For college football fans, it’s the most wonderful time of the year.
National Letter of Intent Day comes tomorrow, and the nation’s most prized recruit — Jeannette’s Terrelle Pryor — is still on the board.
In today’s edition of Morelli OnLion, we’ll take a look back at one former Penn Stater fared in Super Bowl XLII, get the latest scoop on recruiting, check in on the men’s basketball team and have a non-rev roundup, something we haven’t done in quite some time.
We’ll start with the game everyone is talking about — Super Bowl XLII.
Jay Alford had two tackles in the New York Giants’ Super Bowl XLII victory.
(Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated)
Alford Comes Up Big
Former Penn Stater Jay Alford came up huge in Super Bowl XLII, sacking New England quarterback Tom Brady for a loss of 10 yards on a critical second down play as time was winding down in the fourth quarter.
Alford, who was known as “Yum-Yum” during his time at Penn State because of his affinity for snacks and sweets, came up with two tackles during the game, including the aforementioned sack of Brady.
I’ve had the opportunity to talk with Alford several times, and it was so nice to see him come up big on the biggest stage in pro sports.
Former Penn Stater Kareem McKenzie started at guard for the Giants and Kyle Brady started at tight end for the losing Pats.
On another note, wasn’t it fun watching the Pats’ undefeated season come crashing down around them? Not to go off on a rant, but I got so sick and tired of hearing about Brady, Randy Moss and head coach Bill Belichick.
It’s hard to believe that anyone outside of Boston was cheering for the Patriots on Sunday night. This is a team of egos (see Moss), sore losers (see Belichick) and prima donnas (see Brady).
When news about Spygate broke at the beginning of the season, the NFL fined the Pats, but that wasn’t enough. They should have been stripped of several draft picks and Beli-cheat should have been suspended for several games.
As the saying goes, though, cheaters never prosper. We saw that come to fruition on Sunday night in Arizona.
OK, back to the Penn State news.
Pryor Still on the Board
Penn State is still in the mix for the nation’s No. 1 recruit, Jeannette High School quarterback Terrelle Pryor. National Letter of Intent Day comes tomorrow (Feb. 6), but Pryor doesn’t have to announce then.
He is considering Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State with Oregon in the mix.
As of Monday, Penn State had 15 verbals. They still have a couple of scholarships left to give. Their needs? Probably a quarterback and a wide receiver. Remember, teams recruit for two years down the line and Penn State will be in desperate need of wideouts come 2009, when Derrick Williams, Deon Butler and Jordan Norwood depart via graduation.
Next week, we’ll start breaking down Penn State’s recruiting class.
Talor Battle and the Nittany Lions surprised Michigan State.
(Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).
Down Goes MSU
The Penn State men’s basketball team pulled off a shocker on Saturday night, stunning No. 7-ranked Michigan State, 85-76, at the Bryce Jordan Center.
The win snapped a six-game losing streak for the Nittany Lions, who are playing without senior Geary Claxton, gone for the season due to an ACL injury.
Freshman point guard Talor Battle was more than excited to snap the skid, especially against a nationally-ranked opponent.
“This feels like a million dollars,” freshman point guard Talor Battle said. “It’s just one of those feelings that you can talk about forever. Even after you’re done playing the game, everybody is storming the court and holding people up. That doesn’t happen often and it’s just a great feeling.”
It was Penn State’s first win over a ranked opponent since it defeated No. 6-ranked Illinois in Champaign back in 2006. It was the first win over a ranked opponent since the Nittany Lions defeated the Illini, 98-85, in 2001.
Penn State is now 11-10 overall, 3-6 in the Big Ten.
Penn State iced the game at the free throw line, an area where they’ve struggled this season. In the second half alone, Penn State was
24-of-35 and 16-of-20 down the stretch.
So how did the Nittany Lions get over the hump and finally win a big game? Well, they scored.
Simple as that.
“We just kept scoring. That’s been the problem. We just sometimes run into a drought and can’t score. You can’t win if you don’t score points,” he said. “I thought our guards really did a good job. If our guards score points, we’re going to really give ourselves a chance.”
Non-rev Roundup: Men’s Volleyball
The Penn State men’s volleyball team is still perfect.
The Nittany Lions are now 9-0 and are breezing through the early portion of their schedule.
They defeated St. Francis (Pa.), 3-0 (30-19, 30-16, 30-23) on Jan. 25 in Loretto. In an impressive defensive effort, the 7-0 Lions held the Red Flash to -.033 hitting for the contest, including a -.273 percentage in the second game. Offensively, sophomore middle hitter Max Lipsitz, junior middle hitter Max Holt and junior outside hitter Matt Anderson all recorded 10 kills for Penn State while senior setter Luke Murray directed the attack with 33 assists.
It has been an impressive start to the season for the Nittany Lions, who opened the 2008 campaign with a stunning first-place finish in the Outrigger Invitational on Jan. 3-5. In that tournament, Penn State beat host and then-No. 11 Hawaii, 3-1, in the opening match, before sweeping then-No. 3 UCLA and Ball State in the second and third matches.
In their first home match of the season, the Lions rolled past Lewis, 3-0, on Jan. 11 before taking home wins at Ball State and Ohio State.
Anderson has led the way for Penn State, pounding home a remarkable
128 kills for a 5.57 game average at a .311 clip. Holt, Lipsitz and Luke Murray are all averaging over a block per game. As a team, the Lions lead the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association in hitting percentage (.339), assists (14.96 per game) and kills (16 per game). Anderson also tops the conference in kills while setter Murray leads the way in assists. Freshman libero Dennis Del Valle tops the conference in digs, with 3.50 per game.
The Saint Francis meeting marked the first conference match of the season. Penn State defeated Mount Olive (3-0) on Jan. 28 in another non-conference battle, but then defeated the New Jersey Institute of Technology in an EIVA battle, 3-0.
The Lions will host five straight home matches against Juniata (tonight), Loyola Chicago (Feb. 8), IPFW (Feb. 9), George Mason (Feb.
15) and Princeton (Feb. 16).
In addition to writing for gantnews.com, Chris Morelli is the editor of Blue White Illustrated, a magazine devoted to Penn State sports. He is also a regular on “Front and Center,” which airs on ESPN Radio in Altoona and State College. E-mail him at morellionlion@gmail.com.
