Friday, November 7, 2008 For most Penn State freshmen, this year's NCAA football season has been a surreal experience. Last year, the team made brief appe: poll and settled A&M in the Bowl. This yei team has consi: outplayed op teams, and itself among on, teams that r undefeated: State, Alabama, Tech, Ball Statt Utah. Thougl national champit ty when then-first ranked Texas lost to then-#7 Texas Tech, Penn State finds itself ranked third amongst BCS teams. Several scenarios could propel Penn State into the national championshi' others could hold the BCS considering thei AB of the scenario involving Penn Stat• playing in either th• National Championship or Rose Bowl include the Nittany Lions winning the rest of their games. With a road unranked lowa, then two home games against unranked Indiani Michigan State, the Blue and White have a very high chance to finish their season undefeated. The last time that Penn State did that was 1994, a year in which they only made it to the Rose Bowl, behind quarterback Collins. However, year's Penn Stagy has a good chat secure a spot ►n the Championship Rose Bowl. PSU in the Nai Champions! First, the most obvious scenario would involve Alabama and Texas Tech losing. If they were to both lose, Penn State ENTERPRISE RENT-A-CAR ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Kevin Gorny Cross Country "Wait, we're # 3?" A BREAKDOWN OF PSU FOOTBALL'S would be the only remaining viable undefeated team atop the BCS. In that scenario, Penn State would likely face - ,ed fourth, or If both top two were to lose, State would be completely cer nab a national ionship berth. le chances of that ling, though, are low. Alabama's ling schedule s a matchup #l6 LSU that .exas Tech faces tough games versus #9 Oklahoma State and #6 Oklahoma. While not unprece dented, especially after last year, having both teams lose this late in the season is -likely. 11/08: #9 OK. St 11/22: @ #6 OKI4, 11/29: BAYWR . . . implications for the Nittany Lions, as it could let Penn State move up. For this scenario to come true, not only would one of the top teams have to lose, Penn State would have to fend off the one-loss teams chomping at its heels te BCS ranks. (8-1), Florida Oklahoma (7-1), USC (7-1) could a case through igth of schedule the #2 spot. Texas, la, and USC don't big enough throughout the of the year that past the Nittany Lions. Oklahoma, with their big game against Texas Tech, might be able to skip ahead of Penn State and grab a #2 spot, Junior Alabama or Texas ly itself, Penn State ild grab the #2 spot. barna seems much likely to lose than Texas Tech at this point, but one of them losing remains a large possibility. Many ana lysts are calling the Texas Tech-Oklahoma matchup to be a mar quee game of the year. It certainly has cham- Kevin Gorny, a Penn State Behrend junior, has played a big role for the Behrend Lions cross- country team Gorny is an Erie native and a graduate of McDowell High School in Erie. His cross-country career started in his freshman year of high school. Gorny did not play any sports in middle school, but in ninth grade decided to go out for the cross-country team. "I almost joined the team in eighth grade, but I decided not to," said Gorny. Although he joined the team in ninth grade, it took a little encouragement from his dad. "I wasn't going to join in ninth grade, and I told my dad," said Gorny, "he told me to just go and try it out, so I did," he continued. Gorny went to practice and the first day went well, but the sec ond day was a little bit of a strug gle. "The first day of practice, I ran the whole time. But the second day of practice, I didn't quite run the whole time," said Gorny. In his very first race, Gorny finished in first. "I started in Junior Varsity, and I ran in my first race and won the whole thing," he said. After that race, Gorny was placed on the Varsity team and remained SPORTS By Connor Sattely managing edim► cisso6oobpsu.edu facing Alabama, if they win convincing ly enough. The last scenario could be sonic type of mixup at the top of the ranks without any of the top three teams losing. The only way that this could work in Penn State's favor is if Alabama plays badly enough in their last three games (barely grab a win against LSU, almost lose to 4- 5 Auburn and 8-2 Mississippi State) they might be edged out by Texas for the top spot and by Penn State for #2. However, this is pretty unlikely to happen Alabama will very likely blow away Auburn and Mississippi State. BCS RANKINGS Week 10 (11/2) Alabama Texas Tech Penn State Texas Florida Oklahoma USC Utah Oklahoma St. 10. Boise St. PSU