College football journalist, baseball blogger. Philadelphia area native. FWAA member. Sharing stories and anecdotes and more from the sports world.Will sometimes share other notable news items as well.
Most of us have been there before. We have a nice relationship with somebody, share a few laughs and lovable memories we believe we will cherish forever. Then, out of the blue, that relationship is over. You go your separate ways and look for reasons to feel better about your future now that the other is removed from the picture, but deep down inside you are curious what they are up to. You secretly hope that you find happiness before they do and you may even look forward to the day when you can flaunt your new and improved self and life in front of the one who left you. It’s petty, but likely true.
It may be safe to say that Brady Hoke is playing the role of the scorned lover right now. Notre Dame won the break-up.
Penn State is commonly referred to as Linebacker U. The football program has been a linebacker factory over the course of the program’s history, and for good reason. For all of the great players who have played at Penn State over the years, quarterback has rarely been one of the stronger positions before the arrival of Bill O’Brien as head coach.
O’Brien looks to be turning a corner with production at quarterback and the future looks bright for any quarterback who may have a shot at playing in O’Brien’s quarterback-friendly offense. Whether or not we one day include a name like Tyler Ferguson or Christian Hackenberg in a ranking of the top ten quarterbacks in Penn State history will be determined years from now.
For now, let’s take a look through some of the best to play quarterback at Penn State to date and see how far the position has come.
The state of Pennsylvania will file an anti-trust lawsuit against the NCAA, seeking a dismissal of all Penn State sanctions levied last summer. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett claimed the NCAA has operated beyond their authority in punishing Penn State following the release of the Freeh Report, an independent investigation paid for by Penn State’s Board of Trustees to detail the responses taken in the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
“I believe that the NCAA has no authority and operated outside of their own bylaws to issue these sanctions,” Corbett said in a stern press conference.
Penn State was punished by the NCAA in the form of significant scholarship reductions, a four-year postseason ban and a $60 million fine. In addition, Penn State was forced to vacate over 100 wins from the NCAA record books, a move regarded by some as a way to punish and tarnish the reputation of former head football coach Joe Paterno, who has been tied to the Sandusky scandal along with former university president, athletic director and official.
“They punished past, present and future students, student athletes, local residents and citizens of Pennsylvania,” Corbett said. “I found myself asking the question: ‘Why would the NCAA involve themselves in something already being handled in the courts?”
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Notre Dame is playing for a BCS title and that is OK
The nightmare scenario for many college football fans around the nation has come true. Notre Dame will play for a BCS national championship in January.
It may have taken a while but Notre Dame finally feels as though their approach to college football has been justified. Running an independent football program years after other big name programs decided the time was right to align with a conference has seen more than a fair share of criticism saying the life of an independent is not the way to go and by doing so actually leaves Notre Dame in the dust in terms of national relevance. In the grand scheme of things, perhaps this will be proven to be true, but this season Notre Dame made it work.
Returning to college football’s pedestal was a long and rough road at times for the Irish. Since last capturing national glory in South Bend in the 1988 season Notre Dame has made four coaching changes and even suffered through a 12-year drought without a single bowl victory, a stretch perhaps unimaginable since the Ara Parseghian era.
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Wisconsin looks for statement game vs undefeated Buckeyes
You would not think that two-time defending Big Ten champions would need to come up with a statement win in mid-November, having already clinched a spot in the Big Ten championship game weeks before the conclusion of the end of the season. Yet, this is exactly what the Wisconsin Badgers will look to do this weekend when they welcome Big Ten Leaders division rival, and undefeated, Ohio State.
Ohio State enters this weekend with a perfect 10-0 record, but due to NCAA sanctions are ineligible for postseason play. With Penn State also on probation the path to a return trip to Indianapolis for the Badgers was more like an express lane. Wisconsin has already clinched a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game for a chance to defend their outright conference championship and guarantee a third consecutive trip to Pasadena to represent the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl.
But it is the Buckeyes that have ironically carried the conference banner this season for a Big Ten that has come up small on the national stage from week one. Ohio State is one of four undefeated teams left in the country, joined by No. 1 Oregon, No. 2 Kansas State and No. 3 Notre Dame. Because the Buckeyes are ineligible for postseason play they are not ranked in the BCS standings, but Ohio State is accepting of the position they currently sit in and are focused solely on the two final games of their 2012 season.
