With the Bulls star point guard Derrick Rose on the bench nursing a turf toe injury this has given C.J. Watson his chance to shine. Obviously, we all know that once Rose is healthy enough to return, that Watson will return to the bench. On the other hand, the Bulls now have insured themselves that they have a viable asset coming off the bench. Of course he is not a Derrick Rose and if you were to ask Watson that question he would most likely agree but, a nice combo set with the two.

Watson was a four year player with the University of Tennessee. A great college career where his best season came during his senior year in (2005-06), playing under head coach Bruce Pearl He averaged 15.3 points, 3.9 assists and 3.1 rebounds for the season. He received Second Team All-SEC honors from the Associated Press and the league coaches. He finished his collegiate career as Tennessee’s second all-time leader in assists (577), second in steals (198), sixth in three-point field goal percentage (.396), tied for eighth in three-point field goals (401), and 15th in scoring (1,424) points.

Watson made a brief stint with San Antonio Spurs in the 2006 NBA summer league before heading overseas to play with Italian Serie A team Bipop Carire Reggio Emilia. He averaged 8.5 points and 2.3 rebounds in 17 games. He then moved to Greece where he played with team PAOK B.C. where he averaged 7.4 points and 2.2 assists in five games. He had a short stop in the D League where he was the third leading scorer and the 100th player to ever be called up from the D league.

He was signed by the Golden State Warriors where he played three seasons there before being traded to the Bulls where he spent his last two. This now deepens an already deep Chicago bench with a much needed depth at the guard position. An unbalanced lost at Memphis, a lost to the Atlanta Hawks on January 7th, and an early loss to Golden State; the Bulls are perfect on the season.  Rose was injured on the 10th of January and has been in and out of the lineup.

C.J. Watson has been able to hold up the consistency of the play of the Bulls with Rose out of the lineup. Watson is the bulls 5th leading scorer with just over 10 points a game and dishing out just over 3 assists per game. He leads the Bulls with 1.3 steals a game. He has now proven to Chicago and their fans that he can keep the wheel rolling without Rose in the lineup.

With a record of 14-3 and an unblemished mark at home with 6 straight victories, Rose can rest his turf toe injury until it is completely healed with emergence of Watson. The Bulls are first in the central division and first in the eastern conference as of January 21th.

Penn State (6-4 3-3) looks to rebound against Indiana University (4-6 0-6) this Saturday in Maryland.

The game will be played at neutral site at FedEx field in Landover, Maryland. The Hoosiers will be considered the home team. This will be the second neutral site game for the Nittany Lions since joing the Big 10 in 1993. Penn State leads the series 13-0. They were victorious last year in Beaver Stadium 31-20 against the Hoosiers.  Penn State is appearing on television for the 201st time in their last 203 games.

Penn State is 13-2 in its next game after a loss since the 2005 season. Last week they were up on the Buckeyes 14-3 . Unfortunately, the 14 points were the only points the Nittany Lions were able to put up as Ohio State scored 24 unanswered points. Linebacker Chris Colasanti is one of the most valuable players on the Nittany Lion defense, he will have to step up big again this week. The offense will look to establish the run game with Evan Royster who has 772 yards and four touchdowns this season.

Last week, the Hoosiers also lost to Wisconsin in embarrassing fashion 83-20.  Darius Willis is listed as out for this week’s game with a groin injury for the Hoosiers.   Damarlo Belcher is the deep threat for Indiana. He has  69 receptions for 741 yards and four touchdowns this year. Ben Chappell has 2,728 yards in the air,19 touchdowns, and nine interceptions this year. The Hoosiers are the Big Ten Conference’s No. 1 passing offense at 287 yards per game while Penn State has the No. 2 pass defense in the conference.

Penn State looks to stay perfect against the Hoosiers.

Kickoff is at 12:00

The Nittany Lions (6-3 3-2) make a comeback from 21 down to get the comeback victory and get Joe Paterno his 400th win of his hall of fame coaching career.

