I remember a few weeks ago Joe Paterno mentioned they were having some concussion issues with a few players and it turned out to be the type of helmet they were using.

Prior to 2005 Penn State players wore what many would consider the standard lookiing football helmet, made by either Schutt or Riddell.  See Zack Mills:

In 2005 all players wore Schutt DNA helmets. See Michael Robinson:

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I don't have premium access but BWI is insinuating that Big Red went to this kids school and offered him.  Info is out there that he has stated Penn State was his favorite even though he didn't have an offer.   I would be happy to have this kid since he seems to really want to be a Penn Stater.  But I'm curious, does this mean the staff knows for sure we are losing one of Coxson or Easley?  Or could this be because of Bowman and/or Royster deciding to leave early?

Randy Edsall:

Since 2006, players’ names have been off the back of the jerseys. The new uniforms will be toned down even further: no more "Connecticut" on the front, or striping of any kind. Simply a solid white with blue numbers, or solid blue with white numbers: think Penn State’s timeless signature look.

Looks more to me like they stole Minnesota's jerseys

Oregon State's numbers

and Miami's pants

Yep, looks just like Penn State to me

From Adam Rittenberg's mailbag from his ESPN blog:

John from Boston writes: Adam, www.blackshoediaries.com reported on April 1st of rumors that Penn States Daryll Clark ruptured his achilles tendon. Have you heard anything about this in your travels? Other sources you have quoted said he has had limited sessions against a strong defense. Makes me wonder if that is why he has been limited. I hope it is not true.

Adam Rittenberg: The key thing to remember is April 1 -- as in April Fools'. It's OK, they almost got me, too. Daryll is fine.

I don't know why I haven't thought about this before but, it popped into my head today and I feel it is a pretty decent idea.

What if we play a 13th regular season game against Pitt every year?  It would solve our 7 home game issue, some years giving us 8 or even 9 homes which is just more money for the Athletic dept.  The Big12 and SEC champs play 13 games a year, so it would put us on more equal footing with them.  Other Big10 teams have played 13 regular season games before: Ohio State in their national title year, and Wisconsin has done it a few times when they have played at Hawaii to end the season.  Also, we would be playing on this weekend opposite the championship games, which can only be a good thing.

The only con I see is the possiblity of an extra loss (which could ruin an otherwise great season)

Does everyone think Clark is automatically the starter next season, or do they have another competition before the season?  I think even if the coaches have already decided he will be they should have a competition anyway, just to keep them sharp. 

I would like to see Devlin get a series in an actual meaningful game where he is allowed to throw the ball.  I am not saying I prefer Devlin over Clark though, I just want to see what the kid can do.  I'm sure we'll see him some this week, but it would be really intersesting to see him against MSU.

Bumped from the FanPosts because it's a perfect example of how Pat Forde's idiocy knows no bounds.  As referenced in the comments, everybody always forgets that Penn State throttled the team that beat mighty Southern Cal.  In Pat Forde's world, losing to four-loss Ole Miss at home is totally excusable because (1) it's convenient to his ridiculous argument, and (2) OMG TIM TEBOW AND S.E.C. SPEED. 

Does anybody actually believe that a one-loss team which lost its game at home to a marginally-decent team deserves the benefit of the doubt for anything?  "Oh, but Ole Miss has four really close losses!"  Yeah, so does Iowa.  Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and USC all have more compelling arguments if we're talking about which one-loss team deserves to sneak into the BCS Championship Game.  Forgive me if I can't figure out where all the Florida love is coming from.  In my opinion, they belong in the back of the one-loss line. -- RUTS

[Late edit to the above paragraph:  I should probably take a look at Okie State's schedule, huh?  They've beaten Missouri and nobody.  Glad I caught it before someone forwarded it to EDSBS.  I'd still put Florida behind Texas and Oklahoma, but way ahead of Oklahoma State.]

Samantha (Longview, Texas): Is it safe to say that if a 1 loss team wins the Big 12 that they are going to the NC title game?

  Pat Forde: (2:13 PM ET ) Samantha: Not completely safe, but I think there's a good chance. I think it's possible to have one-loss champs of both the Big 12 AND SEC in the title game and undefeated Penn State screaming its head off. But I also believe the voters (esp the coaches poll) will skew heavily to the Nittany Lions because of the JoePa factor. Gonna be REAL interesting to see how all this plays out.

Chad (LA): What JoePa factor? How about undefeated factor?  For the history of time (before the BCS) college football has been about awarding the team with the best season the NC. Just because some "biased" people believe team A is better than team B doesn't mean it actually is. If PSU is undefeated they deserve to prove they are the best, even if they lose. P.S. if a team wants to win a NC it helps not to lose to Ole Miss....thoughts?

  Pat Forde: (2:22 PM ET ) Chad: Undoubtedly, it helps not to lose to Ole Miss. It also helps to play Coastal Carolina, Syracuse, Temple and the Big Ten instead of Miami, Florida State and the SEC.

"whiteoutonly" adds: "It seems to me he has made up his mind that no matter what, Penn State is undeserving."  Indeed.  Thanks, Ohio State!  And while I hate to get involved in these arguments because 95% of them are just intended to generate increased interest and discussion, I can't let this one slide.

This crazy talk about a 1-loss Florida jumping an undefeated PSU into the MNC game is starting to really irk me.  The easy answer to this is that Florida eliminated themselves by losing to Ole Miss at home.  It doesn't matter how tough their schedule or conference is, they lost to a clearly inferior oppenent at home. 

So my request to all you PSU football junkies out there is that whenever you post something somewhere, please make reference to this so we can help squash this incredibly stupid possibility.

I just read through the comments on the latest 11 warriors post and I just seems to me that all of those OSU fans have no clue what they are talking about.  Most of them only think PSU will score 10 to 13 points.  For some reason this banter is only increasing my confidence.  I think we score at least 30 and still win by 2 TD's.  Everyone remember, PSU hasn't won in the Shoe since joining the Big10, but every one of those times OSU was the higher ranked team.  That is different this year....watch out

UPDATE:  Well I guess the buck fans were right about the 13 points and no blowout...but i'll take it!!!!!!!!!