“You know, I could lie to you and say that I don’t,” Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said earlier this week when asked about caring about being one of the four undefeated teams in the country. “I’ll hear it and read it once in a while, and I have good friends in the profession that will make a comment, and I’ll think for a second. But then I go back to knowing exactly who we were, and you go back to how we’ve won and who we are right now, and we’re pretty fortunate where we are. Let’s find a way to get No. 11.”
Meanwhile Wisconsin has struggled at times throughout the season, with a sluggish start of the season that was thought to ruin any chance running back Montee Ball had to make any runs for individual honors and perhaps see a trip to Rose Bowl elude them in a season that was their trip to lose.
Duke football means something this season, and it has been a long time coming.
A capacity crowd at Wallace Wade Stadium is a rare sight for Duke’s often forgotten football program, but on Saturday night the Blue Devils put together one of the most important drives in program history against rival North Carolina. For those who have been through some dark seasons in Durham, a better script may not have been able to be written.
Trailing the Tar Heels late in the fourth quarter, Duke organized a 14-play drive that covered 87 yards and ended with quarterback Sean Renfree completing a pass to wide receiver Jamison Crowder with 13 seconds remaining, to give Duke a 32-30 lead. Following an extra point attempt Duke held a 33-30 lead with little time remaining for the visiting Tar Heels. The defense took care of the final seconds and Duke improved to 6-2 on the year, making the Blue Devils eligible for a postseason bowl game for the first time since 1994.
“I just had a good feeling, I honestly did, even when it got to fourth down,” Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said following the game. “Jamison Crowder doesn’t have good hands, you know this, he has great hands and for him to hold onto that ball was great. I don’t think anyone could have pried it loose from him. It was just a well-executed play.”
With six wins this season Duke has already won as many games as they have in the past two seasons combined and have now won the second most games in a season dating back to 1990. The only time in that span the Blue Devils were heading to the postseason, they did so with eight wins. Kansas State’s Bill Snyder and Penn State’s Bill O’Brien have been receiving an increasing amount of national praise for the jobs they have been doing this season at their respective schools, with each being mentioned as a strong national coach of the year candidate, but Cutcliffe may have the upper hand in the entire discussion with what Duke is doing this season.
Since the last time Duke’s football team played in a bowl game, the 1995 Hall of Fame Bowl, Duke’s men’s basketball team has won 40 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament games, highlighted by a pair of national championships. Right now, Duke’s football team is the story of the year on campus, and possibly the entire ACC.
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Temple ready to return to Big East this weekend
This weekend Temple will mark their official return to the conference that once abandoned them. There will be no bitter feelings when the Owls host South Florida this weekend though. Instead this weekend will be an opportunity to feel proud about the program, despite entering the weekend with a losing record.
It is easy to criticize the Big East for being put in a position to have to welcome back Temple, but the fact of the matter is this is not the Temple program that was shown the door less than ten years ago. While Temple still has some steps to take before being considered a viable threat in the Big East and accomplishing feats few would expect Temple to be able to reach, this is a program that is understanding of what it takes now to compete at the highest level.
The biggest difference in Temple now and in 2004 is the resources. The program recently unveiled their renovated football building to the media, showing off a project that cost roughly $10 million to expand and update Edberg-Olson Hall. Addazio concedes that some programs around the country will still far exceed what his upstart program has been able to do with funding and facilities but he firmly believes that Temple is now able to compete more when it comes to recruiting with the facilities and services they have available.
“I think we have a state-of-the-art facility, right now, that can compete with anybody in the conference we are in,” said Addazio.
Nearly 11 months after Kirk Cousins heaved a miracle touchdown upheld by a video review against Russell Wilson and Wisconsin, it was Wilson who helped crush football fans in Wisconsin Monday night. So this is what it feels like, right Wilson?
By now you know the story. Wilson extended a last second play for the Seattle Seahawks and was able to unload on a deep ball to the end zone to give the Seahawks a controversial win over the visiting Green Bay Packers. The pass appeared to be intercepted by Green Bay’s M.D. Jennings, but replacement referees ruled simultaneous possession between Jennings and Seattle wide receiver Golden Tate, who got away with blatant offensive pass interference on the final play.
