College Football - Week 1 (Sept. 4th)

[Banedon]

press stuff is different. I'm talking about stuff like hosting the weekly Quarterback Club luncheons on campus and such

 

From the link above...

 

Q. Your Thursday night radio show, I think you said in Chicago you were cutting back on appearing on that. Just curious, what was the reason behind that, and are you cutting back on any other similar responsibilities?

 

COACH PATERNO: Well, the Thursday night show is a tough show for me because of the fact I've got to come right off the field and go into that radio show. That's always been a problem for me because of the fact that I go in there and -- you know, well, you guys have seen me. If we have a lousy practice and somebody wants to ask me, I feel like telling them, “go jump in the lake.” It's making the adjustment all the time.

 

And it's a pain in the rear end. I want to get home. I want to start doodling. I want to figure out what we didn't get done so that maybe I can figure out a couple things for the game on Saturday.

 

So it's really -- annoying is probably not the best way to put it, but it's something that I would really -- when I was in a situation where we had to build up the program a little bit, I figured it was something I had to do. I don't really feel as if I have to do it right now, and I may not be -- I may be overstating that case, but I just don't -- it's not a -- it's a tough thing to come off the practice field on a Thursday and hustle over there and get on the radio, and I didn't like it. You know, and I don't get paid a lot of money. (Laughter.)

 

You know, I do that; I do the Quarterback Club on Wednesdays; I do a pregame (radio) show. There aren't a lot of coaches that do all those things. I do a show with Steve Jones before the game; I go to Quarterback Club every week and get up and answer questions and the whole bit. So I mean, it wears on you a little bit. I'm anxious to just concentrate on trying to make sure we put everybody -- get the best arrangement we can in order to have the best football team we can have.

 

The last bit makes it sound like he's doing the Quarterback Club...the interview is from the 12th....*shrug*

[Derwood]

just going by what my dad has heard (and he has gone to a ton of the QB club luncheons). We'll see what happens come september

[shnsajax]

Texas and BYU have just signed up for a home and home in 2013 and 14. Doing a good job in boosting the schedule with the loss of two teams after this season.

 

edit: Plus 2011 guessing in Austin.

Edited August 20, 2010 by shnsajax

[imb]

joe paterno is so awesome.

[SouthSideRyan]

Seriously, I think I'm going to be legitimately sad when he dies.

[Banedon]

This was the bit they played on Boers and Bernstein...

 

It all started with USA Today's Marlen (pronounced "Mare-uh-lyn") Garcia asking "I'm thinking you're going to be Penn State's coach until the day you die. What do you think about that?

 

Paterno responded: "Is that wishful thinking or what? Oh, I really don't think about that. I just ?? I'm enjoying it. I like to coach.

 

She followed up by asking about the problem with his intestines, but Paterno stated that it was a little bit below the intestines.

[Derwood]

yeah, the intestinal problem has been a big health problem this year

[dew1679666265]

The rumor this morning is that the MWC and C-USA are in talks to hold a championship game between the winners of the two leagues in an attempt to get an automatic BCS berth.

 

And while the two conferences wouldn't merge, there apparently would be some scheduling cross-over in some sports.

 

I know things change, but I'll still say it. Is C-USA ever going to win that game?

 

They've got teams that potentially could be really good – UCF, Houston, Southern Miss, UAB. All but Southern Miss are in fertile recruiting grounds and Southern Miss is generally a decent mid-major. Given the chance of making a BCS bowl, I could see those teams' recruiting jump up significantly.

 

And I could see the C-USA having won in 2007 (UCF or Tulsa) or 2006 (Houston). Neither would be sure things, but those were pretty good mid-majors. Before the 2004 realignment, the Marshall Pennington/Moss teams were really good, as were the Byron Leftwich Marshall teams (at least the offense was).

[Jon]

Sources in both Columbus and Ann Arbor are saying that Ohio State and Michigan will be placed in different divisions, hoping to meet twice in one year. The annual meeting would take place before the last week of the season, most likely.

 

I don't like this idea and I don't like the idea of protected cross-division rivalries. The Big Ten is putting waaaaay too much faith into their dream of having Ohio State and Michigan meet twice in one season, especially for something that isn't going to happen very often.

 

When we look back at this 10 years into the future, assuming there isn't further realignment/expansion, I think this will be seen as the "downfall" of that rivalry.

[SouthSideRyan]

I usually have a lot of faith in Delaney, but it seems like there's pretty much no doubt they botch this.

[Derwood]

Putting that rivalry above all other is ridiculous, especially considering the disparity in the programs right now. When Michigan finishes in fourth place in their division the next 5 seasons, how is this decision going to look?

[Jon]

I think there's going to be some geographic component to the divisional alignment, so if Ohio State and Michigan get put into different divisions and assuming there won't be TWO protected cross-division rivalries (horrible idea with either an 8 or 9 game schedule), the divisions may very well look like this:

 

WEST

 

Michigan

Michigan State

Iowa

Wisconsin

Minnesota

Nebraska

 

EAST

 

Ohio State

Penn State

Northwestern

Purdue

Illinois

Indiana

 

 

And that's just weird to me. I don't know which teams would pair up across divisions in that setup.

