I know blogging has been brief, but I’m spending my time in good ol’ South Carolina for the warm weather thanks to a good buddy who’s got a place by the beach. So until after the new year, it will continue to be brief. But before I retire my blogging before the 2007 calendar year, here’s a list of Big Ten new year resolutions:

Illinois - The Illini New Year’s resolution is to avoid the Wisconsin syndrome. Yes Illini faithful, we know you’re all excited about doing great this year, but have we all forgotten Wisconsin in 2006, or Penn State in 2005, or Purdue and Iowa in 2003 and 2004… The list is endless. Every year, there is one team that exceeds expectations, the media defines it as the first stepping stone to an era of greatness, but all too often teams simply simmer to mediocrity and fade into insignificance. Unfortunately for the Illini faithful, they are the ‘it’ team this year, and like a comet, they will simply pass us by. That’s not to say they won’t be a bowl team next year, but like Wisconsin they better relish their Rose Bowl trip this year.

Iowa - to bleed as much value out of coach Kirk’s annual contract as possible. Common guys, he’s getting the highest base salary in the Big Ten’s collection of future hall of fame coaches (Jim Tressel, Lloyd Carr, Ron Zook, Joe Tiller, Barry Alvarez, and now Rich Rod) and you guys can’t put together a good season since his 2 Big Ten championship runs? Luckily for Iowa, Minnesota is getting an even worse deal with their one win coach this year.

Michigan - Hey at the rate you’re going, here’s to the new Block M at Michigan. I know someone else probably already thought of that, but I am not claiming to be original here guys.
Common guys, there are over 100 universities around the nation and your 2 new coaches at the two highest profile sports in your university are from the same university. And West Virginia, no less? I know Rich Rod was a good hire, but its like asking a hibachi chef run a gourmet Italian restaurant. You’re Michigan, what are you guys doing trying to employ a gimmicky spread type offense. At least it’ll make for some great laughs next year watching the Wolverine faithful act like they’re thrilled with the spread.

Ohio State - Hey, nothing will propel Ohio State into the new year more than a win against LSU in their backyard. I was watching the Penn State game here in Myrtle Beach at a Sports Bar and an Ohio State fan walks in with his buddy, a Notre Dame fan. Surprisingly, throughout its decade of existence, all this criticism of the Big Ten’s weakness and alleged lack of speed has galvanized Big Ten fans across the board to come together and he was actually rooting for Penn State. I’ve never been a ‘conference’ guy due to Penn States’ years of independence. It was more of a root for Penn State and hope everyone else loses type mentality. But surprisingly since last year, I’ve found myself rooting for Big Ten teams to punish their bowl opponents and anyone else playing a SEC team. So when the clock counts down to 0 and the champaign is flowing this year, here’s to hoping for Buckeye, Wolverine, and Badger victories.

Penn State - To add a few more pages into the offensive play book. Penn State actually showed a sign of life in their offensive play calling with the infusion of Daryl Clark’s running ability. And with news that D. Clark will have 2 more years of eligibility, this could be the future of Penn State football especially with strong arm Pat Devlin waiting under his wings. Think back to Penn State in 2005 and I am already giddy for next year. If you can put points on the board, Penn State’s defense will usually finish the job.

Purdue - Whatever happened to that famed Boilermaker D? It seems that the last 2 years, the Boilermakers have been great on offense and dismal on defense. They have become the Big East team in a Big Ten conference and hence are unable to win more games. Here’s to hoping they pick up their D and become bowl eligible next year.

Wisconsin - And boy did Wisconsin lay two goose eggs this year. Ranked as high as #5 until they were gut punched by Illinois and then destroyed by Penn State (yes, they were both great teams this year, but Wisconsin entered the year as a favorite to win the Big Ten). Seems like the Bret B’s love fest is about to fizzle real soon. I’m still sore about his decisions to run offsides TWICE to kill time off the clock back in 2006 and I think that’s highly disrespectful as a coach (especially in his rookie season) to show such disdain for what’s great about college football. It is what makes us better than those southern teams in the SEC. We play tough, we play hard and we play fair (referees aside), coaches in the Big Ten have the greatest amount of respect for one another. Rarely do you see coaches jump ship from one team in the Big Ten to another and in comes this rookie hotshot wannabe coach and he takes advantage of a loophole that no other coach in the country wanted to exploit even after he did it successfully two consecutive times. Here’s to hoping Bret B. learns some class in 2008.

Michigan State, Minnesota, Indiana and Northwestern should all have the same new year resolutions - WIN MORE GAMES.