“It was a great catch, a great play,” Wilson said after the game. “Obviously it’s a tough call, but at the same time we gave ourselves a chance.”
For Wilson, the roles were reversed last fall when Wisconsin visited Michigan State in late October. Wilson, who had transferred from North Carolina State to play his final year of collegiate eligibility to Wisconsin, had been leading the Badgers to what might have been a run for a BCS Championship Game appearance. But a Hail Mary from Kirk Cousins caught by Keith Nicholoff a tip put an end to those plans. Nichol fought hard to ensure he would break the plane of the end zone, and a comprehensive video review ruled he did in fact score the game-winner as time expired.
To this day you may not have to look too hard to find a Wisconsin fan that believes that game could still be in overtime based on the video review, but the result has long been accepted. Unfortunately for him, Wilson saw his team fall victim to another Hail Mary pass the following week, at Ohio State with Braxton Miller unleashing on the final blow. Of course, the Badgers and Spartans would meet again in the inaugural Big Ten Championship Game, where Wilson and the Badgers picked up their revenge. Wilson also was on the field for another last-second setback in the Rose Bowl when time ran out on the Badgers against the Oregon Ducks.
As fate would have it Monday night in Seattle, Wilson would hand the football fans in Madison and the rest of Wisconsin another painful dose of last-second frustration. Was karma on Wilson’s side Monday night?
Kirk Ferentz has been around college football long enough to understand what players get excited about, even if he does not understand why.
“If I understood, I would probably be younger,” Iowa’s head coach said Tuesday when asked a question about Iowa’s alternate uniforms. “I just know they do. It’s almost unanimous I think they do. That’s the world we live in.”
Ferentz understands why alternate uniforms are ultimately produced, and the reason should come as no surprise to fans. It’s all about the money. The veteran coach wondered why teams would change their uniforms or adopt an alternate uniform when he coached in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens.
“Pretty soon I figured out they were playing the games to sell the stuff,” Ferentz explained. “The games were secondary in some ways. It’s an amazing thing.”
The marketing and sales strategies have become the norm at the college level, with no school being as successful in using uniform variety to their advantage the way Oregon has with a different uniform combination for every game. Many have tried to duplicate Oregon’s model, and the results have been mixed. Other schools seem content with their standard and traditional looks while not being afraid to test the waters with a one-game alternate jersey.
Even the old-school Big Ten is no stranger to fancy or alternate uniforms. Michigan has gone and forth on adding numbers to the helmets and has worn specially designed jerseys multiple times since Brady Hoke was named head coach. Ohio State has been no stranger to Nike’s Pro Combat uniforms. Nebraska and Wisconsin will each wear similarly, and poorly, designed uniforms for their match-up next week. Penn State added names to their jerseys this season. No program appears to be safe from uniform tweaks designed to give players something to look forward to wearing on game day. Ferentz has some regret over taking so long to realize this as a tool.
Can Temple beat Penn State for the first time since 1941?
Last September Temple was two minutes and 42 seconds away from their first victory against Penn State since 1941. In 2010 Temple jumped out to a 13-6 lead after the first quarter but were unable to keep the momentum going in a tough 22-13 defeat in State College. Temple has shown no fear in going up against the Nittany Lions in recent years, but they have also shown an inability to deliver the final blow to end a long winless streak against their top in-state rivals.
Can this finally be the year Temple celebrates a win against Penn State?
The rise of the Temple Owls has been a positive story incollege football over the last few years, starting with former Nittany Lion and current Miami Hurricanes head coach Al Golden breathing new life in to the Philadelphia program. A lot of what Golden did in running the Owls was in a lot of ways a mirroring of the way Joe Paterno ran Penn State’s program. For as much progress Temple has made, they have filed to record what many would call a signature win, other than a New Mexico Bowl victory last season against Wyoming.
There is no other way to say it. For Temple, beating Penn State would be that signature win no matter how depleted Penn State may be in some areas and no matter what the future holds. While the program is now in a much better position than they once were, joining the Big East this fall years after being forced out, one of the top goals right now for the program is to beat Penn State and begin to make a legitimate claim that college football does live in Philadelphia, and should be respected throughout the state.
