A Final Word on PSU’s Schedule

A lot has been said about Penn State's weak schedule lately because, well, there's nothing to really talk about until practice starts Monday. I've beat on the Athletic department for the weak schedule for some time, you could see it coming, that's why I gave up my season tickets several years ago. I simply wasn't dropping a grand for two tickets to see teams like Akron, Temple, Syracuse and Eastern Illinois (or any directional U for that matter). That money can be well spent elsewhere.

While most people, like me, believe that a wet tissue paper soft schedule is a bad thing, not only for entertainment value but also for PSU's chances to make it to the BCS championship, some think otherwise.

In fact, that crappy schedule of Akron, Temple, Syracuse and Eastern Illinois is more likely to help the Lions secure a Jan. 7 date in the BCS national championship game than hurt.

Computers and schedule strength are not much of a factor in the BCS system anymore. Certainly nowhere near what they are in the NCAA basketball tournament selection process.

The dominant factor is now voters. Where pollsters a few years ago accounted for only 25 percent of the BCS grade, now it's 67 percent.

These pollsters have shown recently that they believe an undefeated team with a sketchy nonconference schedule is still an undefeated team. If Penn State manages to skate through its Big Ten schedule unscathed, it's highly unlikely that any one-loss team will be voted ahead of it. And an unbeaten non-BCS team such as Boise State or Brigham Young? No chance.

Three unbeatens of which Penn State is one? That's a different story.

How can you not love Dave Jones he's not only wrong most of the time but he's usually does it in magnificent fashion.

Let's just say for the sake of argument that Penn State does go undefeated (more on that later). Like Jones says if there are two more undefeated teams Penn State is out. If there is one other undefeated from the ACC, SEC, or Pac 10 and a one loss USC, Florida or team-that-beats-Florida-in-the-SEC-Championship-game, Penn State is also out. The pollsters love, love, love the SEC and USC and they hate everything from the Big Ten right now. So they will most certainly jump a one-loss team over Penn State in that instance (if they're even ranked ahead of them which may not be the case). So basically with PSU's weak schedule if the Nits go undefeated the only way they make it to the championship game is if they are the only undefeated or all non-undefeated teams in the SEC have two losses and USC has two losses. How is the weak schedule helping again? I think that scenario is HIGHLY unlikely to happen.

But again, Dave misses (or chooses to ignore) the most important thing about Penn State's shitty schedule: playing crappy teams doesn't get you ready to play the good teams on your schedule. The Steelers found this out in Super Bowl 30 when they lost to the Cowboys 27-17. Pittsburgh had an unusually soft schedule in a weak AFC that year and only had to beat an overmatched Buffalo team and Indy to make it to the Super Bowl. Not only was the AFC weak in general but Pittsburgh division was specifically feeble.

Before the game I told my Steelers buddies that Pittsburgh had not seen a team as fast and as powerful as the Cowboys and they would have to weather a storm until they adjust. As it turns out I was right, the Cowboys scored on their first three possessions to take a 13 – 0 lead before Pittsburgh finally broke through for a TD right before half. The rest of the game was pretty much a push, the Steelers got acclimated to the Cowboys level of play and the outcome would have been in more doubt had Neil O'Donnell not gift wrapped two game killing interceptions.

Now the Steelers had no choice in the matter they could only play the schedule given to them but Penn State does.

If we take a quick glance at the schedule we see that Penn State starts out with Akron, Syracuse, and Temple right before playing Iowa (the only team to beat PSU last year lest you forget). Do you think any of those three teams will have the skill position players that Iowa has? Temple may actually be somewhat decent-ish but Penn State would be better off playing a scrimmage than the other two. Those Nittany Lion defensive ends that everyone will be raving about after they wiz by the offensive lineman of the Zips, Orange, and Owls will be in for a huge awakening when they run into Bryan Bulaga. The secondary will not face a Ricky Stanzi in those first three games either and we all know the incredible fear Penn State fans feel about our secondary.

I'm not saying that Penn State will lose to Iowa I'm saying that I would feel a FAIL Boat-load better if Penn State actually played a team that had more than 5 wins last year in the first three games. We will have no idea how good Penn State is until the play Iowa, let's just hope we don't set ourselves up for a huge letdown.

MMA’s affect on Wrestling

It's no secret that Mixed Martial Arts relies heavily on skills that are learned in wrestling. Watch any MMA or UFC match and you'll see a couple seconds of punching and then a whole lot of 'ground and pound' and grappling for position. It's also no secret that a lot of the best college wrestlers give MMA a shot once their college careers are done, after all there is no professional wrestling league* and the better MMA fighters make good bucks. The question is, would these cream of the crop grapplers gone the Olympic route instead of MMA had there been the same finical incentive? Probably so given the evidence that the Americans only won three medals (one gold) in Beijing, the worst finish since 1968.

Well the wrestling community is attempting to change that.

Gold medalists at the 2012 Summer Games will earn a $250,000 bonus through the Living the Dream Medal Fund, a new incentive program that USA Wrestling hopes will lead to more success at both the Olympics and world championships.

The previous totals were not so impressive.

American athletes already get medal bonuses from the U.S. Olympic Committee -- $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze

They will also get a nice check for winning any medal and for winning the world championships which should add extra incentive for athletes to stay the Olympic course.

In addition to the $250,000 for a gold medal, silver medalists in London would get $50,000 and bronze medalists $25,000. A gold medal at the world championships in September, 2010 or 2011 would be worth $50,000. Silver medalists at worlds would get $25,000, and bronze medalists $15,000.

This is an obvious attempt to sway the best college and freestyle wrestlers to choose the Olympic and World Team path over MMA and UFC. Will it work? Only time will tell but one thing is for sure, while the wrestling community may be small in number they sure are emphatic about their sport.

"It just shows how close-knit the wrestling community is," said Jake Herbert, the U.S. champion at 185 pounds and a first-time world team member. "This sport brings all these amazing people together for a great cause. It's everybody helping everybody."

