Friday, January 30,2009 Steelers prepare for Super Bowl XLIII By Nick Blake Apoll.l edilol nphso4 I 41 r,u.edu On Feb. I 2009, the Pittsburgh Steelers Will set out to do what no other team has done in NFL history. Win a sixth Super Bowl title. The Steelers are ctm - ently in a three-way tie I'm most champi onships won by a franchise. The record is live held by the Steelers (1974. '75. '7B. '79. 2(105). the Dallas Cowboys 11971, '77, '92, '93, '95) and the San Francisco 49ers 11981. 'B4. 'BB. 'B9, '94). This past season was a tough One for the Black and Gold, as they went up against one of the toughest schedules in the league. The Steelers finished with an overall record of I 2-4 and won the AFC' North division, as well as the AFC which put them in the Super Bowl. The trademark of Pittsburgh's success this season was their "steel curtain" defense. The Steelers have always been known for their strong defense. This sea- Bet? Roethli.shelyer impatt , s to fife a pass tinvufield. The stand- ings ream an close two weeks into the semester. Will Rachel be able to hold her place on top? Will Matt claw his way out of last? Want to play? Email censos6@ps u.edu for a list of next week's games to see if you can "beat the experts." son was no different. but it may he one of the greatest the frail- chime has even seen "Without a doubt this is the hest defense that I've ever played on safety Troy Polamalu said. "This team had to rely more on defense.- Polamalu himself has been a major contributor to his team's success this season, and his team mates are expect him to have a big game. - Troy does some things that you wouldn't expect." wide receiver Nate Washington said. "Troy is a great competitor. He plays with a passion for this game. There are a lot of guys in this league that you might ques tion why they are here. Troy is not one of those guys. He plays with lire. He plays with his heart. That's what makes him a great leader on this team and a great player in the NFL." The offense of the Black and Gold struggled early on in the season, and it put a lot more pres sure on the defense to play well, and with intensity. Beat The Experts NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL Valparaiso (a #1 3 But lei Providence (a #2 Connecticut tiConn #1 Wake Forest (a Geort/itt Tech Wake Penn State (a #9 Michieiui State Mich.St lowa 0/ #2O Illinois #l7 Purdue (a Ohio State Lake Erie College (0 S. Dakota Lake Erie S.Dakota Campbell CCL Mercei Pennsylvania (a Harvard Penn NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL #1 UConn. CO Georgetown #9 Stanford ca UCLA #4 Baylor Ca #l6 Texas #I4 Kansas St. (a' #22 lowa St. Kansas St. Kansas St. Kansas. St. Kansas St #6 Louisville OP Providence Louis Towson Delaware Longwood (a' Virginia Rider (a Canisius Hawaii (4' Utah State Season Totals: The Steelers' &tense this year ranked number one in the league giving up only 237.2 yards per game, and was a major reason that they will be playing in the Super Bowl. In Super Bowl XLIII, the Steelers will have the daunting task of covering one of the best receivers in the Cardinals' Larry Fitzgerald. game S Arizona "I hope we can stop him," NFL Defensive MVP James Harrison said. "We're sure going to try. He's got every weapon at his dis posal. He has speed. He has great hands and can jump out of the gym. We're just going to hope we can contain him." Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin also knows that Fitzgerald will be a tough job. "If you get clown the field one on-one with him, he's going to come back with the football," said Tomlin. "He's the best in the world at that, bar none." The Steelers . offense, on the other hand, was not their strong suit in the regular season, ranking 22nd in the league. They aver aged only 206.3 passing yards per game (17th) and 105.6 rushing yards per game (23rd). The offense has come around for Pittsburgh, when it really counts, in the playoffs. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was sacked an astounding 47 times in the regular season, but thanks to a step up in the offen sive line, he was sacked only 5 times in the postseason. The offensive line for the Steelers have suffered some injuries and have been labeled as one of the weaker offensive lines in the league. They have been able to push through it though. 'They've been underdogs all year and I think they like that," Roethlisberger said. "They thrive on that adversity." Roethlisberger has also stepped up his play in the postseason. He threw 15 interceptions in the reg ular season and had a quarterback rating of 80.1. In the postseason he has thrown no interceptions and his quarterback rating has improved to 90.8. Roethlisberger is without a doubt playing his best football of the season and he doesn't want to treat this Super Bowl like he Connor UConn Mich.St Illinois Illinois Purdue Purdue Campbell Mercer Harvard UC on n UConn Stanford Stantbrd Stanford Stanford Baylor Baylor Delaware Towson Virginia Canisius Canisius Hawaii Hawai 1 22-13 19-16 24-11 20-15 SPORTS treated it in 2005 - Fm treating it more like game. Yeah, it's a Super Bowl, and we have an opponent, but it's just about having fun," said Roethlisberger. "I treated it like a big game the first time and it did n't work out so well for me. I'm going to try and treat it like it's a normal game. You know what's going on and you know it's more than that, but I'm just going to come out here an d have fun on