Another week of games is in the books, and with it came a few upsets and a multitude of fascinating storylines.  By multitude, we mean decidedly less than ten.  So let's take a look at the fake headlines as we take our weekly trip....Around the NCAA.  Read more to check it out.

This week, the big story was the Big11Ten trying to get a little bit of the national spotlight with the opportunity to play two ranked out-of-conference opponents. But in true Big11Ten fashion, or as it seems lately, the conference took one step forward and two steps back. Unranked Michigan stepped up and won a gigantic game (for Michigan fans, anyway) against Notre Dame, but then in the prime time game Ohio State choked away a lead to let USC defeat another Big11Ten team, but that might not be as bad as Michigan State letting Central Michigan of the MAC get the W in East Lansing.

Joe chewed out some cameramen before the game.  The disbelief on their faces was priceless.

It wasn't an exciting game, and like the first one, there was some rough patches, but it was a solid performance overall.  Onto the recap...

Gametime: 12:00 pm

Records: Syracuse: 0-1; Penn State: 1-0

Series Record: Penn State leads, 41-23-5

TV: Big Ten Network

Audio: Here

Weather: 50% chance of rain, high of 65.

We all enjoy the opening weekend of college football season.  It's great to get out to the tailgate fields, and if you don't make it there, it's great to hang around the house and watch 11 or 12 hours of solid gridiron action.  Sure, the first game is usually boring (at least recently for Penn State fans), but you're just happy that it's here, so you can't really complain.

But Week 2 is different.  The opener is out of the way, and at least some of the 1,000 questions surrounding the team have been answered.  It's less about the season being back and more about the team buckling up and getting down to business.  Last year in Week 2, the Lions showed they were primed for a huge season with a blowout win over Oregon State, a team that ended up near the top of the Pac-10.

This year, they'll take on an old rival, the Syracuse Orange....people?  Whatever the nickname, 'Cuse made a relatively strong statement last week by putting up a great fight against Minnesota.  Can Penn State bring them back to reality? Let's take a look at this week's matchup.  Click "Read More" to check out the full preview...

Well, we both got off to a horrible start in Week 1's picks, so we're looking for redemption this time around.  Whether or not we find it is another story.

As usual, we're using Danny Sheridan's odds as our source.  Illinois is matched up with a D1-AA school (thankfully for them), so there's no line for their game.  Both the big national games involve Big11Ten teams this week, so we're staying close to home with the picks.

Here's the list for Week 2 (home team in CAPS):

And here's how we're picking:

A lot of similar picks this time around, but the winner will be decided by the Michigan, Minnesota and Indiana games.  Let's take a look at the (abysmal) standings after one week of play:

Will: 3-6

Greg: 2-7

This week's questions come from Jeff at Nittany Lounge.  Here's the list of other participants:

W. F. Yurasko
Happy Hour Valley
The Nittany Line
Zombie Nation
Nittany Whiteout
Penn State Clips

1. Coach Paterno says the biggest improvement in a team happens between week one and week two of the season.  What area needs most improvement?  What facet of play needs the least improvement?

We think the area that needs the most improvement is very clear: the running game.  The offensive line did a nice job protecting Clark from the pass rush (they did better than we expected, actually), but the run blocking was average at best.  Clark and the receivers looked great in week 1, but let's not forget that they were playing Akron.  Things may not be that easy in the passing game in the future.  Establishing the run will be key for this team in Big11Ten play.

As far as the area that needs the least amount of improvement, we'll go with the defensive front seven.  We're not saying they were perfect or that they won't improve this year, but the line and the linebackers did everything they needed to do against an inferior offense: they pressured and sacked the quarterback, they stuffed the run and they helped out against the short/intermediate pass game.  That being said, we hope Bowman's injury isn't of the lingering variety, because he will only make the D stronger when he returns.

2. Syracuse is running what it calls the Stallion, a form of the Wildcat offense.  It appeared to be effective against Minnesota.  At one point during the Minnesota game, Syracuse had run the Stallion seven times, averaging over six yards per play.  What does the PSU rush defense need to do break the Stallion?

We are not going to lie, we did not see the Minnesota/Syracuse tilt. We really don't know what this Stallion bs is all about. We have a good idea how the wildcat works, and it's just a glorified option offense where the running back lines up at quarterback.  If that's what the Orange plan on doing, then we figure the Lions shouldn't have too much trouble. If they can get the penetration they had last week then it doesn't really matter who gets the ball when, a blue jersey is going to be on top of them.

3. Minnesota squeaked out a win against the Orange(men).  What expectation does this create for Penn State when playing Syracuse?  And perhaps more importantly since it is a conference game, Minnesota?

Hopefully the Minnesota-Syracuse game creates no expectations in the minds of Penn State players.  As fans, we were surprised to see Syracuse play Minnesota so closely (and almost win), but that's because we're fans.  We have preconceived notions about teams based on what we saw last year, based on what we read in the preseason this year and sometimes based on nothing at all.  Hopefully players aren't like that, but you never know.  There's no question that the Lions are more talented than both of those teams, but that doesn't mean much unless they go out and execute.  So as long as they stay focused and play up to their ability, we don't think expectations matter too much.

4. This week next year Penn State will be playing Alabama on the road.  What do you think about State playing Bama instead of the Cuse?  Would you rather be tailgating in Happy Valley and attending another FCS beat down?  Or sitting at home watching the game on the big screen?  Should the Big Ten play at least one OOC game per year with the SEC or Big 12?

We stopped at "would you rather be tailgating" and said "yes."

We never want to be witness to FCS beatdowns and thankfully, Cuse is not an FCS team.  Will it be a beatdown? Maybe, but it's impossible to predict how these teams are going to turn out when you schedule them years in advance.  We don't necessarily want PSU to go out and play some giant like Florida or Oklahoma every year, just good teams to get their feet wet against.  Until last year, Syracuse may have fit that description and who knows, maybe they will again soon.

Extra Points

1. The current line is -28.  Cover or Not?

Nope.

2. Does Penn State show up for the second half?

They'll probably have to in this one (at least moreso than against Akron), so yes.

3. True/False: Syracuse is a better opponent than Akron.

True

4. Fact or Fiction: Sue Paterno once painted the Nittany Lion statue orange.

True

As you surely know by now, we love Penn State.  But we also love college football in general.  So let's take a spin around the nation, check out some headlines (that we made up) and see what happened in Week 1:

Nice to see this again.

Well, this was a typical season opener for Penn State: they did somde things well, they did some other things poorly and they won by a big margin.  Watching the offense was a little frustrating at times, but the Lions turned it on before halftime.  And the defense was stout for most of the game.  Good to get the first one out of the way.  Did we miss any cliches?  Anyway, onto the recap...

Well, the Lions got it done today, knocking off the mighty Akron Zips 31-7 behind a big day from Daryll Clark and his new group of receivers.  Derek Moye, Chaz Powell and Graham Zug all found the end zone today on passes from Clark, and Moye looked especially impressive in this one.  Evan Royster also added a TD on the ground.

While the receivers looked great, the ground game looked inconsistent.  It's obviously going to take the line a few games to work out the kinks, but we hope things on the ground go better next week.  It was frustrating to watch at times.  And come on offense, couldn't you have put up one touchdown in the second half to get the cover?  is that too much to ask?

The defense was outstanding in the first half, holding Akron to a whopping 22 total yards (-17 rushing!).  They let up a bit in the second half (including broken coverage leading to the Zips' only score), but overall they looked pretty solid.  Great to see Sean Lee back out there.

Anyway, we just wanted to throw a quick post up tonight with our initial thoughts.  Stay tuned for the full game recap coming up tomorow.