2009, A great start

[RJ_Daley]

Isn't New Years Day always wonderful? 

The parade was spectacular on a beautiful day in So Cal.
I'm rev'ed up for the start of the outdoor hockey game at Wrigley Field.
I can't wait for "the grand daddy of them all" bowl game later.

I hope those of you living in good weather TIVO all these wonderful new year's day activities on the tube and have a chance to play a great golf course for your first day of 2009, or as soon as possible hereafter...

Best Wishes to all...

[Tom Naccarato]

Dick, I wish you were out here so we could do all of that!

[Kalen Braley]

So much for the grand-daddy of them all...

...more like the grand-blowout.

Once again, the Big 10 is exposed big time.

[Michael Dugger]

It's pouring rain in good 'ol Portland, Oregon.

I'm jealous!

[Ian_L]

So just what does it take for the Pac-10 to get recognition?   Is going 5-0 in bowl games, and beating 4 ranked teams enough?

[Pete_Pittock]

New Years won't officially start for me until the 10th, which is the date scheduled for our New Year's Day Resolution tournament. Postponed today, standing water on the greens. The only reason the Pac 10 is going 5-0 is because the U of O beat Oregon State at the end of the sesaon qnd we suck at getting good bowl contracts.

[Mike_Cirba]

So much for the grand-daddy of them all...

...more like the grand-blowout.

Once again, the Big 10 is exposed big time.

C'mon Kalen...how does USC & LSU get to have home games every year?

I'd really like to see USC come up to Beaver Stadium in late November, or have them switch bowl games to some northern sites, even if it has to be indoors for the wimpy southern schools. 

Until there's a national championship playoff system involving neutral fields, this whole set of games is a joke.

[Kalen Braley]

Mike,

A bit bitter are we?   

I do completely agree though, we need a playoff because this bowl system just sucks.  That being said I've been telling Huckaby for a month that the Rose Bowl wouldn't be worth watching for the very reason that is unfolding before us right now.  The Big 10 has been awful this year...them just the facts. 

[Jonathan Cummings]

Bah Humbug.  SoCal sucks Penn State Rocks!!   

(uv ya Tommy!)

[Kalen Braley]

Shiv,

USC has beat up and bloodied the best two teams in the Big 10....is there really anything else we need to see?

As for Missouri, they may have been pre-season #1 but proved out to be only a semi-decent team so i wouldn't be bragging about NorthWestern's efforts against them.

[Paul Carey]

So just what does it take for the Pac-10 to get recognition?   Is going 5-0 in bowl games, and beating 4 ranked teams enough?

Ian,  the Pac 10 was 1-5 against the Mountain West this year in the regular season, 2-5 if you include the bowl games.  They are having a great week but beating a Big 10 team is sure nothing to get too jacked up about.  Penn State would have been 5th in the six team big 12 south.

[mike_beene]

O.J. is still in an institution.

[Tim_Cronin]

Anybody who ever has a chance to go to the Rose Bowl Game, do so. An absolutely spectacular setting, as much a hallmark of American sport as Augusta National and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Oh, and Wrigley Field, where I happened to be today covering a hockey game that absolutely rocked.

[Mike Benham]

I don't think the Big Ten stinks.  I just think that the Big Ten is ALWAYS the away team in every bowl game because we're up here in the snowbelt. 

Would the Big Ten Champion prefer to get an automatic invite to the Motor City Bowl?

[Kalen Braley]

Shiv,

USC has beat up and bloodied the best two teams in the Big 10....is there really anything else we need to see?

As for Missouri, they may have been pre-season #1 but proved out to be only a semi-decent team so i wouldn't be bragging about NorthWestern's efforts against them.

What's USC's graduation rate?

Come on Dave, you of all people who constantly bitches and moans about people changing the subject?? 

I would suspect the Big 10 teams have better graduation rates, but then thats not what we're talking about is it.  I'm sure teams like Yale, Brown, Harvard have even better graduation rates, but I don't see them going around talking like they are all that and insisting they should be ranked among the elite of CF teams. Most of us saw them play this year...sometimes it ain't there year and the Big 10 to put it bluntly stunk up the joint.  I'd give PSU 7 points and bet on BYU to beat them from the "lowly" MWC.

[mike_beene]

The Forbes 400 doesn't have a great graduation rate either.

[Kyle Harris]

I guess you people didn't actually watch the game, eh?

A few points:

Bowls were initially started as exhibitions with all the awards happening BEFORE THEY WERE PLAYED. This ended in 1969 when Richard Nixon declared the winner of the Texas/some other team game the National Champion. Coincidentally, the Penn State and Joe Paterno had just wrapped up their second CONSECUTIVE undefeated season and were jobbed out of the chance to play for a National Title.

