WWL opened the browser the other day and it said Penn State was 8-1, a top 10 team, per the coaches. It said Daryll Clark has thrown nine touchdowns and one interception since September. It said there was this big game this weekend against Ohio State.
And it said Penn State is still coached by 82-year-old Joe Paterno.
All this has been easy to miss as we wring our hands over the BCS, Florida, Alabama, Texas, TCU, Oregon and Boise State (among others). The Old Man still has it. Well, let's qualify that. The Old Man has it at a figurehead of a football powerhouse. Think Marlon Brando taking audiences with his lieutenants in The Godfather.
That Penn State is still a football powerhouse with an 82-year-old godfather is one of the most underreported stories this season. SI reminded us of Joe a couple of weeks ago. Did we pay attention? Probably not.
Oregon beat USC. Boise and TCU are comparing résumés. The SEC rules the earth. Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions' only loss is to Iowa, which is no disgrace since the Hawkeyes themselves have had a magic wand waved over them this season. A win over Ohio State could put Joe on track for his third BCS bowl in five years. How amazing is that?
Put it this way ...
At age 82, Amos Alonzo Stagg was going 3-8 with -- Pacific.
That same year (1944) at the same age Connie Mack was celebrating "only" 50 years as a major-league manager. (Joe is in his 60th year on the staff.)
At age 82, Darrell Royal had been out of coaching 30 years.
Bobby Bowden might not make it to 82 -- as a coach.
Joe has reinvented himself these last few years. In other words, he is the opposite of Lindsay Lohan -- he matters. Since 2005, he is 48-12 with two BCS bowls. It's the Spread HD but it still smacks you in the mouth. Ohio State comes in for Beaver Stadium's 300th game and Joe has been around since the foundation was dug.
Now it's like a 106,000-seat museum with the only wax being on Matt Millen's mustache. The former Penn State great/horrible Lions GM comes back to Happy Valley this week doing television.
What goes around, blabs around.
"It's good to see any of the kids," Paterno said of his former defensive tackle.
Matt Millen is 51 years old.
It doesn't matter. Compared to Joe, everyone is a kid. We all continue to get older. Paterno gets better.
Five on the clock
LSU: Have we missed the fact that, for now, Nick Saban only shares control of the SEC West?
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Beat Alabama and LSU ties the Tide in the West and throws a lit match on the top of the BCS. Don't get cocky T-Town -- the Tigers have won five of the last six including the last three in Tuscaloosa.
Other issues to consider:
• Alabama can clinch the SEC West and a de facto national semifinal game with Florida in the SEC title game with a victory. As mentioned, if LSU wins, the teams would be tied at 5-1 in the division with the Tigers holding the head-to-head tiebreaker.
• Which quarterback is less worse at this point, Greg McElroy or Jordan Jefferson?
• Which end zone is more lonely at Bryant-Denny? (Alabama has scored one touchdown in the last seven quarters.)
• Will T-Bob Hebert have a spine left? (LSU's 282-pound center is giving up 83 pounds to Alabama's Terrence "Mount" Cody.)
• What does John Chavis have for the Tide? It's been a long time since Jake Locker lit up the Tigers for 321 yards in the opener. Under Chavis, the defensive mastermind coordinator, LSU is allowing almost 11 fewer points per game than last season.
"We're going to prepare this week like it's the national championship game and roll with it," LSU defensive end Pep Levingston said. "I'm kind of hoping for a zero on their end."
The Pac-10: You could feel that sigh of relief in the conference this week. With USC out of the way, it seems there is going to be a non-Trojan champion for the first time since 2001.
Now it's up to the rest of the league to step up. Stanford, 5-3, could take out Oregon a week after the USC win and clinch bowl eligibility. Cal, 6-2, has rebounded from earlier disgraces behind quarterback Kevin Riley, who leads the Pac-10 with 13 touchdown passes.
For now, the league boils down to Oregon and Arizona.
"We don't care about the league," Oregon's Chip Kelly said this week.
Rest assured the Wildcats do. They are ranked for the first time since 2000.
"Its' weird, when you see that you always think about basketball at Arizona," cornerback Trevin Wade told the Arizona Daily Star.
Michael Floyd: The return of Notre Dame's best receiver (and perhaps best player) might be the key to the season and Charlie Weis' future. With the Irish triplets back in place, Floyd, Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate should be enough for Notre Dame to outscore everyone the rest of the way and get to 10-2. Will it be enough for a BCS bowl? The answer starts to be revealed this week against Navy.
