The Penn State Football Show

As we all know, Charlie "the Chocolate Factory" Weis was axed a few days ago after an uninspiring tenure as Notre Dame's head football coach and adviser to the student group "IFL" (International FUPA League). Although he is now jobless, he received somewhere around $15 million due to his extensive contract that had him coaching until his Adidas wind breaker pants were the only thing he was capable of wearing. He is expected to make his next live appearance on ESPN on July 4, 2010 where he will attempt to dethrone Joey Chestnut and Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. But to get back to the focus of this jab at Notre Dame....they are coachless right now...but they are 6-6. They are bowl eligible. However, if they were going to play in a bowl game, it would either be the Little Ceasar's "I want to shoot myself in the head" Pizza Bowl played in lovely Detroit, or the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, AL (likely against a C-USA opponent). Not great options...but it's a bowl game, and you're team gets money for that. And in Notre Dame's case (since they are independent) they don't have to share that money with anyone. Reports indicate that the team is highly unlikely of accepting a bowl bid, however, and it seems as if their pride has gotten in the way of letting their players compete in another football game.

No, they won't be playing on New Year's Day, and not many people will probably go or watch, but what about those seniors that lost their last home game to Connecticut? Do they not get to play again (some for the rest of their lives) because the school doesn't want to "stoop" to the level of Conference USA? I am just flabbergasted at this possibility, and can't say that I have ever heard of a team saying "no" to a bowl game....except for the ones back in the day where the team got a bowl bid, but they weren't allowed to bring their black players so the team decided not to go...that's fine....but just not going? Where do they get off? This really bothers me because there are kids playing at schools like Temple and Buffalo that worked their tails off to even have the chance of going 6-6 and getting to a bowl. Getting an invite to the Little Ceasar's Pizza Bowl for these schools would be like Notre Dame hiring Jesus as head coach, yet here ND sits. Sometimes you've got to lower your standards and go after a fat chick, because something is better than nothing. Hopefully Notre Dame changes their mind because it isn't fair for their players, and even though I want them to lose every single game they ever play, it's just not right.

Keep an eye out for a new Klondike Bar commercial where the "What would you do for a Klondike Bar" slogan will be sung, and we will then see Charlie Weis decimate a pet store full of puppies with a blow torch.

Going into depth a little more on Bowden, I am starting to feel for the guy. I blame this solely on the media who tends to depict athletes and coaches as Saints when they retire/die when the full story is nothing but the opposite. Example: Steve McNair. People are calling this guy a great community leader and family man before he was so tragically slain. Not buyin it. Bowden is a less than perfect guy who has been maybe the biggest perpetrator of nepotism I have ever seen. His recruitment of certain players has had a lot of people raising their eyebrows and his players have criminal records only rivaled by their athletic prowess. Having said that, I thought he handled the academic scandal extremely well and gained a lot of points with me in that one.

His forced retirement at FSU reminds me of a few years ago when fans and faculty were calling for JoePa to step down. I will admit for the first time publicly that I was one of those fans. It is one of the most shameful behaviors of my life I wish I could take back but can't. I feel terrible every time I think about it. But I was a 18 year old kid tired of seeing his once mighty Lions lose to the same teams that we used to beat right off the field. I'm glad to see Penn State kept Joe around and made a solemn vowel to myself I would support him no matter how many losing seasons we might have. The problem with guys like Paterno and Bowden is, given the chance, they will never leave. Its just not in them. So when things go terribly afoul its up to someone else to make the tough decision.

I have to agree with Jason on a playoff system. Not so much for the same reasons as he stated but its just not feasible. I think that goes into the pageantry of college football that it often resembles a Greek tragedy. But as with most things in life, sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you get screwed. But in the long run things seem to work out. If we think back a few years ago, the number one team most times didn't even play the number two team in their final game and it was left up to writers to determine the National Champion. Its an imperfect world, why should our bowl selections be any different? I am still holding strong on my opinion that Penn State does not deserve a BCS game this year though.

I don't know if anyone saw this from last weeks USC-UCLA game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVpyI6eWvwQ Its absolutely atrocious. You would think the media would have a field day with this but the fact that Tiger Woods dinged his Caddy coupled with the fact that Pete Carrol is a media darling and it all makes sense. I hate Pete Carrol. I have always hated Pete Carrol. I think he pays his recruits and I think he is a scumbag. And all the Behind the Lines stories where he gave an inner-city kid a chance to be their towel boy for a game won't change that. As for UCLA, either sprint across the field and start throwing fisticuffs or sit there and shut up. I totally agree that what USC did was the poorest showing of sportsmanship and they have every right to be mad. But either put up or shut up. All you've done is create a pre-game montage for next year.

Big ups to Big Ten hoops which brought home victory in the Big Ten/ACC challenge for the first time in 11 years.

