Today JoePa, Penn State lost whatever respect they had

You've probably heard the story already, but today put it over the top for me. In the wake of the news about Jerry Sandusky it was requested that questions this week in Joe Paterno's weekly press conference only be football related (Penn State plays Nebraska in Happy Valley on Saturday). Said presser was cancelled by PSU President Graham Spanier. After more than 150 reporters showed up for questioning.

I'm still shaking my head as it is. First of all, if you've read the story, JoePa is either just as guilty as Penn State AD Tim Curley and Sr. VP Gary Schultz, or none of the 3 are. There's no middle here. Curley and Schultz have already been indicted on charges of perjury and that they failed to alert police about abuse complaints. So yeah, Paterno did the bare minimum legally by telling Curley about what he heard. But to sit on it for as long as he did, morally puts him in the same vein as Sandusky.

Rapists in my opinion are some of the most vile scum on the planet. Child rapists are even worse. You can't change the past. And because of JoePa's lack of action, I've lost all respect for him.

As I'm writing this, the New York Times is reporting that PSU is already planning Paterno's exit. @RappUp is tweeting that it looks like it's going to be a firing rather than resignation, as the PSU Board of Trustees voted to ask Paterno to resign and he refused.

Why are you bashing the computers?....and me bashing the media again

Here I go again with another post about college football. Although I would consider myself a stathead in determining my "who-would-beat-who," it seems like national analysts (I'm looking at you Lee Corso) are completely throwing out why the 6 computer rankings are in place in the first place.

As I'm sure you are all aware, the formula to determine the two teams to play for the BCS National Championship includes two human elements, the Harris Interactive and Coaches polls, and a 6-computer average (throwing out the high and low computer scores). Two-thirds of the formula come from people who are selected as "experts" in who is determining the top teams. The computer component....AHEM....is there to get rid of all the subjectivity (such as pollsters being homers to teams in a certain conference) and look at every team on a level playing field.

This explains (and keep in mind that as an Illini fan I'm anti-Pac-10) why the Pac-10 sent 5 teams to bowls, all but USC unranked, and came out 5-0. Most of the voters in the human polls are based in the Central or Eastern Time Zones, and with a particularly large number of games broadcast in primetime locally, meaning a lot of these pollsters don't have the time to watch all these games. So they believe the ESPNs of the world that say the Pac-10 is down this year save USC.

This brings up two issues:

The Pac-10 doesn't get the respect it deserves. Let's recap the Pac-10's bowl games this season:

• Las Vegas Bowl; Arizona 31, #17 BYU 21. BYU came in 10-2 with their only losses coming to 10-1 TCU and 12-0 Utah. Arizona QB Willie Tuitama comes in and goes 24-for-35 for 325 yards and 2 TDs, and rushed for another. Yahoo! Sports Recap
• Emerald Bowl; Cal 24, Miami 17. I'll give you that the 8-4 Golden Bears were 10-point favorites against the 7-5 Hurricanes, and that they were playing in Cal's backyard in San Francisco. But I watched this game, and the score doesn't indicate how much Cal and their running back Jahvid Best (20 for 186 yds, 2 TDs) controlled this game. Yahoo! Sports Recap
• Holiday Bowl; Oregon 42, #13 Oklahoma St 31. This is probably the one I watched the least (because I was subbing in a Tuesday night bowling league), but I had a lot of respect for Okey St coming in, and this was one of the (few) games I picked incorrectly. This Cowboy team's only losses were to the then-#1 Texas, then-#2 Texas Tech, and then-#3 Oklahoma. They also took down the then-#3 Mizzou Tigers who were previously defeated. Yahoo! Sports Recap
• Sun Bowl; Oregon St 3, #18 Pitt 0. Oy. 3-0? Seriously? You'd think it was a Beaver-Panther baseball game. Another bowl I kind of missed watching because I was watching the Armed Forces Bowl (Houston 34, Air Force 28). But I did have respect because Oregon St was the only team to take down the Fighting Pete Carroll Goliaths USC. The Beavers DID make it to #24 in the AP poll, and I did end up picking this one correctly with 11 (out of 34) confidence points. Yahoo! Sports Recap
• Rose Bowl; #5 USC 38, #8 Penn State 24. Reminiscent of the Rose Bowl game from last year where the Trojans ran my Illini up and down the field to a 49-17 shelacking, where the Fighting JoePa's kept it close for the first 1 1/2 quarters then USC passes it extremely well and it's clear who is the better football team by the end of the night. USC for the last few years (Oregon St and UCLA in 2006, Stanford and Oregon in 2007, and Oregon St again this year) has a brainfart and has that 1 bad loss that keeps them out of the national championship, then blows away their Big Ten opponent in the Rose Bowl. Yet another reason for there to be a playoff. Yahoo! Sports Recap

