GAMEDAY COMING TO COLUMBUS

ESPN College Gameday wants to get a better look at the number three team in the country this week and will cover the Penn State vs. Ohio State game live for the fourth straight year.

The Nittany Lions are playing in their third prime-time game of the season on Saturday in Columbus against the ninth-ranked Buckeyes. The traveling show was in Columbus in 1996 when the third-ranked Buckeyes hosted sixth-ranked Penn State. Ohio State fans, displaying their usual class and intelligence, threw pancakes at the Penn State fans gathered (including a young future blogger) to promote All-American tackle Orlando Pace. That Gameday was the first one ever to feature the now-famous Lee Corso mascot head prediction.

Two years later, Gameday returned to Columbus when Ohio State, ranked #1, and Penn State, ranked #8, clashed. Pancakes weren't thrown at me that day, but the weather was absolutely miserable. Lavar Arrington tried to win that game single-handedly, but even our offense, led(?) by Kevin Thompson, couldn't resist scoring points for the Buckeyes.

Starting in 2005, Gameday has been to the last three PSU/OSU affairs, including a 2006 game in Columbus. Now, the young boy who was pelted with flapjacks ten years before was all grown up and full of coconut rum. My hat was stolen, a fellow writer of this blog got choked and an Ohio State Trooper, who had just a peach of a disposition, offered to book me a room at the local jail for the night.

I am willing to bet that Corso puts on the Nittany Lion head this weekend. I am going to go think of new insults for Kirk Herbstreit's kids, it's been two years since I've seen them.