The Game Owl

Joe Paterno

Penn State plays Michigan State this weekend in Happy Valley, in what could be Joe Paterno’s final home game.  There has been a lot of debate on wether this is in fact Joe’s last season as Head Coach of Penn State football.  Much like the US Presidency, Joe gets a new contract every four years.  The only difference is he has had a lot more then two terms.  But this is the final year on his most current deal and there hasn’t been a new contract just yet.  So is this it for Joe Paterno?  I think if there was a time to go, now might be the best time for him and the program.

Hard to Criticize

To see my reasoning, let’s look at the reasons Joe should stay.  First the man is Penn State football and everyone agrees he should go out on his own terms.  Second, he is a great man and has turned into a loved do no wrong grandfather figure.  And lastly, over the past 4 years he has won 3 bowl games and is on the brink of his second Rose Bowl berth.  So…what are the reasons he should go?  First of all is his health, he hasn’t been on the sidelines for over a month now and after seeing him get hit at Wisconsin (in person) I don’t think it is very safe for him down there.  Second, how involved is he in the actual game management?  I am not sure anyone outside the program really knows.  And finally, does he still have the edge to want to compete for a national championship?  I think the 60-90’s JoePa doesn’t even come close to losing at Iowa and wouldn’t have let a team with a bye go on the road so unprepared.

As Iconic as the Lion Shrine?

You Bet!

So depending on your thought process you could go either way.  Being loyal is a noble thing, and I bet Michigan wishes they were a little more loyal to Lloyd Carr right now.  But, how can you make a solid transition from a JoePa led Penn State Program to one without him.  My answer is you have to create a position for him.  Obviously Joe loves coaching and teaching his players.  That is something the program doesn’t want to lose or at least shouldn’t want to lose.  Also his presence helps recruiting, so if you let him go, do you have as strong of a recruiting program.  If Penn State was creative they should give someone inside the program the Interim Head Coach title and JoePa some kind of Head of the Football Program title.  I assume Tom Bradley would become the new Head Coach at some point, but an Interim tag would lend for a tryout/transition away from the Paterno legacy all the while keeping him close to the Penn State program.  A head coach needs to be in control of so many things, but most important is game management and recruiting.  An Interim Head Coach gives you better on the field game management and with JoePa still involved on the teaching/recruiting side you don’t lose an edge in the off season.

Graham Harell Leads Texas Tech

If JoePa can change to a spread offense, I am sure someone could talk him into a lesser role just to stay involved in the program.  It really is in the best interest of the players, students, school, coaches, and administration.  And that is the order of importance that should be considered.

So it is Rivalry Week this week.  Here are the top 10 games!

1. #2 Texas Tech at #5 Oklahoma - No Big Deal, just a National Championship Game is on the line.
2. #15 Michigan State at Penn State - Battle of the Land Grant Trophy
3. #14 BYU at #7 Utah - It is sad this game isn’t on national TV
4. #21 Oregon State at Cal - Oregon State’s Rose Bowl destiny are in their own hands.  A Penn State win means an unlikely rematch.
5. Michigan at #10 Ohio State - Welcome to the Filled in Horseshoe Rich.
6. Florida State at #25 Maryland - Black Out in College Park.  We are still waiting for someone from the ACC to step up…anyone???
7. #20 Pittsburgh at #19 Cincinnati - Apparently the Big East Champion is BCS Bowl eligible…who knew?
   

   Land Grant Rivalry

8. Ole Miss at #18 LSU - SEC teams have more bye weeks then NFL teams
9. #9 Boise State at Nevada - The Mountain West needs some love, big time.
10. NC State at #22 North Carolina - Note to Tar Heels fans, you need to keep Butch Davis.

November 20th, 2008 | Tags: BYU, cal, Cincinnati, college, florida, florida state, Football, game, games, michigan, michigan state, month, national championship, NFL, ohio state, Oklahoma, Ole, Ole Miss, oregon, oregon state, Penn, penn state, pittsburgh, season, SEC, texas, Title, utah | Category: College Football, Game Owl | Leave a comment

At least their Students can rush the field.

