowing Galen free reign with the script and the use of all that awesome Freshman talent. We are 9 - 6 against the Buckeyes overall - a 60% winning percentage - let's hope we are 10 - 6 next Sunday! If we win that game . . . can you say Top 20?