*No REAL professional wrestling league

Disposable income purge: Beaver Stadium Fathead

It's been a while since we've introduced anything new here at TNL after all it's been a long offseason. It's been a quiet one mind you, but a long one nonetheless. So with that in mind we would like to introduce a new feature of TNL: the Disposable Income Purge or DIP for short. We peruse the intertubes for only the finest (and costly) products associated with our beloved Lions and bring them to you so you too can be a DIP. Above all else we emphasis quality so that we can feel good about our DIP's. This week's feature item for a DIP is the Beaver Stadium Fathead.

Fathead Wall Graphics has announced its new line-up of products for this fall and it includes three college football stadiums. Ohio State's "The Horseshoe," Notre Dame Stadium, and Beaver Stadium are the only college stadiums to make the cut.

The Fathead of the Beav measures 8 feet wide by 4 feet high and runs you a whopping 100 bucks more than your average Fathead at a wallet cleansing $200 total. But it is quite cool.

Not everyone thinks it's as awesome as we do but then again the alternative is rather creepy.

Matt Green (freshman-pro golf management) said he would definitely put up the cash for a Fathead, but not one that depicts architecture.

"If you show me a Daryll Clark Fathead, I'd give you a heck of a lot more money," he said. "I'll see Beaver Stadium every Saturday. I'd kind of like to say hello to Mr. Clark every morning."

Right on, not creepy in any sort of way.

So yeah, like go out now, oh hordes of cash carrying enthusiasts, and get your Beaver Stadium Fathead today. Your significant other will surely thank you for being such a great DIP.

Penn State + Korn + Grange Fairgrounds = Rivalry Nights?

On Sept. 25^th, the Friday before the Penn State – Iowa game, the Grange Fairgrounds in Centre Hall will be the sight of Rivalry Nights. What is Rivalry Nights? Founder Cary Floyd describes it as the "ultimate pre-game tailgate party." The band Korn (really!?! Korn is playing at the Grange?!?!) will be the night's "world-class music" as the website describes and tickets can be purchased for 30 bucks. You need more hype to get you there? Oh fear not slobbering masses, I've got just the thing:

The Web site depicts a 17-acre venue sectioned off for a concert, punt, pass and kick competition, beer and barbecue, wrestling and fighting, basketball, car show, pep rallies for both teams and touch football with Rivalry Girls, among other things. ESPN Radio will broadcast from the venue, according to online material.

You had me at "beer" but if this is what passes for a player in "touch" football sign me up.

God I hope it's two-hand touch!

Lift for Life teams announced

Don't forget you can help by donating to support your favorite player. BSD man crush Graham Zug has only raised $625 dollars! Where is the loyal BSD nation?!? You call yourselves football fans; you're going to let down your intergalactic leader. Along with Zug (who happens to be on the "We're Going In" team), the teams have been announced for Friday. There are always some clever names I'll just share a few of my favorites.

4th & Long
Jeremy Boone
Colin Wagner
David Soldner
Ryan Breen

-a bunch of kickers on a team called "4^th & Long" is a rather obvious choice if you ask me

Three Men and a Frog
Pat Mauti
Dennis Landolt
Tom Golarz
Jesse Alfreno

-ok someone please explain this one to me, am I missing the obvious?

We're Going In
James McDonald
Kevin Newsome
Chris Colasanti
Graham Zug

-is that a question or a statement? I would have called it "McDonald's farm" myself

Rent Paid
Evan Royster
Larry Federoff
Josh Matzkin
Cedric Jeffries

-always a good thing

You Three & Dupree
Stephon Obeng-Agyapong
Andre Dupree
D.R. Refice
Pat Zerbe

-Obvious yet funny

Restretch McGloin
Matt McGloin
D'Anton Lynn
Andrew Goodman
Ryan Schere

-at least they didn't name it "McGloin Injury" that would be bad Juju

Blog Chips is back from vacation

Alright people, I'm back from oblivion. I managed to survive a vicious work schedule last week. I managed to survive time with the family over the weekend. I managed to survive a couple nights out without ending up in jail (barely) and I managed to survive a day at Hershey Park without choking some out of control kid's dad.* Let's get things caught up, shall we?

We can't let this continue

This Friday marks the 7^th annual "Lift for Life" event which benefits the Kidney Cancer Association.

This year's event is scheduled for Friday, July 10, from 2-7 p.m. in Holuba Hall, which is located directly across from the East Area Locker Room and adjacent to the Lasch Football Building.

"Lift For Life" is open to the public with a suggested donation of $5 per student or child and $10 per adult. But you don't have to attend to help.

Donations can also be made in advance and credited to your favorite player's fundraising total by visiting www.liftforlife.upliftingathletes.org.

You can donate in the name of your favorite player here with the roster and totals found here. Why the title of this blog chip, because someone named "Ryan Gmerek" has successfully raised $2,855 dollars while Sean Lee sits at ninety bucks. This can't go on people let's get out those checkbooks!

Creepy 18-year-old watching alert!

If you haven't noticed, I've bailed out of the recruiting biz a long time ago and even though Penn State is having a great year, I don't plan to get back into recruiting anytime soon. These guys do a much better job and quite frankly guys like Tom Lemming give me the willies. Having said that I would be remiss if I didn't mention that PSU signed wide receiver Levi Norwood last week. Levi wasn't a big name prospect and didn't have the OMG!!!, 5-star rating that recruitnicks seem to think a player must have but he is the son of former PSU secondary coach Brian Norwood and the younger brother of Jordan Norwood. Now some people are going to cry foul and claim this is a legacy scholarship and Penn State shouldn't be wasting their time on no-names, blah, blah, blah, but remember… this was the kind of stuff we heard about Jordan when he signed with PSU four years ago… how did that turn out?

You had me at Terrelle Pryor

ESPN, and Bruce Feldman specifically, have a top 10 list of the must-see games of 2009. No, Penn State is not listed in the top 6 (for the last four you need to be an "insider", yeah see if that gets you anyone signing up ESPN) but one early season tilt involves a fellow Big Ten school:

USC at Ohio State, Sept. 12: I'm not sure this game is as much a proving-ground battle as last year's at USC was for Ohio State. My sense is that if the Buckeyes handle the Trojans here, it'll still be a big win, but not monumental in the pollsters' eyes. It'll be too easy for critics to write it off, saying that this was the first road game the Trojans' new QB (Aaron Corp or Matt Barkley) ever played. Plus, USC lost so many guys to the NFL on defense. That wouldn't be fair to the Buckeyes, given that they lost a ton to the NFL as well. If OSU does win, they figure to cruise to a 9-0 start before facing Penn State in Happy Valley. This might be the game in which Terrelle Pryor emerges as a superstar.