Again, filling in for Robert Bolden, backup quarterback Matt McGloin threw four touchdowns, passed for 225 yards without a pick. After allowing 21 points, a stingy Nittany Lion defense did not allow a point in the second half. Penn State had 260 yards on the ground. Evan Royster rushed for 134 yards on 25 carries and one receiving touchdown and Silas Redd had 131 yards on 11 carries and one rushing touchdown.  Evan Royster and Silas Reed  become the fourth pair of Penn State rushers to gain 130 yards on the ground in the same game in school history.

Dan Persa tried to do his best imitation of Denard Robinson but just like Robinson’s efforts, is was not enough. He threw for 201 yards on 16/25 passing attempts, and rushed for 109 yards on 25 carries. The last big play for Northwestern(6-3 2-3) was a one handed leaping catch by tight end Drake Dunsmore. Persa was able to put up spectacular numbers, but he was not able to play the role of spoiler this week.

Freshman Rob Bolden started for the first time since being knocked out of the Minnesota game two weeks ago. However, he was pulled after fumbling the ball away on a sack on his second series. Paterno said that Bolden was not injured. After the rushing touchdown by Redd, Penn State was up for good. Northwestern had one last final drive haulted when Persa drove the offense to the Penn State 9 with 8:13 left but, threw an incompletion into the end zone on fourth down. Penn State’s defense was lead by linebacker Michael Mauti, who help lead a defense that was able to hault a double threat quaterback again.

Chants of Paterno, Paterno, Paterno were englofed thoughout the stadium as time began to tick away. Paterno, who played it cool looked as if he was tuning the whole thing out. Even Sue Paterno tried herself not to make a big deal out of the whole thing. The Paternos’ son and quarterback coach Jay Paterno said the whole family initially planned not to attend the game.

“Mom, I hate to tell you, but it’s kind of a big deal. 400 wins really hasn’t been done at this level,” he said in relaying the conversation before tearing up.

Joe Paterno who was excited about the 400th win, but was more impressed with how his boys came back to win the game.” To see them come back the way they came back, Joe Paterno said, “really, it sounds phony, but really it was more important to me than whether it was 350 wins or 400 wins”

Before leaving the field and speaking in front of a packed house at Beaver Stadium, screams out, let’s go and beat Ohio State who they play next week away at 3:30.

Trying to pick up another win the Happy Valley boys look to gain more momentum.

Penn State invites Northwestern into Beaver stadium Saturday November 6th. Kickoff will be at 3:36 in front of a packed Nittany Lion fan base.  ABC/ESPN2 will nationally televise the contest with Sean McDonough, Matt Millen and Heather Cox calling the action. Penn State will be appearing on TV for the 199th time in their last 201 games.

Joe Paterno comes into this game looking for win number 400.  Penn State leads the all-time series 10-3. They come into the game winning the last three games. They meet for the first time in Beaver stadium since 2006. The squads will be in different Big Ten divisions starting in the year 2011, but are scheduled to face off against each other in the next two years. The Lions will visit Evanston on Oct. 22, 2011.

If Penn State plans to make it three in a row, they will need the Evan Royster to come up big again. They may look for help from a different handful of people. They will be looking for a pefromance like last week to help guide them to another victory.

Nittany Lions look to make it three in a row.

Well the question was whether Evan Royster could step up and be the difference for the Nittany Lions, well he answered those questions.

Down to their second string quarterback and injuries on the defensive side, the senior tailback rushed for 150 yards on 29 carries and two touchdowns. By far it was Royster’s best performance of the year. The replacement for Robert Bolden, the virtually unknown Matthew Mcgloin had the Nittany Lions’ offense moving smoothly. He was able to guide the Nittany Lion offense with 250 yards through the air and one touchdown toss. The defense of Penn State was able to lock down the Michigan offense’s late surge and their double threat quarterback Denard Robinson.

That’s about as well as we can play … Mac had a lot to do with it,” said coach Joe Paterno, who recorded his 399th career win all with the Penn State coaching staff. This turnaround in happy valley is showing signs of life around the team and the campus. A two game losing streak and an injured quarterback, things began to look down for the Nittany Lions. With the performance of Evan Royster, he has now broken a three decade record for rushing yards passing Hall of Famer Curt Warner which stood at 3,398.

Happy Valley is now happy again after the Nittany Lions (5-3, 2-2 Big Ten) begin their new winning streak after picking up their second straight this week.