 

Certainly not better than the standard geographic split that has been tossed around.

[Butterscup1679666578]

the big ten is in shambles. three years tops until it's gone.

[Derwood]

the big ten is in shambles. three years tops until it's gone.

 

how bitter is that pill you're swallowing?

[Jon]

According to Joe Schad, the MWC feels better about their chances at keeping BYU.

[Butterscup1679666578]

the big ten is in shambles. three years tops until it's gone.

 

how bitter is that pill you're swallowing?

 

ill use green font next time.

[Jon]

The MWC has indicated that they're going to "work with" BYU on the TV deal to try and get them to stay.

 

That would probably be in BYU's best interest considering what has happened to the WAC and the possibility of a path to the BCS with a MWC/C-USA championship game. And that might be in the best interest of the BCS since it may take some heat off of them.

[Jon]

Here's one Iowa columnist's prediction based on what he has heard:

RUST BELT: Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana, Minnesota — 412 league wins over 17 years

 

GRAIN BELT: Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Northwestern — 428 league wins over 17 years

 

CROSS-OVER RIVALRIES: Ohio State-Michigan, Nebraska-Penn State, Indiana-Illinois, Purdue-Northwestern, Iowa-Minnesota, Wisconsin-Michigan State

That works better than any non-geographic split that I've seen if you accept that a) Michigan and Ohio State will be split and b) there will be a cross-over rivalry. I'd probably have Michigan State-Penn State and Nebraska-Wisconsin instead, but I'd love to see Northwestern keep the protected rivalry with Purdue.

[dew1679666265]

When we look back at this 10 years into the future, assuming there isn't further realignment/expansion, I think this will be seen as the "downfall" of that rivalry.

 

For decades, Tennessee's biggest rival was Alabama without question. Since the SEC instituted a conference championship game and started up protected rivalries, Tennessee/Florida has become much bigger. UT/Bama clearly isn't the rivalry Michigan/OSU is, but it's still pretty massive for my parents' aged fans.

 

An Ohio State/Michigan Big 10 title game would be huge money and ratings, but you're right that it simply isn't likely to happen enough.

[Derwood]

I don't remember there being this kind of fuss when the SEC put Alabama and Auburn in the same division (or Florida and Georgia)

[NCCubFan]

AP poll has been released. Top 5 are Alabama, Ohio State, Boise State, Florida, and Texas.

[Andy]

And with that I updated the first post with Week 1 AP rankings. Interestingly, no games involve ranked teams that didn't before, other than USC, of course.

[TheVolCub08]

When we look back at this 10 years into the future, assuming there isn't further realignment/expansion, I think this will be seen as the "downfall" of that rivalry.

 

For decades, Tennessee's biggest rival was Alabama without question. Since the SEC instituted a conference championship game and started up protected rivalries, Tennessee/Florida has become much bigger. UT/Bama clearly isn't the rivalry Michigan/OSU is, but it's still pretty massive for my parents' aged fans.

 

An Ohio State/Michigan Big 10 title game would be huge money and ratings, but you're right that it simply isn't likely to happen enough.

 

I disagree that Florida is a "much bigger" rivalry than Alabama. It is only slightly bigger to the fanbase as a whole, and has much more to do with Spurrier in the 90's than it does the divisions, imo. In years where Tennessee or Florida is not competing for a conference title, that rivalry is nowhere near as big a deal as the Alabama game, even if neither team is good enough to play for a conference title.

[hawkeyecub]

These divisional speculations keep getting worse and worse.

 

Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Northwestern.

OSU, PSU, Michigan, MSU, Purdue, Indiana.

 

That's all you have to do.

[dew1679666265]

I disagree that Florida is a "much bigger" rivalry than Alabama. It is only slightly bigger to the fanbase as a whole, and has much more to do with Spurrier in the 90's than it does the divisions, imo. In years where Tennessee or Florida is not competing for a conference title, that rivalry is nowhere near as big a deal as the Alabama game, even if neither team is good enough to play for a conference title.

 

I think it's very much a generational split. For myself and Tennessee fans my age I know, it's far more important to beat Florida. If we beat Bama, that's cool, but it's far, far more exciting to beat Florida than Bama. Part of the reason for me is Spurrier and Florida's dominance over Tennessee, but part of it is that the Florida game is just so much more important. For most of my life it's been critical to beat Florida to win the East. If we lose to Bama, it's not as big a deal because we're not competing directly with them.

 

At the same time, most of the fans a generation older than me (my parents' generation and older), UT/Bama is the be-all, end-all as far as rivalries. No other game matters as long as we beat Alabama. I presume that's because they lived through the Bear Bryant period of Bama dominance and still have a hatred from then.

 

The Florida game is generally far more important for Tennessee as well.