First off, I love the limp-noodle, pod-like thinking of the main stream media, it's so refreshing. It goes like this:

A) There's a chance Ohio State could beat USC

B) We love USC and hate the Big Ten

C) This could make OSU and by extension the Big Ten look good

D) This could make USC look bad and we want them in the title game against a SEC school (we love the SEC even more than USC)

E) Because of all of the above let's downplay this game even before the season starts so a USC loss can be played off when we rank the Trojans over a more deserving team later in the year

Secondly, I want so so so bad to root for the Buckeyes in this game, honestly I do, but even if Terrelle Pryor scratches his balls, hands the ball off 45 times, never attempts a pass and OSU wins, the TP over-hype machine will be in overdrive and I'm not sure if I can handle it. Nonetheless there's no way I root for USC, I just can't bring myself to do it.

Fahrenheit 411

If I can give you one piece of advice from my experiences this weekend it's this: if you plan on visiting the wonderful world of Hershey Park in glorious southeastern PA anytime soon, don't miss their newest roller coaster: Fahrenheit. It was put in a year ago and I didn't get a chance to ride it because the lines were so horribly long but this year you will only wait about 30 minutes on a weekday** and it's well worth that wait. I love roller coasters about as much as I love beer*** and this one's a can't-miss. So yeah, there's Hershey Park's free add space at no charge.

*I did however knock the shit out of some kid's bumper car when he got stuck and couldn't figure out how to go backwards. Hey, I don't care if you're six years old when I get behind the wheel of a bumper car I'm out for blood.

**Also new this year is Water Park which I would totally recommend you skip but if it's a hot day everyone flocks to the water leaving the roller coaster lines empty, so tip two is pick a sunny hot day.

***Ok, so totally not true but unlike beer the shaky hands and disorientation go away rather quickly after getting off roller coasters.

Programming note: College Football Live covering PA today

For those of you that get off work at a decent hour or have a DVR, ESPN's College football Live 50 States Tour is in Pennsylvania starting today at 3:30 PM and going through Friday. There are polls on PA college sports and Adam Rittenberg's page where you can stop by and read the comments between Pitt and Penn State fans. It's always a pleasure to see the same arguments resurface over and over and over again. Hey, did you know Joe Paterno is old and there's nothing to do in State College that's why Pitt's attendance sucks? No really. If State College had… you know… all the stuff that Pittsburgh offers like strip clubs, Hooters, nightclubs, skating rinks, bars, Olympic swimming pools, High Def 3-D theaters, a plethora of good restaurants, and concerts I'm sure the average football fan wouldn't go to Penn State football games, right? I mean that makes sense doesn't it?!?

What, there are no fat chicks in Iowa?

Iowa offensive tackle Kyle Calloway will be suspended for a game and complete community service after being arrested this weekend for operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Pretty standard stupid college kid stuff, I mean his BAC was a pedestrian .106 which was probably 4 beers for a man of his stature but what makes this newsworthy is this:

Calloway was arrested after officers stopped him while he was driving a moped into a barricaded area.

An offensive lineman… on a moped… gratuitous pic in 3…2…1…

Good God man, a moped? Forget the DUI, Mr. Calloway should be rung up on felony charges of getting caught riding a freakin' moped! You know the rules, there are two things that are fun to ride but you wouldn't want your friends to catch you on them: mopeds and fat chicks. Perhaps Kyle should have opted for the latter Saturday night.

"I was very disappointed to learn of Kyle's poor judgment," [Iowa coach Kirk] Ferentz said in a statement.

We're all disappointed in Kyle's judgment Kirk, and it has nothing to do with drinking and driving.

Ed. Note: I should have guessed these guys would beat me to the punch and I should have guessed that they would also take the first google result for “fat guy on a moped.” Great, now they think I stole from them and that means drunken, expletive filled e-mails from Hawkeye State or OPS.

Blog Chips

Not much to talk about lately, it is the dead period between spring ball and summer workouts and I'm not one of those "just blog something" kind of bloggers (you've come to expect SO much more from TNL) but there are a few items of interest.

-Two Bush's in the hand is better than… wait, what?
Former president Bush (as in W) was in Erie speaking to the Manufacturer and Business Association and had a message from former president Bush (as in H.W.).

In front of about 1,600 people at a dinner in Erie, the younger Bush said he had been reminded by his dad to "give my old buddy my best. . . . Forty-one sends his best to No. 1 in the heart of Penn State fans."

The elder Bush appears to be about as active as JoePa.

But he started his hour-long appearance by talking about his father, who celebrated his 85th birthday last weekend by parachute-jumping out of an airplane.

"So this weekend I had an amazing experience: I watched an 85-year-old jump out of an airplane, and it wasn't about to crash,"

-We're playing who again?
The hits just keep coming when speaking in deference to Penn State's future schedule. The athletic department's "keep Galen out of the stands" campaign continues unabated.

Nearly every FCS school plays at least one Football Bowl Subdivision team. The reason is twofold: the exposure of playing up against the "big" schools, but more importantly, it's the money. The dollars made from the monetary guarantee paid out by much-wealthier FBS schools goes a long way toward sustaining FCS teams.

With that in mind, Indiana State.

The Sycamores will play at Cincinnati in 2010 and at Penn State on Sept. 3, 2011.

The Sycamores? Reeeaally?

Intimidating, indeed.

<Insert your manic rant or anti-PSU joke here>

-But can he roll a joint?
D coordinator and NFL defensive lineman manufacturer Tom Bradley had a Q & A session with ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg: Part I here and Part II here. The most interesting quote to come from our leader is about soon-to-be quarterback menace and Aaron Maybin-shoes-filler Jack Crawford.

One of the impressive things about him, after the Blue-White Game, I had a bunch of people up and they wanted to go down to see the locker room. They had their kids and everything. I went in there. I'll bet you it was nine o'clock after the Blue-White Game, and I opened up the team room to show them the team room and [Crawford] was in there looking at the Blue-White Game. So you see that and you start to say, 'Geez, that's a good start right there. A kid that really cares.' Most guys, after the Blue-White Game, they're out having fun or with their family or whatever, but he was down there looking at the film.

