We are...half-finished!

We are now officially half- finished with the 2009 PSU Football season. What do you think so far? Are we as good or as bad as you thought prior to the season? I have mixed feelings, but I’m thinking positive. Possessing a 5-1 record could mean we are good, but as we all know, four of those teams weren’t in the same league as Penn State. Illinois, the only Big Ten team we have beaten so far, doesn’t help us gauge who we are because they are not that good. Sure we lost to Iowa, but right now it’s hard to put that into perspective because we haven’t played ‘like teams’. So how do we know what to expect for the second half of the season?

Wouldn’t it be great if we had an instrument like a barometer to predict the future of this season? Meteorologists use barometers to measure air pressure tendencies over a period of time to predict weather. If the air pressure drops for a few days, the weather usually gets worse or remains poor. If the pressure rises, the weather is likely to improve or remain good.

Right now if we had a ‘football barometer’ I sense the arrow would point up, indicating ‘high pressure’ with conditions likely to improve. I think that for two reasons. First, there is a lot of pressure on the team to find reliable players to replace those that graduated. It seems like after six weeks we have made progress in some questionable areas, but there is still plenty of room for more improvement. Second, there’s a heavy weight on the Lions to win the next six games for a chance to be crowned ‘Big Ten Champion’ or at least secure a ‘good’ post- season bowl game. Unfortunately, we don’t have that football barometer to predict the forecast for the next six weeks so what happens is anyone’s guess. As for The pride, we believe the outlook for the Nittany Lions is good.

There’s an old proverb that says, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating”. Translated that means, the quality of something is uncertain until it has been tested directly. The test begins this Saturday. The pressure is high. The forecast is good!

Go Lions beat the Golden Gophers