DAVID JONES – Penn State isn’t feeling the love (and that’s a good thing) – Patriot-News
Jones wonders which Rose Bowl team will be the media darling and which one will have the chip on their shoulder. Most years I would say USC gets the love-fest since they are a team from a place where it never snows, but the feel-good story of Joe Paterno putting together a strong run on a busted hip may nullify that a bit.
Some potent juice is already being generated out there in PSU’s favor. The Los Angeles Times’ sentiment is clear at the moment, both from the mainstream, middle-aged columnist and the quick-witted, counterculture, twentysomething blogger — USC deserves better than Penn State.
Bill Plaschke, the former, laments the Trojans’ plight in his 60-second vlog from the Coliseum after the stomping of Notre Dame. The “Around The Horn” contestant doesn’t even think it’s a contest.
Penn State has been here before, notably on Jan. 2, 1987. As recently as two years ago, we heard for a month about Tennessee’s vaunted SEC speed and we all remember that the Volunteers were as soft as Phillip Fulmer’s belly. One big hit and their offense lost their will. Tony Hunt up the middle again and again and their defense lost their will. It was beautiful. Now, USC isn’t some team that is merely riding on the coattails of their overrated conference; the Trojans can be scary good. USC still has to take care of business this Saturday with UCLA and I wish I could find the article with one of the team leaders whining about playing in the Rose Bowl as if it is fait accompli. I almost expect UCLA to pull the upset now and set up Oregon State as the Pac-10 team.
