As a fellow obsessed Ohio fan that is on this site 10 times a day and waits eagerly for Arkley's Blog, I was wondering what you will lose sleep over this week as the Cats head to State College? When you are daydreaming at work what worries you about this contest? Here are a few of my anxiety laced ramblings.

1) No Travis Carrie
2) Raw emotion of the Penn State players and crowd
3) Receivers not being able to get seperation
Sorry figured this is the best place to vent.

i think we survive #1 and #3.....not so sure about #2.

The whole secrecy thing O'Brien has had over the offense is really puzzling to me. It's not really a secret what the offense is going to be....as you said, it's the Patriots' offense. And if I'm a head football coach, I take the approach that I don't care if you know what I'm going to run. You still have to stop it. Besides, is Penn State really looking to keep this offense so super secret because they're afraid to tip their hand to a MAC walk-over?

Unless the installation isn't going as well as hoped....
Unless the transfers are having a bigger impact than is being let on....
Unless the players haven't been able to move past the circus.....
Unless O'Brien isn't as confident that he can do this job as he would like you to believe....

Are any of these actually happening? I don't know. O'Brien is in uncharted territory with what he has to do with the program, so if he wants to take an atypical approach to establishing his own identity, I get it. But like I said, it's just puzzling to me.

My biggest concern is a nagging fear that the team has been reading their press clippings. They have the potential to be good, the potential to play well, and the potential to win every game, but to do that will that tremendous focus and effort, and probably a few lucky bounces along the way.

Valley, Paul, Doc, Medina, Money, L.C., Ted, OCF,

ALL your concerns are my concerns. That's why I don't even want to watch the game with fellow 'Cats! Hell, I'm churned up so much about this that I'm not sure I want to watch the game, period. That's pretty friggin' sad, huh?

What we need to realize is that beneath that veil of secrecy in State College, Pa., Bill O'Brien and the Nits have been dealing with many of the same issues we have ... plus a whole lot more. You can bet on it.

For me, the scariest reality is that Penn State typically hasn't played "pretty." They mainly have beaten the crap out of teams physically on defense. We have 11 games after that season opener. Forget about the "dream season." Pray for the kids to have fun, play their best and not get any more banged up than what they did to each other in camp. If, in the process, we succeed in silencing the morons posting out of Happy Valley, then that's just sweet desserts.

#2

As always when you've got a MAC school against a Big Ten school, my biggest concern is getting a semblance of a running game going against a bigger, stronger front seven. If Ohio can't, the pass rush becomes a problem. Penn State is down, but that defense is still stocked.

I think 28 points gets the job done on Saturday.

conservative gameplan = predictable pistol formation playcalling = 3 and outs = good PSU field position = easy early points = momentum/crowd noise = players pressing = sloppy play = turnovers/penalties = PSU controls time of possession = tired defense = more PSU points = abandoning the run game = receivers not getting separation = forced passes/coverage sacks = more turnovers/3 and outs =  big halftime lead = what the **** happened

My car, complete with OHIO license plate holder and decals, getting trashed by State Penn fans after we kick their ass. 

Last year we were promissed 20-30 additional plays per game thanks to the new Offense and they delivered nicely..   Can we expect to see more this year or will we try to burn as much of the play clock between plays as possible this year.. Last year we still got within 5-10 seconds each  play....

Could this strategy vary from game to game.... 

I'm normally a pessimist but man do I have a really good feeling about this week...    Baring the obvious.. (penalties, turnovers)... I think our strengths will more than make up for those concern areas. 

I'm getting my bags packed and mapping our my trip as we speak.... Hopefully the Bobcat nation will be loud and proud.... And hopefully they don't separate us like the OSwho game a couple of years ago....