Depressing Game

Sigh. Penn State’s defense played their hearts out against Michigan’s offense and gave us a chance to win, but unfortunately the PSU offense could do jack squat against the Wolverine D. I knew coming in that Michigan had the better team, and that was definitely on full display last night in their 17-10 victory. And I knew that the only prayer Penn State really had to win this game was that it was at home at night (in front of 110,007 loud fans), but even that couldn’t rescue the Nittany Lions this game. What killed Penn State was their porous offensive line, which led to a bundle of drive-killing sacks and starting QB Anthony Morelli and backup QB Daryll Clark to be both knocked out of the game, Morelli with a concussion, and Clark with what looked like could’ve also been a concussion not too long after that. Fortunately Penn State never quit, with their third-string QB leading them to a TD with 3:30 left to pull them to within a touchdown at 17-10, and we even got the ball back with 1:30 left, but it was ultimately too much to ask a third-string QB to pull off a miracle comeback against one of the best defenses in the country. Michigan simply out-played Penn State in this game, and I’m glad that the referees (finally) didn’t play a major role in a PSU vs scUM game. At least the tailgate before the game was fun! Andrew & Vic came over to watch the game at my place, and Vic almost decided to spend the night over here instead of going back to his house, where he’d have to deal with a likely insufferable Jeff (a couple weeks ago Vic had said that either the Yankees needed to beat the Tigers or Penn State needed to beat Michigan, or else he’d move out of the house for a week just so he wouldn’t have to be around Jeff, haha).
Talk about a gorgeous day that we had today. You really couldn’t ask for a better day to go for a hike, which is what I did with a bunch of other people from Penn State Christian Grads. We drove up to Jo Hays Vista just south of town on Hwy 26 in Rothrock State Forest, and hiked down Jackson Trail for 1.5-2 kilometers along the ridge-top and back again, taking some long breaks at a couple beautiful vistas, overlooking the valley and the next ridge. It was really good to get out of State College and out into nature for a couple hours. I’ll leave you with this panoramic shot I took today that turned out nicely.

Oh, and one more thing. Which of these three photos below should I submit to the Gustavus Int’l Photo Contest? The deadline for submission is Tuesday the 17th, and I’d appreciate your input via comments or emails!