A Saturday In Happy Valley

Nice weather, a win by the home team and bringing my daughter home for Thanksgiving.  That pretty much sums up my annual football weekend at Penn State where the Nittany Lions routed Indiana to clinch a winning season, something few experts predicted back in September. 

Considering I have this history of bad weather weekends at PSU, sunny skies and temperatures in the 50’s in the middle of November was a real blessing.

This was a special trip as my brother brought his 5-year old son who thoroughly enjoyed his first taste of Happy Valley.  Trevor is a serious sports fan and understands the game better than many adults.

As much as he liked being inside Beaver Stadium with 90,000 others I think his favorite part was throwing around the football before and after the game in the parking lot.  My son and many of his friends were up for the game and joined our tailgate as he did my daughter and her friends. At one point we had about 40 around our car enjoying bagels and muffins before the noon kickoff.

It was a good weekend with the best part having Alex home for Thanksgiving.

Former Southern Regional standout Glenn Carson had another solid game for Penn State and has been receiving quite a bit of praise for his play at middle linebacker.

With a season left Carson will be a three-year starter for the Nittany Lions which is quite an accomplishment and his playing days may not end when his college career is over.

They have not for Garrett Graham who had quite a day on Sunday.  The former Brick Memorial and Wisconsin standout had by far the best game of his three-year NFL career with the Houston Texans.  Graham caught 8 passes for 82 yards and scored two touchdowns as the Texans rallied to outlast Jacksonville 43-37 in overtime.  Garrett has emerged this season as a major contributor to the team with 21 catches and 3 touchdowns…he had only one catch combined in his first two seasons.

It’s been a very good season for Rutgers with the Scarlet Knights ranked 18^th in the nation and two wins away from the Big East title.  The biggest news though could come in the next couple of days as Rutgers may be on their way to joining the Big Ten.  That is if the University of Maryland decides today they are bolting the ACC for the Big Ten because if they do Rutgers is expected to follow.