Morelli has a team!

God bless the Arizona Cardinals. I don't know why they would even consider offering a contract to the kid. The sad thing is, he certainly has a decent chance to make it to 2nd or 3rd string QB by the end of the season, assuming he survives training camp. The Cards didn't draft a QB and their current lineup of QBs includes oft-injured Matt Leinart, the ancient Kurt Warner, and career 3rd-stringer Brian St. Pierre. Frankly, Morelli's smartest decision in a long time was to sign on with Arizona. If he ends up miraculously getting any playing time, he'll have Fitzgerald, Boldin and former PSUer Bryant Johnson to throw to and those guys would make me look like a good QB.

In other PSU player news...Austin Scott found himself a team too. He signed on with Cleveland. Even if he didn't get into this whole mess earlier in the year, he probably wouldn't have been drafted but the guy has talent. Who knows what will happen there. Terrell Golden stayed in state and signed on with the Eagles while Matt Hahn went to Oakland. Good for Hahn...he was a solid player before he blew out his knee.

Moving on to the Jets...they signed Danny Woodhead!! I'm not sure if he'll do any good but it's cool nonetheless. One way or another, this kid can definitely play as he holds the all-time and single season NCAA rushing records. Frankly, his size is his only downfall (5'7"). He apparently had a fantastic pro day, running a 4.33 40 and posting exceptional numbers in the other workouts. Never know...I hate to say this but could other teams have passed him up because he's white? It's something to throw out there. Maybe it's just me but I thought teams typically took late round flyers on guys like this...

CORRECTION: Apparently Austin Scott was only invited to camp? I have conflicting reports on this.

Mama's boys

In the NFL we see a lot of quarterbacks' mothers writing blogs and appearing in commercials. So, since college football players can't have agents yet, a few running backs have been taking a page from that book and have let their mom do the talking for them. Or, sometimes, mom just does the talking without consulting her son.

It started back in August when Darren McFadden's mom blabbed to the press that her son would be turning pro after his junior season at Arkansas.

"He told me [Friday], 'Mom, I'll be through in December,'" Mini Muhammed said. "I said, 'What you mean?' He said, 'I'll be through.' That's what he told me."

Asked if that meant her son would be entering the draft and joining the NFL, Muhammed said, "Yeah. He'll be making big money."

And then we had Austin Scott's mother, JoAnn, speak up when rumors circulated about her son's behavior that led to his suspension from the Penn State squad.

When asked earlier in the week about her son's removal from the team, JoAnn Scott said he returned home last weekend and that she believed the incident would "boil down to a misunderstanding."

We'll see about that.

As has been reported over the last few days, Michigan players have been saying they expect their teammate, Mike Hart, to be on the field in Champaign Saturday night when the Wolverines take on the Fighting Illini of Illinois. They cite his determination and his drive to win.

But when a player's hurt, who better to get a diagnosis from but from Dr. Mom? She spoke to the press yesterday about her son's status.

"No one will know until Saturday," Rory Rushlow said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "I just left Ann Arbor yesterday, and he says he's fine and if he's even 80 percent healthy he'll play.

"Hopefully, he'll play. But he if doesn't, I'm sure he'll play the next game against Minnesota."

I wonder what school she got her sports medicine degree from.

And then, of course, we all know about that letter from an "anonymous parent" sent to Colorado football coach Dan Hawkins, complaining about the level of team conditioning, that inspired Hawkins' infamous and much-parodied "It ain't intramurals!" rant. It may not have been a mother who wrote that letter, but it runs along the same wavelength.

Are these moms trying to prime themselves for a campaign to be the next Mama McNabb? Well, they or their sons can't really appear in Chunky soup commercials just yet, or get paid, or get reimbursed with gifts ... I mean, c'mon, they're not Reggie Bush.

Austin Scott Saga

While I was as excited as the next person upon hearing that Austin Scott was never going to suit up for us again (due to his fumbling woes), I am beginning to believe his current suspension is unfair. Currently, we have two players (one being standout starting safety Anthony Scirrotto) being charged with felonies. Those two players have been playing all year without anything stopping them. If I remember correctly, the football team has said that it will put off judgment on what to do until a trial takes place. Why not give the same treatment to Scott? The charges against him (from what I've read) seem to be anything but a slam dunk. Remember what happened to the Duke Lacrosse team? This is beginning to sound eerily similar and would be all over the news if there were racial undertones to the story.

