STATE COLLEGE, PA — After navigating the color-coded parking lots for up to an hour, we finally found a parking spot in the sea of white tailgaters flooding the fields surrounding Beaver Stadium. I certainly expected a legion of tailgaters, but tens of thousands of fans had already set up shop — and game time was still seven hours away.

Besides the impressive cluster of facilities and semi-delicious barbeque stands, it’s certainly a different atmosphere here in Happy Valley. For starters, the mountainous backdrop is something for all Midwesterners to envy, but the excitement and pride emanating from the Nittany Lion fan base is refreshing, especially coming from a school like Illinois where the football following has seemed sporadic at times.

By 2pm EDT, white-clad students had already formed lines outside of the stadium, grouped by “Fresh/Soph” and “Junior/Senior” designations. Some were tossing on the body paint; others were fixing up their white wigs. A trip to the athletic museum gives you a great sense of the tradition and pride that this school holds in its athletic programs.

Wes Anderson turned to me while we were wandering around the museum and wondered what exactly would be in the Illinois version of the museum. Obviously, Champaign has seen its fair share of legendary athletes and coaches, but how prominent is that sense of tradition in the minds of Illinois students and alumni?

My mom is an Illinois grad, and she recently asked me who Red Grange is. Granted, my mom knows nothing little to nothing about sports, but how many alumni of Syracuse don’t know who Jim Brown is? In 20 years, if you asked a Notre Dame student who Joe Montana is, would they draw a blank? JoePa’s legacy is preserved in war memorial-like set up just outside of Beaver Stadium.

Where is our immortalizing statue? Our glorified museum? Our stadium-side bookstore? Even our early-arrivals in the student section?

It’s 6pm EDT, two hours until kickoff, and the 20,000-seat “S-block” student section is already half full. The rain has started to fall, as well, though it’s been off and on the entire day. Should be a great game.

Two hours until kickoff: “S-Block” is filling up

Well, it didn’t take long for Mendenhall to make his way into the Steelers’ starting backfield.

Willie Parker suffered what head coach Mike Tomlin called a sprained left knee in last Sunday’s loss to the Eagles that will leave the Pro Bowl back out against the Ravens on Monday night. “Sprained knee,” I have noticed, has also sidelined running backs for extensive periods of time, so Pittsburgh could be in for a larger dose of Rashard than they think.

To put it nicely, Mendenhall’s first matchup is going to be unpleasant.

Not only can I not fathom walking into a Monday Night Football game as a rookie back and seeing (and probably hearing) Ray Lewis prowling around the second level of the Ravens defense, but as effective as Baltimore’s run defense has been so far this year (70 ypg), the Steelers offensive line has been equally as bad.

Big Ben got his facemask rubbed up and down the field last week by Philly’s defense while getting sacked eight times.

Mendenhall has seen limited play so far this season, thanks largely to the footballs he put on the ground in the team’s last two exhibition games. You think guys like Reed, Suggs and McCalister won’t be ball hunting Monday night?

So on one hand, Mendenhall could be headed for a world of pain on a big stage.

On the other, the Ravens notched their two wins over pass-happy teams in the Bengals and Browns. Those two opponents combined for  39 rushing attempts in the two games, making the Ravens far and away the least-rushed upon team in the NFL. Granted, they did already use up their bye week.

Mendenhall’s brute strength at the line could potentially take some much-needed pressure off of Roethlisberger, not to mention the Steelers are partial to the run to begin with.

A national spotlight can do crazy things to an athlete, and Monday night’s game will be the NFL and its fan base’s first legitimate introduction to the former Illini star.

Will Rashard sink or swim?

CHICAGO – After spending Friday morning fielding questions from across the country, the Big Ten coaches and players were free to go about their business after the closing ceremonies of the kickoff luncheon.

Here are some of the cuts from player and coach interviews from Friday.

The “next” Illinois

One of the more prominent questions being asked to players and coaches Friday was “Who will be this year’s Illinois,” any team that might surprise the conference after two dismal years. While the members of the Big Ten were speculative and hesitant to name a specific team, the general feeling was that one of two teams that are not in the forefront of the Big Ten will be come season’s end. Penn State coach Joe Paterno cited the fact that invariably every year since he has been coaching in the conference, some team has come up that people didn’t expect to. Indiana’s head coach Bill Lynch agreed with his counterpart and figures that his Hoosiers are due – eventually – for a trip to Pasadena.

“I don’t know who’s available other than us, Lynch said. “If you think about it, Purdue did and has gone to the Rose Bowl, Northwestern a few years ago, Wisconsin’s gone, Iowa’s gone. But I think anyone down there that’s picked lower, Northwestern, Minnesota, Purdue, they’ll end up surprising.” Read the rest of this entry »

CHICAGO — Former Illinois running back Howard Griffith holds three very distinct records, setting NCAA marks for touchdowns in a game, eight, touchdowns in a quarter, four, and most points by a player in a game, 48.

Griffith holds numerous school records, as well, and was in Chicago for Big Ten Media Days. The Daily Illini caught up with the Illinois great and talked to him about his Alma matter.

Daily Illini- Arguably, the biggest question on the minds of Illinois fans right now is, who is going to replace Rashard Mendenhall. What can Illinois do to limit the damage that will come from losing that type of player?

Howard Griffith- I think you’re going to have to start with (Daniel) Dufrene as the starter, getting most of the reps. But one of the things that happen when you have some players that you’re unsure of, someone is eventually going to step up to the plate, especially when talking about one and two-a-days, guys will start to step up. When you look at last year, it was kind of unsure then who was going to be the guy, but they have guys this year, quite a few of them, like they did then. Someone has got the seize the opportunity, because you have got a guy like Juice, running the spread the way that he does, there are going to be open holes, and (whoever is the running back) has got to be able to hit them quick. Read the rest of this entry »

Football head coach Ron Zook made the trip to Wrigley Field on Sunday for Illini Day and assumed the 7th inning stretch duties.

Some people may remember last year’s debacle, when Zook was caught reading the words to “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” from a cheat sheet.

Yesterday’s attempt was a little more inspiring, though if you look closely enough Zook does manage to sneak a couple of suspicious glances at something sitting on the table in front of him . . .

As far as an evaluation goes, pretty much anything beats blatantly reading the words to a song most people learn by the third grade off of a piece of paper. Especially at Wrigley.

It fell somewhere between “I’ve definitely heard worse” and Illinois’ performance in the Rose Bowl.

Zook’s yelling didn’t seem to scare the Cubbies, who went on to win the game 5-3 and complete a weekend sweep of the Rockies.

(Video link credits sportsbybrooks.com and ballhype.com, respectively)