Championship-caliber college football teams have long been described as well-oiled machines. But, even the most dominant team is nothing compared to the juggernaut-like machine of preseason hype.
It is all-encompassing, unstoppable and, at times, unreasonable. By this point in Penn State's current season, both of those devices have been reduced to rubble, bolts shaken free, oil spurting everywhere, a complete mess.
Nevertheless, the hype surrounding the 2007 Nittany Lions couldn't be escaped by players, the media or fans. Entering this college football season, Penn State was hot. Before the 2006 season was officially under wraps, a national television audience was treated to words of a singular goal for the next campaign: national championship or bust.
Immediately following that Jan. 1 Outback Bowl win soon-to-be senior quarterback Anthony Morelli made it official.
"This is a big momentum booster," he said. "Now we got a legit chance to go in there and get that run for the national championship."
Oh, 2007 just couldn't start soon enough.
Where did all this hype really come from? Could a few daring words from players almost nine months before the first game of 2007 actually create this unstoppable force that would forge on through the season?
And what merited these all-or-nothing claims?
This was, once again, supposed to be the year for a big offense, making Penn State dangerous every time it had possession. Maybe 2006 was just an adjusting period, getting over the hangover from the memorable 2005 run. Whatever the case, the Lion attack was poised to break out.
The hype allowed many to optimistically look past the missing pieces that were key in 2006. Almost instantly, people seemed all-too-ready to slide Austin Scott into the void left by a departed Tony Hunt.
In Hunt, Penn State had its one piece of consistency last year, as he powered his way to 106.6 tough yards per game. That effort moved the chains, even when Morelli and the passing game struggled. In fact, during the past two seasons, it seemed that once Penn State established a second-half lead, Hunt took over.
This was the guy who took seven straight carries during a fourth quarter drive that essentially put the Outback Bowl away. He could even bail out the offensive line, not only by bulling his way for positive gains after being hit in the backfield, but also by using the blocking skills which enabled him to get into the Penn State lineup in the first place.
But, fans and critics alike soon forgot about Hunt's unique, blue-collar run style in favor of even more hype: fifth-year senior Austin Scott and his early comparisons to Tony Dorsett.
Scott is no stranger to what excessive hype can do. Ever since putting up playing-against-your-dad-on-Xbox-like numbers in high school, the Parkland product has been left in the dust by the overwhelming expectations heaped upon him, much like he had been left behind by Hunt, now Penn State's No. 2 all-time rusher.
Even with a step backward for the running backs, Penn State's buzz overcame common sense and led one to believe the offense was poised for an explosive passing attack. The 2007 campaign would feature an improved Morelli at the helm, blessed with a wealth of experienced and talented receivers as targets. With a full year of experience as the starter, it was surely his time to shine. Right?
Then, ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit fed the machine and picked Morelli as No. 1 in his "Quarterbacks: What a difference a year can make" in the annual preseason Herbie Awards. Herbstreit had Penn State going all the way to a Big Ten championship, that is, if Morelli could duplicate his performance from the Outback Bowl -- playing the way everyone had waited so long to see.
Let's quickly skim over the fact that this passing attack would no longer have the benefit of the No. 5 overall pick in the 2007 NFL draft, Levi Brown, protecting its quarterback on Saturdays. It was time for this offense, led by Morelli's cannon arm, to be unleashed.
ESPN's Beano Cook actually predicted, before the Buffalo game, that Penn State would play LSU in January for the national crown. There was some serious force behind the talk and people kept piling on board even after opening the season with lackluster victories against over-matched opponents. But teams of destiny are built tough, able to shake off a blown tire or a few screws knocked loose. The hype machine kept churning, reminding us that a win is a win -- and those kinds of expectations don't happen overnight.
You could feel the hype building great momentum across a seemingly endless amount of off-season, much like this Lions team was supposed to be doing. All the talk on campus following that bowl game was about the championship hopes of the next year. We at the Daily Collegian were caught in it, too, producing an extravagant comparison to past glory to the present squad during our coverage of the Blue-White game. Talk of the prophetic run set to kick off in the fall continued from the off-season, to spring practice, right through summer.
The hype had such an influence that it affected reactions over an off-campus situation in which a few players (notably members of a heralded secondary) potentially ended up in some trouble.
National title hopes were almost dashed that day. Even Joe Paterno's punishment for the team's overall lack of judgment made headlines. Everything this team did or said seemed to have some bearing on its national title hopes -- and it continued into the actual season.
Big dates were circled on the schedule, the hype helped the Penn State-Notre Dame tilt become the hottest ticket on Earth. And suddenly, things actually started falling into place. Michigan was embarrassed; the conference was heading for a down year and ...
Well, we all know what happened from there.
Dan Winklebleck is a former Daily Collegian sports editor and currently works for the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards in Washington D.C. His e-mail is dan.winklebleck@gmail.com.
