Do you root for your friends’ favorite college football teams?

Or do you just pretend to root for your friends’ favorite college football teams?

And if the answer is the latter, well, I have to ask: Do you feel bad about that?

I ask these questions because, of late, I have come to confront a certain moral dilemma: Despite my great admiration for my friends, the fact is, I don’t want their teams to win on Saturdays. At least not every Saturday.

And if pressed on the issue, I bet they would admit that they don’t want Penn State to win, either. Actually, they probably wouldn’t have to be pressed about that one.

For about eight years now, me and my friends from down in Maryland have been engaged in a sort of delicate détente of college football fandom. This détente requires each of us to lob warm-and-fuzzy compliments at each other’s alma maters (Brian, the least Southern individual on the planet, went to Georgia; Mike went to Indiana but maintains an odd affection for Maryland; Scott went to Pitt and, it must be said, has never pretended to root for any of our teams, I don’t think, most especially Penn State, since he hates them) and, when push comes to shove, root for those teams if we all happen to be sitting around the television together.

But I have to say, the once-miniscule cracks and gaps in this fragile and hastily constructed peace are in danger of becoming gaping crevasses. Maybe they always were crevasses.

Because the facts is, I don’t think any of us really wants any of the others to be happy on Saturday. I don’t think any of us really roots for each others’ schools, and I am not sure we ever have.

Take, for instance, my good friend Brian. I am not suggesting he wants Penn State to lose every week. But I bet you he wants us to lose this week.

Because this is a big game—the kind of game that could give Penn State a bump in the polls and even put them right there on Georgia’s heels—and if Penn State were to lose it, well, Brian could rest easy knowing that while his friend Tim’s Nittany Lions are good, they aren’t nearly as good as his Dawgs. And he would be sure to remind me of that, too.

See, Brian doesn’t want Penn State to be 0-12. But 8-5? Well, that’s about right, including a loss to an SEC team in a bowl game, of course.

Which brings me to, well, me.

For years now, I have been a good friend to Brian. I have rooted for Georgia, sometimes in great sincerity. I have written extensively about the Bulldogs in this space. I have even dressed my children in Georgia gear (once).

I like Georgia. I really do.

But here’s the simple and honest truth: I don’t think I want Georgia to win the national championship this year.

I would feel bad about that, too, if I didn’t know Brian felt the same way about Penn State. Ditto for Mike. And, of course, ditto for Scott.

My point?

Well, let’s just admit it, guys. We’ve been living a lie.

Out And About: News And Notes You May Have Missed

• Let me make this clear, if it has not been made clear already: I am no Ohio State fan. That being said, and irregardless of the fact that I am a Nittany Lion, I cannot help but respect all that the Buckeye program has achieved over the years. This truly is one of college football’s great programs. But last week, Buckeye fans absolutely embarrassed themselves by booing senior quarterback Todd Boeckman, who came off the bench in relief of freshman phenom Terrelle Pryor. Boeckman’s teammates didn’t take kindly to the insult, though Boeckman was at least classy enough not to respond. Asked for his reaction to the ugly situation this week, Ohio State coach The Vest said: "That's disappointing. I know we're allowed to do what we want to do (as fans), but Todd Boeckman is a first-class guy. He cares about his team.Would he rather be out there? Absolutely. Does he want to try and find a way to get out there more? Absolutely. Did he not throw a good ball one time Saturday? Absolutely. But he's thrown some pretty good balls and he's been a part of the fans having a lot of things to cheer about over the last five years ... but we're certainly not going to sit and scold anybody (for booing) because we've got enough problems of our own.''