On the other side, Michigan drops to (5-3, 1-3) following a 5-0 start. Fans of Michigan were hoping for a win this week which would have made them bowl eligible for the first time in Rich Rodriguez coaching tenure at Michigan, but now again he is on the hot seat. Rodriguez always known for his offense, again looks at his defense again for answers. “We’re doing a good job of making a lot of quarterbacks look pretty good,” Rodriguez said. His one man offense Denard Robinson had 191 yards rushing on 27 carries for three touchdowns. He also had one throwing touchdown. Without him, what else is there in this offense, and where would Michigan be? When the Wolverines were down by 21, he tried his best to bring his boys back. But it was to no luck. Michigan would trail 31-10, scoring 21 points and only trailing by seven, the Nittany Lions were able to put it away with a late field goal to go up by ten and seal the game.

 Next week the Nittany Lions will be back home against Northwestern. The time of the game is yet to be announed. Michigan will be home againts the fighting Illini of Illinois.

Fresh of their win, the Nittany Lions look to make it two in a row this week at home.

The Nittany Lions will host the Michigan Wolverines at Beaver Stadium. This maybe the first week that Penn State desperatly needs Evan Royster. With all of the injuries to the defnese and now the injury to Rob Bolden, the senior tail back needs to step up big in this game. ESPN will nationally televise the contest with Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe calling the action. The Nittany Lions are appearing on television for the 198th time in their last 200 games. Kick off is at 8:06 P.M. eastern standard time.

Penn State has been victorious in the last two meetings however, Michigan leads the series 10-5.  The Nittany Lions won 35-10 last year in Ann Arbor, and 46-17 in Beaver Stadium in 2008. The squads will be in different Big Ten divisions starting in 2011 and are not scheduled to meet the next two years. The Wolverines come into the game with a record of (5-2 1-2) and the Nittnay Lions come in with a record of (4-3 1-2). It is simple for Penn State, they stop Denard Robinson and more than likely they will be in good shape. Robinson who leads the team in passing yard and rushing yards is the engine that drives this Wolverine offense. Rich Rodriquesz comes into the game looking for his first win against Penn State. 

Kick off is at 8:06 P.M. eastern standard time.

The Penn State Nittany Lions look to bounce back from their recent losing skid as they face off against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

TCF Bank Stadium will become the 65th different facility in which head coach Joe Paterno has led the Nittany Lions into as head coach. With its only bye week of the season last week, the Nittany Lions head into to Minnesota to begin the second half of their season. The game, which is scheduled for an 11 a.m. central time/12 eastern time, will air on ESPNU, the Penn State Sports Network and www.GoPSUsports.com. Penn State will be playing the Golden Gophers for the first time since 2008 and will be in the new stadium of Minnesota for the first time ever.

The Golden Gophers are meeting for the 12th time with Penn State winning the last three games; Penn State leads the series 7-4. The Nittany Lions come into the game without a conference win yet this season.  The Nittany Lions enter the game a lot healthier, linebackers  Bani Gbdayu, Gerald Hodges and Michael Mauti should be available to play. Hodges has been sidelined since he injured his leg on the first play of the Sept. 11 game at Alabama. Defensive linemen Jordan Hill and Pete Massaro, who left the Illinois game, are expected to play this week.

Senior running back Evan Royster eclipsed Blair Thomas for third place on the Penn State career rushing yardage list vs. Illinois. He has 3,306 yards and stands 93 yards shy of breaking Curt Warner’s  school record of 3,398 yards. Royster needs just 15 yards to pass Tony Hunt for second place.

Minnesota comes into the game with an overall record of 1-6 (0-3) in the big ten. Last week the Golden Gophers lost to Purdue last week 28-17. Minnesota hit for two late touchdowns but it was not enough to make the comeback complete. Throwing for 214 yards helped Minnesota, but the three turnovers and the Owls rushing for 230 yards were the difference makers.

Penn State looks to pick up the win as they face off against the Wolverines of Michigan next week.

Happy Valley definitely was not Happy this week on their homecoming.  Illinois won their first game ever in beaver stadium defeating the Nittany Lions of Penn State 33-13. Mikel Leshoure ran for 119 yards, Nate Bussey had a 16-yard interception return for a score were, two big key plays of the game.

