I am the king of predictions!!! The closer, Paul Cianciolo hit Derek Moye for a 33-yard touchdown. The score made it 55-13 Penn State and that's how it ended, and guess who predicted Penn State to win 55-13 . . .

PSU 55 SU 13, FINAL

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Backup kicker Colin Wagner boots a field goal and Penn State extends its lead to 35. That 55-13 prediction is looking better and better every drive.

PSU 48 SU 13, 14:08 fourth quarter

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Syracuse finally has gotten something going and the Orange find the end zone for the first time today. Cam Dantley hit Marcus Sales for an 11-yard TD strike to pull Syracuse within 32.

Just for the record, a certain football writer who will remain nameless predicted 55-13 for the final . . .

PSU 45 SU 13, 1:23 third quarter

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After a relatively uneventful first two drives, Penn State picked up where it left off. Stephfon Green took a pitch in from two yards out for a score.

The big play on the drive was an 18-yard Devlin to Chaz Powell pass, which Powell fumbled but Derek Moye recovered. It's just too easy for this offense, only 28 more yards to eclipse 500 for the game.

PSU 45 SU 6, 7:05 third quarter

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Halftime stats

Team PSU SU
1st downs 19 3
Total Yards 393 51
Rush Yards 137 13
Pass Yards 256 38
Turnovers 2 1

Individual

Passing
Daryll Clark - 9 of 18 156 yards, 2 TDs
Pat Devlin - 7 of 9, 100 yards, 2 TDs

Rushing
Evan Royster - 11 carries, 96 yards

Receiving
Jordan Norwood - 5 rec., 113 yards, 2 TDs
Deon Butler - 7 rec., 110 yards, 2 TDs

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Joe Paterno is saying eff you to Syracuse and called a pair of timeouts with less than two minutes to play in the first half. He wanted to preserve the clock so his offense could put more points on the board.

But the timeouts were for not because Anthony Scirrotto fumbled the punt return and Syracuse recovered. But Penn State's defense was able to hold the Orange to just a field goal and the Lions will take over with 45 seconds to play.

PSU 35 SU 6, 0:45 second quarter

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A little razzle dazzle from the Lions, a WR pass from Jordan Norwood fell short of Butler in the end zone. But two plays later, Devlin found Norwood wide open over the middle for a 24-yard TD. Norwood's second of the game.

That pass put Devlin right at 100 yards for the game, meaning Penn State has two 100-yard passers in the first half.

PSU 35 SU 3, 2:32 second quarter.

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Say bye bye shutout. Syracuse finally manages to pick up a first down. The Orange put together a decent drive, but, as usual, stalled at the 27. A 44-yard field goal puts Syracuse on the board.

PSU 28 SU 3, 8:11 second quarter

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And that touchdown for Butler puts him into third place on Penn State's all-time touchdown list with 17 scores, passing O.J. McDuffie.

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The rout is officially on because Pat Devlin is in the game. It's only the second quarter but Devlin's getting some playing time. Good job by the coaches, keep your starters healthy and save them for Big Ten play.

And three plays after entering the game, Devlin finds Butler in the front corner of the end zone.

And just for the record, a certain football writer, I won't name any names, called Butler as his player of the game during the Pigskin Pregame video.

PSU 28 SU 0, 12:11 second quarter.

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This is getting pretty boring. Another Syracuse drive, another three and out. This game is out of hand already and only getting worse.

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And we have our first Mike Lucian sighting on defense. Lucian, a backup offensive lineman, was moved to defense to help provide depth to the thin defensive line. A big Aaron Maybin sack forces another Syracuse three and out and Penn State takes over at its own 31.

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Another impressive drive by the Lions, mainly Royster and Williams on the ground. Capped off by a Dan Lawlor 1-yard TD run. Good for Lawlor, he's done a heck of a job blocking this season and finally gets rewarded with his first TD run of the season.

The rout is on.