The second reason: The Pac-10 needs to schedule its games so that the nation can watch. This is definitely the lesser of the two reasons, but still warrants an argument. BCS coaches not in the Pac-10 aren't going to stay up til past midnight to watch all the games in the Pac-10 after a most likely grueling day of coaching their own teams that Saturday afternoon. Same goes with Harris Interactive. From their website, The Harris Interactive Poll "is comprised of former players, coaches, administrators and current and former media who have committed to submitting rankings for the top 25." So you have old players and coaches who just watched a full plate of games for the day, and media members who have stories to write and deadlines to meet.

Ok, so classic case of a stream of consciousness, but I'll take it.

Bob's Take on....The BCS

#1 Oklahoma v. #2 Florida. January 8, 2008. Miami, Florida.

To me, the two best teams in the country are playing for the National Championship, but too much of it by chance. Technically, it's the Bowl Championship Series National Championship. I found out that the BCS actually has no official affiliation with the NCAA. It's actually the FCS (formerly Division I-AA) title that is called the NCAA Division I football championship. They've got it right, and they've been getting it right since 1978. 11-game regular season, 16-team tournament (which will go to 20 teams in 2010), and there is really no one who is in the know that would have a valid opinion that has a problem with it.

Especially in the last handful of years there's been so much controversy involving who should be there, why another team shouldn't be in there, and what's going on with undefeated mid-majors? As the talent level has stepped up so much, so has the controversy. Many are advocating a 8-team playoff with the conference champions of the 6 BCS conferences (Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, ACC, SEC, Pac-10), and 2 at-large bids, but I really don't think that would work.

This 8-team playoff would include the ACC Champ Virginia Tech, who went an abysmal 9-4, and is ranked a mere 19th in the BCS Standings. It would also include Big East Champ Cincinnati (#12 BCS), who although sits at 11-2, beat the likes of Eastern Kentucky and barely squeaked by Akron 17-15. Why am I not bashing the rest of the powerhouses who put cupcakes on their nonconference schedule? Because the ACC and Big East were incredibly weak as a whole this year, at least for a BCS conference. Hell, the Mountain West has more teams (Utah, TCU, BYU) ranked in the AP top 25 than the ACC (Va Tech, Ga Tech) or the Big East (Cincy, Pitt).

And what about those 2 at-large bids? Taking out the 6 BCS conference champs (Va Tech, Cincy, Penn State, Oklahoma, USC, Florida), here's a list of who you have left to vie for the last 2 spots, with current BCS standing:
#3 Texas
#4 Alabama
#6 Utah
#7 Texas Tech
#9 Boise St
#10 Ohio St
This system would take teams like the aforementioned Cincy and Va Tech over a team like Texas Tech, whose only blemish in their 11-1 season was a 65-21 drubbing by Oklahoma. I'll admit it was a bad loss, but I would take that 10 times out of 10 against a 4-loss Va Tech. And I will be one of the first in line to say that an undefeated team (Utah and Boise St both at 12-0) should at least have a shot at the title. Even #10 Ohio St (and this is hard considering my die-hard Illini fandom) deserves some credit, because they lost to the BCS #5 USC and #8 Penn State.

