Wed Nov 04, 2009 11:45 am EST
Note: Penn State marketers have decided to pull the shirts in question; please see update at the bottom of the post.

I'm sure that, somewhere in their hearts, Pennsylvanians love and respect Terrelle Pryor, a native son with the world at his feet who's set to rekindle the long lineage of great western Pennsylvania quarterbacks. But there's plenty of time for that down the line -- for now, as long as Pryor remains a turncoat in the Scarlet and Gray, Penn State students are content to mock his tears on commemorative t-shirts for Ohio State's visit to Happy Valley this Saturday:
The $10 shirt features the Nittany Lion handing a tissue to Ohio State player Terrelle Pryor. The tagline: "The Nutcracker: A Terrelle Cryer Story."
Penn State Marketing Association (PSMA) President Dan Sturman (senior-marketing) said his club is excited about the shirt, especially its focus on Pryor.
"After we beat Ohio State last year, you couldn't walk through a dorm without seeing the picture of Terrelle Pryor with his head in his hands," Sturman said. "That vivid image is still on everyone's mind."
It's probably on Pryor's mind, too: His fourth-quarter fumble in Columbus set up the only touchdown in a 13-6 Nittany Lion win that cost Ohio State the Big Ten championship and at least its first trip to the Rose Bowl since 1996, if not a shot at the national championship. PSU's cruel mockery of Pryor's despondent reaction on the bench has yet to stop, and won't until the would-be phenom does something to stop it, beginning with a winning effort to revive the Buckeyes' relatively sagging season Saturday.
On an aesthetic note, there don't seem to be any complaints of the variety that accompanied Penn State's last "white-out" t-shirt, featuring a design that may or may not have subliminally suggested a crucifix and set a (very small) handful of campus types to complaining. The lesson: Vague, unintentional and probably wholly imagined allusions to religion may divide, but unabashed hatred of the Buckeyes is a winner every time.
[UPDATE, 5:44 p.m. ET] "Outcry" has put the kibosh on sales of the shirts, including a recall of those that have already been distributed after Penn State marketers got cold feet: "The feedback we received thought it was too over-the-top. ... It was not meant to be an attack on Pryor. He's an amazing athlete. It's not an attack on him, and that's not what Penn State is about." Students who still wish to be about that this weekend will have to bootleg it.
- - -
(Hat tip: CFT)
Dr. Saturday is a college football blog edited by Matt Hinton. Email him tips and feedback.

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haha!
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Can we fire the guy already and hire the FL or Cincy coach?????
PLEASE?
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Cryer rhymes with Pryor. How can that NOT be a personal attack on Terrelle Pryor? How can this be taken any other way than a personal attack on a college sophomore? If it rhymed with your name, and mocked a moment in your life, it's an attack on YOU.
That's not what Penn State is all about? So be it! Then apologize for what it WAS. Say you're sorry. Admit it was wrong. If Penn State is about making their wrongs right, ADMIT WHAT YOU DID WAS WRONG.
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