VIEW FROM THE MIDWEST: SEPTEMBER 8, 2007

Welcome to Happy Valley, Irish Fans

By Paul Smith / smith@collegeblitz.com

Things to remember while awaiting Notre Dame's visit to the outdoor insane asylum that is Happy Valley...

The date was Nov. 17, 1990, and the cocky Fighting Irish of Ricky Watters, Rocket Ismail, Chris Zorich and friends, freshly reminted at No. 1 after a come-from-behind 34-29 win at No. 9 Tennessee, let it be known -- off the record, but clearly audible -- that No. 18 Penn State posed "No problem," according to two prominent players walking out of a weekday practice.

The looks on said players' faces after Craig Fayak's game-winning field goal with four seconds left was a Kodak Moment for the ages.

Penn State-Notre Dame, under any microscope, is a fascinating intersectional matchup which has been a too-infrequent 18-game scrum between what usually are two of the nation's pre-eminent teams.

Notre Dame leads, 9-8-1, after last year's 41-17 Irish thumping of a slow-starting Nittany Lions team at Notre Dame Stadium, the first game in the series since 1992.

When Irish All-American Brady Quinn was still dropping back to pass in the early-mid fourth quarter, with his team up by three touchdowns and change, there were more than a few Nitts muttering under their breaths on their sideline.

Which brings us to Saturday's 6 p.m. (ESPN-TV, Penn State and Westwood One radio) renewal of what could be one of college football's more intense rivalries. This time, it would appear, the No. 14 Lions may have to resist the temptation to be overconfident against a vulnerable Irish team that was schooled by Georgia Tech 33-3 in the most one-sided season-opening home loss in N.D. history.

Coach Charley Weis announced early in the week that uberfreshman Jimmy Clausen, the most publicized Irish quarterback since, well, ok, Quinn -- but truthfully, since Berwick, Pa.'s Ron Powlus hit campus in 1994 in a blizzard of newspaper clippings.

Nobody dared to ask if this represented a panic move. "He was the leader of the competition at the end of the spring," Weis said of Clausen, who completed four of six passes against Georgia Tech and generally showed promise.

Talking to the South Bend Tribune's Notre Dame beat writer Eric Hansen, Weis added, "Then after spring he had that (elbow) bone spur taken off and then he rehabbed, but he wasn't ready to do everything on a daily basis until Sept. 1.

"So we kind of got into that gray area where we couldn't consider him the starter for the opening game."

Ironically, Powlus plays a key role with Clausen as Weis' trusty quarterbacks coach.

But the real battle for the Irish will be to keep Penn State's hyperactive defense from devouring Clausen whole.

A solid, but not superior Georgia Tech d-line spent the afternoon dining on a 3-course Q.B. meal of last week's starter, Demetrius Jones, Evan Sharpley and Clausen, sacking them 9 times -- with Sharpley taking the brunt (7).

With what is almost surely going to be a victory-starved record Beaver Stadium crowd of over 110,000 -- and only 5,000 Notre Dame sympathizers -- the "great" part of "What though the odds be great or small" would seem to apply to Notre Dame's straight uphill task, particularly the Irish's embattled o-line.

"You have to be close to your linemates," sophomore offensive tackle Sam Young told the South Bend Tribune's Notre Dame beat writer Eric Hansen. "If you're not, then you're not going to have that trust factor..."

They may be close indeed -- linemen always are -- but the deafening crescendo of sound that almost surely will accompany every Notre Dame huddle departure could bring a whole new challenge to the Irish's talented-but-young offensive line.

"I know, coming off the field (last Saturday), I was embarrassed," Young, a 6-feet, 8-inch tackle from Coral Springs, Fla., told Hansen.

"I cannot say too many times in high school, college, middle school that I've come off the field and just been like, 'Wow.' "

He can pretty much count on another "Wow"-type experience in Happy Valley. And Weis, no doubt, will have dissected the unappetizing game tapes from last week where his quarterbacks were running for their lives and there was no semblance of a Notre Dame running game.

That said, Penn State will have a second opponent to deal with on its home turf.

Overconfidence.

Against Notre Dame??? You're kidding, right?

Nope.

But the good news for Penn State, which showed some innovative offensive wrinkles in the opening 59-0 rout of Florida International, is the same thing that is bad for Notre Dame.

The crowd.

"There's just a buzz around campus," center A.Q. Shipley told The Centre Daily Times' Jeff Rice. "Everyone's excited and we're getting phone calls from people trying to get tickets. I think it's going to be an exciting game."

The newest Penn State craze, the "white out" where white Lions t-shirts are distributed throughout the stadium, will combine with a roar that would rival a flyover of the Blue Squadron to establish one of college football's true home field advantages.

"I like playing Notre Dame," coach Joe Paterno said. "I think it's fun. I like playing all these guys (the Big 10 marquee teams and national powers). Otherwise, what are you in it for?"

Weis scratched his head just before singing the Cubs' ritualistic seventh-inning stretch song, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in late July. Innocuously, Cubs radio play-by-play announcer Pat Hughes asked Weis, "Well, Charley, how's that early season schedule look?"

Weis rolled his eyes and said, "well, we open with Georgia Tech, the go to Happy Valley and Ann Arbor. Other than that, not bad."

This will be an ultimate test of the 2007 Irish's will. Generally consigned to the .500 neighborhood by the prognosticators, the Irish defense, which played well at times against Georgia Tech, will have to deal with wide receivers Deon Butler and Derrick Williams, plus a cannon-armed quarterback, Anthony Morelli.

Asked about line play, particularly his o-line, Weis was typically abrupt-but-honest.

"It (the apparent overmatch against the Ramblin' Wreck) had nothing to do with physical ability," he insisted to the South Bend Tribune's Eric Hansen. "I just thought the speed of the game, our offensive front versus their defensive front, we were playing at two different tempos."

Penn State's defense is a swarming, quick-to-the-ball attack unit that didn't give up more than 17 points in last season's last six games. Defensive end Josh Gaines and linebackers Dan Connor and Sean Lee are as good as just about any anywhere and a hard-hitting, athletic secondary does the rest.

The twelth man in the stands won't hurt, either.