FanHouse SeanLee

In the first installment of the end-of-season report card on the Big Ten, we looked at the schools in the first half of the alphabet. Know what letter is in the first half of the alphabet? That's right. F. But then, all the other grade letters are in the first half of the alphabet too.

Even though it wasn't a great year overall for the conference, there were plenty of bright points and hopeful signs and "wait until next year" moments which should have Big Ten fans excited for next season. Either that, or we'll all look like Charlie Brown did five seconds after Lucy teed up the football. But I digress. Let's take a look at the teams in the second drawer of the Big Ten file cabinet, shall we?

Football displays a fascinating symbiotic relationship between cathedral and congregation, and nowhere is that more evident than in the foothills of western Pennsylvania, where Penn State fans pack the second-largest stadium in the middle of nowhere.

Often referred to as "an hour away from anything," Beaver Stadium is nevertheless one of the most popular destinations on fall Saturdays. This year is no exception--Penn State has set an all-time record* for most season tickets sold, netting 93,500 sold so far this year. By way of comparison, that's more than the capacity of all but five stadiums in the NCAA.

That it comes this season is a bit surprising; PSU has no real experience at quarterback, lost All-American linebacker Sean Lee to a knee injury, and is nobody's unbiased pick to win the Big Ten. Still, Joe Paterno always makes for great theater, and really, there's nothing else to do out in the middle of rural Pennsylvania. They don't even have cows to tip, folks.

*this isn't true at all, but if it makes Penn State fans feel happy, then whatever.

Penn State has always been known as Linebacker U, and in recent years this tradition hasn't changed with players like Paul Posluszny and Dan Connor. Of course, both of those gentleman are now either in the NFL, or on the verge of being in the NFL with the draft coming up in a few weeks. The Nittany Lions weren't too worried about the loss of Connor last season, because they had their new beast in the middle ready to take over in Sean Lee.

Unfortunately, the Nittany Lions are going to have to go to a backup plan because Lee has torn an ACL and will likely miss the 2008 season.

Lee will have surgery within the next 2-4 weeks and rehabilitation will take approximately nine months, according to Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli, Penn State's Director of Athletic Medicine.

"I have a responsibility to the team to help do everything I can this year in what might be a non-conventional way," Lee said in a school news release. "I have to turn this into a positive. It's a bump in the road. I'm excited about the team we have and the kind of season we can have. It's a great opportunity for a young guy."

Easier said than done because replacing a player like Lee won't be easy. If you were so inclined, you could make an argument that Lee was the team's best defensive player last season, even with Connor alongside him. He's already been named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week twice, was a second-team all conference selection, and was going to be a team captain. If there's any good news about this, and it's of little consolation, it's that Lee does have a redshirt to burn.

It's been a particularly bad off-season for Penn State, what with just about everybody on the team getting arrested for something, and the never-ending distraction that is Joe Paterno's impending retirement. The way things are going, I'm pretty sure I'm going to wake up to the following headline at some point in the next week: Penn State's Beaver Stadium Collapses, Killing Entire Team. Just watch, it'll happen.