Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Run-Up to Notre Dame Begins

Posted by slider at 9/05/2006

The talk of the PSU/Notre Dame game is increasing. With Notre Dame's lackluster performance against Georgia Tech and Penn State's strong showing against Akron on a less than stable field, the questions about this squad's destiny are really flying. A definitive answer to many questions will come over the next three weeks. Assuming Ohio State gets by Texas on Saturday, the Lions will be playing two Top 5 teams in a three week span. Sandwiched in there is a ridiculous game against Youngstown State (Which, BTW, makes me ill. I hope there is some good excuse for playing a non-Div I-A school. I understand that most teams schedule some creampuffs early, but good gravy!). Over the past twenty years of serious college football interest, I've noticed that the average slip/rise for a team that beats/loses to a team they shouldn't have beat/lost to is about six to seven ranking spots. Given this observation, Penn State could be ranked as high as #5 by the time the dust settles on September 20th. Very exciting for what is mostly a young team. Only time will tell.

Get a copy of Penn State Football Weekly for 9/04/2006
Transcript of Coach Paterno's 9/05/2006 press conference

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I'm often asked, “What the heck is a NITTANY Lion? Why not just the Lions? What are you Penn State fans trying to pull?” Well, with a little help from the Official Penn State Football Site I offer the following:

Penn State's athletic symbol, chosen by the student body in 1906, is the mountain lion which once roamed central Pennsylvania. H.D. “Joe” Mason, a member of the Class of 1907, conducted a one-man campaign to choose a school mascot after seeing the Princeton tiger on a trip with the Penn State baseball team to that New Jersey campus. A student publication sponsored the campaign to select a mascot and Penn State is believed to be the first college to adopt the lion as a mascot.

Since Penn State is located in the Nittany Valley at the foot of Mount Nittany, the lion was designated as a Nittany Lion. In regional folklore, Nittany (or Nita-Nee) was a valorous Indian princess in whose honor the Great Spirit caused Mount Nittany to be formed. A later namesake, daughter of chief O-Ko-Cho, who lived near the mouth of Penn's Creek, fell in love with Malachi Boyer, a trader. The tearful maiden and her lost lover became legend and her name was given to the stately mountain.

And no, Penn State didn't always have those plain blue and white uniforms. The school's original colors were dark pink and black. However in 1890, as a result of the pink portions of school uniforms fading to white from exposure to the elements, the black was changed to blue and the rest is history.