Blog Chips

-JayPa thinking of a political career?
So you thought JayPa's stumping for Obama was just a passing fancy but, as it turns out, there may be more to it.

IT STRUCK me as strange that Penn State quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno, son of the state's principal deity and an active campaigner for Barack Obama, spoke at a journalism conference recently in Gettysburg… …But when a "name" Pennsylvanian with links to politics goes outside his or her milieu into the arms of the statewide press, I start to wonder.

IT ALWAYS worries me when political columnists try to go outside their "milieu*" and try to give football related ideals or events a political persona, lucky for us, the only reference to sports in this column is the cheesy title: but I digress.

Jay says that he made 15 speeches for Obama last year as "an officially vetted surrogate," did robo-calls and helped register young voters. Then I mention that the region is rough for Democrats, he notes that congressional reapportionment is coming after next year's census, which suggests that he's paying fairly close attention.

But for now?

"I'm a coach first and foremost," he says, "so probably not now, but somewhere down the road, three years down the road, who knows?"

Wow, there years? That doesn't sound like the kind of resolve of someone dedicated to moving up the coaching ladder and eventually becoming a head coach.** Hell that sounds like someone that A) isn't interested in coaching too much B) needs a "Plan B" because his coaching career has stalled or C) can see the writing on the wall. You be the judge.

-Won't someone think of the children!!

Minnesota was given the "o.k." to sell alkeehaul at their new on-campus TCF Bank Stadium by state lawmakers but University President Robert Bruininks says 'thanks but no thanks.'

University President Robert Bruininks is expected to recommend Friday that regents ban alcohol from the new TCF Bank Stadium following a dispute with state lawmakers.

"We know people will drink before they get to our games. We're not naive," Bruininks told The Associated Press on Thursday. "But we do think this is the best, most responsible way to manage our game days and to really make this a high-quality experience for our fans."

This has long been a conundrum of mine I can see the good and bad for both sides. On one hand, selling alcohol during the game would probably increase the number of obnoxious drunks, on the other hand it would limit the number of flabbergasted drunks because beer servers could cut off visibly intoxicated patrons before they get out of control. It's naive to think that people aren't sneaking in flasks during games and selling alcohol would all but eliminate most of them. In addition we all know how inflated the prices are for anything sold during game time and this would certainly be a big revenue steam for the university; people will pay outrageous prices just for the convenience. On the same token though, it would probably mean an increase of drunks after the game which is never a good thing, especially if they are getting behind the wheel.

-Bowman out of Paterno's doghouse?

JoePa said Bowman has been a "leader" in offseason workouts. Sean Lee agrees:

"Bowman will be fine. ... He's a guy if you come to workouts who is always working hard, always up front," linebacker and captain Sean Lee said. "I think he'll be ready to go come this season."

Joe once again' took his right leg out' in the Big Ten expansion hokey-pokey.

"In all fairness, I said something without having all the answers. The problems it would cause with the schedule and things," Paterno said. "Jim Delany has taken it upon himself to say, 'Hey, let me look into it.' He's looking into it. Whatever Jim comes up with will be good for the conference."

-Well that clears things up!

USC has finally said something in the Reggie Bush/O.J. Mayo debacle long after the NCAA started its probe into the scandal.

"We have already interviewed approximately 50 people and spent many hundreds of hours investigating these allegations," Dickey said in the statement. "We have no idea how long this investigation will continue, and no one is more anxious to bring this process to a conclusion than we are -- but we remain committed to getting to the truth."

"No one wants to find out what happened -- to get to the truth more than me," he said in the statement. "But there is a process -- and that process is dictated by the NCAA rules and making sure that the investigation is conducted in a manner that will ensure that we indeed do get to the truth."

So in other words, we have spent 10's of days looking somewhat into this and I'll be damned we can't find anything. I'm convinced.

-speaking of NCAA infractions

Nick Saban has done a fine job of continuing a long tradition at Alabama:

The NCAA placed Alabama's football program and 15 other of the school's athletic teams on three years' probation for major violations due to misue [sic] of free textbooks.

Seven football players used their scholarship benefits to obtain free textbooks for their friends and we're not talking small beans here.

As a result, the NCAA ruled the football team must vacate any wins in which any of those seven players took part during 2005-07.

The four biggest offenders in dollar value were among the seven football players, who received from $2,714 to $3,947 in improper benefits.

That's a lot of textbooks! But the football players were not that important right? Just a bunch of second teamers?

Saban, who replaced Mike Shula after the 2006 season, suspended five players…for four games when the university uncovered the violations in 2007. The Tide was 5-2 at that point, and its only wins in the next six games came against Tennessee and Colorado in the Independence Bowl.

So yeah, they were important. In Saban's defense this is one of those violations that I doubt he knew anything about and he reacted appropriately by suspending them when he found out. The problem is, just like criminals, it's difficult to trust repeat offenders.

Alabama, which didn't contest the allegations, is a repeat violator because the program was placed on five years' probation in February 2002, when it was also under the five-year window for basketball violations.

*don't bother looking it up it's another word for "context" which is just another example of why sports columnists are such an easier read than political journalists, but I guess if you are pandering to the pretentious crowd it's best to sound like a pompous ass… and have a decent resume, because we all know the more titles after your name the smarter you are.

** Stop fucking laughing!!!

Who wants to be a millionaire: JoePa

This is as surprising as someone revealing that Rush Limbaugh is fat:

Records released Friday by the university show the 82-year-old Hall of Famer is Penn State's highest-paid employee, making more than $1.03 million last year.

That includes his base salary plus any bonuses, but does not include compensation from outside the university that top coaches typically collect. Paterno's compensation from other sources is not a public record.

We've long speculated that Mr. Paterno (will be fine thank you very much) made much less than the top college football coaches and here we have empirical evidence. Sure, he probably makes a boat-load of money from endorsement deals but what big-name coach doesn't? The point is Paterno makes less than 1/3 of the nation's highest paid coaches Les Miles and Nick Saban (3.8 M) and let's face it, would Nittany Nation be proud of the recruiting tactics that Saban has displayed? Yeah, we'll take that old guy in a heartbeat, we still have a soul.

