Notre Dame [4] 41, Penn State [19] 17: The first of two games matching ranked BCS teams from last season. The Nittany Lions were a great fluke team last season; almost all of their tough opponents were at home, they played a soft non-conference schedule, and then got to meet the weakest of the eight BCS schools (F.S.U.) in the Orange Bowl. Of their two difficult road games, one required a busted defensive assignment in the last minute to get the win versus Northwestern, and the other was the last second loss to mediocre Michigan.

If the mistake-filled effort yesterday is any indication, Joe Pa is going to fall very, very hard this season. The Fighting Irish moved out to a thirty-eight point lead in the 4th quarter, conceding two meaningless scores at the end to make the result less unrespectable, and will get to play a Michigan squad that saw its game suspended for an hour by lightning before blowing out Central Michigan by an identical score.