What I'm Looking Forward To

Here’s what I’m looking forward to.

I’m looking forward to waking up before dawn.

I’m looking forward to the first cup of coffee.

I’m looking forward to letting out Eli, turning on some music, and knowing that, within a matter of hours, I’ll be in beautiful State College, home of the Nittany Lions.

I’m looking forward to the drive up there with Mrs. Your Editor.

I am especially looking forward to the fact that we won’t have two screaming, squirmy kids in the back. Though I’ll miss them terribly, of course.

I’m looking forward to a vodka martini with blue cheese-stuffed olives (official cocktail of TCFA) at the Autoport Lounge to kick off my Happy Valley gameday.

I am looking forward to Mrs. Your Editor asking me, “How can you drink that?”

I’m looking forward to seeing Your Editor’s Brother-in-Law. Checking out his apartment. Remembering how college kids live—and being glad that I’m no longer in college (just kidding, Bobby).

I’m looking forward to an Original Sin at the Allen Street Grille. A Victory Hop Devil at Zeno’s. A couple of Lagers at Café 210. Meeting up with Nick Cerimele, Esquire.

I’m looking forward to the long walk up to Beaver Stadium.

I’m looking forward to reminiscing about college days with Mrs. Your Editor.

They were good days. Thanks to her.

I’m looking forward to the Blue Band taking the field. I’m looking forward to the Nittany Lion leading “Rock n’ Roll.” I’m looking forward to the drum major doing his flip. I’m looking forward to the Nittany Lions taking the field.

I’m looking forward to Joe Paterno on the sidelines.

I’m looking forward to the game.

I’m looking forward to a Penn State Saturday.

I’m looking forward to college football.

Out And About: News And Notes You May Have Missed

• Remember when we collectively had high hopes for Clemson? Ah yes. The halcyon days of August. What times they were: Visions of Clemson playing for the national title. Against Michigan State, perhaps. And then? Then this: Game week arrived for the Tigers' showdown with Alabama and we all got understandably nervous. Some of us (ahem … me ) even picked Clemson--yes, mighty Top 10-ranked Clemson--to lose. And then, of course, they did. They're Clemson, after all. So now Tigers fans are apoplectic and coach Tommy Bowden is scrambling to find ways to appear sincerely concerned. All due respect to Bowden: He found one. As was reported across the Palmetto State earlier this week, Bowden began his Post-Typical Clemson Meltdown Week by calling up several of his coaching colleagues -- Frank Beamer, Mark Richt, even 'Bama's Nick Saban -- and asking for advice. Bowden says he had no qualms about making the calls, given that his Tigers don't play 'Bama, Tech or Georgia for years to come. And obviously he could use the advice. Said the Sincerely Concerned Bowden, Nevermind That Huge Contract Extension: "I don't have enough pride to think I've got all the answers. Nick Saban is a proven winner, a successful winner, obviously an intelligent guy on defense who's made his living creating defensive schemes. What better guy to go to. Maybe he can help us with some things down the line."

• Most experts (snore) consider Penn State's receiving corps the best in the Big Ten. And why not: Seniors Deon Butler, Derrick Williams and Jordan Norwood are all four-year starters who rank among the Top 10 in career catches for the mighty Nits. The thing is, all too often, most of the attention is paid to Butler and Williams. Which is puzzling in a way, given that Norwood has had nearly as much success. But then again, maybe it’s not so puzzling. Besides, this kid was a non-entity in the recruiting world, a zero-star prospect who caught just 21 balls in his entire senior year in high school and had no Division I scholarship offers outside of Penn State (where his dad, coincidentally, was the defensive backs coach). And so when Norwood did get that scholarship offer, Penn State fans howled. But the diminutive (170 pounds, on a good day) Norwood has been an impact player from Day 1, racking up 121 career catches (he's currently fourth on the all-time Penn State list). Asked this week what he saw in Norwood out of high school, Saint Joe Paterno explained he was impressed by the wideout's basketball skills: Norwood and his brother Gabe (of George Mason-run-to-the-Final Four fame) led State College High to the state championship back in 2003, and when Paterno saw film of Norwood, he saw an athlete. Said The Great Man: "He could jump. He had great hands and could see the court. He could change directions with the basketball. I suggested we go after him because he was a great student and a good kid. Williams and Butler get the publicity, and they're good. But Norwood is really good football player."