Not sure how many of you got a chance to watch the "Bowl Game Promo" (click here for link) shown smack dab on the front of Penn State's athletic website Gopsusports.com. I read briefly about this in some articles, but not until this evening did I stumble upon it and actually watch the video.

How do I feel about this video? The fact that I have to make a stance on this video is what is wrong with the system. Go ahead and argue the x' and o's, head-to-head comparisons, etc. This is blatant proof that the selection process is absolutely ludicrous and that college football is simply a money-making MACHINE.

As a loyal fan, sure, I'm pulling for us to get a BCS bid and a chance to knock off a top-ranked and/or potentially undefeated team (Boise State). Contrarily, I have about as much interest in watching Iowa play in a BCS game (should they be selected) as some of the West Point Cadets had (caught snoozing) listening to Obama present his politically divided Afghanistan insurgent speech. However, do we deserve the bid? See previous posts and you decide.

I'd imagine Guido is behind this operation, as he should be because it's his job, to promote Penn State football (and basketball). But I guess I will go ahead and make my stance. I don't like it. If the Penn State brand is that good, do we need to sell it this much? Is the Fiesta Bowl committee really going to base their selection off some statistics they saw on a promo video? As much as it may seem like they are sometimes (see the BCS), these people are not idiots and they have access to this information at their fingertips at the touch of a button.

Maybe I'm totally off-base here, but I'm not buying into the whole Bowl Game Propaganda. Get your popcorn folks, December 6th is quickly approaching. WE ARE...(and if you don't know the rest, I'll throw together a promo video clearly describing the origins of this popular game-day chant.)

As the college football season progresses into the final month, the BCS puzzle pieces begin to fall into place. Like they say, "You remember what happens in November." As the season rolls on, we will hear fans ignorantly bitch, moan, and debate over the validity of the current BCS system. Everyone will give you their "perfect playoff" scenario: a 6-team playoff, an 8-team playoff, a 16-team playoff similar to D-IAA, II, and III. All of these are valid arguments and potentially could happen.

If you are a college football fan, you have probably shed your opinion on this matter at some point and you cant help but get caught up in the debate. And if you're like "Rulebook" Albright, you have gone as far as sending letters to Joe Paterno and the NCAA outlining your proposal. Say what you want about the business aspects and how the bureaucrats control the system, but in terms of football and the product on the field, the BCS might not be all that bad. Not too long ago, I too was one of those clamoring for a playoff system, but as my wisdom continues to expand at an exponential rate and i invest more time and interest into college football, my thoughts have slowly changed to the contrary. Here is why...

As Jim Mora would say, "PLAY-OFFS? PLAY-OFFS? PLAY-OFFS!?!?!?" I am beginning to agree with the notion that a playoff system will significantly de-emphasize the importance of many of the regular season games (I mean, PSU fans need some reason to get all jacked up for Eastern Illinois, right?). Case in point: Florida and Alabama will meet in the SEC championship game ranked #1 and #2. As the BCS system currently works, this game will essentially be a semi-final matchup for the National Championship...winner is in and loser is out. With an 8 or 16-team playoff system in place, this game would be far less important. Yes, they would be playing for an SEC Championship, but the loser would probably only drop to #6 or #7 and still be seeded in the playoff, taking the National Title implications off of this game. The only people with any vested interest in this game would be fans of the respective schools.

This late season matchup was also the case back in 2006 when #1 Ohio State played #2 Michigan, both undefeated, on the final weekend of the Big Ten season. Another semi-final to the National Championship. With so much riding on this game, it lead to one of the most exciting games in recent college football history. Again, if a playoff system were involved, this game would not have had as much of an impact nationally. It would have merely determined playoff seeding. Note: I understand the importance of a #1 or #2 seed in a playoff system, but that does not grant playoff immunity. In one game in football, anybody can win.

Take the 2008 Penn State season as another example. After the big win at Ohio State, Penn State would have had to win two out of the last three games to win the Big Ten and be placed in a playoff system. If this were the case, would we all have been hanging on the edge of our couches as Ricky Stanzi drove Iowa down the field in the 4th quarter? Probably not as much. The loss at Iowa would not have been as devastating and Penn State would not have been in a must-win scenario until after this loss. And to go one step further...would USC or Oklahoma fans have cared at all about our loss?

As a result of the situations described above coupled with a playoff system, teams will begin to employ strategies similar to the NFL, i.e. resting players for the playoff run and essentially throwing end of season games because they "don't matter." I do not want to see this in college football. This is why college football is so much more exciting than the NFL. There only are 11, sometimes 12 games. EVERY game should be meaningful. I don't really care about the NFL till about week 10 when the playoff picture begins to take shape and the games mean something.