To be honest I am not too excited about football this weekend.  Last weekend was brutally heartbreaking for me.  After watching my Nittany Lions blow a perfect season (due to horrendous coaching and play calling) and the Steelers screwing up a winnable game against the Colts, I am not very happy.  So I guess the good news of the week is that my Penguins came back twice against the Flyers and Red Wings.  I also got to see the Captitals spank the Rangers in person last Saturday so that made me feel a little better.

But there really is nothing excusable for what Penn State did on Saturday.  They just had a bye week and should have been focused on finishing off the season.  Instead, they showed up gave away a touchdown because of a fumble on the first drive and then played mediocre the rest of the game.  First the first drive was reminiscent of the Michigan game when they went down early.  The big difference there was at least the Lions were home against Michigan and not playing in terrible wind conditions.  I have to give it to Kirk Ferentz, he owns JoePa, and I knew after the interception in the fourth quarter that they would drive to kick a game winning field goal…again.  I had the pleasure of watching Iowa beat us by in overtime and by a field goal before, it is gut wrenching and obviously exciting for Hawkeye alum, students, and fans.  My main problem was the offensive (no pun intended) play calling pretty much during the entire game, but more importantly in the fourth quarter.  So you make a great play to get to the Iowa 30, pretty much you have run all day with both tailbacks and have gotten positiver yardage.  You are going into a 20 mph head wind, what do you do?  Well I can tell you what you don’t do.  You do not call the exact same play that you already scored a Touchdown on…the defense saw that already and now stopped it.  You also don’t run a reverse to the SHORT SIDE of the field.

Hi My Name is Kirk and I own JoePa

Memo to JoePa and Offensive Coaching Staff:  When you have playmakers in the backfield you don’t run them to the short side of the field.  By doing this you effectively take away the playmakers ability to make something out of nothing.  This also includes option plays and screens.  I am pretty sure Pete Carroll never optioned Reggie Bush to the short side of the field.

So you then throw a bad interception negating a field goal opportunity, which probably would have been missed due to the head wind.  The major problem here is you should have went for two back at the end of the 3rd quarter when you scored to go up by 10 instead of 9.  So touchdown and field goal and you lose by 1 point.  I will say this that we did have an unfortunate pass interference call on the last drive, but don’t put your players in that position.  Hey as most people who have read this blog know, I am all for the college athlete.  There are times when you will have bad days and games, these are only kids really.  But when you have a coaching staff with an extra week to prepare, having an “off” week that is unacceptable.  So in my mind the players might have lost to Iowa, but the coaches lost the season for the players.

Here are this weekends games to see.

Here's an Idea: Run the Football

1. South Carolina at Florida - Florida wants a national title and their coaches won’t screw it up.
2. Boston College at Florida State - Big time ACC Title Game Implications here.
3. Oklahoma State at Colorado - Can the Cowboys rebound after a tough loss?
4. California at Oregon State - Will Oregon State win another big home game?
5. Ohio State at Illinois - Buckeye Revenge is in order.
6. North Carolina at Maryland - North Carolina could make it to the ACC Championship Game.
7. Notre Dame at Navy - Back to Back wins against the Irish?
8. USC at Stanford - Trojan Revenge will also be in order.
9. Mississippi State at Alabama - Can the Bulldogs keep the scoring to a minimum?
10. Indiana at Penn State - 1999 Revisited?  Watch the players try to save their season as the coaching staff tries to give it away.

"Gosh Steeling Wins is Just Awesome"

Not much to say about the NFL this week, other then Thank Goodness Bye weeks are over!!!!  We are in the lull before the playoff push and there are some solid matchups this week.  I just hope my Steelers don’t blow another winnable home game.  Here are some questions and comments I have for the weekend.

1. Dallas at Washington - I don’t think Portis plays, so can the Skins do it without him?  We know the Cowboys can’t without Romo, so they are glad he is back.
2. San Diego at Pittsburgh - I just don’t know what Steelers team will show.
3. Denver at Atlanta - The Falcons at home are very dangerous, proving Rookie QB’s are affected in hostile atmospheres.
4. Minnesota at Tampa Bay - The Bucs at home are strong and can stop the run.  Can they stop All Day?
5. Chicago at Green Bay - Whichever team loses here won’t make the playoffs.
6. Baltimore at New York Giants - If the Ravens think they are for real, you need to play well on the road against the Champs.
   

