College Football Preview: Week 12

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      Top 25 Game Previews   FRIDAY No. 23 Fresno State vs. La. Tech SATURDAY No. 1 USC vs. No. 11 UCLA No. 2 Texas at Colorado No. 3 LSU vs. No. 13 Georgia No. 5 Virginia Tech at FSU No. 12 West Virginia at USF No. 16 Louisville at UConn    Team Capsules  ---------- Air Force Akron Alabama Arizona Arizona St Arkansas Arkansas St Army Auburn BYU Ball St Baylor Boise St Boston College Bowling Green Buffalo California Central Mich Cincinnati Clemson Colorado Colorado St Connecticut Duke East Carolina Eastern Mich Florida Florida St Fresno St Georgia Georgia Tech Hawaii Houston Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Iowa St Kansas Kansas St Kent State Kentucky LSU La Tech Louisville Marshall Maryland Memphis Miami Fla Miami Ohio Michigan Michigan St Middle Tenn Minnesota Mississippi Mississippi St Missouri NC State Navy Nebraska Nevada New Mexico New Mexico St North Carolina North Texas Northern Ill Northwestern Notre Dame Ohio Ohio State Oklahoma Oklahoma St Oregon Oregon St Penn St Pittsburgh Purdue Rice Rutgers SMU San Diego St San Jose St South Carolina South Florida Southern Miss Stanford Syracuse TCU Temple Texas Texas A&M Texas Tech Toledo Troy St Tulane Tulsa UAB UCF UCLA UL-Lafayette UL-Monroe UNLV USC UTEP Utah Utah St Vanderbilt Virginia Virginia Tech Wake Forest Washington Washington St West Virginia Western Mich Wisconsin Wyoming ----------

 

Nov. 18, 2005

By Bryan Armen Graham

Assistant Editor, CSTV.com

When Penn State takes the field Saturday for its regular-season finale against Michigan State, the fifth-ranked Nittany Lions -- as far-fetched as it would have sounded six months ago -- will be playing for the program's first Big Ten championship since 1994.

That conference title -- and the Big Ten's berth into the Bowl Championship Series -- would be sweet vindication for Joe Paterno, the 78-year-old coach whose ability and acumen had been openly doubted throughout the off-season.

"Joe never talks about himself -- it's always about Penn State and the players," PSU defensive coordinator Tom Bradley said. "They all understand what [Saturday's game] means, and that they have a tough job ahead of them."

Since Penn State entered the Big Ten in 1993, the Lions have met the Spartans in the regular season's final game for the Land Grant Trophy. The Blue and White have taken four of the last five meetings in the series.

Penn State's biggest worry Saturday could be Drew Stanton, Michigan State's star signal-caller. The junior ranks among national pacesetters in total offense (ninth, 310 ypg) and passing efficiency (eighth, 158.9), while leading the Big Ten's most high-powered offense (506.9 ypg).

When asked how his defense plans to contain Stanton, Bradley laughed.

"We won't; we'll just try to. When he gets on a roll, he's tough," Bradley said. "He's one of the best quarterbacks in the country, everybody knows that. He's a phenomenal athlete and he's completed something like 60 percent of his passes. He's not an easy guy to defend."

The Lions will have been idle for 14 days since their most recent game, a convincing 35-14 victory over Wisconsin at Beaver Stadium.  

"Sometimes when you get on a roll you just want to keep playing," Bradley said. "If we were having trouble, the off week would be good, but we were playing well and certainly we would have liked to have just kept on going because we were in a groove. That always concerns you as a coach in an off week -- you're never sure if you worked enough, or if you didn't work enough.

"That's what the schedule has. It's not like you can switch it -- those are the cards dealt."

Currently, Ohio State and Penn State sit atop the Big Ten standings with identical 6-1 records, though the Lions would win a tie-breaker by virtue of their 17-10 victory over the Buckeyes on Oct. 8.

If Penn State loses, they can still win the conference -- as long as Ohio State loses at Michigan. But a Buckeyes win coupled with a Lions loss would mean the Big Ten crown heads to Columbus.

If history is any indicator, Big Ten fans can expect the unexpected.

"These games are always crazy up there," Bradley said. "They don't follow any particular pattern when we play them."