Penn State wins NIT!

◊ Penn State won a hard fought, sometimes even bloody NIT final tonight in New York City, -. Baylor had taken some decent leads through most of the game, but in typical Penn State fashion, the Lions used defense and balanced offense to pull away.

This was a real team effort, again led by the unbreakable Jamelle Cornley. The senior finished with a team high 18 points, while Talor Battle scored another 12, David Jackson and Stanley Pringle each had 10 more, and fifth-year senior Danny Morrissey scored all nine points on crucial three-pointers.

Penn State kept themselves in the game early by pulling down rebounds for second-, third- and even fourth-chance points.

One last thing that should be noted: the officiating crew sucked. Even though they called a lot more fouls (19) on Baylor than on Penn State (8), I had to take issue with a few called on the Bears. None of that matters though, because the game is over, and Penn State can actually hang a men's basketball championship banner in the Bryce Jordan Center!

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NIT Final pregame links

◊ Tip off is coming up fast, so here's some pretty coherent pregame analysis from a few coherent PSU blogs.

• Happy Hour Valley: The Final Hurrah

• Nittany White Out: 36 buses, 1 purpose

• And of course, Black Shoe Diaries is always good for an open thread or two.

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Penn State survives, will play for NIT title

◊ I guess Penn State just wanted to make things interesting down the stretch. If so, the Lions succeeded, as Notre Dame was able to close a one-time 19-point deficit to four points with only a few minutes left.

But, in true Penn State style, the Lions didn't roll over and die under the pressure. Jamelle Cornley, Talor Battle and Andrew Jones weren't going to let that happen; not this time.

I will admit that I was terrified when Notre Dame went on its run midway through the second half. It felt like all the shots the Irish missed through the first 30 minutes, all of a sudden fell with ease, particularly from behind the arch.

Penn State got a bit sloppy, which directly led to Notre Dame's surge. I think it all came to a head once Cornley got chippy with the Irish players, but fortunately for him and his team, he calmed down and turned that attitude back into production on the court.

Not enough can be said about Jones' performance tonight. The last announced stats for him were 14 points and 14 rebounds. It felt like he had a lot more rebounds. Penn State had a ton of second chances, while taking away crucial Irish opportunities.

Regardless of what happens against Baylor in the NIT final, it's been a great season for Penn State basketball. Let's hope there's one more win up the Lions' sleeves.

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College Football Opening Night: No. 23 Wake Forest at Baylor

All the waiting. All the excitement. All those preview magazines later, college football is back, folks! Zombie Nation is proud to provide you with only the best Penn State and college football blogging, leading off with tonight's prime-time season opener. A talented Wake Forest team travels to the Lone Star State to take on the Baylor Bears. Can first-year head coach Art Briles lead Baylor to the upset? Or will Wake Forest return home a winner, starting off the season with a victory over one of the worst BCS conference teams? Let's find out.

Only two seasons ago, the Demon Deacons took home an improbable ACC title after defeating Georgia Tech in the championship game. While their season ended with a loss to Louisville in the Orange Bowl, it was an amazing run for Wake. Last year, Jim Grobe led his program to another bowl game, capped with a win over UConn to reach nine wins. This season Wake enters its campaign ranked in the preseason polls for the first time in the program's history. A win over Baylor would definitely keep them there. Look for star-QB Riley Skinner to pick apart the Bears secondary, setting up last season's ACC Rookie of the Year, Josh Adams.

The win won't look impressive on paper, but the Demon Deacon defense will smother the Bears ability to move the ball. Baylor will get on the board, but won't be able to gain enough traction to do any real damage. On defense, Baylor hasn't been able to stop any team in a long time, and that should be no different this season--even though I think former PSU-safties coach Brian Norwood will turn things around soon. But the real killer in this game will be the turnovers. Baylor gave the ball away 30 times in 2007. Wake took the ball away 35 times in 2007. This could get ugly.

Prediction: No. 23 Wake Forest, 27 - Baylor, 6

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Norwood to Baylor?

Why doesn't this seem right to me? Why would he leave now? OK, so the pay would be better, he's a good coach and it could lead to bigger things--if he can do something no one's done at Baylor for a long time, win. Just seems kind of odd that he would leave one year before his son graduates as one of the better receivers in PSU history. We'll see where this goes.

BY BOB FLOUNDERS, The Patriot-News

Penn State assistant coach Brian Norwood has accepted the defensive coordinator position at Baylor, The Patriot-News has learned.

Several sources close to the situation confirmed Norwood's decision.

Norwood, PSU's safeties coach since 2001, recently traveled to Texas to discuss the possibility of joining Art Briles' staff, according to several sources.

Neither Norwood nor Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw returned The Patriot-News' phone calls Thursday.

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