Okay, I get that 1991 is ancient history and this analogy has some weaknesses which I hope to identify. Please bear with me.
Two games stand out in the 1991 season when the Lions finished 11-2 and were ranked #3 at the end. Those games were Cincinnati and USC.
Penn State played Cincinnati in the second game. The score was 81-0. The team could do no wrong. How could they lose that season? Consider that the Idaho game of 1991.
The next week they played USC in LA. I was living in SoCal at the time. It was one of the most lethargic, flat, why did they even show up games one could imagine. The Lions lost to a USC team (10-21) which ended up the season at 3-8. That was a bad USC team. For purposes of this discussion, consider that the 1991 version of Buffalo.
Okay, the obvious difference is that the Lions lost to USC but beat Buffalo. Still, USC is a storied program with a history, particularly back then, of winning big. Buffalo, rightly or wrongly, was perceived to be an "easy" win.
The TOP by the Lions, yardage gained by Buffalo and the lack of any successful running game by Penn State has left a good number of fans questioning how good this team really is.
So, will the past in this case be prologue? We'll have a much better understanding after this game against PItt.
Two games stand out in the 1991 season when the Lions finished 11-2 and were ranked #3 at the end. Those games were Cincinnati and USC.
Penn State played Cincinnati in the second game. The score was 81-0. The team could do no wrong. How could they lose that season? Consider that the Idaho game of 1991.
The next week they played USC in LA. I was living in SoCal at the time. It was one of the most lethargic, flat, why did they even show up games one could imagine. The Lions lost to a USC team (10-21) which ended up the season at 3-8. That was a bad USC team. For purposes of this discussion, consider that the 1991 version of Buffalo.
Okay, the obvious difference is that the Lions lost to USC but beat Buffalo. Still, USC is a storied program with a history, particularly back then, of winning big. Buffalo, rightly or wrongly, was perceived to be an "easy" win.
The TOP by the Lions, yardage gained by Buffalo and the lack of any successful running game by Penn State has left a good number of fans questioning how good this team really is.
So, will the past in this case be prologue? We'll have a much better understanding after this game against PItt.