Sunday." A concern facing the the Black and Gold on the offensive sick of the ball was the condition of wick receiver Hines Ward. Ward injured his knee in the first quarter of the AFC Championship game against the Baltimore Ravens. Last Thursday, Ward let Steelers' fans breathe a collective sigh of relief when he announced that he would play in the Super Bowl. "I am putting in 24 hours of treatment, - Ward said. "I am get ting treatment at I a.m., 4 a.m., 7 a.m. and all clay through the work day. I will play, I will defi nitely play." No matter what has happened, the Steelers have forgotten the past and are going to focus on the task at hand. Both sides of the ball will have to play their best football of the season. The Pittsburgh defense and offense will both have to be on the top of their game to get past a surging Cardinals team. Rachel UConn N4ich.St Illinois Purdue Lake Erie S.Dakota Mercer UConn Baylor Delaware Canisius Hawai i Steele's' sl to • Troy Poltundu celebtrges a touchdown small on an name However, at Penn State Behrend on Super Bowl Sunday, there will be joyfulness and gloominess no matter which team is holding the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the game. A majority of on campus fans are Steelers fans. followed by Browns fans: Bills fans are quiet ly represented, and the small rest of us are fans of a spread of teams, including my team. the New England Patriots. It is easy to say that all of us non-Steelers fans will be Cardinals fans on Super Bowl Butler I Sunday. Christine Nick UConn UConn because we are jealous, or because we don't respect the Pittsburgh Steelers. We will be Cardinals fans because it is the fans less than two hours south of Erie that Illinois Iwe di) not respect. Mich.St N4ich.St Illinois Purdue Purdue Lake Erie Mercer Mercer Harvard UConn UConn Stanford Baylor Baylor Kans. St Delaware Del aware Virginia Virginia Canisius Utah St Hawai i 23-12 Editorial: Steelers fans have thing By Chris Alphen ctcf wiiter cjasllsf (a p.u.edu "The greatest franchise in sports... "The most clominate team in history... "The jugger naut of the National Football League. - These are some of the ways Steeler fans at Penn State Erie, the Behrend College describe their favorite team. The Steelers are the greatest thing to grace this green earth.' Pittsburgh native Thomas Wootherspoon says. The cockiness, the confidence, and the volume of Steeler fans on the Behrend campus is more evi dent than ever this week leading up to Super Bowl We will be Cardinals fans not Stecler fans walk around cam pus in their black and gold, think ing their team's players are the Greek gods of the current day. "The Steelers have the most successful franchise in the NFL, hands down," Archie Isherwood, a sophomore and an avid Steeler fan explains to me. We, other fans, will be rooting for the Cardinals for the way you disrespectfully look down on Browns fans. The way you talk about the past when the present looks bad, or the way you love to talk loud about the present when it is good. We will all be rooting for against the Steelers on Sunday for all those excuses you make when your team loses and how it's every ones but your own team's fault when things are bad. We will be rooting against the Steelers because you guys still constantly talk about Super Bowl wins you weren't even alive tor. We are not rooting against The Behrend Beacon I 6 Cocky another coming Pittsburgh because we are jeal ous. As a Patriots fan I have nothing to be jealous about; I've seen my team in the Super Bowl a few times Hive). We are rooting against them so that you might realize how mortal the Pittsburgh Steelers really are. "No doubt the Steclers win. It won't even he worth watching. It's going to he a blow out." Danielle Zarnick tells me. Steelers fans throughout cam pus seem pretty confident about their chances in Sunday's game. Pretty confulont for a team that won five of their twelve regular season games by only points or less "The outcome of Sunday's game will read Steelers 24. Citrdinals 13, Pittsburgh naitive Adam Clements explains to me. "The Cardinals haven't faced a lcklensel like ours all season. Behrend S t eel er tans are preti y confident going against a team with an explosive offense, headed by an experienced quarterback and a couple of great wick receivers. "The steel curtain will he too much for the Cards to handle and Willie Parker is going to run all over the Cardinals defense. - says Isherwood. Sophomore Dale Edwards con fidently tells me that the Steelers on Super Bowl Suntity will have "a strong pass rush. meaning blitzing the slow. older Warner all diy." Pittsburgh natives do not say we non-Steeler fans aren't classy or aren't tasteful for rooting against a team in a game that our respective teams are not even in As a New England native I remember a game a year ago where all Pittsburgh fans wore Giants blue for a day. So as you're waving your terri ble towel that you never wash. just remember all the rest of us without a towel will be rooting against you. Just remember: when the Arizona Cardinals accept the Lombardi trophy for the first time, no one will care about the five times the Steelers did. Just remember: when the final seconds nun off that clock and the Cardinals began their celebration, all of us non-Steelers fans will not scream or holler, as you might do, we will just quietly crack a smile
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