• I bet you don't know the name Andre Roberts. But you should. Because he's one of the best receivers in America. This kid caught 78 passes last year. He was named third-team All-American. In his team's season opener last week, he hauled in two touchdown passes -- one for 78 yards -- and returned four punts for 116 yards. One of them went for a 64-yard touchdown. And in just over two seasons of college football, Roberts has caught 116 passes for more than 1,700 yards. So why don't you know this guy? Simple: He plays for The Citadel. But this week, maybe you'll at least catch some highlights of Roberts when his team takes on a reeling Clemson squad (and I should point out, Citadel is no pushover, folks; just sayin'). And Tigers defensive coordinator Vic "The Escalade" Koenning, for one, knows what he's up against. Said The Escalade: "It's easy to see why he's gotten some accolades, because he's fast, elusive and catches the ball. Like a lot of great receivers, the ball gets in his area, he claims it." Kind of like how politicians claim to be intelligent, everyman-ish, or worthy of our praise, but at the end of the day, are just normal people who deserve no more support than the rest of us (if I am going to donate money toward anyone’s career, folks, it will be mine). And so wraps up Your Editor’s post-convention political notes.

Quick Hits: Straight And To The Point

• Stunning stat of the week: Pitt is now 9-11 at Heinz Field when drawing more than 45,000 fans. This is not stunning because of the 9-11 record. It is stunning because there have actually been 20 games when Pitt drew more than 45,000 fans.

• Speaking of Pitt ….As I wrote earlier this week, Pitt's 27-17 loss to Bowling Green -- a loss that arrived just as Pitt was enjoying the best publicity it's had in years -- is not going over well. Even the normally level-headed writers over at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (known from Squirrel Hill to the South Side as, “The Old Grey Lady of the City of Champions”) are boiling over, especially regarding coach Dave Wannstedt's (alleged) offensive "philosophy." Just look at what Post-Gazette Pitt beat writer Paul Zeise had to say about that this week (and yes, this appeared in print): "By every objective measure it is clear this offensive coaching staff and philosophy are stuck so far in the prehistoric era of football that Fred Flinstone probably ran some of these plays when he was a quarterback at Bedrock High School."

• If I knew Paul Zeise I would buy him a beer for that one. Great writing there, folks.

• As we all could have predicted, Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer did not have a good week. Already on the hot seat—although, it seems poor Phil has been there for the better part of the past half-decade—because of his team’s perceived underachieving ways (not counting that 1998 mythical national championship, of course), Fulmer only saw his situation in Knoxville worsen last week, when his Vols somehow found a way to lose to UCLA. And so now we’re all going to have to put up ESPN kissing the rear end of not just one Los Angeles team, but two. Hi, Shelly Smith. Anyway, back to Phil. Basically, he’s not happy. Said Phil: "I told the team today I'm not ready to give them any answers. I'm just as frustrated and disappointed as they are. The one thing I told them was it's not all right. Everything is not all right. Somebody can say that, but it's not.” It’s all right, Phil.

• Speaking of depressed coaches … let us now turn our attention to Texas A&M, where Mike Sherman (former NFL (snore) coach; in other words, bound for failure) saw his once-proud Ags (and I must ask here: What has happened to A&M?) lose 18-14 to Arkansas State (nice fight song, by the way). Yes, that’s right, folks. Arkansas supports two entirely different universities. And both are capable of beating Texas A&M. The thing is, Sherman doesn’t seem all that concerned. In fact, this week he said the following: "I saw some positive things that we can build off of and we'll take it that way." That’s why they pay the man the big bucks, folks.

• Follow-up question: What city is Arkansas State located in? For that matter, what city is the University of Arkansas located in? For that matter, where exactly is Arkansas? It is easily the nation’s most obscure state. Closest competition: Delaware.

• One final note: As my introductory column suggested, Your Editor and Mrs. Your Editor will this week be attending the Penn State-Oregon State game up in Beautiful Happy Valley this week. At one point, it appeared that Hurricane Hanna, horrible individual that she is, was going to disrupt our otherwise nicely planned getaway weekend. In fact, it appeared that way well up on through Wednesday. And then, miraculously, sometime around Thursday morning Hanna veered Eastward, away from the coast and away from State College. To which I can only say this: Thanks, Joe. (And if you have not watched that clip, folks, I encourage you to; you'll learn something).