Therefore, if you go with 8 teams, you would have to go straight up BCS standings, without regard to making sure certain conferences get in or the number of bids per conference. This would give you the following matchups:
#1 Florida vs. #8 Penn St
#2 Oklahoma vs. #7 Texas Tech
#3 Texas vs. #6 Utah
#4 Alabama vs. #5 USC
Maybe you move around Texas Tech to make sure that there's not a conference matchup for the first round, or find a way to put Boise in there, but as it stands you have 8 quality teams, each of which have no more than 1 loss, and each of which were in the national championship conversation (with the possible exception of Utah) at some point during the year. You also have 3 weeks of games, which is still shorter than the current 34-bowl schedule in place this year.

To me, if you wanted to include the 6 champions of the BCS conferences, you have to go to a 16-team playoff, giving you 10 at-large bids, and giving you the exact format of the FCS, although, as stated before, the FCS is going to 20 teams in 2010. It would also give teams like Oklahoma State, Georgia (who by the way seemed like everyone's pick for the BCS Championship in the preseason), and Ohio State a chance to make a run. Even 16 teams, if you started at the same time the bowl season started, would take you less time than to play 34 bowls.

And to those who say you would lose the pageantry of the more classic bowls, I say you can still have it. Name a bowl game for every game in the playoff...it's that simple. That's 7 bowls (in the 8-team playoff) and 15 bowls (16-team playoff) right there. You can fill the rest with the less classic bowls such as the ever-popular San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl or the always riveting magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl.

This would also make it hard to actually get into a bowl, with some teams playing 2 or 3 bowls. I can't really find solace in the fact that there will be 34 teams this year that will end their season with a postseason victory, or that a 6-6 team is considered bowl-eligible. If you can't finish a season with an winning record, your season should not be extended. This also means that if a 6-6 team were to make it to a bowl and lose, that means they made the postseason but finished with a LOSING record. Pardon my French, but WHAT THE FUCK?!

I really wish a had a few followers, not for the fact that I could say I have fans, but I would like to hear what others have to say.

Week 7 College Football Ranking (AP and me)

First Place Votes in Parentheses
	Week 6 AP	Week 6 Me	Week 7 AP	Week 7 Me
1	Oklahoma (43)	Oklahoma	Texas (39)	Texas
2	Alabama (21)	Missouri	Alabama (26)	Alabama
3	Missouri	Alabama	Penn State	Penn State
4	LSU (1)	LSU	Oklahoma	Florida
5	Texas	Penn State	Florida	Texas Tech
6	Penn State	Texas	USC	Oklahoma
7	Texas Tech	Texas Tech	Texas Tech	Georgia
8	USC	BYU	Oklahoma State	BYU
9	BYU	Florida	BYU	Oklahoma State
10	Georgia	Georgia	Georgia	USC
11	Florida	USC	Missouri	Ohio State
12	Ohio State	Ohio State	Ohio State	LSU
13	Vanderbilt	Boise State	LSU	Missouri
14	Utah	Kansas	Utah	Kansas
15	Boise State	Vanderbilt	Boise State	Boise State
16	Kansas	Auburn	Kansas	Utah
17	Oklahoma State	Oklahoma State	Virginia Tech	South Florida
18	Virginia Tech	Utah	North Carolina	Virginia Tech
19	South Florida	South Florida	South Florida	North Carolina
20	Auburn	Virginia Tech	Michigan State	Pittsburgh
21	Wake Forest	Illinois	Wake Forest	Michigan State
22	North Carolina	Pittsburgh	Vanderbilt	Vanderbilt
23	Michigan State	Ball State	Pittsburgh	Ball State
24	Pittsburgh	Michigan State	Ball State	Wake Forest
25	Ball State	North Carolina	California	Tulsa

Falling out of the AP Top 25: Auburn
Falling out of My Top 25: Auburn, Illinois

Newly Ranked Teams in the AP Top 25: California
AP Biggest gain within ranking: Florida (11 --> 5)
AP Biggest gain into ranking: California ( 29 --> 25)
AP Biggest loss within ranking: LSU (4 --> 13), Vanderbilt (13 --> 22)
AP Biggest loss out of ranking: Auburn (20 --> 0 votes)

