We are Penn State. Well, are we? Do we want to be now? Do we want to have our names tied to this institution that immediately raises eyebrows at the very mention of it? Yeah, I think we still do. Because who really is Penn State? The fact of the matter is that the crimes and the almost-certainly-true-but-technically-alleged coverup, heinous though they were, were committed by just a handful of people, a microscopic portion of the 96,519 students and 17,780 faculty and staff that form the technical makeup of the University.
Eight months since that moment of darkness, corporate America has good news for Penn State. Cars.com VP of Marketing, Linda Bartman, announced that her company believed there was a positive aura surrounding Penn State football. Unless the program descends into the abyss again, Cars.com will advertise on ESPN when the Nittany Lions take the field during the 2012 season.
A presidential oversight committee has officially signed off on a college football four-team playoff that will replace the current BCS championship game system. A selection committee will decide which four teams advance to the playoff, with the two semi-finals games being held at current bowl locations.
Maybe anger still lingers from the 2010 Capital One Bowl when Penn State defeated LSU on New Year's Day in Orlando giving the Tigers their first bowl loss since 2004. Perhaps the animosity is more recent stemming from the 2011 season which saw LSU fail to score a touchdown in over 120 minutes of football against Alabama, losing to the Crimson Tide by way of shutout in the National Championship Game.
Penn State football fans won't have to wait until the week before the first game to find out who their quarterback is, as has been customary for the past couple seasons. Bill O'Brien promised on the Coaches Caravan tour that he would name a starting quarterback soon, and he kept his word today by announcing that Matt McGloin would be the first player off the bus on September 1 against Ohio.
Well, kiddos, it's that time of year again. Time to determine the design that will grace thousands of white t-shirts at Beaver Stadium, many of them suffering brutal mutilation beforehand courtesy of our school's female population. Yes, I am actually endorsing something on the Collegian website, an extremely rare occurrence. However, I don't want my student section looking like a bunch of tools, so I stress that you make voting for the 2012 White Out t-shirt design a priority before voting closes at 4 PM today. Here's a look at this year's designs, including which one I like best.