Who Can Count The Angles?

College football, just like every other sport, is a numbers game.

With that in mind here are a few digits to keep in mind while munching nachos and popping tops during today’s Nebraska-Notre Dame tilt.

20,000: Nebraska fans expected in South Bend this weekend.

16,000: Nebraska fans ticketless in South Bend this weekend.

1,000: Dollars needed to buy a ticket on eBay

6: Face value of a game ticket.

600: Miles between the two campuses.

200: Private planes expected at South Bend Regional Airport. The previous high was 184 when No. 2 Notre Dame knocked off No. 1 Florida State.

20: Pages of special game section produced by the Lincoln Journal Star on Wednesday.

16: Combined national titles.

The list could go on and on. Much like the tradition of these two schools. Suffice it to say today’s game is this week’s game of the century. According to NBC at least.

In reality it is a game that will showcase two of the top programs of the last century. Yesterday’s glory vs. today’s powerhouse. U.S. Steel vs. Microsoft, so to speak. Again, check out the numbers.

No. 1 Nebraska has had 31 straight years of nine wins or better. Eight national championship game appearances since 1980. Three titles since 1993. A record of 81-8 since that same year. A streak of 311 straight weeks in the polls. Eight Outland Trophies. Four Lombardi Awards.

No. 23 Notre Dame was the top program for most of the last century. The Four Horsemen. A .753 winning percentage. Second place on college football’s all-time win list at 768. Touchdown Jesus. A streak of 151 straight sellouts. A total of 199 sellouts in 200 games. And Rudy.

Still, the teams have met only 14 times (Notre Dame holds a 7-6-1 edge). They haven’t clashed since 1972, when Nebraska whipped Notre Dame, 40-6 in the Orange Bowl.

This will put - watch out, more numbers here - 80,232 in the seats at Notre Dame Stadium. And many more in front of their televisions.

Of course, the most telling number is 13.5. That’s how many points by which Nebraska is favored to win.

Classic Vlasic

Georgia’s trainers have been giving their players pickle juice before practice this week to help prevent cramping. The juice contains a combination of salt and nutrients believed to prevent cramps. And so far it is working.

In their 41-14 win over Dallas last week, the Philadelphia Eagles used pickle juice and never cramped in the 109-degree weather.

Georgia, on the other hand, had several players suffer cramps in its opener against Georgia Southern. Not this week, said coach Jim Donnan.

“We’re going with that pickle juice,” he said. “We got a gallon of it, and our guys are going to take it.”

Nitpicking Nittany Lions

In the wake of Penn State’s second straight loss (fifth straight in the regular season dating to last year), things aren’t so happy in Happy Valley.

This week sophomore running back Larry Johnson had some harsh criticism for Penn State coach Joe Paterno.

“We have the best backfield in the country, but we don’t have the offensive line to go with it,” Johnson said following the home loss to Toledo. “We have coaches who have been here 20, 30 years. It seems like things never change. We run the same offense. Teams that play us know what we’re going to run. They can pull out tapes from ‘92 or ‘93 and we run the same offense. Everything we do is too predictable.”

Johnson is the son of Penn State defensive line coach, Larry Sr.

Stat of the week

Big Ten teams notched seven victories last week, and outscored opponents, 269-57. In five of the six games last Saturday, a Big Ten team scored more than 30 points. If only Penn State could have cooperated.