I understand that keeping Scott away from the team is probably for the better as he'd create a media circus. However, it is hypocritical and unfair for him to be suspended while other players awaiting trial on felony charges continue to play. I know that right now he is (supposedly) being suspended for breaking an undisclosed team rule which has been rumored to be going to a bar less than 48 hours before kickoff. However, had this alleged rape not happened, he probably would have been suspended for half a game, if that. JoePa and the football staff are just playing a game of politics with the situation as they are using it as an excuse to keep him away from the team. Yes, the felonies Scott is being charged with are far more repulsive than those against Scirrotto and Baker, but they are still charges yet to be proven in a court of law. I believe this country has some sort of saying "innocent until proven guilty?" Why don't we use it here? Ignoring it has already left Duke with black eye. Penn State will look just as stupid if these charges are thrown out or Scott is proven innocent.

As the football turns

As I correctly predicted, we're far from hearing the last of the blossoming Austin Scott saga. The latest update was provided Monday morning in this article from The Daily Collegian.

When a Penn State Police officer first approached Nittany Lion football player Austin Scott inside the HUB-Robeson Center on Oct. 5, the 22-year-old said he knew why authorities wanted to speak to him.

Perhaps he double-parked in the HUB parking deck?

Earlier that morning, a female student came back with him to his Nittany Apartments residence, he told his lawyer. That woman, who Scott thought he was meeting inside the HUB, had called police after she left his apartment at about 4 a.m. and told them she had been raped and abused by Scott.

Oh, right. That.

Fast-forward a week and Scott is now charged of four felony counts -- rape, sexual assault, and two counts of aggravated assault -- and three misdemeanor counts -- two counts of indecent assault and simple assault.

I guess he wasn't scouting out criminal lawyers last week for fun after all.

And what does Austin Scott have to say for himself?

"He's absolutely devastated," defense attorney Joseph Amendola said. "He's in a state of disbelief."

Isn't that the same guy who insisted he hadn't been retained as Scott's attorney? Oh yeah, him, the one I told you would end up being his lawyer. How about that.

I'll spare you the details, but if you want to check it out, the police report is reviewed in full detail in the article. Basically, Scott and "this girl," as he so affectionately calls her, met outside a local bar and walked back to his apartment. She told him she wasn't going to have sex with him, he asks to at least "cop a feel" (she refuses), she later falls asleep only to wake up a few hours later underneath Scott, who is attempting to initiate intercourse. She's too scared to refuse and tells him that he's hurting her. That's the basic gist of it.

Clearly this case is far from over, and we'll be keeping an eye on it. However, I'll call your attention to this part of the article:

Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira said he questions Scott's judgement; the football player should have honored the woman's wishes from the beginning of the evening to the end, he said.

"She said, nothing is going to happen tonight. That's a no," Madeira said. "Do you need to be told no twice?"

I will note that this is the same district attorney that charged and vehemently ripped into six Penn State players over the summer for trespassing and assault, only to have charges dropped against four of them and a seemingly shaky case against the other two that will eventually go to trial in December.

But this case is obviously far more severe in magnitude.

It's Official

Austin Scott is toast. Currently its a headline on CNN.com, cbs.sportsline.com, ESPN.com. What awesome publicity our team has been getting lately.

***Update...still a headline on CNN.com as of 2am Saturday...been up since about 4pm Friday...***

He was officially charged with "rape, sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault." So much for a potential "misunderstanding" as his mother put it. The whole story seems kinda fishy nonetheless. He apparently met the woman at a bar that Thursday night (which is apparently breaking a rule in the first place because he was at a bar 48 hours before kickoff) and then the whole incident occurred. As is the case in all these occurrences, the Scott camp is claiming it was consensual. Who knows what the truth is but the fact that he would put himself in a such a situation is downright despicable. You're the starting running back (well, kinda) and you go out a couple days before the Big Ten home opener and get trashed (it was apparently alcohol influenced) and do something stupid. You don't deserve to play for Penn State.

To quote Colorado coach Dan Hawkins, "This ain't intramurals!" If you play for a big time football program, you gotta be dedicated. Austin, apparently, was not.

More on the Austin Scott case

Demetrius Jones and Jim Harbaugh aren't the only ones creating drama in college football these days. College football has found a new drama queen in Penn State tailback Austin Scott.

Scott, the hot-tempered, butter-fingered running back, was reportedly kicked off the team just prior to the Penn State-Iowa game in Happy Valley ... or was he? Rumors swirled at tailgates the morning of the game. Many, including a few media outlets, said Scott was booted by Joe Paterno, but I find that hard to believe if Paterno's giving us game-by-game status reports on if Scott will be playing or not. Scott is actually still on the roster, officially listed as the third-string running back. But all we know right now is that Austin Scott broke a team rule and is now paying the price ... somehow.

