Lions get expected win to start season

Sunday September 6, 2009 • Leave a Comment 

The Nittany Lions first game yesterday was reminiscent of many of their games in recent years.  They came out with a dominating offense, passed the ball to set up the run, and ran the ball to set the pass back up, and got a huge lead by halftime.  Then they called in the rest of the game.  I am the number one admirer of Joe Paterno, and I think he is one of the classiest coaches in the game.  However, sometimes you can be TOO classy. I know that sounds stupid, but as a fan, I would like to occasionally see the team win like those other teams do.  Just keep pouring it on from start to finish and end up with one of those typical big ten or big twelve versus out of conference whipping boy scores like 63-3 or 77-0

The thing is JoePa is too classy, and much too good a sportsman to do this.  Unfortunately, in the modern world of BCS rankings, unless you play and beat the top ten teams in the country, you are almost forced to win a couple games by ten touchdowns in order to rise up in the standings and compete for the national championship.  I respect JoePa and understand what it is that he does.  He coaches as a coach should, he uses just as many resources as he needs to ensure the win. Save the personnel, trick plays and aggressive tactics for the next game and concentrate on defense and maintaining the lead you have in the sure thing.

This also allows some of your younger players to get in games, which is one of the reasons why the Lions are one of the best teams year in and year out.  A sophomore at Penn State has probably already gotten significant playing time late in several first half blowouts from the previous year, so he is not really untested at age 18 or 19, he has some experience.  That is the way it is supposed to be but few other teams have followed this principle since about 1972.

Everyone out there knows the game yesterday could have been 63-7 but Paterno pulled a lot of kids in the third quarter and stopped short of going for the jugular, and had a serviceable 31-7 victory over an outclassed, overmatched team. PSU only allowed 8 yards of offense to the Akron squad in the first half.  8 yards, that is not even enough for a first down !

The problem is the BCS pollsters and computers will look at this result as a mediocre one, and the Lions may possible fall in the rankings.  The only way they can move up with this attitude is for everyone ahead of them in the poll to lose.  I remember one game a few years back where a team ahead lost by a few, and PSU won by a few, and they were 3 spots apart before the games, and PSU didn’t even catch the higher ranked team after the weekend !!   There they were, undefeated and ranked BELOW a team with one loss, because the loss was a close one and the PSU victory wasn’t as dominating as the pundits wanted it to be.  I find this ridiculous, and saddening.

But that is just it, JoePa isn’t about humiliating or crushing his opponent, he never has been.  He is about winning football games, and this he does with startling regularity.  Year in and year out.   In fact his teams in the 90’s were sometimes so good he was accused of running the score up by ignorant fans of the hapless team he destroyed, and they didn’t even realize it was the THIRD string doing the third and fourth quarter damage !!

Joe Paterno has even been seen to throw up his hands and produce a wry smile with a “what can I do ?”  look on his face as the third string intercepted a late fourth quarter ball and ran it back in for a touchdown, when they already had a 20+ point lead.  Another thing that makes Paterno so endearing to me, is that “Aw shucks” attitude he takes when his team does well.  He doesn’t brag, he doesn’t rub it in, and he would never allow a player to throw a punch at another player for that very reason.  It is ok to be competitive and it is nearly mandatory to win, but not at the expense of your pride or personal ethics.  He is teaching these young men to be men, as well as good football players, and winners, and for that, he gets ranked number 1 in my eyes, year after year after year………….



The New Philly College Football Contender

Wednesday September 2, 2009 • Leave a Comment 

Philadelphia football fans, don’t overlook Temple !!

I know that isn’t something you are accustomed to hearing but, if not for a hail mary and a fumble return in the final minutes, this is a team that would have been bowl bound last year.  I know 5-7 is mediocre at best when compared to the 1 and 2 loss seasons being posted by many programs, but the Owls have a chance to be one of the better teams in the MAC if they can improve on last years performance by a couple wins.  They will have to return to the dominating defense from ‘08 to do it. 

