From Morgantown

West Virginia University will discipline at least 40 students who took part in the mayhem following the Mountaineers’ upset of then-No. 3 Virginia Tech, school officials said Tuesday.

After the victory on Oct. 22, students poured onto Mountaineer Field and tried to tear down the goal posts but were turned back by police who used pepper spray and force to clear the field.

Within minutes, fires were set in the streets. More than 100 were reported, but authorities said most were doused within minutes. No major injuries or property destruction occurred.

We have a correspondent in Morgantown who has failed to report back to us since the events from last week. Come on, John. File a report already. Give us stories of mayhem and chaos. Or at least some burned out couches on the street.

Lee’s little rant on Penn State’s lack of a real rival in the Big 11, reminded me of an article from last November, mocking the attempt by the Big 11 to jury-rig a “rivalry”game for Penn State with Michigan State — the battle for the Land Grant Trophy — that I mentioned in the context of Joe Paterno suddenly suggesting Pitt for membership in the Big 11. Funny, that Joe Pa has been rather silent on the matter now that Pitt would fall over itself at the offer.

Sorry this is late, but the real world intruded for a bit.

Speaking as someone who was at the game, rather than watching on TV, I came away with mixed feelings.

Pitt definitely played one of its better games this year. The lines were less porous then they had been all year. Kicker, David Abdul, seemed to have saved his job for a couple more weeks by kicking two field goals (30, 43 yards). QB, Rod Rutherford, had a solid passing game and while Fitzgerald deservedly caught the most balls, the other receivers were involved. The defense had a strong day. Pitt held the ball for nearly 10 minutes longer than Syracuse.

Paul Pasqualoni, the Syracuse head coach, was denied his 100th win at ‘Cuse. Syracuse RB, Reyes, was held under 100 yards rushing. The defense had 2 interceptions and a sack.

That being said, I don’t think this could truly be called a “dominent” win. And while the defense played better than it has all year, it wasn’t making a “stand.”.

I don’t want to seem continually negative, but I still saw plenty of problems.

The offense is still having trouble getting plays in a timely manner. This is all on Coach Harris. He runs the offense, and this has been happening since 1997. After some point, you can’t just blame the QB for not getting the play — it has to fall on the shoulders of the guy responsible for choosing and sending it in. I don’t know why he continues to have this problem, I just know that it is costly.

The running game still sucks. Jawan Walker is afraid to be hit, or he thinks he can be Barry Sanders. His tap-dancing before an already weak offensive line, makes it impossible for him to generate much in the way of real yardage per carry. He had 14 for 47, but like the Rutgers game, the majority came on one carry. He had a 22 yard run in the 3rd quarter. Otherwise he drops to 13 for 25. On six of his runs they were for negative to 1 yard. Tim Murphy, who was 9 carries for 21 yards, will probably see more action because he at least showed a willingness to run straight ahead. This inability to run is why we were still worried up until the last five minutes of the game. Unlike last week, Pitt managed to hold the ball for nearly 5 minutes on a drive once, but for the most part they still could not do the long, sustained, clock-chewing drive.

“Blockhands” is not the answer as the second receiver. Princell Brockenbrough is supposed to be the #2 receiver for Pitt. He had some nice catches, but once again had some inexcusable dropped balls. I’m not sure if he’s taking his eyes off the ball to look upfield, or he doesn’t concentrate when it’s that easy, but Pitt may need to look at some of the other receivers as options.

Syracuse really did their best to help Pitt, from the top down. There was lots of sour grapes from Syracuse players, but there were some nuggets of truth.

Walter Reyes only touched the ball 22 times. One of the leading rushers in the country. The best offensive weapon for the Orangemen, and he didn’t even rush for 25 times. He still outrushed the entire Pitt team, and had a better yards per carry — nearly 4.5 yards per carry. Syracuse was only down by 7 at the half. Everyone knows Pitt wears down against the run. How can you not run him more? This is the sort of thing that has led to ‘Cuse fans wanting to get rid of Paul Pasqualoni.

Syracuse QB, R.J. Anderson imploded against Pitt. 7 for 18, 49 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT. It would take effort to have a worse day than that. He was missing his receivers horribly. Yet another reason to wonder why Reyes wasn’t getting the ball more. OF course, Anderson wins an award for idiocy with this statement.

“I don’t think I played all that bad,” Anderson said. “Look at the stats yourself and decide.”

Even the Syracuse faithful were disturbed by that sort of statement.

A bigger issue, however, is that RJ is the QB and team captain. Saying “I don’t think I played all that bad� after we got hammered by 20 points and our offense gave up as many as we scored, is not what I personally want to hear. I want to hear that the game sickens him. No, the blame doesn’t fall all on one person. However, in life, sometimes you have to take responsibility even when its not entirely your fault. Every Syracuse player and coach let the team down on Saturday, and it showed.

