hen you sit down to watch Texas and Alabama square off in the BCS National Championship tomorrow, take some solace in the fact that if the BCS was based on academics, neither team would be in the Big Game.


Instead, you’d be cheering on Dear Old State (ranked #1) as they battled against Stanford (ranked #2) in Pasadena. In the New America Foundation academic ratings of the Top 25 ranked teams, Alabama ends up ranked 8th and Texas ranked a lowly 25th.

The living legend is celebrating his 83rd birthday today, and while Joseph Vincent Paterno may be in Florida at the moment like many other people his age, unlike them, he is still hard at work.
The winner of a record 393 DI-A football games, JoePa will be in search of 394 at the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Florida on January 1st. Other 83 year olds may be on the proverbial sidelines of life, lounging at the beach, but JoePa will be walking the real sidelines, actually living.
His accomplishments, both on the field and off, have been nothing short of spectacular. Does …

As many of you now know, a clash of the titans is finally coming to a conclusion. On Dec. 1st, 2009, Bobby Bowden, the legendary Florida State Seminoles coach and only other contender for JoePa’s all-time wins record, stepped down. Or, rather, he was nudged off the step by a football organization that would perhaps like to see a season a little better than 6-6.
But what many do not know is that we could have had a situation similar to FSU right here at Penn State. As ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg reports, back in the less-than-noteworthy years of PSU football that …

In a recent article for the Washington Post, James F. Lee, originally from Bucknell, wrote about all the activity that goes on at State College aside from football and tailgating.
Lee found the joy in things like going to the creamery, hanging at Webster’s, enjoying free entertainment, ogling at grilled stickies at the Diner, touring the Palmer, and visiting our newest attraction, the arboretum.
He also made note of the Penn State obsession with good ol’ Joe Pa, highlighting Peachy Paterno ice cream, his statue outside Beaver Stadium, murals, Paterno library, T-shirts, bobbleheads, etc…
In a conclusion on State College, Lee left readers a …

Tonight’s University Park Undergraduate Meeting began with a brief report by President Keirans, who reiterated that although there was not much time left in the year, there is still “a lot left to get accomplished.”
Some of the highlights of the meeting included a presentation by THON and discussions of Resolutions 25 and 26.
The THON presentation featured a slide show explaining THON’s cause and the Four Diamonds Club. The slide show featured Joe Pa doing something that loosely resembled singing and footage of last year’s THON event. An interesting point from the presentation was that since THON’s beginning, they have raised …

Have fun out at the stadium today! We’ll be on and off throughout the day, so let us know what’s happening around town this weekend.

Or, for ye’ Lions, Rally in the Valley. Yes, the Rally in the Valley will be this Friday Evening at the Bryce Jordan Center after the men’s basketball team beats the pants off of Slippery Rock, their first game since winning the NIT championship. The game begins at 6 P.M. and tickets are free to students. The rally, which is scheduled to begin around 8, will feature Joe Pa, the Nittany Lion football team, Penn State cheerleaders, Lionettes dance team, the Blue Band, and the Nittany Lion.
And you could get a free t-shirt!
So go to the rally in the valley, …

“A photo of Paterno is on the magazine’s cover, along with a photo of LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal for SI’s NBA Preview.”
You’ve got to give it to LeBron James – even when it’s just his picture, he’s accompanied by an impressive entourage.
Read the article here.
[Source: Penn State Live] [Image]

Photographer Dani Barsky had her first assignment for us this past weekend, and boy did she deliver! She lucked out and got our only on-field pass. The game was mediocre, so she was sure to get a lot of amazing crowd shots.
If you see yourself in one of the photos, head on over to our Facebook page and tag yourself in the album!

I’ve never considered myself a journalist. Most of my coverage of Penn State sports comes from a different place than the source of most news coverage – it’s anecdotal information infused with inferences based on statistics. But when I got the chance to attend Penn State’s game against Eastern Illinois this past Saturday – from the comfort of the press box – I jumped at the opportunity. As someone who has been fixated on Penn State football for years, the chance to see a game from a completely different perspective was incredibly alluring. So, armed only with the assurance that …

Joe Paterno made a surprise visit to Paternoville this afternoon and donated 25 pizzas for the residents. OnwardState.com photographer Stefan Choquette was on the scene.
We have pictures from his visit and from around the camp. If you find yourself you can request the photo just email stefan@onwardstate.com

This summer Onward State had the opportunity to interview Penn State Football’s QB Coach Jay Paterno. We collectively panicked to figure out what questions to ask, but then after pulling ourselves together we were able to come up with a well rounded interview. Coach Paterno was very generous in his responses and let us into his unique role as both a coach and the son of a football legend.

OS: What is your favorite part about game day?

JP: The best part of game day is when the ball is kicked off and we get into the ebb and flow, the give and take. It is seeing how the opponents try to stop what we are doing and then adjusting our attack. That is the fun of game day, the mental part of the game, the competition—and all in front of 110,000+ fans and millions more at home watching on television.

Cont…

We’ll be picking up the pace in the next couple of weeks as fall term nears. The only organization more excited than Onward State for the return of school is Anheuser-Busch INBev, proud producers of Penn State students’ choicest diet supplement. Stimulus package, much?
The Inquirer asked Joe Paterno five questions. Best quote: “That phone rings on Sunday morning and I shake.” Stay out of trouble, boys! [Philly.com]
Jay Paterno described the pre-game ritual on his blog. [The HD Journal]
CATA had a record-breaking year in ridership. The highest single day was State Patty’s Day. [The Daily Collegian]
Penn State saw a slight …

The Big Ten Network held its annual kickoff luncheon recently. As is to be expected, Penn State patriarch Joe Paterno was in top form.
Here’s a video of his address to the crowd.

ESPN’s crack comedians spent some time in the past week thinking about how Joe Paterno would use Twitter. The closest we’re going to really get to this is @MeanJoePaterno, but their ideas were funny nonetheless.
Here are our favorites. The full images are available at the bottom of the post.

About that last one, does anyone know what the accepted interpretation of the rule is regarding Twitter?
Image 1 | Image 2 | Image 3 | Original Article