Al Golden arrived three years ago and took over a team that was a laughingstock in the MAC in recent years.  He has gone from a 1 win to a 4 win to a 5 win season and a 7 or 8 win season this year, is not totally unobtainable.  I believe an 8 win season would put them atop the MAC and get them a bid to the International Bowl.  If so, Golden will accomplish something that no other coach has in the last 30 years has, give Broad Street fans someone besides the mid state Nittany Lions to cheer for come bowl week. 

Speaking of those Lions, they are 27 point favorites already for their opening game against Akron.  Detractors are saying they have a weak schedule against powder puff non conference opponents.  My advice, if the Lions get a 20 plus point spread over these Owls, bet against it !  The Lions should win the game fairly easily, but it won’t be a rout.  This Temple team has something to prove and a strong early season performance against Joe Paterno’s team would give them a lot of confidence running the rest of their schedule.

Other than the big game against Penn State, Temple’s only serious challenges will come November 5th and 13th against Miami (OH) and Akron.  The Akron game is scheduled to be televised on ESPN.  Every other team they play they either beat, or could have beat last year.  If they finish what they started last year and avoid costly mistakes like last minute fumbles this team could easily go 8-4.  They could even finish 9-3.  What an amazing turnaround that would be for a fourth year coach that inherited a team that had gone 0-11 in 2005 and only had 7 wins in the four years prior to that combined !  The old Owls were actually worse then those numbers appear, giving up 50 or more points 4 times in the 2005 campaign and more than 60 points 3 times.  The defense almost allowed 500 points that last year with Bobby Wallace as head coach.  

Whipping boys no more, this Owls team is going to compete, and most these games are going to be close, and dare we say, go down to the wire ?   It is hard to get national notice as a coach on a team that plays so close to Happy Valley, but Al Golden definitely has my attention.  Go Owls !!



Best teams/best conferences in College Football

Sunday August 30, 2009 • Leave a Comment 

In Happy Valley all the talk this year is of the Nittany Lions potentially going 12-0 and not getting a BCS national championship bid due to their weak schedule.  A lot of fans don’t realize that these schedules are determined 5-7 years in advance.   It is also a fact that the Lions have to play each team in their conference.  In addition, their non conference schedule for 2009 originally included Alabama, a genuine SEC powerhouse, but that game got pushed to 2010.    When the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten, it was a feared conference, with Michigan,  Purdue, and Ohio State frequently being nationally ranked programs.

The Big Ten is now a wounded grizzly.  The teams playing there still can be scary and can devastate you if you get in range and don’t put them away, but a wounded grizzly is far less intimidating than a fully healthy grizzly like the Big Ten conference used to be.

Actually, if you look at cumulative records for the last 60 years, 2 of the three best teams of all time currently play in the Big Ten.  Ohio State and Penn State are numbers 2 and 3 in overall winning percentage since 1949.  Oklahoma is number 1 and Texas is number 4

Like all things in life, football conferences are cyclical.  They have their ups and downs.  When Penn State was independent, they commanded little respect because they didn’t play in a dominant conference.  They joined the Big Ten, a dominant conference and made it more so, and now it is on a downward trend.  This won’t last.  Statistics say it will rise again to once again be a major power and wrest that honor away from the Big 12 and SEC.

It is interesting to me that Paterno is calling for a 12th team to be added to the Big Ten.  Maybe he is hoping to attract some other quality team for his squad to showcase their talents against.  It is hard to be considered on a national level when 7 of your games  are against teams you are supposed to beat by 20 points or more and at least 2 others are non conference games scheduled in advance against teams that come and go with each class of new recruits .

Below are the winning percentages of all the teams I consider successful college football programs over the last half century.  Many fans may be upset not to see their team, but I will tell you what the criteria is for making the list.  Your team must have played at least 600 games with a winning percentage of at least .650.  14 teams made this list, and 1 made honorable mention.  Here we go.

