For Penn State, it’s time to play the waiting game.
With the 2009 regular season now in the books, the Nittany Lions will sit and wait this week while the bowl situation sorts itself out. For the Nittany Lions, it’s pretty cut and dry — with a 10-2 record, they are in position to get a BCS nod. If the Nittany Lions get the coveted BCS bid, that would mean either Fiesta or Orange Bowl. If Iowa gets the nod, it would send Penn State and its fans to Orlando for a date in the Capital One Bowl on Jan. 1.
So where does Penn State belong?
In today’s edition of Morelli OnLion, we’ll take a closer look at Penn State’s bowl possibilities. We’ll also have some random thoughts about the college football scene in general.
Will Sean Lee and the Nittany Lions land in a BCS bowl game?
(Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).
BCS Bound?
For the next several days, Penn State fans can only speculate as to where the Nittany Lions are headed. Is it Tempe? Maybe Miami? Perhaps it’s Orlando?
The question is — does Penn State deserve a BCS bowl bid? That’s a hard question to answer … so we’ll say yes and no. Yes, the Nittany Lions have an impressive 10-2 record with losses to Ohio State and Iowa. It should be noted that both of those teams are ahead of Penn State in the BCS rankings. When you begin breaking down the Nittany Lions’ 10 victories, there isn’t much there. The non-conference slate was especially bad, featuring the likes of Akron, Syracuse, Temple and Eastern Illinois.
The fact that the Hawkeyes defeated the Nittany Lions, 21-10, on a rainy September night in Happy Valley should give the BCS bid to Iowa. That seems fair, right? Certainly, the fans in Iowa City have a good argument. However, the BCS is not about fairness — it’s about money. Penn State has an iconic coach. It also has some of the best fans in the country who will shell out big bucks to watch the Nittany Lions play wherever they land.
We’re guessing the BCS folks will take that into account. Penn State went to the Orange Bowl during the 2005 season, but it has been awhile since it played in the Fiesta Bowl. With that in mind …
Gantdaily.com prediction: Penn State vs. Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.
Random Thoughts
Some random thoughts as the 2009 college football season comes to an end:
Bye, bye Charlie — Notre Dame fired coach Charlie Weis on Monday, something that was a long time coming. When Notre Dame hired Weis and threw a ton of money at him, I wondered why. Sure, he was the architect of the New England Patriots’ offense that dominated the NFL during the early part of the 2000s, but he was unqualified to be a head coach at the collegiate level.
Of course, it was easy for those Patriot teams to dominate considering they were cheating. When you’ve got tapes of your opposition during practice — as the Patriots did during their amazing run — it’s easy to dominate. Once Weis got to the college game and didn’t have access to tapes of his opposition, it wasn’t as easy for him to dissect defenses.
Weis also wasn’t the master recruiter everyone thought he would be. Considering his personal appearance, I find it hard to believe that Weis would be a charismatic figure while sitting in someone’s living room. Based on the talent he brought to Notre Dame, he wasn’t very charismatic at all.
He will get a job somewhere, though. Here’s hoping he fails again.
Florida vs. Alabama — On Saturday, two unbeatens will meet for the SEC title in Atlanta. The Gators, led by coach Urban Meyer and All-Everything QB Tim Tebow, were instilled as early four-point favorites.
I’m not a betting person, but I can tell you this — give the points. Florida is the better team and will beat the Crimson Tide by a couple of touchdowns, neutral field or not.
The guess is that Tebow will slice and dice a Bama defense that hasn’t been tested all season long. Heck, Alabama nearly lost to an undermanned Auburn squad this weekend.
Gantdaily.com prediction: Florida 35, Alabama 21.
Dave Wannstedt and the Pitt Panthers will upend Cincinnati this weekend.
(Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh — The Pitt Panthers will play their biggest game since 2003 when they host undefeated Cincinnati on Saturday at Heinz Field beginning at noon.
The game is nearly a sellout, which would be quite an accomplishment considering that the Panthers compete against the Penguins and Steelers for fans each and every weekend. Sure, Pitt lost to West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl on Friday, but the game was being played in Morgantown and the Panthers got homered at each and every turn by the Big East refs.
Cincinnati enters the game undefeated, but don’t let that fool you. The Bearcats haven’t seen an offense like the Panthers. Bill Stull and Co. should be able to throw the ball all over the yard on Saturday.
Gantdaily.com prediction: Pitt 35, Cincinnati 24.
College Overtime — After watching the Pittsburgh Steelers play in back-to-back overtime games, my appreciation for how the NFL does overtime grew a little bit more.
Sure, my beloved Steelers lost those two games (their season is over, by the way), but the fact that the overtime was the same game the teams had played for four quarters made sense. I don’t understand why college doesn’t get it. You cannot give a team the ball on the doorstep of the Red Zone and consider it overtime. Make the team drive the length of the field to score. As it stands, college overtime is a joke.
Midnight Madness — I know it’s not college football, but watching the ESPN networks air college basketball for 24 hours straight a few weeks back was just ridiculous. We understand that ESPN owns much of the sports world, but the fact that the Worldwide Leader was able to dictate schedules of college athletes is disgusting.
I mean, really, do we need to see basketball 24 hours straight? It’s not March Madness. It’s a meaningless game in November. Don’t try to convince me otherwise.