Dickie V: Sorry, Vitale, we don't need your slobbering over Roy and Coach K right now, we've got our own Duke-Carolina in November.
For the first time since the rocks cooled, it seems, the football version of Eight Mile (distance between the schools) means something. Duke needs two more victories for bowl eligibility for the first time in 15 years -- that was 1994, which was also the last time the teams met with winning records. Carolina, also 5-3, is still in last place after that miracle at Virginia Tech last week.
If Duke wins, that likely sets up a showdown for first place in the Coastal next week against Georgia Tech. Wait, Duke playing a big game in mid-November? WWL needs to sit down.
The Lord of Discipline(?): How does a guy go from cheap shot artist to the voice of reason? Bravo, we guess, for Brandon Spikes who suggested a full-game suspension for his eye gouge last week. The Gators will bravely struggle to get by Vanderbilt.
Scouting the Nation
Intimidation factor: Terrelle Pryor's fumble was the difference in last year's Ohio State loss that allowed Penn State to go to the Rose Bowl. There's a chance Beaver Stadium inhabitants will remind him of that fact. That, and his assessment that Penn State was "too country" during the recruiting process.
"They're going to tear me up -- but I won't hear any of it. I got my family with me, all 75 [teammates] that travel, and we're going to be ready to rock," Pryor said.
Clemson, maybe?: Too many trees have been killed chronicling what Clemson might do. Stop the deforestation. Having won three in a row the Tigers can take a giant step toward the ACC Atlantic title by beating Florida State.
Rooting for UConn: Since Jasper Howard was murdered, the Huskies have lost consecutive 28-24 heartbreakers to West Virginia and Rutgers. There have been a total of four losses by four points or less for UConn, 4-4.
It's time for some light to shine through this week at Cincinnati. It doesn't look promising. Starting quarterback Cody Endres is out for the season after shoulder surgery so former Notre Damer Zach Frazer will start.
Bearcats quarterback Tony Pike (left forearm) began practicing on Wednesday and was due to be fitted with a brace on Thursday. Brian Kelly shouldn't be in a rush -- backup Zach Collaros has seven touchdown passes with no interceptions in two starts since Pike went down.
Broken Irish: Notre Dame backup quarterback Dayne Crist was scheduled to have surgery Friday on his knee after blowing out his ACL against Washington State. While this hardly impacts this week's Navy game -- Crist's predicted recovery time is four-to-six months -- that may put him out for spring practice 2010. If Jimmy Clausen, as expected, heads to the NFL, that leaves Charlie Weis with few options.
For now senior Evan Sharpley is the backup. While Weis has two quarterbacks coming in, the next best option after that might be current fifth-string receiver John Goodman. Weis says Goodman will begin working as a "slash guy."
A breather for Texas ...: against Central Florida so it's time to take stock of WWL's No. 1 team.
Texas has spent a nation-leading 22 consecutive weeks in the AP top five. The 151 straight weeks in the AP poll also leads the nation, 28 of Texas' 49 scoring drives have taken less than three minutes, Texas has produced an NCAA-best nine non-offensive touchdowns (three pick sixes, two kickoff returns, two punt returns, two blocked punts recovered for scores). Texas is one of only three teams to have two victories over teams in the top 20 (Oklahoma and Oklahoma State) -- Miami and Oregon are the others.
Etc.
• It's personal this week for South Florida going to Rutgers.
• Cincinnati has not lost a fumble this season. No team has ever gone through a season without fumbling it away. The Bearcats have committed only four turnovers. The record for fewest in a season is eight.
• Tulane, 2-6, has to consider the season a success. There is an old saying that for every freshman a coach plays, he loses a game. Bob Toledo has played a nation-leading 18 heading into the UTEP game.
• LSU is first in the SEC averaging 17.3 yards per punt return. It is last in kickoff returns with a 17.7-yard average.
• Farewell to FSU defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews, who announced his retirement at the end of this season.
"For 47 years it's been about me," Andrews said. "Now it's time to be about us, my family."
• Finally, Happy 140th birthday to college football. On Nov. 6, 1869 Rutgers beat Princeton 6-4. Somewhere on one of the 25-man sides, Lou Holtz was a redshirt freshman.
