Thoughts From The Valley: The Season Is Over. The Season Has Just Begun.

The Hangover

HOW I AM FEELING: Dismayed. Annoyed. Perturbed. Etc. My Beloved Penn State Nittany Lions barely even put up a fight on Saturday night against the Iowa Hawkeyes. As usual, the Nits came out flat on the road. As usual, they fell behind right off the bat and never recovered. As usual, they refused to even try to win. This team isn’t very good, isn’t really improving and isn’t really fun to watch. But it could be worse, I suppose: I could be a Georgia fan.

WHAT I AM DRINKING: A Manhattan on the rocks. Because it makes the pain go away. And because it makes me forget that we freaking punted the ball, down 14, with less than five minutes to go, with the ball our own 46-yard line [sips Manhattan]. More on this below.

WHAT I AM LISTENING TO: "The Music of Bill Evans," on Jazz at Lincoln Center Radio, on Philly’s own WRTI. It’s the radio station over at Temple. When Awesome Al Golden isn't coaching up his Mighty Owls (4-1 on the season now, folks), my guess is that he's helping spin the records at ‘RTI. Great station. Great coach. Great music. Viva Temple.

VILLA UPDATE: Nobody took me up on last week’s offer (for a $20 donation, I will stop writing about soccer forever), so you all have to suffer through another Villa update. You're lucky, though, folks, 'cause this one will be brief. In sum: Villa lost 2-1 to Tottenham on Saturday. They are now eighth in the league table. Good-bye, Champions League.

MY THOUGHTS ON THE WEEKEND

OK, so Penn State sucks this year.

Yeah, I said it.

And given that I believe Penn State sucks this year, yes, it is also safe to assume that I’m not exactly anticipating much to cheer about in the weeks between now and late November. I simply don’t have much hope for this team; I assure you, folks, a sub-.500 season is not out of the question.

But does this mean that the 2010 college football season will be a waste?

No, it does not mean that the 2010 college football season will be a waste.

And there’s basically one reason why.

That reason is Denard Robinson.

If you read this site regularly, folks, you know that I’ve been raving about Robinson for months now. Yes, that’s right, months. I hopped on The Denard Bandwagon back in April, after his stunning performance in the Michigan spring game, and have been a happy member of that bandwagon ever since.

Hopefully, five weeks into the 2010 season (which shall henceforth be referred to only as The Year Of Denard) you’re beginning to see why I’ve been raving about him. More to the point, hopefully you have to come realize that what we have here in Robinson (and no, I am going being overly dramatic here) is, well, one of the best players we will ever have the chance to watch in Our All-Too-Short Lives.

Robinson’s production through five games is quite frankly astounding. Remarkable. Unprecedented. And, yes, historic.

Against Indiana on Saturday, Robinson accounted for 494 total yards—277 passing, 217 rushing (he also had five touchdowns on the day). Those numbers are remarkable enough, folks. But you must realize that this is actually the second time he's pulled off a 200-yard rushing/200-yard passing day (he also did it against Notre Dame) in a regular season game.

How rare is that?

Well, this rare (prepare yourself for mind-blowing-ness): No other player in the history of college football has ever done it.

That’s right: Never.

Michael Vick never did it. Vince Young never did it. Tim Tebow, a three-year starter, never did it. Pat White, a four-year starter, never did it. I mean think about that, folks: Denard Robinson has accomplished in five freaking games what White—college football’s all-time quarterback rushing leader—couldn’t accomplish in four freaking years.

There’s more, though. Yep, more.

Through five games, Robinson has rushed for 905 yards (in case you’re wondering, he’s averaging 9.2 yards per carry). Which puts him on pace more than 2,000 on the year. Which, of course, would be more than a little bit impressive.

But you know what’s really impressive?

This: Denard Robinson has more rushing yards than 91 other teams. Yes, the guy is out-rushing most of the Football Bowl Subdivision.

My point?

Simple: Robinson is a life-in-lifetime kind of player. The kind of player that can change the course of a program. The kind of player that can save a coach's job (The Snake-Oil Salesman Wearing A Wizard's Hat really loves Denard, I assure you). The kind of player that we’ll be talking about for years and years and years to come.

So please, folks, do yourselves a favor: Tune in to watch this kid play—next week, and every week.

Appreciate every moment of his Michigan career. Enjoy the time we have him in college football.

