Notre Dame vs Penn State 09/09/06

Afternoon journalist's delight

There's an old saying that some people are "wise beyond their years." Well, for Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, that's highly unlikely, since he's, oh...120 years old?

“They have a recruiting show on every Saturday…built-in money...They are playing (sic) five Big 10 schools. If later on Big 10 schools say, ‘Sorry, but unless you get into our conference, we won’t play you anymore’…Any time all the schools decide they don’t need Notre Dame, all of a sudden we realize that the king doesn’t have any clothes on. Then they will be just like the rest of us.”
-Penn State Coach Joe Paterno

The takeaways from this are:

1) While it was fine for Penn State to go through 88% of their football existence as an independent, it's a virtual abomination of justice that Notre Dame continues to do so; and

2) It's better to be independent because you don't have to play your games naked like Penn State and the "rest of [them]."

This appears to be one of those early-season matchups where the answers to a number of significant questions will dictate the outcome (duh.) Such as: will ND's offense get on track? Can the heralded PSU linebacking corps neutralize the ND offense? Was last week's defensive showing against Georgia Tech atypical or the norm? And is Akron better than last week's 34-16 score might indicate?

Weis & Co. were not able to neutralize OSU's big-play linebackers in last year's Fiesta Bowl. This time around, they have one of their own blueprints to work from.

Time for double-or-nothing:

Notre Dame 34 Penn State 17.

test 1

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team	BCS Wins	all Losses	Opp. Wins	Opp. Losses	points
Michigan	8	0	+23	0	31
Ohio State	7	0	+20	0	27
Auburn	6	1	+17	-1	21
California	6	1	+17	-1	21
Southern Cal	6	1	+18	-3	20
Florida	5	1	+16	-1	19
Louisville	6	0	+13	0	19
Notre Dame	6	1	+14	0	19
Tennessee	4	1	+16	-1	18
Texas	5	1	+12	0	16
Arkansas	4	1	+12	-1	14
Rutgers	5	0	+7	0	12
Clemson	4	2	+12	-3	11
Georgia Tech	4	2	+12	-3	11
Washington St	5	3	+12	-3	11
Texas A&M	4	1	+11	-4	10
Wisconsin	5	1	+6	0	10

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Second half stops. The Irish defense has had it's ups and downs at times this season, but one quarter where the unit has shined is the 3rd quarter. Opposing offenses are averaging 6.8 points per game in the 1st quarter and 8.3 points per game in the 2nd quarter against the Irish, but that number plummets to a measly 1.9 points per quarter in the 3rd quarter. The number ticks back up again to 4.8 in the 4th, but is still lower than any of the first half numbers. It's pretty clear that whatever halftime adjustments are being made, they are working. Then again, some might wonder why it takes until halftime.

SCORE BY QUARTERS     1st  2nd  3rd  4th    Total
--------------------  ---  ---  ---  ---      ---
Notre Dame..........   48   83   55   54  -   240
Opponents...........   54   66   15   38  -   173

All-American. John Carlson is making a serious run towards All-America status this season. Currently, Carlson is 1st in the nation among tight ends in receiving yards per game. He is also 3rd in the nation among tight ends in receptions per game. He's also quickly moving up the Irish single season records list.

Catches by a tight end - season

1	Ken MacAfee	54	1977
2	Anthony Fasano	47	2005
3	Tony Hunter	42	1982
4	John Carlson	37	2006
5	Ken MacAfee	34	1976
6	Mark Bavaro	32	1984

Receiving yards by a tight end - season

1	Ken MacAfee	797	1977
2	Anthony Fasano	576	2005
3	John Carlson	529	2006
4	Tony Hunter	507	1982
5	Ken MacAfee	483	1976
6	Dean Mastzak	428	1979
7	Mark Bavaro	395	1984
7	Anthony Fasano	367	2004
9	Ken MacAfee	333	1975
10	Pete Chryplewicz	331	1996

Season Long Running Totals. The updated full season stats totals can be found here.