Now that we know does this change anything, people? Not for me, but hey, thanks to the lawyers for bringing this to light.

Paterno's salary was once one of college football's most closely-guarded secrets until his base salary of roughly $500,000 was made public two years ago as part of an open records request of state retirement data initiated by the Patriot News of Harrisburg.

Oh, the good old Harrisburg Patriot, collecting your puppy's droppings since 1986. Hope the money spent to get this info helps you guys sell papers.*

More fun with numbers:

Men's basketball coach Ed DeChellis made more than $642,000.

Of other salaries released, five were for officers of the university and therefore paid mostly from public funding or tuition. That includes president Graham Spanier, who made $590,000.

So Spanier makes almost as much as the Men's Basketball coach, interesting indeed. I would say that a half Mil isn't that much to pay for a major university president but 600 Grand is really really cheep for a big time university basketball coach. I think in Paterno's and DeChellis' case we have a very good bargain.

*not really I hope you go bankrupt for this obvious attempt at publicity.

TNL Way too early schedule breakdown Part III

Hammering out our early bird look at the Nittany Lions schedule we move on to the final third. Part 1 here. Part 2 here. First a look at the schedule in its entirety:

Date Opponent
09/05/09 vs. Akron
09/12/09 vs. Syracuse
09/19/09 vs. Temple
09/26/09 vs. Iowa
10/03/09 at Illinois
10/10/09 vs. Eastern Illinois
10/17/09 vs. Minnesota
10/24/09 at Michigan
10/31/09 at Northwestern
11/07/09 vs. Ohio State
11/14/09 vs. Indiana
11/21/09 at Michigan State

Northwestern

The bad news for Northwestern is that QB C.J. Bacher and RB Tyrell Sutton are both gone. The good news is the Wildcats had to play without the services of those two a lot last season due to injury problems so the backups will come into this season with game experience. The offensive line was forced to start three freshmen last season yet ranked second in the conference in sacks allowed. They'll be very good after a year of experience in the trenches. The defense will be very good if D end Corey Wootton recovers from a knee injury he suffered in NU's bowl game. The secondary is experienced and led by safety Brad Phillips who tallied 109 tackle last season. I previously claimed that the Minnesota game was TNL's official trap game of the year and I still stand by that but this will be TNL's official 2^nd trap game of the season (Hey, I make the rules up as I go). Sandwiched between a trip to hated Michigan and a HUGE game against Ohio State at the Beav, if the Nits are looking ahead, Northwestern will bite them in the ass.

Probability of loss: 45% - this game worries me
Impact of loss: devastating – with OSU on deck a loss here could kill momentum
Blog(s) of note: Lake the Posts – if you're not reading LTP shame on you for six days!

Ohio State

Hey did you guys here that Terrelle Pryor is OMG the most awesome quarterback in the universe!?! He's exponentially better than last year and can run over a charging rhino without breaking a sweat! He's winning like, 3 Heismans for sure!

There, I thought I'd point the OSU overhype machine* in TP's direction since the greatest linebacker ever is now in the NFL. All kidding aside Pryor will be much better this year but returns as the team's leading rusher and with loses on the line and at wide receiver we may see a lot of running by TP, especially early on. Pryor does have a reliable target in senior tight end Jake Ballard so look for a more balanced, short passing game but the line has to play much better than last season for the offense to thrive. The defense will be great again. The defensive line returns all four starters and the secondary returns three although the loss of Jim Thorpe winner Malcolm Jenkins will certainly hurt. OSU lost two very good linebackers but when doesn't Ohio State have good linebackers? OSU will be challenging for the Big Ten title yet again.

Probability of loss: 60%
Impact of loss: depressing but not unexpected
Blog(s) of note: Eleven Warriors, Our Honor Defend, The Buckeye Battle Cry

Indiana

If you're a Hoosier optimist I feel for you. Gone is reliable RB Marcus Thigpen and Andrew Means, Indiana's leading receiver. Coach Bill Lynch, in his infinite wisdom, moved Indiana's best offensive weapon Kellen Lewis from quarterback where you know, he touched the ball every play to wide receiver where he needs someone else to get him the ball consistently. The move was necessitated by a weak receiving corps but still makes little sense because even more head scratching is the move of second leading wide receiver Ray Fisher to the secondary. QB Ben Chappell did throw for 1,000 yards last season and is serviceable but not nearly as mobile as Lewis and the offensive line wasn't all that great last season although all five starters return. The defense returns eight starters but they were one of the worst D's in college football last season (107^th in total, 105^th in passing and 108^th in Scoring). D end Jammie Kirlew returns and tallied 10.5 sacks last year so I guess that's at least a bright spot. Don't look for any huge improvement from the Hosiers this season.

Probability of loss: 20%
Impact of loss: soul crushing
Blog(s) of note: The Crimson Quarry – sounds like a cool place for the kids to drink beer

Michigan State

Defense and special teams will be the name of the game for MSU this year. Sparty returns an All-conference player at both kicker and punter and All-Big ten linebacker Greg Jones. In fact all three linebackers return and three of the four in the secondary along with two D lineman. Javon Ringer left and took with him most of the offense and what little he didn't take went with QB Brian Hoyer who left as well. Both wideouts and starting TE Charlie Gantt return so whoever takes over at quarterback will at least have decent targets. The line gets back three of the five starters, but they will have to gel quickly with the new guys, early visits to Notre Dame and Wisconsin will prove tricky.

Probability of loss: 35%
Impact of loss: momentum destroying – PSU will certainly be heading to a bowl game with their schedule
Blog(s) of note: Sparty MSU, The Enlightened Spartan

*seriously, does Ohio State have the patent on the overhype machine or what?!? It's like a tradition.

Update: reader JD has given us a great idea when speaking about overhypness. Which player is overhyped more: Jimmy Clausen or Terrelle Pryor? Vote now on the sidebar!

Paterno to Notre Dame: you’ve had your chance

While JoePa may have backed off the pressure last week for adding a 12^th team to the Big Ten he's still singing the same tune.

Paterno, meeting with reporters Wednesday at an alumni event near Allentown, has long pushed for Big Ten expansion.

