Trying to read the Penn State men's soccer team is almost like trying to get through a Harry Potter book in one sitting.
On paper, the Nittany Lions look like a team with the speed and talent to score at will on teams that are not even in the same universe when it comes to sheer talent.
And that's why the cliché says you don't win games on paper.
When you look at the schedule and see that Penn State has only scored one goal in three games against George Mason, Marquette and recently, Tuesday's 1-1 draw with the powerhouse of men's soccer known as St. Bonaventure, you just have to shake your head and smirk.
The tie against the Bonnies is absolutely ridiculous. The Atlantic-10's all-time cellar dwellers had lost their last game, 3-1, on the road against Niagara. I will repeat that --Niagara.
It's moments like the St. Bonaventure game that makes the Lions goal scoring problems almost laughable. Because it's not so much that Penn State can't score, but that something always seems to happen to stop them from scoring.
Case and point being Tuesday night, when a defender that seemingly appeared out of thin air headed away an almost certain goal by Brain Devlin. This was nothing new to the senior from Philadelphia, because he seems to have some sort of hex or curse on his foot. It was the second time this season that he had a ball behind the keeper and it still didn't find the back of the net.
At this point, you wouldn't be surprised if during a rainy game, a bolt of lightning would hit a Devlin shot right
before it crossed the goal line.
I will not ramble on about how the Lions can't score even if the net were open. There are some positive things happing down at Jeffrey Field.
The most obvious being the defense and how it has been as dominating as one would realistically expect. Led by center backs Markku Viitanen and Geordie MacNeill, the Lions have only given up eight goals, and opponents have averaged 6.2 shots game. So, the defense is the only reason that Lions should be hopeful they can turn the season around.
But you do have to realize, six of those goals were on the road, with four coming at the hands of the only two teams with any national prominence -- New Mexico and James Madison.
This is where the Lions' Big Ten rotation of home and away games has dealt them a bad hand. Penn State plays its toughest competition on the road.
Starting Friday night, the Lions will start Big Ten play on the road against No. 1 Indiana, a team that not even the craziest coach would want to face in midst of a scoring drought.
The Hoosiers are unquestionably the best team in the conference, if not the country. The two-time defending national champions are unbeaten in their first eight games, in contrast to two years ago when they started off 2-3-4 -- the worst start in team history. So it would be stupid for anyone to pick against them. It would be like picking against the Braves in an NL East race.
So my prediction has nothing to do who will win the Big Ten, but rather that the Lions will have a hard time finishing in the top three and, consequently, have a hard time getting into the tournament.
But then again, with the way this season has gone so far, it wouldn't be a surprise if Penn State won on Friday -- the defense did steal one from Maryland -- and wound up winning the Big Ten.
Or, as David Walters would tell you, "Remember Indiana two years ago."
