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Someone correct me if I'm wrong but they are playing Syracuse one home and one away I believe...not sure why Syracuse rates better status than Pitt or WVU. Read an article the other day that basically stated Penn State has screwed every rival they ever had.

Looking at the Big Ten non-conf. schedules in general, heck...they might as well annex the MAC.

that is a terrible schedule, i also will give Pitt credit with their schedule. I 100% agree with u abpk. one difficult, 2 semi tough games and one cupcake.

Hell paterno, i got a feeling st. francis will be on our schedule soon. now that would be straight up excitement.

Penn State should be the one charging 1.43 for tickets b/c this schedule is absolute a piece of crap. I mean why play these teams. If ur that worried about losing there is something wrong.

I was absolutely pissed when I read that a while back in the papers.

ALL that this does is give PSU a horrible name when they could easily draw 110,000 plus to see a game like Alabama, VT, MD, hell, even UNC and Duke would be a better draw.

It's weak as hell and I'm not buying into the D-IAA "trend" that Curly has said is going to happen. Pitt fans have all the ammo when it comes to this debate now.

I think SFU is a good draw for the Lions. Maybe that should be thought about, just as The Graduate said.

You guys are a little off base with this.

First of all, apbk is wrong about fans not wanting to show up. the fans will show up for the simple fact that there's so many people who want tickets. They can only charge 50 bucks a seat when the tickets are in demand. If the regular customers don't want to go, the PSU High Command knows that the other non-regulars will fill those seats up that week. Playing a garbage team is an easy way to get new faces in the audience.

It does another thing, too. It gives you a 95% chance of winning the contest. Penn State has a long history of playing bad teams, just like every other major program. This trend is unfortunately not going to stop any time soon. Whoever said "you'll see more I-AA teams on schedules" is 100% correct. Think about this... every single team in a BCS conference, with the exception of the Pac-10, has quality conference opponents. Look at how boxers do things. They beat 50 idiots and look like killers with a 50-0 record. They pad their stats for presentation. This is the league that these jackass NCAA people have created for themselves. It's all about presentation. Think about it from the SMART perspective, instead of from the honorable one: why play USC in an OOC game when you can play Youngstown State? 1 loss will ruin a season in just about every year.

Let's tap those brakes on patting Pittsburgh on the back. Keep in mind that in order for Pitt to gain national prestige, they have to go outside the conference to find quality competition. The general United States fan is not sold on the hype surrounding Rutgers and South Florida. Add that to the fact that everyone knows that even though WVU has a good run game, the pass game is atrocious, and they have no defense. People also realize that Louisville has a brand new head coach, and we all know that anything can happen when that goes down. Regardless of how overrated Michigan is every year, the average fan is sold on UM as a national powerhouse. They are sold on Florida State and Nebraska. They are NOT sold on Pittsburgh or Cincinnati. The Big East MUST look for Virginia Tech and NC State. They NEED those OOC games. It's not fearlessness like you guys are making it seem to be.

In the Town and Gown magazine that came out for 2007, there's an article in there talking about Paterno's retirement. We all know that Joe is good at getting people to donate money. When he goes, it is definitely going to drop off somewhat. They have come right out (the PSU administration) and said that ticket prices are going to go up in order to help brace for Paterno's retirement, and the loss of donation money. It is absolutely spelled out right there in black and white print.

The university cannot afford for this program to flounder. They have to have a national powerhouse. The football program fuels too many things up there for them to able to let it drop off badly. The way to stay in the 9-3, 10-2, 11-1, 12-0 range every season is by guaranteeing wins in the OOC schedule over teams like North Texas and Florida A&M. Seriously, can you blame them for doing this? Why do you want to risk it against Auburn? Obviously this sucks for us, the fans, but you gotta look at this from their side. Listen: if society makes the rules, and society being the whole league, is it wrong to do it?

You can always stop watching. But these programs know someone else will take your place.

Most of the time I agree with you TAE but this time I dont. Yeah Penn State will put people in the seats but thats only a drop in the bucket of the money that comes into the football program. For example, the Nittany Lion club has 30,000 plus members. I not completely sure but I know membership is a few hundred dollars a year. If its not as hard to get tickets and people do not need the Nittany Lion club for insurence of their ticket why spend hundreds of dollars a year to be a member. I mean this trend is only gettting worse. Lets look at there home schedule the next several years.

08:
Coastal Carolina
Arkansas State
Illinois
Michigan
Indiana
Michigan State

09:
Eastern Michigan
Syracuse
Temple
Iowa
Minnesota
Ohio State
Indiana

Nonconference Home Games in 10 (locked in):
Temple

Nonconference Home Games in 11:
Eastern Michigan
Alabama
Temple

12:
Temple

I mean dont even give me that line that everyone is playing these schedules. There is not enough weak teams to go around. If the Big East needs to find better opponents then why isnt Penn State at their door step? I mean if VT, ND, NC State, and Georgia are willing to play these teams then why isnt Penn State. Last time I checked a globe they were pretty close to Pitt, WVU, S. Flordia, and Rutgers.

Penn State wake up and get rid of the mentality that we are to good to play home and home's, thats how it works Penn State.

So you would rather see this schedule:

1: Temple
2: Auburn
3: Texas
4: Illinois
5: Michigan
6: Indiana
7: Ohio State
8: Iowa
9: Michigan State
10: Northwestern
11: Wisconsin
12: Purdue

Explain to me how, even if PSU is real strong that year, you expect that team to go undefeated. It's not so much the record as it is BCS money. Tens of millions, apbk. Every team is in a race to get that money. Why in God's name do you want to hamper your own chances? I'm not agreeing with this. I'm just saying that this is how it is.

Penn State has recently played home and homes with Notre Dame and Nebraska. They have Alabama coming up, and should have been on the schedule sooner, but Alabama changed the years. Why is Pitt heralded for playing ND but Penn State isn't?

I think you guys are asking too much right now. The important thing, right now, is that Penn State solidifies itself as a 10-2 team every year or better. That will boost recruiting. Then go play LSU if you want. But you guys don't realize that we are in the process of a transition period with head coaches. Which is better: Paterno leaves a program with recent records of 10-2, 9-3, 11-1, 10-2 (all just hypotheticals) or leaving a program to his replacement that is 8-4, 7-5, 6-6? It is important to get the ball rolling for a little while and keep the recruiting sky high so that when the next comes in, he's starting at 10-2 (with wins over Coastal Carolina and Duke) and not at 8-4 (with losses to Florida and USC). Do you see what I am saying?

I'm not saying i want college gameday at Happy Valley every other week but what I am saying is lets play like a ND, Nebraska, USC so on once every year or so and then have like 2 Syracuse, Maryland, North Carolina, so on. Finally, play like a Temple, Eastern Michigan, and so on. If Penn State would play this schedule they would have a record very simular to playing crap teams.

TAE, it makes no difference what shape the program is in when daddy leaves. JAYpa will save them!

WanSPLATT