Paterno said he'd like the Big Ten to add an Eastern school, especially one that plays in the New York media market.

"If I had my choice, someone that can give us the biggest TV exposure in the East," Paterno said, offering as possibilities "Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers. Not in that order."

It makes perfect sense, from a Penn State perspective, you get much more exposure in markets that PSU has had success recruiting and it adds a more east-coast flavor to the Big Ten. Of course Michigan and Ohio State would never go for any of those three schools because they are old rivals of Penn State and would give PSU a tactical recruiting benefit given its geographical advantage. Just like before, those schools would want someone with the name recognition of Notre Dame a team the Big Ten wooed a decade ago trying to entice them into Big Ten membership. But Paterno has a message for those that still want Notre Dame:

"There's some pressure, I would suppose, to maybe go back to Notre Dame and ask again, which I would not be happy with," Paterno said. "I think they've had their chance."

Even though Notre Dame plays a lot of Big Ten schools (they played 3 teams last year and are scheduled to play the same 3 this year) I'm totally in agreement with Paterno on this one, Notre Dame had their chance the Big Ten shouldn't even consider them anymore. If there ever is a playoff in college football Notre Dame will have a lot of pressure to join a conference assuming there are automatic bids. If that scenario ever comes to fruition the Irish will surely choose the Big Ten over the Big East and hopefully the Big Ten lets them hang out to dry. As JoePa said, you had your chance.

Would Jim Delany please shut up?

I wanted to post an initial reaction to this but I thought it would be a better idea to sleep on it so I don't… you know… start rambling on incoherently but the more I thought about it… well… I should have just posted it because it's about to get very unintelligible. Jimmy boy felt he needed to respond to President Barack Obama's push for a playoff.

"It's very hard to be disagreeable with a popular president," Delany said, according to the Chicago Tribune. "He's a scholar and a lawyer and a great politician, but I don't think he understands the complexity of the issue."

Delany wasn't done; adding in jest that Obama should stick with college basketball, where he correctly picked North Carolina would win the 2009 national title.

Let me preface this by saying I didn't vote for Barack but unlike Oxycotton and Big Mac addict Rush Limbaugh, I want him to succeed because if he fails we all do and most of us are out of a job and what sane person would want that. We can all agree that Obama is a very intelligent and charismatic guy even if you disagree with the polices, he's very smart. So yeah, onto Jim's comments. <extreme sarcasm> Yes a playoff is very complicated, way more complicated than say…

A) the GLOBAL economy
B) a war in a far off middle east country
C) a failing health care system
D) a social security system plummeting toward bankruptcy
E) delicate foreign relations with countries that have nuclear missiles pointed at us.

There's no WAY the president of the most powerful nation in the world could fathom the intricacies of a college football playoff, it's just too complex for him to understand. </extreme sarcasm>

GOD Delany you are such an arrogant ASS. Jim, do us all a favor and just shut the fuck up! Just don't say anything. When someone shoves a mic in front of you don't speak, don't say "no comment" just wave your hand and walk away. You are the most blatantly transparent man; everyone knows all you care about are the truck loads of money you can fleece off the BCS for your conference. You're a terrible spokesperson for your conference and a terrible liar. Why do you continue to make the most asinine statements at the most inopportune time?!?! WHY? Every time the Big Ten's image is damaged you open your mouth and make things MUCH worse. Remember when OSU got destroyed by Florida in the championship game making the Big Ten look weak and you felt the appropriate response was attack the SEC's admission standards!?!? You made yourself and the Big Ten the butt-end of jokes around the intertubes. Just stop it.

Here's my plan. Hire a spokesperson for the office of the commissioner of the Big Ten. This person will do all of the talking for you. You don't say a damn word, not one. But that's not all, we don't want your illogical comments going straight through to said spokesperson you need a filter. Hire the best, and I mean the BEST PR guy available. Send all of your comments to him so that he can decipher the meaning, reword, and relay them to the spokesperson so that they don't come out as an egotistical assault. I'm no PR guy but let me show you how easy it is to not sound like such a douche.

"It's very hard to be disagreeable with a popular president, He's a scholar and a lawyer and a great politician, but implementing a playoff system is a very daunting task and it would be a very complex process, one that I think most university presidents are not willing to undergo. But it is obvious by the president's ability to pick the NCAA Men's college basketball tournament winner, that he has a deep understanding of college sports and I respect that.

See how much less assholeish that is?!?!? See how you wouldn't have shown your ass if you had worded it that way? It's not that difficult.

Make

it

happen

Jackass!

TNL Way too early schedule breakdown

Not much to talk about lately (which is a good thing because we're not talking about players running afoul of the law) so we might as well look way ahead to next season. With that I give you the TNL way-too-early-schedule breakdown. Here's the schedule in its entirety:
   Date         Opponent
09/05/09 vs. Akron
09/12/09 vs. Syracuse
09/19/09 vs. Temple
09/26/09 vs. Iowa
10/03/09 at Illinois
10/10/09 vs. Eastern Illinois
10/17/09 vs. Minnesota
10/24/09 at Michigan
10/31/09 at Northwestern
11/07/09 vs. Ohio State
11/14/09 vs. Indiana
11/21/09 at Michigan State

Now let's look at each team individually, shall we?

It's-Only-Akron*

The Zips return veteran Chris Jacquemain at quarterback, four starting linemen and three veteran wide receivers. Jacquemain is in his third year as the starting quarterback. But gone is 1,000 yard rusher Dennis Kennedy, All-MAC tackle Chris Kemme, and linebackers Kevin Grant and Doug Williams who were first and third respectively in tackles. It will be a test of the new secondary but not much of one.

Probability of loss: Not Bloody Likely!

Impact of loss: Mass hysteria, Jay quits tweeting due to death threats from his readers.

Blog(s) of note: Ohio.com

Syracuse

New 'Cuse head coach Doug Marrone begins his attempt to resurrect a Syracuse program that went 10-37 in the last four seasons. It will be a tough task and the fact that Marrone's recruiting class was rated last in the Big East and one of the worst in the country won't help. Of the 14 players signed, 8 are on the defensive side which should help; Syracuse ranked 101st in the nation on total defense and 83rd in passing defense, but don't expect things to get a whole lot better. Syracuse starts off with Minnesota, Penn State and Northwestern, so yeah… good luck with that.

