Recently in Penn State Football Category

Will Forte joins the chorus of critics of the Bowl Championship Series with a new approach: musical sarcasm.

The comedian made his case with a song during the Weekend Update segment of this weekend's Saturday Night Live episode (the song starts about a minute into the clip above), claiming that he loves the BCS in the same way that he loves "the smell of sick people's farts," "finding out I'm adopted" and "George W. Bush."

I can imagine Utah coach Kyle Whittingham gleefully singing along, as well as pretty much every college football fan that doesn't root for the University of Florida. Feel free to add to Forte's list of things as awesome as the BCS in the comments section.

All Penn State fans attending the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 are being encouraged to wear white.

The Nittany Lions also will wear white as the visiting team in the 95th Rose Bowl, which will begin at 5:10 p.m. ET in Pasadena, Calif.

Penn State fans participated in complete Beaver Stadium "Whiteouts" in victories over Notre Dame in 2007 and Illinois this past season.

It's getting difficult to keep up with all of the All-America honors for Penn State center A.Q. Shipley.

This time it's ESPN.com passing out the praise -- which is rather exclusive considering that it picked only one team of recipients, no second- and third-team choices.

Shipley already has won the Rimington Award as the nation's best center and has been named an All-American by four other organizations, including second-team honors by the Associated Press.

Iowa's Mitch King tosses his long locks before Saturday's game.

A thorn in the side: Iowa has now won six of the last seven meeting against the Lions.
His first one: Senior linebacker Tyrell Sales made his first career interception in the third quarter.
Missing them: Senior defensive end Josh Gaines missed all of the fourth quarter with an apparent ankle injury. Freshman defensive back Drew Astorino, a key component on passing downs, didn't play much because of a broken thumb suffered two weeks ago.
Select group: The Lions were one of only three teams ranked in the top 10 in scoring offense (eighth) and scoring defense (fourth). The others were Florida (seventh in offense, fifth in defense) and USC (10th offense, first defense).
Protecting the ball: Penn State had thrown only two interceptions in 252 pass attempts, tied for the best nationally with Florida.
The third one, though, against the Hawkeyes proved crucial in the fourth quarter.

To get you pumped up for Saturday's matchup with Iowa, here's a clip of Deon Butler pumping up his teammates before Ohio State:

And here is a montage of JoePa that die-hard PSU fans might shed a tear over:

Here's an overlooked fact that tells a lot about the makeup of these Nittany Lions:

They are one of the least penalized teams in the nation, averaging only about three flags and 26.4 yards per game.

They had no penalties against Ohio State -- the first time they've gone without a penalty or turnover in a game since joining the Big Ten.

They also had only one penalty against Illinois and against Wisconsin.

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The Penn State coaching staff has a unique job over the next week or so:
Give their players a needed break during a bye week while keeping their focus enough not to disrupt their tremendous momentum.
The Lions didn't practice on Monday after the Ohio State victory, then had a light workout on Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday practices are with pads, but the focus will be on developing younger, backup talent, said coach Joe Paterno.

Ohio State leads the all-time series, 12-11. Ohio State won 37-17 last year in State College and 28-6 in 2006 in Columbus.

The Nittany Lions won, 17-10, at home in 2005. The home team has won 12 of the 15 meetings since 1993.

From Ohio State's Web site:

Kirk Lowdermilk, a standout offensive lineman for the Buckeyes from 1981-84, will serve as Ohio State's honary captain Saturday vs. Penn State in Ohio Stadium. The former All-Big Ten center's career was bracketed by two Big Ten championships in '81 and '84.

After leading the Buckeyes to the Big Ten title in 1984 and a berth in the Rose Bowl, Lowdermilk went on to a 12-year career in the National Football League from 1985-96. He split his pro days with Minnesota and Indianapolis, reaching the NFC conference championship game in 1987 and the AFC conference championship game in 1995. In all, Lowdermilk's teams reached the playoffs six times in his career.

Two-and-a-half hours before kickoff, the weather in Columbus, Ohio, is in the mid-50s and overcast, with little wind.

Lows are expected to drop into the low 40s tonight. And winds might kick up to 5-10 mph.

No rain is forecast for tonight's Lions-Buckeyes game.

Daily Record/Sunday News reporter Jeff Frantz is outside the Horseshoe as the excitement builds for tonight's Penn State-Ohio State clash.

He talks to York Catholic student Curtis Hess and gets his predictions for the game.

It's the closest the Big Ten will come to a championship game this season -- the No. 3 Nittany Lions travel to No. 10 Ohio State for a Saturday showdown in primetime.

Are you headed to Columbus to watch Penn State put its undefeated record on the line against the Buckeyes and former Lion prize recruit Terrelle Pryor? If so, we want to hear from you.

E-mail assistant sports editor Lyzz Jones at ejones@ydr.com or call 771-2058 and let us know about your travel plans for Saturday's big contest.

Braylon Edwards went to Michigan. The team that hates Penn State, and Penn State loves to hate back. So when Braylon Edwards' interview was aired during Monday Night Football, those with a trained eye found his choice of clothing to be slightly...um...humorous.

Is somebody wishing they had attended a different University perhaps? Maybe, sending a subtle message that they would rather root for a 7-0 team than a 2-4 team?

Susquehannock grad Chaz Powell is seen slapping hands with fans in the Penn State student section right in front of a sign some of his fellow students made in his honor.

The redshirt freshman saw action early in Saturday night's win over Illinoi, which indicates that he has earned the confidence of Lion coaches after scoring two touchdowns in Penn State's first four games.