A funny thing happened Saturday afternoon while the nation was watching Michigan shock Notre Dame 26-24 at Notre Dame Stadium.
Over in State College, Pa., Penn State was quietly dismantling 14th-ranked Southern Cal 38-14. The Nittany Lions led 35-0 by the time the Trojans had picked up two first downs.
“We couldn’t have been much better,” Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. “That’s about as well as you could expect a team to play this early in the season.”
That result, combined with the amazing outcome at Notre Dame, has set the stage for the Penn State-Michigan showdown Oct. 15 in Ann Arbor. It’s worth savoring because it has a chance to be a relatively rare occurrence: a Big 10 game with national title implications for both participants.
Sunday, Michigan climbed to fourth in the AP poll and third in the CNN/USA Today poll, while Penn State jumped to sixth in the AP and fifth in the CNN/USA Today. There’s a split at the top: Florida leapfrogged Nebraska in the media’s AP poll after drubbing Kentucky 73-7, but the Cornhuskers remained No. 1 in the coaches’ CNN/USA Today rankings on the strength of their handy victory Thursday night at Texas Tech.
There is, as the coaches like to say, a lot of football to be played between now and Oct. 15, but both Michigan and Penn State figure to be favored in every game until they meet. And now that the Notre Dame-Florida State rematch Nov. 12 has lost considerable luster, the battle between the Wolverines and Nittany Lions is shaping up as a candidate for game of the year.
Michigan takes this week off, then meets seventh-ranked Colorado at Michigan Stadium. It visits Iowa Oct. 1 and plays host to Michigan State Oct. 8.
The Nittany Lions have a much easier road to Ann Arbor. They play host to Iowa on Saturday, then take on low-cal Rutgers and Temple. And they’re free the weekend before the Michigan game, which figures to help Paterno as he devises his game plan.
The Wolverines hope to have tailback Tyrone Wheatley healthy by the time Penn State calls. But it’s obvious they have plenty of weapons without him, beginning with quarterback Todd Collins.
Big 10 followers need no introduction to the cool senior from Walpole, Mass.; he led the league in passing efficiency in 1993 (conference games only), completing 67.2 percent of his throws for 1,537 yards and 11 touchdowns.
This year, he has connected on 38 of 53 attempts for 482 yards and three touchdowns.