The Nittany Lions had a 3 point lead at the end of the first quarter. After that everything was going the Fighting Illini’s way. Despite three fumbles the Fighting Illini were able to overcome those turnovers and with the help of their defense were able to keep the Nittany Lions very limited. They held Penn State to just 2 of 14 on third-down conversions.

Offensively for Penn State still had trouble converting in the red-zone.  They were unable to capitalize on two Ramsy fumbles and settled for only six points on the two turnovers. The Illinois defense was able to frustrate Bolden and terrorize the offense of Penn State. True freshman Robert Bolden did not even break 150 yards today. He threw interception that was taken to the house, and then followed up with an 80 yard touchdown pass. Other than that pass, it was a poor performance by the freshman quarterback. Senior tailback has another sub-par day with on 35 yards on 11 carries. 

On offense the fighting Illini were able to control the clock and hold onto the ball for 38 minutes. Nathan Scheelhaase passed for 191 yards on 15-19 attempts.

The Penn State Nittany Lions (3-2,0-1 Big Ten) look to bounce back from a tough defeat last week in the hands of the Iowa Hawkeyes. The Hawkeyes made it three straight victories and gave the Nittany Lions their first conference loss a week ago.

This week the Nittany Lions will be back home against the Fighting Illini of Illinois (2-2, 0-1 Big Ten).  The contest is the Nittany Lions’ 91st Homecoming Game. Penn State has gone  65-20-5 all-time on homecoming games and are 39-5 under Coach Joe Paterno. The Fighting Illini are coming off a 24-13 home loss to No. 2 Ohio State. This is their first away game of the season. The game will be televised on ESPN2 with Bob Wischusen and Brian Griese calling the play-by-pay. This will be the 196th time that the Nittany Lions will be televised out of 198 games. Joe Paterno comes into the game as the active leader in wins amongst all FBS (1-A) coaches, and the fastest to 300 wins as well.  

The Nittany Lions will be meeting Illinois for the 18th time. Penn State is leading the series 14-3 which includes an 11-2 mark since the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten in 1993.

Kickoff is at 12:01

Well we can make it three in a row for the Hawkeyes against the Nittany Lions. There was no last second heroics to win the game, nor was there any type of comeback, this was just a straight defeat.

This was a game in which the defense of Iowa completely ran through the Nittany Lion offense.   Offensively Stanza threw for 225 yards and one touchdown. He also ran for another as the Iowa Hawkeyes rolled past the Nittany Lions of Penn Sate 24-3. Adam Robinson added 95 yards rushing for the Hawkeyes and the defense held Penn State to 3 points and a horrific 3-13 on third down.

It was the Hawkeyes all the way from the beginning as they bounced out to a 17-0 lead late in the first half.  A 9 yard touchdown pass from Ricky Stanzi to Darrell Johnson Koulianos and holding Penn State to a field-goal at the end of the first half where the key plays of that half. A false start call stalled that drive and left them with the field goal. Late in the fourth quarter, Penn State was held on 4^th and goal at the one when Bolden who tried to scramble was stopped at the goal line. The final nail was when Shaun Prater returned an interception 33 yards for a TD with 1:27 left.

Michael Meyer would hit a field goal to put the Hawkeyes up 3-0. On the next series Stanzi would throw a pick, but would come back and hit a touchdown pass on the next go around at the winding minutes of the first quarter.

Bolden passed for212 yards and one interception for Penn State (3-2, 0-1), which has only scored six points in their pair of road losses this year. The Hawkeyes have won eight out of nine games vs. Penn State. The 21 point win was 2 points higher than the Hawkeyes 19-0 win over the Nittany Lions in 1930. Outgained 148-1 in the first quarter and the constant red-zone problems were the death of Penn State. Evan Royster only rushed for 54 yards.

The Iowa Hawkeyes and their coach Kirk Ferentz have had Penn State’s number this decade. The Hawkeyes have had the top record of all Big Ten Conference opponents against Penn State since 2000.It was a tough loss for the Nittany Lions who look to bounce back next week when they return home against Illinois who also dropped their first conference game.