in the Rose Bowl If Penn State misses out on the National Championship game. they will almost certainly play in the next-highest game, the Rose Bowl. For this to happen, in any scenario, they will need to finish out their season undefeated. If Penn State loses a game, they could still very well be featured in a BCS bowl Athlete there for the rest of his high Gorny's favorite memories come from his senior year on his 4xBoom relay team. It was my senior year at the Butler Invitational and we fin ished second. We earned recogni tion in the Pittsburgh Post- Gazzette, - said Gorny. NCAA BOWL HOPES State. hut to #lO Boise St comes from #IB Michigan State, which will lace Penn Stat he corvine ()ft' of a three weeks a Though they bey Wisconsin and Indi 'izinies, they have to succeed agains top-10 team. Probably the lik est situation for would involve Pe Michigan State in season. Barring any major mixups in the Kevin Gorny school career. DANIEL SMITH / The Behrend Beacon Corny drives a Gato►; leading athletes along the running route at the Behrend Cross Country invitational. (there are five, so they would need to drop no further than the #IO spot). If they lose two. they could again find themselves in a non-BCS bowl. The most likely non-National Championship sce nario would land the Nittany Lions in the Rose BO‘N 1, If Alabama and 'Texas Tech win all of their games convincingly enough to keep #1 and #2, Penn State would likely roll in third. Even if one of the I- loss teams jumps Penn State, the Blue and White will still find themselves ranked fourth, good enough to grab a berth in the Rose Bowl. Again, Oklahoma remains the largest threat for jumping Penn State. PSU in an BCS B( MERE lose a game. likely day,' Ohio Statc, ranked 01 have a cir ranked Bn-H'o likely he ranked above Penn State. The biggest threat of a loss name of the season weekend again Perdue. They lost the only ranked te; they faced, Ohio St; in tough inter-Big Spotlight: By Nick Blake .sports Milo? npbso4lolmu.edu Another memory came form the District 10 Championships. "We won the District 10 Championship and advanced to the state meet," said Gorny. "Those are probably the two memories that stick out in my mind," he continuted. Gorny's top three college choices were Gannon, Allegheny The Behrend Beacon I 9 top 10 currently, that would very likely put Penn State in the 7-10 range of rank ings. By the end of the season, either Oklahoma State or Oklahoma will drop out of the to. ten. Each TEXAS (8-1) 11/08: BAYIAR 11/15: @ KANSAS 11/27: TEXAS A&M Ohio State, currently sitting at #ll. Putting the Nittany Lions at #lO leaves room for them to move up late in the sea son and secure a #9 or #8 spot, which would put them in one of the other four BCS bowls (Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, or Orange). A one-loss Penn State team Id be looking they were to lose two of their remaining three games. While extremely unlikely, Nwn to the other National Championship school faces Texas Tech in the next two weeks. Even if both win, they will face each other in the last game of the season. Again, if Penn State loses a game, they will probably not be ranked below Big 10 rival of a BCS bowl is if nd company (7-2), #l4 • (7-2), or #2O Tech (7-2). While Penn s have a lot of left to watch, e still many ies unex- sere that could nn State into to of rankings. eak schedule help them in a eir bowl game, I counting on a spot in the and Penn State Behrend Gorny ended up choosing Behrend for a couple of reasons. "Well, I talked to Coach Cooper and I really liked the campus," said Gorny. "I really liked the look of the campus and the fact that it was a Penn State school," he continued. This past weekend, Gorny ran in the AMCC Championship. He led the Lions to a first place finish. Gorny ran in the 8K race and finished with a time of 27:45. He was the top Behrend finish er and second overall. The Behrend men logged 31 points and held off Franciscan who finished with 48 points. The top ten finishers earn AMCC All-Conference honors. This is the second year in a row that the Behrend Lions have won the AMCC Championships. The blue and white also won the AMCC Championship in 2000 and 2007. Gorny is a Management Information Systems major and after he graduates, he plans on going south for a job. He also said that coaching may be in his future. "I wouldn't mind being a coach. I don't want to run com petitively after I graduate, but I'd like to be a coach." spot in the wl, perhaps r of the teams, se State in a S bowl e only way state would contention
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