• There are a lot of people out there—NFL fans, mostly—who seem to believe that anyone who spends their time following college football recruiting is some kind of nutjob. But I have two points for these folks: 1. Recruiting is no different than the NFL Draft, which is the most singularly creepy event in the entirety of sporting history; 2. Recruiting, unlike the Draft, actually matters. And for evidence, I point to two kids who were among the most highly recruited players in all of Ameirca last year: Georgia wideout A.J. Green, and Alabama wideout Julio Jones. By most accounts, Green and Jones were the No. 1 and No. 2 recruits at their position last year, and so far, they’ve more than lived up to the hype. Green leads the ‘Dawgs with 300 receiving yards on the season while Jones leads ‘Bama with 132 yards and three touchdowns. Asked this week to comment on Green, ‘Bama coach Nick Saban offered the following: "We have a tremendous amount of respect for [Greem] and the quarterback [Matthew Stafford]. They have shown a real capacity to make big plays downfield. That's going to be a challenge for us. We're going to have to jam them and keep them cut off."

• There’s no getting around it: Syracuse football is horrible right now. It’s a sad, sad state of affairs for a program that was once one of the nation’s very best. In short, the program sucks. The team is getting their butts kicked on a weekly basis. The coach, Gerg Robinson, will be fired very shortly. But maybe worst of all, the athletic director, Daryl Gross, is now throwing everyone under the bus (including Robinson) in a last-ditch effort to save his job. After ESPN’s College Gameday (hardly, mind you, a bastion of intelligent analysis) ran a segment last week blaming Gross, not Robinson, for the program’s troubles, Gross took the ridiculous step of calling up ESPN to make his case (and save his job). As Gross told The Worldwide Leader in Cross Promotion: "If you look at all our programs, we've made tremendous strides. The 800-pound gorilla is football. We've got to fix that. We know that. We're aware of that." They are aware of that, yes. And yet, Syracuse is the single worst program in all of college football.

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Quick Hits: Straight And To The Point

• Yes, Georgia’s A.J. Green and Alabama’s Julio Jones are good. But could they make this catch? I’m not sure.

• This one is pretty good, too. Shameless plug for Penn State, brought to you by Your Edtitor.

• It would be unfair to blame all of Penn State’s problems over the past two years on poor old Anthony Morelli. I think. Well, maybe not. Just ask Ron Zook. Asked this week about Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark, who currently leads the Big Ten with a 166.1 quarterback rating, Zook said: "We think Penn State’s quarterback position is much better, much improved over last year. He's good at all phases. He can handle the game, he can move around, he can throw, he's a leader. He's a tough guy. He's a competitor. You can tell that by listening to him. He wants to play in this kind of game. Those are usually the guys who play the best.''

• The Zooker, offering his opinion on 8 p.m. games: "I'm not necessarily a big proponent of night games, but you play when they tell you to play.”

• Saint Joe Paterno, offering his opinion on 8 p.m. games: "I'm just worried about keeping myself awake until 12 o'clock at night by the time it's over.''

• I have watched a lot of football already this year, folks. But as I sit here watching Oregon State vs. USC (Beavers up 14-0 at the moment), I must say: I haven't seen many players much better than Oregon State freshman tailback Jacquizz Rogers. The kid is like Mike Hart. But faster.

• OK, one more note about Penn State. If you were to factor in only Penn State's first half scoring so far this season, the Nittany Lions would still rank ... No. 29 in the country in scoring offense.

• Well, this is interesting in many ways: If Purdue can beat Notre Dame this weekend, Boilers coach Joe Tiller will retire with a 6-6 record against the Irish. That speaks both to Tiller’s great success at Purdue and the general mediocrity of Notre Dame over the past decade-plus. Said Tiller (who, it must be noted, is a borderline TCFA Hall of Famer): “We’ve had a really good series with Notre Dame had a couple of tough games up there where their guys found a way to come up and make some big plays and turn the game around to their credit. With the exception of out here three years ago now when they really, really shellacked us – kind of like the Shillelagh, the shellacking with the Shillelagh – outside of that, our games have been very close and competitive.” That quote is why the Big Ten will miss Joe Tiller. He’s like our very own Ole Ball Coach.