AFTERNOON UPDATE

Apparently, Penn State's performance on Saturday night managed to swing the confidence of some of ESPN's "experts". This morning ESPN's Mark Schalbach and Bruce Feldman both picked PSU to play Texas in the BCS National Championship Game on January 8th.

It's funny how things change so quickly. Prior to the Lion's win in Columbus, very few "experts" were picking Penn State to make it to the BCS title game, let alone beat the Buckeye's on Saturday. A 13-6 victory later, its as if they've been picking Penn State all along.

If you look back to the preseason bowl predictions, no member of ESPN's staff had Penn State higher than a Capitol One Bowl bid, which I believe the Lions used as motivation throughout the season. "A team's only as good as their heart", a high school baseball coach once told me, and I think this only becomes more true when it comes to college football. Pre-ranked 22nd in the country and with doubt surrounding the Lions due to injury and off-the-field incidents, Penn State has proved for 9 consecutive weeks that they're better than anyone has given them credit for - to this point.

Now that they've made it this far into the season, they're no longer working to gain the respect of the Nation - they're working to keep it.

A link to the above ESPN article can be found HERE.