One of the many things that annoys me about sports media is that when a team fails to live up to preseason expectations they are immediately labeled a disappointment. Sports prognosticators should be humble enough to admit that maybe the real disappointment was the flawed work of their preseason analysis in giving a team expectations it wasn't realistic to meet. That's what I'm debating right now regarding Penn State. I loved the Nittany Lions in August and picked them to win the Big Ten, while staying in the mix of the national title discussion. The loss to Alabama took them out of the latter, but it's the two games since then that really raise alarm bells.

Penn State barely got by Temple 14-10 in a game played in Philadelphia. I know Temple is a good MAC team, but a top-level Big Ten team shouldn't have any problem. The Lions couldn't run the ball and needed three turnovers by the Owls to escape Lincoln Financial with the win. Then last week against Eastern Michigan the margin of victory was an expected 34-6, but the running game was again substandard, as Silas Redd led all Penn State rushers with 48 yards. I'm still not sure if the disappointment in all this is Penn State or me, but the performance on the field looks nothing like a Big Ten title contender.

The schedule still favors Joe Paterno's team. They play at Indiana on Saturday to open conference play, and then come home for winnable games against Iowa and Purdue. It remains to be seen how tough a trip Northwestern will be after that. Then it's a home game with Illinois. It's reasonable to think Penn State could be 5-0 and even if they're only average, a 4-1 record is a good bet in league play. The tough stretch comes after a bye week, when they get Nebraska, Ohio State and Wisconsin in succession. Then we can find out if the Lions have what it takes to make it to Indianapolis in December for the Big Ten's first-ever championship game.

Image from pennlive.com

Dan Flaherty hosts podcasts at www.primesportsnetwork.com on Monday (4 ET), Wednesday (3:30 ET) and Thursday (6 ET) to talk NFL, baseball and college football.