Because players like this just don’t come along very often.

THREE YARDS AND A CLOUD OF DUST

THREE: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Lane Kiffin has never accomplished anything, anywhere, ever. I mean, I don’t know. The guy must just kill it in job interviews, because otherwise, there is no explaining his ascendancy to some of the biggest head-coaching jobs in football: The Oakland Raiders (snore); the University of Tennessee; the University of Southern California (snore). But hey, Kiffin isn’t our problem, folks. He’s USC’s problem (ha ha, too bad, Trojans). And what a problem he is. 'Cause, you see, folks, USC just lost (at home) on Saturday to a bad Washington team. The Huskies “boast” the services of the 60th-ranked offense in the country. So, no, they’re not really very good at all. But get this: Washington had 536 total yards against the Trojans. 536! USC is now ranked 87th in the nation in total defense. YEAH LANE KIFFIN.

TWO: If Georgia doesn’t beat Tennessee at home next week (can we really assume that the Dawgs can beat anyone at this point?; I mean, look at this mascot. His name is "Russ." --->), they will have lost five straight games for the first time since 1951. In other words, yes, it’s full-on disaster mode down in Athens, where fans are (predictably) calling for coach Mark Richt’s head. I sincerely doubt Richt gets canned—he’s built up too much goodwill over the years down there—but if he did get canned? Well, could there be a more perfect replacement than Boise State’s Chris Petersen?

ONE: Had to share this note, from Longtime TCFA Reader and Unofficial TCFA Travel Correspondent Longhorn Chris Shelton, in response to my comments in last Friday’s edition of TCFA linking the greatness of Ro*Tel to the greatness of the Big Ten. Writes Longhorn Chris: “As you know, I am a huge fan of the TCFA despite not supporting some of your primary tenets. The Big Ten can't possibly be the best conference because Texas doesn't play in it.  Victory Hop Devil is a fine beer but you only consider it the best because you haven't had the pleasure of a Boulevard Single Wide IPA yet. However, I appreciate your viewpoint and your arguments have merits. But claiming Ro*Tel for the Big Ten? Please. Invented in Texas. Distributed in Texas for the first 20 years or so of it's existence. Primary ingredient of the finest and simplest version of queso, Texas' fifth food group. Ro*Tel even bills itself as the 'Zest of the Southwest.' Stay away from Ro*Tel, Tim. It's likely the highlight of my college football season this year.” Chris, thanks for the note. I will certainly take your argument under advisement. By the way, and I am not just saying this: We bought some Ro*Tel today. Using it in our chili.

TOUCHDOWN: I’d hate to end on a sour note here, folks, but I’ve got to get one thing off my chest regarding Penn State’s latest Entirely Predictable Blowout Road Loss Against A Ranked Team. Now, you may not believe it, folks, but there were a couple moments in that game where Penn State actually had a chance to make things mildly competitive. Including, of course, the moment late in the fourth quarter when the Nits, down 14 but moving the ball rather well, faced a fourth-and-6 from their own 46 yard line. There were just under five minutes left. Enough time, in theory, for the Nits to score a touchdown, stop Iowa, get the ball back, and mount one last furious drive for the tie/win. So, again, facing a fourth-and-6 in this situation—down two touchdowns, time running out—you basically have to go for it, right? Right? Well, no, wrong—at least according to Saint Joe Paterno. Because in that very situation Saturday night, Penn State punted. Punted! Punted. PUNTED. It was the single worst call any coach has made in recent college football history (OK, slight exaggeration there). But, yeah, it was bad. Still, do you know what was is even more infuriating? THE FACT THAT NO REPORTER ASKED PATERNO ABOUT THE CALL AFTER THE GAME. [Sad Your Editor; sips Manhattan]

OVERTIME: Hey, all, one quick programming note regarding the podcast (and thanks, by the way, to all who have listened and offered feedback; Mike and I appreciate it). Because Mike is down in Texas this week (he attended Oklahoma-Texas, and he called Sunday absolutely raving about the experience), we will not be able to record our show until Thursday night. Which means the podcast will be posted on Friday afternoon, rather than Thursday afternoon. We’ll go back to our usual schedule for the remainder of the season.

For more searing college football insight, please check out my work over at About.com, where you can read my weekly Power Rankings, ponder the About.com Heisman Trophy Watch, get darn-near daily blog updates and more.