I hope the Big 12 and Southeastern conferences enjoy counting their money from their league championship games on Dec. 6. Maybe they can buy tickets for the BCS championship game and watch Penn State play. The Nittany Lions are third in the BCS standings, but guess who has the best shot at reaching Miami.
That’s right. One of the many bloody warts of the BCS system is already oozing nasty residue with a month left in the season. The top of the BCS standings didn’t change Sunday. They are still: 1) Texas; 2) Alabama; 3) Penn State.
Penn State doesn’t control its destiny, but with no championship game in the Big Ten, it can all but wait for Texas or Alabama to collapse. Just look at the Nittany Lions as a group of kids sitting around the deathbed of the family patriarch waiting for the inheritance.
The payoff should come eventually. Look at the glass- strewn paths Texas and Alabama must still navigate to reach Miami. Texas, after already beating three straight teams in the top 11, visits Texas Tech (8-0), No. 7 in the BCS, on Saturday. Texas later visits now-unranked Kansas (5-3) sandwiched between home games against Baylor (3-5) and Texas A&M (3-5).
Then, if the Longhorns survive that, they must play in the Big 12 title game in a probable rematch against Kansas or Missouri in Kansas City, Mo.
On Nov. 8, Alabama must visit No. 19 Louisiana State, which has merely been waiting four years to get back at Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban for ditching the Bayou for the Miami Dolphins. If Alabama can also beat Arkansas State (4-3), Mississippi State (3-5) and Auburn (4-4), then it goes to Atlanta for the SEC championship game, probably against No. 6 Georgia (7-1) or No. 8 Florida (6-1), which meet Saturday.
Meanwhile, Penn State has a relatively easy stroll. It gets a bye week to heal, then visits Iowa (5-3) before hosting Indiana (3-5) and No. 21 Michigan State (7-2). The finale vs. the Spartans could amount to Penn State’s national semifinal.
If you think both Texas and Alabama can survive unscathed, go to Las Vegas and bet them in a parlay. The casinos would love to see you.
Don’t blame Paterno.
The BCS inadequacies should not be taken out on Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who is merely turning in one of the best coaching jobs of his 43-year tenure. I’m writing this while looking at my Sporting News College Football preseason yearbook. In the Big Ten, Penn State was picked seventh.
After Penn State beat Ohio State 13-6, would anyone really mind seeing Paterno get a shot at another national title at age 82? Didn’t think so. And expect to see future polls reflect that.
So will his players. Paterno still has as great an influence, at least on the field, as any coach in the country.
Texas Tech kicker 9-for-9.
Five weeks ago, Matt Williams merely wanted to show his friends that, yes, he was a kicker at Weatherford (Texas) High School. So between the third and fourth quarters of Texas Tech’s game with Massachusetts on Sept. 20, the sophomore wandered down from the stands and booted a 30-yarder to win a free year’s rent from the promoter, Lynn- wood Townhomes.
Williams didn’t need it. He had already signed a year’s lease. Turns out, he got a bigger prize. Texas Tech coach Mike Leach had an assistant track him down and said the coach wanted to see him. Now.
Leach, whose two kickers were on their way to missing six extra points and 4-of-8 field goals, offered Williams a spot on the team. Williams wasn’t just a flunky frat rat. He walked on at Division II Tarleton (Texas) State and transferred after one uneventful year. He proved he’s legit Saturday when he went 9-for-9 in extra points in the 63-21 win at Kansas.
Bag it, Tennessee.
It’s an even worse year for Tennessee scalpers than Tennessee fans. Two tickets in the lower bowl of Neyland Stadium for Saturday’s Alabama game went for only $50. Huge patches of crimson filled the stands, which were nearly empty by the fourth quarter during Tennessee’s 29-9 loss.
The loss gave the Vols a 3-5 record and last place in the SEC East, with Phil Fulmer looking at his second losing season in four years.
