Penn State Hopes to Gain Respect and Move One Step Closer to Indianapolis

Re·spect—The state of being regarded with honor or esteem.

This Penn State football team is well aware of the definition of respect.

How can they not be?

From the time they originally stepped foot on the sprawling central Pennsylvania campus that possessed a legendary football program and an even more legendary coach, lessons in respect have most likely been instilled in them on a daily basis.

Heck, it is probably one of the primary reasons why most of these student-athletes chose to don the navy and white uniforms and black shoes in the first place.

Respect is the fruit of hard work. The harvest from having won two National Championships, three Big Ten Conference titles and from having a coach who, following this Saturday's game against Illinois, could become the winningest coach in Division I football history with 409 victories.

So, trust me when I tell you that they are familiar with respect, they just haven't been shown any lately.

The Nits really have nobody to blame but themselves for this lack of admiration, as they have not exactly been giant killers this season. The slate to date has not resembled one with many challenges, apart from the early season loss to Alabama.  Couple that with a late score, four point victory over Temple and a six point victory over Indiana, and the Lions are still a win, most likely two, away from gaining a little r-e-s-p-e-c-t.

The Lions can take their first step toward respectability, and one more towards Indianapolis this weekend when Illinois comes to Happy Valley.

The Nittany Lions are riding a six-game winning streak and are looking to stay unbeaten and atop the pack in the conference's Leaders Division. To accomplish this, the Nits will have to avenge last season's embarrassing loss on homecoming weekend to Illinois, where the Illini outgained Penn State 437 to 235 yards en route to a 33-13 final.

With the welcoming of Nebraska to the Big Ten, and the ensuing flip flopping of schedules, the Lions are able to try and erase those painful memories from last year's loss at home, as they welcome Illinois back to Happy Valley this weekend.

This is Halloween weekend, and the Lions may well be masquerading as a possible BCS contender, sporting a 7-1 record with their only blemish coming at the hands of arguably the best team in the country. Only time will tell if they are for real or not.

And it should not take very long.

Illinois, who just a few weeks ago were cruising along at 6-0 and ranked for five consecutive weeks in the national polls, should provide the toughest test for the Lions since that early season loss to the Crimson Tide.  Following losses to Ohio State and Purdue, the Illini have plummeted out of the polls and down the Leaders Division in the Big Ten standings.

However, don't get too giddy, because with dates against Michigan and Wisconsin in the weeks to come for Illinois following a bye, this appears to be a must win game for the Ron Zook coached Illini and teams with their proverbial backs against the wall are usually more dificult to beat.

Unfortunately for the Orange and Blue, their struggling offense will have to contend with a Nittany Lion defense that ranks fifth in the nation in scoring defense (13.1 ppg), eighth in total defense (281.9 ypg), ranks nationally in nearly every category and has dominated at times, limiting six opponents to less than 100 yards rushing. 

Illiniois will most likely add a few more carries to the workload of senior running back Jason Ford to try and offset a PSU pass rush that has recorded 14 sacks in only four conference contests.  This should take some of the pressure off of young quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase, who has struggled the past two games.

On the other side of the ball, Penn State will once again be without standout playmaker, Derek Moye, but that does not seem to have slowed the Lions' progress offensively. Matt McGloin, who played the entire game at Northwestern last weekend should receive most, if not all the snaps at quarterback once again this week, although no starter had been named by Joe Paterno as of now.

With the quarterback quandary seemingly behind him, McGloin has the ability, not to mention the confidence, to really guide this team.  There is no doubt that a certain energy on the field is evident when the "West Scranton gunslinger" is pulling the trigger, and not Rob Bolden.

Penn State, with a balanced attack led by McGloin and Silas Redd who, coming off a career best 164 yards on only 18 carries, should be poised to control this game from start to finish, presenting Joe Paterno with his record 409th career victory.

The harvest normally marks the end of the growing season, or the growing cycle, and is often celebrated.  And, although it is harvesting season in central Pennsylvania, it is not in Happy Valley and thus no celebrations are jumping off. 

The Lions are still growing and, with continued growth and hard work, they will reap that fruit they yearn for called respect.  

And who knows?  With a little luck, they could be celebrating the end of their harvest season in Indianapolis at the Big Ten's Inaugural Ball.