JoePa's age nothing but a number -- as in AP No. 5

The jokes about Joe Paterno are still there, low hanging fruit, easy to pluck, like the one about how Paterno's bifocals are so thick he can see the future.

Or Paterno got into trouble for cooking one of the pigs on Noah's Ark. Paterno's so old, his dreams are in black and white. As a kid, Paterno had a pet triceratops.

What does JoePa's age matter? He has his Nittany Lions winning. (Getty Images)

On and on they go.

Go ahead and mock Paterno. The mispronounced names, the total delegation to assistant coaches, the crotchety personality, and the look that says: Get the hell off my lawn.

But Penn State is ranked fifth in the AP poll.

Fifth.

Joke about that, Paterno haters.

The old man may have a hitch in his giddyup, but he sure did sneak up on everyone.

There's been barely a peep from the Old Men Haters Club as Paterno and fellow ageism sufferer Bobby Bowden return their respective programs to relevancy. (Full disclosure: I've written a biography on Bowden but would've penned this column anyway because some of my best friends are geezers.)

Bowden is doing well but this is more about Paterno. Despite his faults (and there are many), Revenge of the Old Goat remains one of the best stories of the college football season (the rise of Miami is the best).

You'll read one of the best college football writers in the country, Dennis Dodd, on Paterno later this week. Dodd has more football knowledge in his stool samples than most do in their thick skulls, and he's attributing Paterno's rise, in part, to a lack of solid contenders and a weak Big Ten.

Is it fair? Paterno is in an impossible position. If Penn State were tuuurrible this season, he'd get the blame. Now that the Lions are good, he doesn't get the credit.

As someone who's admittedly horrible at math, even I can see that equation doesn't work.

It's impossible to have it both ways.

The Nittany Lions may not be the most talented team in the nation and Paterno is certainly taking advantage of a college football landscape that doesn't possess a single great team. But so what? There are probably 20 national champions that did the same thing.

Paterno's beating the bums lined up in front of him, just like a cagey old fighter should.

This is the incredible part. As easily as Penn State could lose any game (especially to Ohio State and maybe even to Iowa this weekend), it could also finish in the title picture by beating up on a weak conference and sneaking up on national contenders.

The latter shouldn't be difficult. The Florida Gators will lose at least one game (maybe). Same with Texas and Alabama. Mississippi is an upset waiting to happen. Those are the teams ahead of Penn State now, and only Florida is truly a hardcore threat.

Penn State can tiptoe into the national championship picture as easily as any of those teams. The Old Man and the C? As in championship? Shockingly, it could happen.

Can Paterno make one last run before the program is handed over to Greg Schiano?

It's not that Penn State is that good, it's that everyone else is that mediocre.

Still, Paterno deserves credit. He has been mocked as an old foof, too kooky to coach and better suited to spend an afternoon eating oatmeal and listening to Etta James on his Stack-o-Matic record player.

Paterno thinks "iPod" played for his 1980 team.

Yet here he is, mucking things up and hanging around.

Good for Paterno.

In the end maybe Paterno can raise his wrinkled middle finger to his doubters.

Except after doing so he might need a nap.