   I heart Willie Parker

7. Cleveland at Buffalo - Two teams in Self Destruct mode, let’s hope the stadium holds.
8. Tennessee at Jacksonville - Sneaky upset game, I am predicting this one will be close.  And if I am wrong, well the Titans are awesome.
9. Oakland at Miami - Just because the Dolphins are fun to watch and the Raiders aren’t.
10. Houston at Indianapolis - The Colts have a pulse, they stole one from the Texans earlier, can they destroy them this time?

November 14th, 2008 | Tags: alabama, Boston College, Buffalo, cal, California, carolina, college, Colorado, Colts, dallas, florida, florida state, Football, games, Giants, green bay, illinois, Iowa, Jackson, jacksonville, Lions, miami, michigan, minnesota, mississippi state, Navy, New York, New York Giants, NFL, Nittany, notre dame, ohio state, Oklahoma, oklahoma state, Ole, oregon, oregon state, Penn, penn state, pittsburgh, Raiders, ravens, Sam, san diego, South Carolina, Stanford, Steelers, Tampa, Tampa Bay, tennessee, Texans, Titans, usa, usc, Washington | Category: College Football, Game Owl, NFL | Comments (1)

Midterms for grad school has caused the break in the action here at the game owl.  Sports took a back seat to the Presidential Election for me over the past few days as well.  Congratulations to President Elect Barack Obama.  In case you missed the acceptance speech, here it is.  Washington, DC went a little nuts late Tuesday Evening and there were cheers on my street and in my building.  I don’t know how many times people across the nation have cheered in the streets for a Presidential Election, but it was pretty awesome to witness anyway.

Overall the last week in the sports world has been very exciting.  I especially enjoyed watching the Texas Tech upset against Texas.  Below is Michael Crabtree’s touchdown which might be The college play of the year.  Also I got to enjoy my Steelers taking it to the Redskins Monday Night.  Pittsburgh has been a little Jekyl and Hyde this year, which makes me a little nervous.  The offense obviously needs Willie Parker and Santonio Holmes, I am just glad the Defense shows up every week.

So a couple big time games in College Football this week and a few trap games to look out for.  Here is my Top 10 for Saturday November 8th, 2008.  Here are ABC’s regional coverage maps.

1. Oklahoma State at Texas Tech - Tech has a rough two weeks ahead.
2. Alabama at LSU - Alabama gets it’s first real away game at LSU.  When they beat Georgia the game was played in Atlanta instead of Athens.
3. Georgia Tech at North Carolina -  Will someone in the ACC please stand up and take charge.  The conference is starting to look like the Big East.
4. California at USC - I think USC will be set in the BCS, even though that loss to Oregon State is pretty bad, when compared to other one loss teams.  Especially Texas/Oklahoma.
5. Ohio State at Northwestern - Big game for Northwestern here and the beginning of my trap games for the Buckeyes, Sooners, and Nittany Lions.
6. Oklahoma at Texas A&M - The Sooners need some help to sneak into the Big 12 title game, a big win here always helps.
7. Penn State at Iowa - Hopefully the pink locker room doesn’t affect the Lions.
8. Clemson at Florida State -
9. Florida at Vanderbilt - Mini trap game for Florida who can get caught…see Ole Miss.
10. Notre Dame at Boston College - Tough game here for Notre Dame especially after losing to Pitt in overtime.

November 6th, 2008 | Tags: alabama, Boston College, cal, California, carolina, case, clemson, college, College Football, florida, florida state, game, games, georgia, Georgia Tech, Iowa, Lions, lsu, Nittany, notre dame, ohio state, Oklahoma, oklahoma state, Ole, Ole Miss, oregon, oregon state, Penn, penn state, pittsburgh, Redskins, Sports, Steelers, texas, Texas A&M, usc, Vanderbilt, Washington | Category: College Football, Game Owl | Leave a comment