Probability of loss: Not gonna happen

Impact of loss: Worse than It'-Only-Akron, ticket prices drop as does home game attendance.

Blog(s) of note: Orange Football

Temple

The Temple offense returns 10 players including senior wide receivers Jason Harper and Dy'Onne Crudup, but will be without the services of three year starter Adam DiMichele at quarterback and All-MAC and school record holder Bruce Francis at wide receiver. The line should be young but experienced. The defense returns 9 starters including All-MAC honorees Andre Neblett at nose tackle and senior strong safety Dominique Harris. The defensive line will be the strength of TU's defense.

Probability of loss: Greater than last season but still improbable

Impact of loss: See It's-Only-Akron and Syracuse

Blog(s) of note: The remarkably well-written and surprisingly intense Temple Football Forever**

Iowa

The loss of Mac Truck Shonn Greene and DT's Matt Kroul and Mitch King will be very difficult to replace. But Iowa returns 7 starters on offense including two experienced tackles in Bryan Bulaga and Kyle Calloway so whoever takes over for Greene should have running room and quarterback Ricky Stanzi will have time to throw as long as he cuts down on the back breaking interceptions. The defense returns 8 starters and boast a linebacking group that is as good or better than the guys in Happy Valley. A.J. Edds, Pat Angerer, and Jeremiha Hunter are all experienced and will make up for the loss of King and Kroul. They could be the best linebacking group in the nation.

Probability of loss: 50% - this will be PSU's first test of a team with a pulse – will they be ready for the challenge?

Impact of loss: Crippling. A slip up this early in the season could spell doom.

Blog(s) of note: PSU arch enemy and JoePa chronicle architects BHGP

That's the first quarter of the schedule and all I really care to look up right now. It's a busy week, with the Holiday coming so my blogging will be limited but I'll try and knock the rest of this out but you get no promises from me.


*Thank God Akron is back on the schedule I get to once again use RUTS "It's-Only-Akron" reference yet again.

** It's Temple!! Yeah writing about Penn State is easy but Temple? That's a different story.

Blog Chips: the filling the void edition

I know it's offseason but it's really quiet out there… too quiet.

<cue gratuitous pic>

There are some items of interest if you are bored at work and need some reading material to kill time (don't worry I won't tell your boss).

-Penn State AD Tim Curley was in Washington on Tuesday arguing before the Knight Commission about the NCAA going to congress to ask for an antitrust exemption so that the NCAA can put a salary cap on head coaching salaries. The Knight Commission is a watchdog group that seeks reform in college sports. With the economy being what it is right now universities are feeling the pinch and one such plan put on the table is a the cap to keep costs under control. But Curley isn't buying it.

"This area of salaries is very complex," said Penn State AD Tim Curley. "I just don't know if going to Congress for that exemption is the appropriate thing to do. The bottom line is we're in a competitive marketplace no different from the universities are in a competitive marketplace for presidents, provosts, deans, other people on campus."

While he's against the cap, Curley hints that if things don't change we could see a reduction of athletic programs.

"I believe the economic conditions and realities facing athletics will have a major impact on sponsorship and participation in the years ahead," Curley said. "My main concern is if adjustments are not made, we will see a reduction of both men's and women's programs in the next three to five years. I believe Olympic men's sports will see the biggest reductions."

What adjustments should be made? Curley said "everything should be on the table," including schedules, personnel and the activities that take place outside of a sport's traditional season.

-If you think we lost a lot of D lineman last year think about this: Jared Odrick had some serious thoughts about going out early last year.

"I was considering it to a certain extent," Odrick said. "I talked to coach (PSU's Larry) Johnson about it and heard things through word of mouth, but it really wasn't a hard decision. It was a combination of things. I thought I should come back and get my degree. I thought I should play another year for Penn State. And I didn't want to leave my friends.

-Penn State jumped five places in the Director's Cup thanks to a pretty good winter season. Unfortunately, Michigan is in fourth.

Stanford leads with 1025.25, while Minnesota is in second place with 776.25, North Carolina is third with 740.75 points and Michigan is in fourth with 715.30.

The men's and women's gymnastics teams and the indoor track & field team all finished seventh but the big hit came from our ringers.

On the strength of 100 points from fencing's 11th National Collegiate Championship, Penn State has accumulated 702 points.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, don't mess with our fencing team bitches!

-Finally, thanks to Jay and his twittering we have pics of the Penn State All-Americans.

Thanks Jay!

Paterno and Big 10 expansion

JoePa created a bit of a mild stir by suggesting last week while visiting Alumni that the Big 10 should expand to 12 teams and have a conference championship.

He said the Big Ten should add a 12th team and play a championship game, and that it hurts the league's chance to win a national title by ending its season earlier than the other major conferences.

Whether or not you agree with him, the comment does make sense; most other conferences are playing their championship games while the Big 10 season is long over. So the OMG IT'S THE SEC!!!! and Big 12 dominate the talk in the sports world while most people forget the Big 10 exists. It hurts in the polls and it hurts in the pocket book because the championship games generate a lot of revenue. So I found it completely odd to read this kind of commentary. Once again it's lazy reporting at its finest. Start out by calling Joe old.

Sometimes when a person stays up past their bedtime, they talk nothing but gibberish. Sometimes they say and do the craziest things. Sometimes their wisdom makes you wonder why this person doesn't speak up more.

Legendary 82-year-old Penn State football coach Joe Paterno did all of the above late Thursday night.

Yeah he's old and old people have early bedtimes so old crazy Joe must have been up past his bedtime or something like that. Just for the record, the only time I talk gibberish because I'm up past my bedtime is when I'm drunk (not that that happens much).

We'll start with the crazy. Paterno decided the Big Ten needs to add a 12th school to its conference and play a conference championship football game in early December. Listen, it's bad enough the Big Ten has 11 schools, but to add a 12th would mean to split the conference into two divisions and disrupt certain rivalries, although the SEC worked around this much better than did the Big 12 when both conferences expanded.

So he's crazy for suggesting the Big Ten add another team?? Note to lazy reporter guy: the Big 10 tried to expand by getting Notre Dame in the conference but they said no. Are you suggesting the entire Big 10 is crazy as well? The guy even contradicts himself by saying it worked for the SEC. So it worked for another conference but it won’t for the Big 10? That’s some good logic.

