Aztec super fan Tom Ables’ assessment of his San Diego State team visiting the Nittany Loins in Happy Valley this Saturday: “We are a better team overall than we have shown, but our new QBs just are not getting it done, and opponents have stacked the line to stop Donnel Pumphrey. When we get our passing game going, we will be tough.”  A lot of the same can be said about Penn State’s season thus far.  No long passing game because the O-line can’t pass block.  The short game could work if Christian Hackenberg could throw the ball more accurately. Right now he can’t hit the broad side of the barn 50% of the time.  The good news is that the line is opening holes big enough for frosh phenom Saquon Barkley and Akeel Lynch to run through.  Also, the defense is good and improving.  Tom thinks the betting line is a little short this weekend.  We’re not saying the passing game for the Lions will improve, but if they focus on what they can do well, they should be able to score on the ground and stop the SDSU offense on the ground and through the air…And then there were five – SEC Top 25 teams that is.  It’s not surprising to us that five have fallen out and should have,  but that the voters could actually identify teams outside the SEC to replace them is as astonishing.  Surprisingly,  Mississippi State trounced Northwestern State, 62-13, but the voters didn’t bite.  Maybe they are catching on to the SEC scheduling strategy…

Mizzou hangs on at No. 25 with a paltry 9-6 win over UConn.  Let’s see what the Huskies do against Navy’s triple option in East Hartford this week.  The Mids made their American Athletic debut over an East Carolina team that challenged the Florida Gators the week before losing, 31-24.  Just ask Gator HC Jim McElwain who was upset about his team for several reasons (and rightfully so)…We’re in for Notre Dame at Temple on Oct. 31.  We just have to figure what game we’re going to skip to make sure we are on course for Game No. 500 on November 21.  We have to wait for a game time announcement to think about axing Duke at Army on a DH weekend on Oct 10, or skipping USF at Navy in a noon time start on Oct 31.  If TV sets the time between 7-8 pm, we may make it a DH weekend…Temple just squeaked by UMass, 25-23. Mark Whipple’s squad started making some improvements losing so many close games last season.  They are still trying to build on what he’s putting together there up in Amherst where they are actually playing home games again. Temple’s next three games are quite winnable – at Charlotte, Tulane, and Central Florida.  ECU on the road could be a challenge. They could possibly face the Irish undefeated.  Notre Dame stepped up against s big challenge, as we had thought, last week with a solid 30-22 win over Georgia Tech.  The Irish face a few challenges ahead of Temple with UMass, at Clemson, Navy, and USC. It will be our second of three games now at the Linc in Philly this season…Like a lot of years, Rutgers fans like to count their wins before they happen.  They look at Kansas (0-2) coming in for homecoming this week and they not be too confident even about this one.  On the other hand, Army is plodding along at 0-3 with three close losses (Fordham, UConn, Wake Forest). QB Ahmad Bradshaw, as RU fan Frank Scarpa witnessed says that he was impressed, runs the triple option effectively. Army’s defense, like most defenses in college football this year, has a lot of room for improvement according to Frank. He saw them lose to Fordham, 37-35, but their last two games they held their foes to 22 and 17 respectively. If RU doesn’t win this week, the battle between the Black Knights of the Hudson and the Scarlet Knights of the Raritan is going to be much more competitive than we thought when we booked this game as our 500th!…Frank reported Army’s Bradshaw looks as good as Navy’s Keenan Reynolds.  That is saying a lot, but he’s got a long way to go.  Reynolds scored five TDs last weekend in the win over ECU.  That’s 30 points in two games so far bringing him up to 398 career points.  He’s got at least ten more games to challenge Wisconsin’s Montee Ball’s career record of 500 points…Speaking of the Badgers, they are ranked No. 22 at 2-1.  Will they stay ranked for long? Wonder how former HC Bert Bielema feels about his move to Arkansas where his 1-2 Razorbacks are one of those hyped up SEC teams fallen from the ranks…Colorado (2-1) beat rival Colorado State in OT, 27-24, last week.  In two weeks they start PAC-12 play with Oregon followed by Arizona State, Arizona, UCLA, and Stanford before we see them play USC who is also 2-1 now after falling to Stanford, 41-31. Who knows, maybe we’ll see the Buffs make this a game. We certainly hope so!…Air Force didn’t wilt against now No. 2 Michigan State last week falling to 35-21.  We will see them play Navy the week after next. They are off this week.  This game will be big. Glad we’re going.  We will see the Falcons again on our Colorado DH weekend when the host Utah State (1-2) out in Colorado Springs…Memphis just beat Cincinnati, 53-46. Cincy QB Gunner Kiel left the game early with a head injury.  Hope that he will be alright. However, what does it say for college football when a second teamer can come off the bench and keep his team in a game like this.  Good for the back up and his teammates, but it still says something about a lot of development of the offenses and the lack of good, tough, heads up play by the defenses…Happy Tailgating this weekend! Supposedly our first time Guest Game Analyst Mike Ford is coming down from Rhode Island and bringing us up some lobsters.  That’ll be a first for any tailgate we’ve been to!…Check out our Penn State-San Diego State Game Review on Sunday night.

Going back to see Penn State do some twirling again this weekend!