PSU 21 SU 0, 2:54 first quarter.

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The defense forces another three and out. This just ain't fair. Syracuse is pretty dang bad.

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Another drive, another Penn State touchdown. Clark finds Deon Butler on a fade in the side of the end zone. It's being reviewed, but it's gotta stand. He got a foot down, maintained possession and the review confirms the ruling on the field.

PSU 14 SU 0, 7:45 first quarter

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Third and long and Clark finds Norwood down the middle, how is he always open? Hello defense, Jordan Norwood's good, why don't you try a double team every now and then?

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The Lion defense forces a three and out, with a clutch play from Jared Odrick on third down busting up a draw. On the punt, Derrick Williams gets interfered with so Penn State starts their third drive on its own 44.

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As soon as Penn State turns it over, Syracuse shows just what kind of team they are and Curtis Brinkley fumbles a screen pass and Lydell Sargeant recovers.
Very next play, Clark finds Norwood who makes three men miss and goes in from 55-yards out. It was a terrible start for the offense, but one big play from the defense and just like that, Penn State has control

PSU 7 SU 0, 14:00 first quarter

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And on the first drive, second play, Daryll Clark rolls out to the left and gets hit. Fumble, recovered by Syracuse. Something we haven't seen. Some adversity, we'll see what the defense can do with a short field. First and 10 Cuse from the 36.

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I'm hearing from Josh that the fan split is about 60-40 Syracuse. And Derrick Williams returns the opening kick to the 34. Good start, we'll see what the offense can do on the road.

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Because of some technical difficulties in the Carrier Dome, I'll be taking you through the game until Travis and Josh get things under control

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- We're still more than an hour away from kickoff here at the Carrier Dome but that's perfect for a few updates.

Penn State defensive linemen Maurice Evans and Abe Koroma did not travel with the team.

The starting defensive line is as follows:

LE: Aaron Maybin
LT: Jared Odrick
RT: Ollie Ogbu
RE: Josh Gaines

Cameron Dantley will start at quarterback for the Orange. Last week

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Hello from blog land. This is Travis and I'm sitting in what has quickly become my favorite press box -- inside the Carrier Dome on the Syracuse campus.

The press box is open and you can literally smell the turf. Mmmm...football.

I'm alongside my partner, Josh Langenbacher and J.L. and I will be taking you through today's game. We'll try our best to get you every update on the jiffy, but there is only two of us today. Wible didn't make the trip and we wish him well. Poor dude spent the night in the hospital back in State College last night. Get better pal.

Josh and I are also joined by two lovely ladies -- miss Abby Drey and miss Meagan Kanagy. Meagan and Abby will be shooting today's game and will have the pictures up tomorrow afternoon at the Collegian's website.

We're still more than two hours from kickoff, but some Syracuse students have already began to file in. Everything here is orange and I think some of these kids spent a combined 100 bucks on orange body paint.

The Orange have compiled a 7-30 record under current head coach Greg Robinson over the past three seasons. For those of you who aren't too quick with math (like myself) that's bad. Real bad. Detroit Lions bad.

So far this year, Syracuse has been demolished by both Northwestern and Akron.

Josh and I got the chance to hang out at a house party here last night and the common consensus is that Robinson is on the hot seat here. This will be a big game in determining his coaching future with the team.

Another interesting note. If you don't pay three bucks for a cup for beer at parties here, they kick you out. Luckily my minor is espionage and I snuck back in.

Syracuse is on the field in warm-up gear throwing some pigskins around now. We have yet to see the Penn State squad.

I'll go ahead and take this time to answer an email we got.

Brian in Irwin, Pa. wants to know where he can get a skull and crossbones Lion Ambassador-style t-shirt.

Brian, we're not sure. In fact, I haven't seen one of those shirts yet. I'd say your best bet is to find someone with one and ask them where they got it. I'll do my best to find out for you and email you back when I get back to State College.

Keep the mail coming.

--Trav