All the players that were schlepped through the media room after Saturday's thrashing of Central Michigan couldn't wait to tell the assembled scribes how excited they were to move into conference play next weekend.

No disrespect to Central Michigan though. Or Cincinnati. Or South Florida. They are all good teams. Obviously.

"You're playing against grown men on scholarship out there. They've been playing football their whole lives just like we have," Tony Hunt said. "Any win you get playing against a Division I team it's a quality win."

For a Penn State team that is beginning to look like it has turned the corner after two years of nearly complete national irrelevance, Hunt is right -- any win is a quality win and winning five in a row, dating back to last season, certainly can't hurt.

But even if Hunt won't say it, I will. The Chippewas were bad.

Baaaaaaaad.

There simply aren't enough cliches in the book to describe the atrocity that is the Central Michigan secondary. Imagine lining up Mike Rumph and Deshea Townsend against Randy Moss and Marvin Harrison every week. Sorry, but that's the best I can do.

Still, while it's hard to tell how good Penn State really is until they play a quality opponent from a major conference (the Big East is very, very minor), Saturday's game still suggests that Penn State may be a contender in the Big Ten for the rest of the year.

Back when Penn State was winning 8-10 games a year, every year, wins like Saturday's were commonplace. Remember when Rutgers would dutifully come to Happy Valley, take its yearly 67-3 spanking and then head home, tail between its legs?

Simply put, this Saturday Penn State demolished a team that they should have demolished, and that is something that has not always happened in recent years.

Obviously the Toledo debacle in 2000 comes to mind, but so do the lukewarm victories over Temple and Kent State in 2003.

Saturday, Penn State was ruthlessly, brutally efficient and made it obvious that Central Michigan had no business on the same field. Whether or not that means anything -- only time will tell.

The fact that the game was over by halftime, giving me plenty of time to think, coupled with the fact that I'm extremely lazy and try to avoid real work at all cost, led to a bunch of random musings on the day that was in college football that I'll share now.

First, was anyone else disappointed by CMU quarterback Kent Smith's complete undressing at the hands of the Penn State defense on Saturday? Prior to the game, Smith appeared like the lone bright spot in an extremely lopsided matchup but ended up looking a lot like David Carr in that he spent the entire afternoon running for his life -- literally.

He lost 75 yards on sacks for crying out loud, and Penn State was pretty much begging him to throw by giving his receivers a princess-and-the-pea-size cushion all afternoon.

Second, did you notice University President Graham Spanier on the sidelines? Spanier appears on the sidelines and in the media room the weekend after two columnists suggested a rift between he and a certain bespectacled football coach ... hmmmmmm.

Think Apollo Creed in Rocky Balboa's corner during the fight with Mr. T.

Third, watching VH1 the other day made me realize that Deon Butler, not Kanye West, has had "The Best Two Weeks Ever."

Admit it, two weeks ago, you had no idea who (shameless-self promotion alert) the Daily Collegian's pick for underrated offensive player was, and now he's caught three touchdown passes in two weeks.

Not only that, but watching Butler hold court in the media room is a treat. He's a natural.

Finally, in my mind, Notre Dame's season thus far could not be any more entertaining. It has been fantastic to see so many members of the media jumping on and then off of the Golden Dome bandwagon all within three weeks.

Lee Corso said they'd go 0-6 to start and you knew they weren't that bad, and then they beat Michigan and they started the process of canonizing Charlie Weis and you knew they weren't that good.

Then they lose to Michigan State, who will undoubtedly ruin all the good will of this win by losing to Indiana or Illinois in their typically inconsistent fashion.

College football. You gotta love it.

Justin Kunkel is a senior majoring in English and a Collegian football writer. His email address is jak440@psu.edu.