Re: Penn State may be the best team in America
They probably will not play anyone that Florida or Texas will have played but you're a smart person and I think you'll agree with these points.
1. Winning at Wisconsin and OSU (If they do) is VERY impressive and very tough to do no matter how great those teams are. Wisconsin is 2 minutes away from being undefeated and a top 10 team going into tonight's game.
2. Florida lost to Ole Miss and part of being great is winning against teams you should beat. All you can do is beat the teams that you are scheduled to play. You can't ask anymore than that.
3. It's not like PSU hasn't looked impressive in their wins. No one has even been in a game with them. I don't care what anyone says; PSU would not lose to that Oregon State team if they played them 10 times.
4. PSU is a very complete team. Outside of two big plays in the Illinois game their defense shut down a good Illinois offense. They shut down one of the best running backs in America today and it wasn't even close. They have speed that many Big Ten teams lack.
5. Their offense is explosive, and they don't have a hole offensively. Clarke has controlled the ball and been a much better passer than many thought. His legs give him a dimension that makes it tough to game plan for. Derrick Williams has been better than Percy "the hype" Harvin this year. He has been used as a decoy greatly and has huge punt and kick returns.
6. PSU's defense is better than Texas' defense. No questions asked there. PSU's secondary may be the best in college football.
PSU has a great coaching staff and a great team. They show up for every game and just dominated at a place that's very tough to play. I'd be willing to bet that no one has won there like that in 20+ years.
PS. Wisconsin is not as bad as they looked tonight. PSU is just that good. Wisconsin got lazy against Michigan, who is awful. If they played 10 more times they'd beat them everytime. They very easily could have been OSU last week as well. PSU isn't just better than the teams that they are beating, they're in another class.
I won't go into every point you make, and there is validity to most of them. I'll make a few observations:
- Winning in Columbus would be a good win. Beating Wisconsin tonight didn't mean nearly as much as it would've in other seasons, simply because the Badgers aren't as good a team this year and more importantly, they were mentally done. You knew heading into tonight that if PSU punched 'em in the mouth early, they'd roll over and play dead. And that's exactly what happened. This is a team with a mediocre QB who can't take advantage the weapons surrounding him, and a mediocre defense. 2008 Wisconsin is not the same as Wisconsin of years past. On paper it might look good, but this had blowout written all over it.
- I never said Florida was great, and the Gators should've taken care of business against Ole Miss. They got lackidasical after jumping out to a halftime lead and it bit them in the ass. But that's also the biggest difference between the SEC and Big 10; in the SEC, simply showing up isn't enough to win. Especially in a league that's absolutely loaded with great coaches.
- Penn State has looked like a complete team thus far, and will probably continue to do so throughout the season. They're talented on both sides of the ball and have been impressive in every facet of the game,
Again, I never said Penn State wasn't any good. My point was that it won't be seriously tested outside of Columbus until the National Championship game because the majority of the Big 10 isn't very competitive this season. That's the bottom line. It's not PSU's fault, but that also doesn't mean one can't be critical of it.
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