page 8 The Fourth Wall ee . Tony Arnold Sports Editor Another season of Nittany Lion football kicks off and things look promising...until Penn State goes into Ann Arbor and loses for the NINTH straight time. Yes, nine straight. ..not one win since 1996 against the Wolverines, which begs the question: Can we beat exactly call a 3-0 record against three teams that up to week 4 had a combined one win impressive. Sound pessimistic? No, it’s realistic. Ilove Penn State football season tickets and I love to watch the Lions win. That being said, I know when to admit that my team needs to lose its ego when it goes against a legitimate opponent after playing three cupcakes. Notre would be yes and I would tend to agree. If we played Michigan one hundred times I am sure we would squeeze out one, two, perhaps three victories. But when we have to make it count in that one game— especially in the Big House—I am just not sure that we will be capable without some serious revisions to our game and our psyche. First argument: We were 3-0 before going into Ann Arbor; we just played a bad game. Counter: Yeah, well, we certainly are not the worst team in the world and we did make some bad mistakes but I don’t usually, but this season I think that anyone can agree that Notre Dame is quite possibly the worst BCS team in the nation. They are 1-6 now and the only team they did beat was a UCLA team who received a 44 to 6 smack down from a mediocre Utah and was playing with a walk-on quarterback. Second argument: We didn’t pass enough. We relied on the ground game too much. We need to get the ball in Morelli’s hands more often. Counter: That’s partly right. The Lions did rely on the ground game a bit too much. But, what happened when we did put the ball in the air. Bad things happened that’s what. Anthony Morelli completed just under 50% of his passes and while he threw no picks, he put up no touchdowns as well. All this for a meager 169 yards through the air. And let us not forget that little fumble our friendly neighborhood quarter...on Penn State’s ten-yard line...which led to a Michigan touchdown and a complete imbalance of momentum. Things got worse on the ground as Austin Scott fumbled for the fourth time was taken out after a lackluster 35- yard day. I will shed one little kernel of light onto this subject, though. Rodney Kinlaw running for 69 yards on 12 carries gave me hope for the future in this game. And rightfully so, it seems, as Kinlaw has easily taken over the starting role. In Penn State’s three games since Michigan Kinlaw has racked 349 yards and 3 touchdowns on 67 carries. Two arguments is cheap, I know, but I feel that if I soldier on I will only depress he or she who reads this and possibly myself. I understand that we are 5-2 and have recovered from the Michigan debacle, beating what looked like a formidable Wisconsin team along the way. But focusing on Michigan, I end with a few facts. Nine straight losses to Michigan; worst streak of JoePa’s career and almost twice his second-longest streak of five to Iowa. Five losses since 1997, including a 34-8 flogging when Penn State was number 2 in the country in 1997. 0- 5 against Lloyd Carr. Can’t get much more obvious with that one. Perhaps the worst for last. Last four losses against Michigan for a combined 17 points, averaging out to just over four points a game. Now that’s insulting. Or perhaps that’s just proof that it doesn’t really matter what we do against Michigan, because our minds will beat us every time. Anthony Morelli. Time | Opponent Notre Dame Buffalo at Michigan at Illinois lowa Wisconsin at Indiana Ohio State |= = =| | 2 le Purdue at Temple at Michigan State 1 |
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