Practice has begun, college football is less than a month away and we're ready. Over the next four week we'll be counting down with fan previews of the Top 25 teams as voted on by you.

Suggested Team Slogan The Good News Is Anthony Morelli Is Gone. The Bad News Is Anthony Morelli Is Gone.

What was learned in 2007 Penn State is still not in the same class as Ohio State and Michigan. I also think we learned that Joe Paterno may no longer be good for the program. The Nittany Lions are able to bring in good talent based on reputation and what Paterno used to be, but the very best talent would prefer to know who their coach will be for all three years.

Expectations in '08 In Happy Valley, the expectation is to always win a Big Ten title. With no clear threat to Ohio State, I think a more reasonable goal is to finish 2nd and win the Citrus bowl. The defense has lost Dan Connor and Justin King to the NFL, and two other top returning starters have been lost to injury and suspension. On the offensive side of the football, a great deal of talent remains at wide receiver, but now we wonder who will throw them the football. Anthony Morelli never panned out to what Nittany Lions fans had hoped, but he also had a great deal of experience and could make the big play on occasion...

What will keep them from fulfilling expectation? ... the quarterback situation. With wide receiver a strength, Joe Paterno needs to identify the guy early in summer camp. Pat Delvin was a top ranked recruit, but Daryll Clark has an extra year of practice and is more mobile. I see both playing a lot earlier, but obviously a team is better off with consistency under center.

Big Men on Campus Derrick Williams, Deon Butler, and Jordon Norwood are not big in stature, at all, easily the smallest starting trio of wide receivers in the Big Ten. But their the biggest playmakers on the team, and need to get the ball often. Galen Hall has been more creative recently with the offense, so he'll need to pull out all the tricks with either Delvin or Clark under center.

Cheerleader Grade: This was the first fine Nittany Lion cheerleader that was found, and frankly, it's all that's needed. A- (you'll notice just about everyone's getting an A. Isn't college football great?)




NCAA Football '09 Sim 10-3 (6-2 conf) with a 55-17 loss to Tennessee in the Capital One Bowl

All-Big 10 1st team: QB Daryll Clark, WR Derrick Williams, SS Anthony Scirrotto
All-Big 10 2nd team: LE Josh Gaines, LOLB Sean Lee

Daryll Clark: 222-323 for 3054 yard, 28 TD's 8 INT's
Derrick Williams: 74 catches for 955 yards 12 TD's
Anthony Scirrotto: 40 tackles 1INT and 1 TD
Josh Gaines: 47 tackles 11TFL 3 sacks
Sean Lee: 62 tackles 14 TFL 4 sacks 1 INT and 1 TD, 2 Forced Fumbles and 3 Fumble recoveries

Schedule and Predictions

Aug. 30	Coastal Carolina W
Sept. 6	Oregon State W
Sept. 13	at Syracuse W
Sept. 20	Temple W
Sept. 27	Illinois W
Oct. 4	at Purdue L
Oct. 11	at Wisconsin L
Oct. 18	Michigan W
Oct. 25	at Ohio State L
Nov. 8	at Iowa W
Nov. 15	vs. Indiana W
Nov. 22	Michigan State L (biased, I know)

Your thoughts, predictions?