It wasn’t just Syracuse missing opportunities, though, it was horrible play-calling and execution by Syracuse, that made the score look worse than it really felt.

Still, it’s a win, and it is time to start looking to the game up in Boston.

If you asked 100 Penn State fans who their archrival was, the more knowledgeable ones would smile a little before answering – subconsciously revealing that this is no longer an easy-to-answer question. Many of the old-timers would no doubt still answer “Pitt.” One or two might answer “Michigan State,” reflecting an official Big Ten Conference stance that almost nobody takes seriously. A handful might answer “Michigan,” even though the Wolverines don’t play the Nittany Lions every year. However, I guarantee that a solid majority would answer “Ohio State.”

How do I know? Because I live in the heart of Nittany Lion country. I spend each day with scores of Penn State Football fans: two of which are my parents and one of which is my wife. Plus, I know from repeated experience that wearing an Ohio State sweatshirt in Altoona, State College, or even into Beaver Stadium itself will draw far more derogatory comments than wearing a Michigan or even a Pitt sweatshirt.

And it’s not hard to understand why. Besides Michigan State, Ohio State is the only team that Penn State is guaranteed to play every year. Columbus is, by far, the nearest Big Ten outpost to State College. The Buckeyes have been led by a long series of head coaches that Nittany Lion fans love to hate – from Woody “Don Zimmer” Hayes to John “Deer-in-the-Headlights” Cooper. And most of all, no Big Ten team has won more games than Ohio State since Penn State joined the Big Ten.

Unfortunately, the Ohio State-Penn State rivalry is hardly a two way street. You see, Ohio State already has an archrival, and ESPN’s SportsCentury ranked Ohio State-Michigan as the best sports rivalry of the 20th Century – beating even Yankees-Red Sox. Most Ohio State fans are either mildly indifferent to or even slightly fond of Penn State because of old Joe Paterno. How do I know? Because I’m an Ohio State alumnus (grad school).

But before I became an Ohio State alumnus, I was a Pitt alumnus (undergrad). Chas, Pat, John, Shawn, and I attended Pitt when Panthers football was at its absolute nadir. Penn State, still flush with success from its 1986 national championship, crushed Pitt with ease every year. And each time, I took crap from hundreds of friends, relatives, and complete strangers back home – many of whom were convinced that I had made a major mistake by eschewing Penn State for Pitt. I grew to hate Penn State (those of you who regularly read my crap may have picked this up), and I took this hatred with me to Columbus. Thus, I am one of the very few Ohio State fans who hates Penn State back.

But Penn State deserves an archrival who fans unanimously hate it back. A good, nasty archrival could help motivate Penn State past its current cloud of underachievement. But most importantly of all, it would give Penn State fans a game that they could truly look forward to – win or lose. In a state like Pennsylvania that is full of extraordinarily tight-knit small towns and residents who were usually born near where they currently live, the Pitt-Penn State rivalry was something special – splitting bar rooms, ethnic social clubs, and even nuclear families (e.g., Chas’s and mine). In ways, it was far more unique than even Ohio State-Michigan (a state line separates most of their fans). It was more like an extra-nasty, industrialized, blue-collar version of Alabama-Auburn.

So for your own good, Penn State, give up the Ohio State thing. The Buckeyes just don’t care. Get Pitt back on your schedule, and erase the biggest black mark of Joe Paterno’s storied career. Heck, many of your more knowledgeable fans demand it.

Now, on to picking this Saturday’s game…

#7 OHIO STATE (-7) AT PENN STATE: Many Penn State fans that I’ve heard on local radio and television call-in shows this week are focusing on Ohio State’s troubles running the ball, and thus assuming that Penn State can easily upset the Buckeyes. And it is certainly true that OSU has had trouble running the ball against good run defenses like Wisconsin and Iowa. However, Penn State’s run defense is ranked as one of the worst in Division I-A – even worse than Indiana’s, who the Buckeyes pasted 216 ground yards (and 387 through the air) on last Saturday. Thus, I think that Ohio State will be able to run the ball in Beaver Stadium – especially with an occasional Craig Krenzel surprise trip out of the pocket. And we all know that Krenzel and McMullen will be able to get some yards through the air. So as long as the Buckeyes don’t start turning the ball over, we’ll be fine.

And what will Penn State’s offense be able to do against the second ranked defense in Division I-A (and the best run defense)? If they could only get 38 yards on the ground and 138 yards through the air against Iowa, they ain’t gonna get jack against Ohio State. Just look how well the Buckeyes shut down Iowa’s offense (219 total net yards).

Add to all of this the fact that Penn State hasn’t covered a spread since the Nebraska game, and this pick is easy. Gimme the Buckeyes to cover seven.

Hail to All of the Pitt Fans Who Will Be Rooting For the Buckeyes