Do they have what it takes to take that next step this weekend?
Five Big Ten quarterbacks were named to the Davey O’Brien Award watch list, but Wisconsin’s Danny O’Brien may end up being the best of them all.
Wisconsin did not actively recruit O’Brien, who transferred from Maryland, to be a back-up player for his remaining two years of eligibility. On Sunday one of the worst kept secrets in the Big Ten was revealed, with O’Brien being named the starting quarterback for Wisconsin’s opener against Northern Iowa.
Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielma shared the news officially via Twitter, which was a bit of a surprise even if the decision was not. All reports seem to suggest that the competition for the job was close between O’Brien, Curt Phillips and Joel Stave but if anyone thought O’Brien was not going to start this season they may have been searching too hard for a quarterback controversy.
O’Brien was heavily recruited by Wisconsin because of the insecurity under center after losing Russell Wilson, another transfer player out of the ACC, and for good reason. Despite a disappointing 2011 season, adding O’Brien in to the middle of Wisconsin’s offense should pay dividends early and often for the Badgers. And, if all goes well, O’Brien could become the best quarterback in the Big Ten by the end of the season.
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SEC Media Day Notebook, Day 1
The SEC culture is a unique one in which the commissioner is applauded for his state of the conference address and a player is given a standing ovation after an entertaining and genuine question and answer session. Such was the case in Hoover, Alabama as over 1,000 credentialed members of the media and other representatives soaked in the first of three days of SEC football conversation.
All is well in the SEC
It all started with the annual state of the union address for the conference, in which SEC commissioner Mike Slive provided his thoughts on a wide range of topics without really breaking any news. Slive opened by commenting on the success of the SEC over the past ten years, with a total of 62 national championships across 16 sports. This, of course, includes the past six BCS championships in football. Since accepting the position of commissioner, Slive says the SEC has tripled their revenue but what he seemed to be most proud of was the increasing emphasis on the hiring of minority coaches in the conference.
“I am very grateful that hiring minority coaches in the SEC is no longer a story,” Slive said. “It’s who we are.” The SEC has three minority head coaches in football. Slive also noted that a television program honoring former Mississippi State head coach Sylvester Croom is in production and will air this fall. Croom was the first minority head coach to be hired by an SEC football program in conference history.
Slive was focused on the future of the conference andcollege football in general as well. With the four-team playoff model lined up to replace the current BCS format, Slive looks forward to the impact it will have on his conference. The commissioner admitted there is still work to be done to make the four-team model a success, including revenue distribution but he expects things to work out nicely. Slive also noted that the four-team model began to be discussed in the SEC after Auburn was left out of the BCS Championship in the 2004 season. The Tigers were passed over by USC and Oklahoma that season.
Slive confirmed that the tentatively named Champions Bowl, the bowl agreement between the SEC and Big 12, will be played in prime time on January 1, 2015 but did not confirm the location of the game. Slive said those details are still to be determined.
The plans for an SEC network, similar to the Big Ten Network and Pac-12 Networks, continue to develop as well. Slive noted that the SEC reaches 80 million homes in the early SEC window, and the code name for the television network have changed from Project X to Project SEC.
But the story of the day remained the additions of Texas A&M and Missouri. The Big 12 programs officially joined the SEC as full conference members on July 1 and were the stars of the first day in Hoover. Slive feels the former Big 12 schools are a solid fit in the SEC.
“We are all looking forward to September 8 when Missouri hosts Georgia and Texas A&M hosts Florida,” Slive said commenting on the new members’ official SEC debut on the football field.
“They fit. We welcome them into the conference family.”
Jerry Sandusky was convicted on 45 of 48 charges related to child molestation Friday night in Bellfonte, Pennsylvania. While justice was ultimately served to one of the new signature child molesters in our country, more punishments will be handed out in time for those who either decided to allow Sandusky’s actions to continue, or just turned a blind eye to incidents playing out in front of their own eyes.