As such, the bowl games that were originally designed to exhibitions in warm climates have since become inherently unbalanced games that mattered. The fact that USC had to travel 11 miles sure does make a difference regardless of prep time. Furthermore, it's no secret that conference officiating each have individual sets of rules and I saw some interesting interpretations on holding during USC's second quarter runs. Apparently pass protection = holding a defensive end. Ironic how USC had issues with the run game and running backs being hit behind the line, but suddenly pass protection magically happens. The game was called equally for both sides, but the SEC, Big Ten and Pac-10 all call such things very differently.

For those that actually watched the game, Penn State had little trouble keeping up with USC - they were simply outplayed in the 2nd quarter and couldn't make up for it with superior play elsewhere.

[Kalen Braley]

Kyle,

I did watch the game...I just forgot to put on my rosy-colored PSU glasses!!  DAMN!! 

FWIW, the post game analysis on ESPN has been pretty spot on and they saw it as a mostly one sided affair also.  Even Coach Pa admited they had trouble running with the Troj's.

[Kyle Harris]

Kyle,

I did watch the game...I just forgot to put on my rosy-colored PSU glasses!!  DAMN!! 

FWIW, the post game analysis on ESPN has been pretty spot on and they saw it as a mostly one sided affair also.  Even Coach Pa admited they had trouble running with the Troj's.

For ESPN to say otherwise would be to go against everything they were saying for the past month and a half. Again, if it were so one-sided how come the last 4 minutes of the game were so in doubt? Why was Penn State moving the ball so easily and able to score 17 points in the last 10 minutes? And almost 24....

The quarter by quarter stats show an evenly matched set of teams for most of the game with a giant 10 minute brain fart in the middle.

Good luck next year in the Shoe.

[Kyle Harris]

Before anyone posts about the criminal problems of PSU players over the past few years...

...take a look at what became of those issues.

[Kalen Braley]

Kyle,

I know your a big PSU fan, so i'm sure this one stings a bit.  I have no dog in this fight as I'm nowhere close to being a USC fan.  On one hand I feel this makes me a fairly objective 3rd party observer.

My last comment, before I bow out is...the game was never in doubt.  The guys in the booth have to say that so people will hopefully watch to the end and keep the ratings up.

I do give mad props to your boys for not laying down in the 2nd half...there was definitly no quit there.

[Kyle Harris]

Kyle,

I know your a big PSU fan, so i'm sure this one stings a bit.  I have no dog in this fight as I'm nowhere close to being a USC fan.  On one hand I feel this makes me a fairly objective 3rd party observer.

My last comment, before I bow out is...the game was never in doubt.  The guys in the booth have to say that so people will hopefully watch to the end and keep the ratings up.

I do give mad props to your boys for not laying down in the 2nd half...there was definitly no quit there.

I think we both know Pete Carrol had enough of a statement to make and that letting PSU anywhere near the endzone was despite his best efforts. They should have won the game 62-14 with the way they were playing in the second quarter.

[Kalen Braley]

Dave,

I already answered your question and stipulated that USC likely has a lesser graduation outright.  I'm not sure what else your looking for on this one. 

No doubt Pete has put together a program that draws top talent including those with NFL potentional. As for the nature of "college football" I'm no big fan of what the NCAA has created either.  Its nothing short of a legal racket when it comes to hoops and the grid-iron. They have clearly shown they only care about one thing and one thing only...the money. So I don't have a fundamental problem with players only wanting to use CF as a stepping stone to the big time.  In the end CF gets far more benefit from "free" players than visa versa.

PSU is a good team, but I don't get the sour grapes when this game turned out pretty much like everyone outside of Penn had expected.  They should be stoked to have gotten such a high quality bowl game.

[Kalen Braley]

Kyle,

I know your a big PSU fan, so i'm sure this one stings a bit.  I have no dog in this fight as I'm nowhere close to being a USC fan.  On one hand I feel this makes me a fairly objective 3rd party observer.

My last comment, before I bow out is...the game was never in doubt.  The guys in the booth have to say that so people will hopefully watch to the end and keep the ratings up.

I do give mad props to your boys for not laying down in the 2nd half...there was definitly no quit there.

I think we both know Pete Carrol had enough of a statement to make and that letting PSU anywhere near the endzone was despite his best efforts. They should have won the game 62-14 with the way they were playing in the second quarter.

Being the last game of the season I beg to differ Kyle.  They have no chance at a national title and with Petes track record I'm sure that's the only goal he really cares about.  A blowout means nothing in this situation, unlike before the BCS was in place.

[Kyle Harris]

Kalen,

ESPN is already glossing over this to fit the party line.

"Clark threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Derrick Williams early in the fourth quarter, capping an 80-yard drive and trimming USC's lead to 31-14. The Trojans wasted no time in answering, going 82 yards on three plays, the last one a 45-yard scoring pass from Sanchez to a wide-open Johnson with 12:02 left.

If there was going to be any drama on a typically clear and mild afternoon before a crowd of 93,293 in Pasadena, that ended it."

This fails to note that PSU scored again with 4 minutes left. Forced a 3 and out, gave up an interception, got the ball back with 1:30 left on a botched punt snap and could have reasonably scored in time for an on-sides kick in that time frame.