Frankly, I think a playoff system promotes too much post-season parody...much like the NFL where Wild Card teams end up winning the Super Bowl and much like college basketball where the best teams going into the tourney often get knocked off before the final (it's not a coincidence that only once have four #1 seeds met in the Final Four). Should a college football team who goes 12-0 in the regular season be subject to a first round playoff loss? Or, do we really want to see a 9-3 West Virginia team playing a 10-2 Virginia Tech team in the title game while two 12-0 teams sit at home because they got bumped in the first round? The parody should arise throughout the regular season, not the post-season, which is evident in the current BCS system.

The current BCS system is not perfect by any means, but it's almost a playoff system in disguise. On any given year, there are probably three or four teams who, at the end of the year, truly deserve to play for a National Championship. Furthermore, every year there are always late season, intra-conference matchups between two highly ranked teams that can determine the seasons of the respective teams, ala Penn State-Ohio State, LSU-Alabama, Oregon-USC, Texas-Oklahoma and so on. Aren't these games kind of like playoff games...lose and you're out? At season's end, does the sixteenth, or even eighth ranked BCS team truly deserve an equal opportunity at a National Championship as the #1 or #2 teams? NO!

Ideally, I think a +1 system would be then next step and probably would be sufficient. Teams would be re-ranked following the four BCS games and #1 and #2 would then match-up for the Championship. Therefore, an undefeated non-BCS school such as Boise State/TCU/Utah (2008), who had not yet beaten anyone of respective quality, gets an opportunity to show they are for real and belong in a title game.

The bottom line is the BCS is good for college football. It is always a topic for discussion and the discussion brings college football to the forefront of the sports world. Only time will tell what happens, but I don't think the BCS is as big of a disaster as the average fan believes.

A couple thoughts on the Bowden retirement: It is clear that the University kind of forced him out, which is unfortunate. He said after his last game that he wanted to return next year, and then a few days later he announced he’s retiring. He’s done so much for the school, you don’t want to see him go out like this. Florida State was not a competitive football program before Bowden arrived. He turned them into a national powerhouse.

Drew’s post says “Paterno wins.” Personally, I think it’s Penn State that wins, because the school has allowed Joe to go out on his terms and is handling Joe Pa with the respect he deserves, which make the University look good, especially compared to Florida State. Granted they asked him to step down a few years ago, but when he refused, they listened to him and didn’t force him out. I’m not going to get into the whole conversation about whether or not Joe should go. I can quickly sum up my own thoughts on the matter by saying I think he should retire, but he has earned the right to stay as long as he would like.

The whole “Bowden vs. Paterno” race is something that gets way more attention than it deserves. First, you will hear a lot of people say that they think Joe will now retire because he knows he has the record over Bowden. The people that think Joe has been holding out until Bowden retired are completely clueless. There is no way that has ever, or ever will, factor into his decision to retire. I’m not saying Joe doesn’t care about having that honor. I went to nearly every press conference Joe had in my four years at Penn State and can tell you the man definitely has an ego. I’m just saying the race with Bowden has nothing to do with his decision to stay in football this long.

More importantly though, in my opinion, there never has been any race between the two. Bowden’s first 31 wins came at Howard, a Division IAA school. I’m not saying these wins don’t count. I have no problem counting these wins. But if we count these wins, then you have to count ALL of Eddie Robinson’s wins at Grambling (also DI-AA). Robinson had 408 wins in his career, which is more than both Paterno and Bowden.

So there are only two ways you can look at it. Either you count all NCAA wins, or you count only Division I wins. Either way works for me because they both make sense. Under the first scenario Robinson holds the record. Under the second scenario, Paterno holds the record and Bowden is pretty far back. Either way, there really is no significant race between Paterno and Bowden.

It just doesn’t make sense to count Bowden’s 31 IAA wins toward this “record” but disregard Robinson’s entire career. It’s all or nothing. I don’t know why more people don’t realize this.

What is the deal with the media reporting that things that are going “to be announced tomorrow?” What the hell is that? If the Bottom Line on ESPN says “Adam Schefter reports that Bobby Bowden will announce his retirement tomorrow,” didn’t Adam Schefter just announce Bowden’s retirement for him? Now what is there for Bowden to say?

In the specific case of Bowden, I feel sorry for him that it leaked out before he could announce it himself (assuming he does indeed go on to announce his retirement). The man has been coaching for a long time, and when he decides he wants to hang it up, it should be him telling it to the world, not Adam Schefter.

Drew/Albright: Does this qualify as an acceptable hate card?

The battle of crotcheny old S.O.B's for most career wins appears to all belong to Joe Paterno as sources say FSU coach Bobby Bowden will retire. Although Paterno claims this record means nothing to him, pride doesn't escape any of us. Although it would not suprise me to see Bowden try to coach again at a crappier D-1 school. With coaching turnover these days, I think this record will be up there with Joe D's 56 game hit streak as one that will not be broken. Congratulations to JoePa and Penn State fans everywhere.