The judicial system will play out for Gary Schultz and Tim Curley, and given the developments of the case it could only be a matter of time before the legal process catches up with Graham Spanier. With so many close ties to officials at Penn State, and given the history between Sandusky and the university and football program, many have been quick to calling for NCAA legislation, some going so far as to call for the heaviest of NCAA sanctions, the death penalty.
The first line in the NCAA’s outline of principles of institutional control should put Penn State at some ease.
“In determining whether there has been a lack of institutional control when a violation of NCAA rules has been found it is necessary to ascertain what formal institutional policies and procedures were in place at the time the violation of NCAA rules occurred and whether those policies and procedures, if adequate, were being monitored and enforced.”
While what happened at Penn State as it relates to Jerry Sandusky was grotesque, disturbing, and shockingly happening on Penn State’s campus there was never a violation of NCAA rules. Without a single NCAA rule broken, the issue of institutional control should be put to rest. This will not be settling news to some who want to see more punishments handed out, but it is the reality of the situation.
As it relates to the NCAA, Penn State’s alleged chain of command did fail to handle the situation, but without NCAA rules being broken there is little ground for any case for NCAA sanctions to stand firm, despite the strong verbiage used that could easily point out the potential faults of former Penn State president and Bowl Championship Series Presidential Oversight Chairman Graham Spanier.
“Obviously, general institutional control is exercised by the chief executive officer of a member institution,” the NCAA outlines. “However, it is rare that the chief executive officer will make decisions specifically affecting the operations of the institution’s athletics program.”
Spanier, now out of a job, will have larger issues to worry about than what would have happened to his school if the NCAA had a case to handle here.
The NCAA also notes that at larger institutions, including Penn State, it is expected that an outline of a chain of command should be put in place, dividing responsibilities to athletic directors, head and assistant coaches and other assistants where needed. Each member of the school and athletic department staff is then responsible for upholding NCAA standards.
“Their failure to control those matters so as to prevent violations of NCAA rules will be considered the result of a lack of institutional control.”
While various coaches and athletic department and university staff officials do seem to have fallen short of upholding the law, no NCAA violations were covered up in the Sandusky scandal. While that will not sit well with most, this is the only reason the NCAA would take a look in to Penn State. Simply put, there is no NCAA case for sanctions here.
Alcorn State breaks a different kind of color barrier
Alcorn State broke a different kind of color barrier on Monday. Jay Hopson, former Memphis defensive coordinator, was hired by Alcorn State to take over the head coaching duties for the program. In hiring Hopson, Alcorn State becomes the first SWAC program to hire a non-black as head football coach.
“It was a great process, Jay came out on top of the pool every step of the way,” said Alcorn President M. Christopher Brown. “There was never any question about his ability to coach, or his ability to fit the criteria for the job. The question was if Alcorn was ready to meet the challenge of hiring a different kind of coach, and we absolutely were.”
One of the goals that placed Hopson on the top of the short list for Alcorn State was his emphasis on academic progress ratings, which is monitored by the NCAA. The NCAA recently stripped SWAC members Jackson State, Southern and Texas Southern of postseason eligibility due to lacking APR scores. Jackson State and Southern later had their bans lifted due to an NCAA decision to give “low-resource institutions” more time to comply with stricter APR requirements.
Hopson, at one point, took his name out of consideration for the Alcorn State job, but warmed back up to the job as he became a leading candidate for the job through the hiring process organized by the school.
“I’m very excited and thrilled. It’s a home to me, and many dear friends of mine are Alcornites,” said Hopson following his introduction.
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Few would argue that Jim Tressel was one of the top coaches in college football up until the time he resigned from his position, perhaps with no other choice. Tressel took Ohio State to three BCS championship games, winning one, and took control of the rivalry between Ohio State and Michigan in short time. A career record of 229-79-2, six Big Ten championships and four 1-AA national championships tends to speak for itself.
Tressel was a college football man. Of course, he still is, but with the NCAA imposing a five-year show cause penalty on Tressel the possibility of Tressel returning to the sidelines again may have been diminished to the point of no return. Any school that would take a chance in hiring Tressel would risk a chance of receiving severe penalties if Tressel were to commit any infractions. At age 59, Tressel realizes that his coaching days may be over and he seems OK with that.