Rumors also ran rampant about what rule Scott broke. The Daily Collegian, Penn State's campus newspaper, ran the Scott suspension story concurrently with a story about a reported rape in the vicinity of on-campus apartments. Discerning tailgaters put two and two together and bam -- Austin Scott raped somebody at the apartments. At least, that was the talk. One of the program vendors even went so far to announce that Scott was being arraigned that Saturday afternoon on statutory rape charges. However, since the Iowa game, there been no charges nor any arraignment.

So what happened? Well, let's consult this article in the Daily Collegian for more details. Scott is apparently scouting out some attorneys.

Attorney Joseph Amendola said he has not been officially retained as Scott's lawyer. Though, he added, after speaking with Scott's family friends, he also spoke with the player himself, but only to "say hello and introduce myself."

Say hello and introduce himself? Isn't that what new neighbors do? Did he bring a jello mold? I find it hard to believe this guy won't be Austin Scott's attorney. But I digress. The point of this whole dissertation is listed later in the article.

Amendola said he was told by family friends that the team's coaching staff says the 22-year-old broke team policy by visiting a bar last Thursday night, fewer than 48 hours before the Iowa game. Instead, they argue Scott only went to the bar briefly to pick up a female friend, he said.

So, okay, maybe he didn't rape anybody. But hey, he broke a rule and JoePa rules with an iron fist. Now if only Lloyd Carr would implement some discipline at Michigan, maybe they wouldn't have lost to App State. (Either that, or implement a defense that can handle the spread, but I'm digressing again.)

Even more confusing is the following...

The family friends were concerned about Scott's suspension from the team, Amendola said, but he did not elaborate on why Scott would contact a criminal attorney for team curfew violations.

"As anyone that's potentially a suspect in a criminal case, they talk to attorneys," he said. "At this point, I have not been retained."

Scott is not facing criminal charges. Amendola said he spoke with the Centre County District Attorney's office yesterday and was told that no plans have been made to take action against Scott.

It is slightly curious as to why he's calling up a criminal attorney when all he did was "go to a bar after curfew."

Methinks, much like the Demetrius Jones saga, we'll hear much more about this in the coming days and weeks.

Overheard before Saturday's PSU-Iowa game

"Programs! Get your programs! Hey, this is a collector's item! It's the last time Austin Scott's name is in the program! Now if only he called Morelli up to come out with him... we could've gotten a twofer!"
-PSU program vendor

Austin Scott Done in Happy Valley?

While nothing concrete seems to be coming out, Austin Scott may be done playing for the Blue and White. A sexual assault was reported in the Nittany Apartment area of campus Friday morning and Scott is apparently the prime suspect. For those that don't know, Nittany Apartments is pretty much where most, if not all, the football team lives. This story is pretty much the most convincing one that he's done. If anything, Scott has been more of a burden then help for the Lions this season but this is not how you would want him to go. It's a sad story but you can't feel bad for a guy that does something like that at all. Well, Kinlaw did run for 160+ yards and 2 TDs against a good defense today so I can't say I'm too worried about all of this. It's a shame that this story has to loom over an impressive victory over Iowa. The defense looked fantastic on all but one drive (the Iowa TD drive) as they helped get the 1st down battle to a staggering 20-2 advantage for PSU at one point. The offense took a little while to get the wheels going but looked very solid in the 2nd quarter and most of the third. Morelli did throw his quota 2 boneheaded interceptions but looked ok otherwise. It's very feasible at this point for the Lions to defeat Wisconsin next week and Indiana the week after setting up a crucial date with Ohio State to end October.

Unfortunately, I was right...

A few days ago, I said this little quip on the PSU-UM game:

-It pains me to pick this but I don't think Morelli will be able to cut it and I think Hart could just have a field day against our D-Line. Regardless, it should be very close.

Well, Morelli didn't cut it. No picks, thank God, but there was a costly fumble and a completion % under 50%. Half the time he looked lost out there but from what I could see, some of that had to do with a shaky O-Line and receivers not running crisp routes. Regardless, he did make some stupid throws.

Hart did have a field day. Just when you thought he was gonna get stopped by the line, he kept going...and going...and going. He's the main reason Michigan won this one.

It was close, lucky for PSU. The D kept them in this one. I felt bad for them because the O didn't help them out at all. Michigan had the ball for 10 more minutes than PSU and that's just unacceptable.

Either way, I have no idea what happened to UM in the first two games but they're not that bad of a football team. They have just as good a shot as anyone in the Big Ten this year and I'm just glad PSU got their toughest road game off the schedule already.

Also, if Austin Scott starts one more game for the Blue and White......