Well, the upcoming college football season is one that I await with great anticipation. The only trouble I have with college football (other then the BCS) is that living in Pennsylvania I get a 24/7/365 dose of Penn State football. It never fails, my local paper even runs a section called "The Penn St. Extra" on Sundays in the fall. That would be fine except for the fact that I live no where near State College.
Even with all that said and my underlying hatred for all that is Penn State (Joe Pa especially) I am still a rational human being (probably because I'm male) and I understand that Penn St. is going to be a strong contender for the National Championship this year. The one big question since Micheal Robinson 's departure is whether or not Anthony Morelli, the highly sought after quarterback from the Pittsburgh area, can fill Robinson's shoes and lead the Nittany Lions to a National Title? He doesn't have much of a choice with expectations high all over Pennsylvania. Fortunately he is not going to be thrown into the fire the very first game since Penn State opens on September 2nd at home against Akron. This will be a warm up game for Morelli that will hopefully prepare him for what is to come.
What's to come are two major obstacles that have the chance of derailing a potential perfect Penn State season. The first of these obstacles is encountered when Penn State must travel to South Bend on September 9th to face Charlie Weis's Fighting Irish, in a game that will allow Joe Paterno to learn very quickly what his 2006 team is made of. The Irish have their starting quarterback Brady Quinn returning to run Weis's offense and this team too seems to be a major contender for the 2007 National Championship. With "Touchdown Jesus" on their side, I wouldn't bet against the Irish. The final challenge however is going to be when the Nittany Lions travel to the Horse Shoe on September 23rd to face last year's Fiesta Bowl Champion the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Buckeyes are another team that has high expectations coming off of last years extremely successful season. The two losses (to Penn State and Texas) last season were the only things that kept the Buckeyes from last year's Rose Bowl. If Penn State can beat Jim Tressle's Buckeyes and can get through the month of September with an undefeated record intact, then their chances of appearing in the National Championship game increase exponentially.
While I hate to admit it, Penn State's defense will still be as shut down as it was last year and with a top ranked receiving core to lighten the anxiety for their new quarterback Penn State's 2006 team has great potential. Plus, Michigan comes to Happy Valley this year and I doubt they will get a warm reception. The sky is the limit for this year's Penn State team, however the road is treacherous and in the Big Ten anything can happen. It's just June and that means until the games are played… anything can happen.
– Fish
The Fish Press 