Not only did SportsIllustrated.com's Stewart Mandel call Penn State the best team in the Big Ten in his Sunday column and sorry to all of you lovely ladies from Western Pennsylvania, it's Mandel's words, not mine.

I realize many of you feel this is akin to being dubbed the prettiest girl in Pittsburgh, but last we checked, at least one of this conference's teams will be playing in Pasadena, if not Miami -- and the Nittany Lions look more and more like they could be that team.

In its first game against a ranked opponent (Illinois), Penn State showed exactly what the skeptics were waiting to see: An explosive spread offense with a plethora of weapons and a defense that wasn't exactly immune to big plays but produced enough turnovers (three) and key stops that the Illini couldn't close the gap. The Nittany Lions are the league's most complete team right now.

But he also urged any school not in a placed named Happy Valley to not even try to compete with the atmosphere inside Beaver Stadium.

Even seeing it for a third time, it was impossible not to be awed by the visual grandeur of Penn State's "White Out," which manages to turn a 110,000-seat stadium one enormous flashbulb. It's powerful, it's organized (right down to the block "S" in one corner) and, quite frankly, it's awesome.

Two words of advice to all the other schools trying to mimic it: Just stop. Seriously...

Some pretty high praise form a national college football writer. Pat yourselves on the back Penn State students, but just a piece of constructive criticism, if you want to call yourselves the best student section in the country, show up on time for every game, even the noon ones.

FanNation | Five Things We Learned This Weekend.

-- Wible