The Big Ten.   3 teams qualified

Ohio State University        660 games with .747 WP

Penn State University       674 games with .734 WP

Michigan                           667 games with  .720 WP

The Big Twelve.   3 teams qualified

Nebraska                         688 games with .702 WP

Oklahoma                        688 games with .756 WP

Texas                               682 games with .723 WP

SEC  4 teams qualified

Alabama                           694 games with .699 WP

Tennessee                       688 games with .695 WP

Georgia                            688 games with .664 WP

Florida                              682 games with  .651 WP

Pac 10  1 team qualified

Southern California          691 games with .700 WP

ACC  2 teams qualified

Florida State                     658 games with  .671 WP

Miami                                682 games with  .652 WP

Independants  1 team qualified

Notre Dame                     680 games with  .694 WP

The team with honorable mention that has simply not been around long enough ?  Boise State with a .703 winning percentage but only 453 games in.

It is interesting to note that NO team from the Big East, Conference USA, Sunbelt, Western Athletic (see Boise state above) Mountain or  Mid American conferences made this list.

From the above standings, one could argue that the best team of all time is the Oklahoma Sooners and the best conference of all time a tie between the Big Twelve and the Big Ten.  The SEC has more qualified teams but the Big 10 and Big 12 have 6 of the only 7 teams to achieve a better than .700 overall winning percentage.  If Penn State sweeps the Big Ten including OSU, it will be interesting to see how much respect their conference currently has.  In 2009, if there are no other undefeated teams in college football, the Lions should get the nod.  Shouldn’t they ?



Lions start out #8

Saturday August 15, 2009 • Leave a Comment 

Joe Pa has been coaching since before I was born.  That may not seem weird to you, but I was born the day of the Apollo launch that sent the first astronauts to the moon.  Really !  And in that time, all Paterno has done is win 383 games, 2 national championships and have 5 undefeated seasons and 6 single loss seasons.

How old is this guy ?  My knees creak when I squat for too long, but Jo Pa continues to jog onto the field for game after game with the Lions.   He holds the record for most bowl games (35) in 43 years and is currently 3rd in all time wins with a nearly 75% winning percentage.  He leads Bobby Bowden by 1 game and trails two coaches (Gagliardi and Robinson) that have a combined 115 years coaching under their belts.

Gagliardi coached most his career at St Johns and Robinson coached his entire career at Grambling St, and he started coaching when my father was born.  That would be 1941.  You may remember WWII ?  Yeah, back then.  And these two extremely classy coaches were ensconced at small schools.

Paterno rules Penn State, previously independant, now a member of the Big Ten.  Can’t get any better than that !  So when the coaches and AP poll place Penn State at #8 before they play a single game this year, they get my attention.

To put this accomplishment in perspective, let us compare him to some other big time college coaches.  How about “Bear” Bryant ?  Joe Pa has 60 more wins.   ”Pop” Warner ?  He had a league named after him.  Joe Pa has 65 more wins.  Bowden is literally his only peer.

Here is what really made me sit up and take notice.  In the 85 years before Paterno’s tenure, when the Lions played football, they had 6 bowl appearances.  In his 43 years at the helm, 35 bowl games.  That is what I call making a difference !  I know Penn State is not in Philadelphia, but a huge portion of it’s fan base is, so I thought this was a good forum to recognize a great coach, and a great program.

Kudos to Penn State for continued achievement, and for starting the college season in the top ten.   Here is to another potential national championship in 2009. More to come on the players on the squad this year in coming weeks and a profile on the coach that is timeless and tireless as he continues to strive for perfection.



Villanova Wildcats Final Four Merchandise

Monday March 30, 2009 • Leave a Comment 

Congratulations to the Villanova Wildcats for reaching the NCAA 2009 March Madness Final Four.  All the fans in Philly and Nova Nation can’t wait to see you take down UNC on Saturday!  Just two more.

Villanova Wildcats Final Four Merchandise