Finally, the gibberish. Paterno offered up Pitt, Syracuse or Rutgers as the 12th school in the Big Ten. Yeah, like that's going to happen. If the Big Ten ever got to this point, the invite would go to either Notre Dame or Missouri… Ultimately, Paterno's reasoning is flawed because what the heck would we call the conference? The Big 12 is already taken! Big Ten plus two? The Dirty Dozen?

Ok so the name thing would be a concern but would that stop the conference from expanding? Would Jim Delaney say "well we were going to expand but we can't because we would have to change our name?" Now that's crazy. As for the teams that Paterno offered they certainly would jump at the chance to be in the Big 10 something that Notre Dame did not, as I mentioned before. Admittedly, Paterno's choices are a bit self-serving, they were all old rivals of Penn State and they would add another east coast team to the conference, but adding Pitt or Rutgers would be good for the Big 10 and the schools. Either school would instantly benefit from a recruiting and money standpoint and the conference would get another "decent" team. Anyone that thinks Notre Dame is going to give up their lucrative T V deals and scheduling freedom to enter a conference is crazy. I was once against expanding the Big 10 but if the past couple of years have taught us anything it's that the long layoff between the end of conference play and the Bowl games is affecting teams especially ones playing in BCS games. Adding another team makes sense and let's face it if a Big 10 team can't go undefeated and win another game against a quality opponent then they don't deserve to be in the championship game.

I even question why someone from Naples is even writing about Paterno, for a far better take on this look no further than here: Bob Hunter commentary: Paterno gets it, but Big Ten fossils don't.

MWC commissioner wants you to believe the Yeti exist

Or he might as well because you'll have about as much chance of seeing one as you would an eight team playoff in college football. MWC commissioner Craig Thompson proposed a playoff to the other BCS commissioners in a meeting Tuesday.

Thompson's fellow BCS commissioners listened Tuesday morning to his proposal for an eight-team playoff and other changes to the current system. They agreed to take the proposal back to their respective memberships for their spring meetings. They will reconvene in June in Colorado Springs.

The MWC's proposal not only would create a playoff, it would scrap the use of polls and computers in the BCS rating in favor of a committee that would select and seed 10 teams. The bottom two would play in a "BCS bowl" and the others would play for the national championship. The proposal also wants to recalibrate the revenue sharing.

The other commissioners agreeing to "discuss" the playoff is largely ceremonial in that they will take it back to their respective conferences, laugh about it, and roll around in their heaping piles of money they get from the current BCS system. Having said that, I have to admit Thompson did the right thing, instead of trying to change the system a little bit (see: Plus-One format) he proposes broad radical change including throwing out the God-awful BCS rating system and polls for a 12 person selection committee. If you are going to fight the system, nudging it isn't the way to make change you have to hit it with a sledge hammer. Hopefully this radical idea will at least get BCS commissioners thinking. Before you argue with me about the selection committee idea bringing up Penn State's snub by the NCAA basketball selection committee (don't go there) I'm not saying it's the right idea but it at least is something. Anything. But like I said, you'll probably have a better chance of seeing this guy:

Under the lights

Well, mostly under the lights anyway. The Big Ten announced its "prime-time" lineup this fall and it appears Penn State has two but only one night game.

2009 BIG TEN PRIME-TIME FOOTBALL GAMES
Sept. 3   Eastern Kentucky at INDIANA, 8 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network
Sept. 5   Missouri vs. ILLINOIS, 3:40 p.m. ET, ESPN
              Northern Illinois at WISCONSIN, 7 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network
Sept. 12  Illinois State at ILLINOIS, 7 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network
              Air Force at MINNESOTA, 7 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network
              USC at OHIO STATE, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN
Sept. 26  IOWA at PENN STATE, 8 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN
                 Notre Dame at PURDUE, 8 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN
Oct. 3      OHIO STATE at INDIANA, 7 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network
Oct. 10     MICHIGAN at IOWA, 8 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN
Oct. 17     ILLINOIS at INDIANA, 7 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network
Oct. 24     IOWA at MICHIGAN STATE, 7 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network
Oct. 31    MICHIGAN STATE at MINNESOTA, 8 p.m. ET, BTN
  PENN STATE at NORTHWESTERN, 4:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN2

There's some real barn burners there I can't wait for the Eastern Kentucky/Indiana game and screw USC/OSU I'm tuning in to the Illinois State/Illinois in-state rivalry game. The bad news is Penn State doesn't have many night games the good news is I won't have the chance to be so inebriated that I pass out and miss the game. Not that that's happened before.

President Obama needs bloggers’ help

President Obama learned a very valuable lesson, one that every blogger, no matter how big or small has learned the hard way: No matter how well you manage your online forum it's nearly impossible to keep out the trolls.

President Obama's pledge to open the White House up to the public through online forums faces an irksome challenge: a plague of Internet "trolls" -- troublemakers who work to derail cyber-conversations through harassing and inflammatory posts.

The problem became immediately apparent last month when Obama held an online "town hall" forum on the economy and invited the public to post questions on the hite House Web site.

Those questions, in turn, were voted on by users to determine which ones the president would answer.

Three and a half million people participated in the event, but the "trolls" had their way: Following a coordinated campaign by marijuana advocates to vote their topic to the top of the list, questions on the future of the U.S. dollar and the rising unemployment rate were superseded by questions about legalizing pot as an economic remedy.

Ok, so we PSU bloggers have to deal with angry Pitt fans and Obama and his staff have to deal with a bunch of spaced out potheads waiting for their Pizza to be delivered, it's still a similar problem and unlike bloggers, the White House has to be careful not to sensor free speech. I can delete any lame-ass comment I wish (although I don't). The government is limited to censoring only hateful or bad language, if the comment is on topic there's little they can do and you better believe the ACLU will be watching very carefully.

Oh, and what was Obama's response about legalized Mary Jane?

The president himself had a good laugh about the volume of marijuana-related questions, saying, "I don't know what this says about the online audience -- we want to make sure that it was answered. The answer is, no, I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy."

Online audience? Oh you have no idea Mr. President, this just scratches the surface.