Penn State in the Polls; Dennis Dodd hates Hippies

Some, rather unexpected sportswriters are buying into Penn State this season. Others aren't so keen on the idea that the Big Ten isn't quite the Sun Belt. The rankings are out--the AP, Coaches, Computers--and some of the voters made known their feelings towards Penn State.

College Football Poll--which named Penn State national champs in 1994--puts PSU No. 12 this week, up from No. 14 last week, and No. 19 preseason.

Meanwhile, College Football News has PSU No. 13:

The run defense stuffed Oregon State, while the offense was flawless. The Beavers might be reeling, but it was still as tight a game as the Nittany Lions could ask for.

Sports Illustrated seems to have bought into Penn State this year, and one of those "Penn State haters," Stewart Mandel had nothing but good things to say in his column following the Oregon State win.

"The Nittany Lions' 45-14 rout of Oregon State was eye-opening to say the least. I would not have guessed that their "Spread HD" would click so thoroughly, so quickly."

Of course he wouldn't have guessed. Then again, none of us guessed either.

Another SI.com writer, Mark Beech is already adding fuel to the Heisman flame under Evan Royster:

"It will be little tricks like that -- as well as a solid offensive line -- that could just make running back Evan Royster a serious Heisman-Trophy candidate. While the Beavers were trying to figure out what was coming next, the smooth-running Royster ran right over them, picking up 141 yards on 17 carries and scoring three touchdowns. That gives him six scores in the season's first two games. Were you watching, Heisman Pundit?"

Even The Sporting News likes what Penn State is doing right now. Dave Curtis thinks PSU could come out as a top-tier squad this season

Some media outlets and their writers still won't give Penn State an inch. And where else would that come from other than the SEC's own version of FoxNews, CBS Sportsline? First it was the CBS Sports Top 120, which actually dropped Penn State two spots to No. 21. (CBS vaulted Oregon up one spot to No. 17, after beating UTAH STATE) But that wasn't the best part.

Dennis Dodd--who makes Mandel look like the world's biggest PSU fan--has officially made it his own personal crusade to bring down Penn State. Yeah, he's always been in bed with the SEC, secretly pillow-trash-talking about the Big Ten. But this time, he just couldn't hold back when talking about Penn State Saturday. I normally don't include so much in a quote, but Dodd's belligerent rant was just too good to chop up. In its entirety:

"Some talking head suggested Saturday that the recent problems at Penn State (2-0 after beating beating Oregon State 45-14) should be blamed on the players. Huh? Dude, this is why these coaches are paid millions of dollars, to make sure the players don't rob banks (Ed. See: Yellow Journalism) or blow hippie lettuce. It's ultimately up to the coach to recruit kids of character.

Boys will be boys, sure, but what's happening at Penn State would be a national scandal if it was anyone else http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifbut Joe Paterno as coach. It's funny that other programs have leadership from its veteran players. Paterno had to suspend three of his senior guys last week a couple of weeks after ESPN portrayed the dearth of the off-field problems. Is it possible that in his zeal to win, JoePa took some chances on kids of questionable character?"

I'm not going to go on a big rant about this. After all, he's just one "talking head" in a crowd, and as I said above, there's so much Yellow Journalism in there, it's ridiculous. But I will offer this one big of advice: Don't worry, Dennis, as long as you keep it up, it will continue to be the "national scandal" you're hoping for.