Week 6 College Football Ranking (AP and me)

First Place votes in parentheses
	Week 5 (Old)	Week 6 (New)	Me
#1	Oklahoma (43)	Oklahoma (51)	Oklahoma
#2	Alabama (21)	Alabama (13)	Mizzou
#3	LSU	Mizzou (1)	Alabama
#4	Mizzou (1)	LSU	LSU
#5	Texas	Texas	Penn State
#6	Penn State	Penn State	Texas
#7	Texas Tech	Texas Tech	Texas Tech
#8	BYU	USC	BYU
#9	USC	BYU	Florida
#10	South Florida	Georgia	Georgia
#11	Georgia	Florida	USC
#12	Florida	Ohio State	Ohio State
#13	Auburn	Vanderbilt	Boise State
#14	Ohio State	Utah	Kansas
#15	Utah	Boise State	Vanderbilt
#16	Kansas	Kansas	Auburn
#17	Boise State	Oklahoma State	Oklahoma State
#18	Wisconsin	Virginia Tech	Utah
#19	Vanderbilt	South Florida	South Florida
#20	Virginia Tech	Auburn	Virginia Tech
#21	Oklahoma State	Wake Forest	Illinois
#22	Fresno State	North Carolina	Pittsburgh
#23	Oregon	Michigan State	Ball State
#24	UConn	Pittsburgh	Michigan State
#25	Wake Forest	Ball State	North Carolina

Falling out of the AP Top 25: Wisconsin, Fresno State, Oregon, UConn
Falling out of my Top 25: Fresno State, Oregon, UConn

Newly ranked teams in the AP: North Carolina, Michigan State, Pittsburgh, Ball State
AP Biggest gain within ranking: Alabama (8 --> 2)
AP Biggest gain into ranking: Pittsburgh (0 votes --> 24)
AP Biggest loss within ranking: South Florida (10 --> 19)
AP Biggest loss out of ranking: UConn (24 --> 0 votes)

Week 5 College Football Ranking (AP and me)

First Place votes in parentheses
	Week 4 (Old)	Week 5 (New)	Me
#1	USC (62)	Oklahoma (43)	Oklahoma
#2	Oklahoma	Alabama (21)	Alabama
#3	Georgia (2)	LSU	Mizzou
#4	Florida (1)	Mizzou (1)	LSU
#5	LSU	Texas	Penn State
#6	Mizzou	Penn State	Texas
#7	Texas	Texas Tech	Texas Tech
#8	Alabama	BYU	BYU
#9	Wisconsin	USC	Georgia
#10	Texas Tech	South Florida	Florida
#11	BYU	Georgia	South Florida
#12	Penn State	Florida	USC
#13	South Florida	Auburn	Ohio State
#14	Ohio State	Ohio State	Auburn
#15	Auburn	Utah	Kansas
#16	Wake Forest	Kansas	Boise State
#17	Utah	Boise State	Utah
#18	Kansas	Wisconsin	Wisconsin
#19	Boise State	Vanderbilt	Vanderbilt
#20	Clemson	Virginia Tech	Oregon
#21	Vanderbilt	Oklahoma State	Oklahoma State
#22	Illinois	Fresno State	Virginia Tech
#23	East Carolina	Oregon	Fresno State
#24	TCU	UConn	Illinois
#25	Fresno State	Wake Forest	UConn

Falling out of the AP Top 25: Clemson, Illinois, East Carolina, TCU
Falling out of my Top 25: Wake Forest, Clemson, East Carolina, TCU

Newly ranked teams in the AP: Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State, Oregon, UConn
AP Biggest gain within ranking: Alabama (8 --> 2)
AP Biggest gain into ranking: Virginia Tech (28 --> 20)
AP Biggest loss within ranking: Wisconsin (9 -->18) and Wake Forest (16 --> 25)
AP Biggest loss out of ranking: Clemson (23 --> 0 votes)