Just revealed at Rivals

A Big Ten football officiating team that came under scrutiny for its performance in two conference games last month was led by a crew chief with a history of bankruptcy, casino gambling, child abuse and allegations of sexual harassment, a Yahoo! Sports investigation has revealed.

He and his wife filed for bankruptcy in 2002 after the couple amassed $429,407 in liabilities, and two of the creditors were casinos.

• He allegedly has gambled at casinos as far back as the 1980s, and a sister-in-law said gambling losses incurred by Pamon and Pamon’s wife led to the couple filing for bankruptcy.

• In 1997, he was charged with repeatedly beating three of his girlfriend’s four sons with an electrical cord. He told authorities he beat the boys three times.

• He allegedly was fired by the Chicago Police Department in 1996 after two female officers accused him of sexual harassment, according to published reports that cited law-enforcement officials as sources.

• One of Pamon’s former wives accused him during a court hearing in 1994 of striking her and sexually assaulting her 19-year-old niece, according to court records.

This was the very crew that officiated the supposed controversial Penn State-Purdue game this year. After Joe Tiller filed a grievance with the Big Ten, the crew was supposedly suspended but later everyone found out they officiated the Ohio State - Illinois upset the following week. Even in that game, Jim Tressel pointed to several bad calls during the game. So much for that suspension. But while details are starting to unfold, it is no secret to Penn State fans that we have horrible officiating in the Big Ten (Yes, even in games we win, some of the crews are either blind or blatantly idiots). Big Ten policy is that they do their own background checks on the officiating crews, but as we have mentioned earlier, they can’t even keep their word when they ’suspend’ a crew, how trustworthy are they when they conduct their own ‘investigations’. Hell even Michigan used ineligible players against Penn State this year which went unpunished (not that it would have made a difference, but rules are clearly more like guidelines in the Big Ten). But it is about time outside sources like Yahoo Sports are keeping an independent eye on whats really going on. They are also the ones who broke open the Reggie Bush story.

Glad to see the Big Ten putting their personnel to good use.

It seems the Bradley rumor is only starting to heat up with other blogs picking up on it and the Patriot Times reporting a telephone conversation between Bradley and West Virginia on the first day of the post-Rod era.

According to a source intimate with the situation, Bradley was contacted on Sunday morning by an intermediary sent by West Virginia University. This person asked him if he would be interested in talking about the WVU top job just vacated by Rich Rodriguez. And Bradley, understandably, waited about a nanosecond before responding, well, yeah, he would.

With this, the scramble for a succession plan has officially begun. Forums, blogs and news outlets everywhere are now demanding a plan they can look forward to perhaps in the next 5 years. For years, Penn State fans were only certain of 2 things, First, we would run first, run second and then pass third if a run would not get us a first down. Second, the next Penn State coach would be someone who is already currently sitting in the coaching box or pacing the sidelines. With that said, the front runner for many years for this elusive post-Paterno coach was Tom Bradley. He is the reason if not the sole reason for Penn State’s dominance on defense so why wouldn’t the Penn State faithful be thrilled to embrace one of their own who has brought them so much pride over the years. Then there was Joe Paterno’s broken leg last year. This was the real clear indication which of his assistances was hiding a golden ticket in his wallet all these years and lo and behold, it was Tom Bradley and Galen Hall, not L Johnson, or Jay Paterno that were named interm co-head coaches. In the only game that Joe was unable to attend, Tom Bradley and Galen Hall coached Penn State to victory.

So you can imagine why the idea of Bradley abandoning Penn State for West Virginia is so upsetting for the Lion faithful. Bradley was not only an accomplished assistant, recruiter and member of the Penn State family, but he was basically the next coach in waiting even if he wasn’t awarded the official title. Fans could see it, the administration accepted it. Even Tom Bradley recognized it when he rejected temptation from Temple and Illinois in 2005 for coaching positions there.

So why the sudden panic of Bradley leaving for West Virginia? In 2005, Bradley along with other assistants were aware of the new lease on life Paterno was given after a few losing seasons which limited Paterno to 2008. And in 2005, with a Robinson-led team, Joe achieved an 11-1 season with a victory in the Orange Bowl against his ‘best friend’ Bobby Bowden. Many felt Paterno had finally satisfied his desire to go out on top and would finish out his 2008 contract and call it quits. This was evident in recruiting as recruits were now informed of who the next coach would be should Joe leave. But turn the page t0 2007 and the end of another disappointing Morelli led year and Joe basically telling the world that he will stick around on a year-to-year basis. His main reason? Because he cannot imagine life not coaching hence he will continue to do the only thing he is familiar with.

So for Bradley, Galen, Johnson and even Norwood, what do you do? You were all banking on being able to take more control of this historic program and now the coach is not giving up and tells you he basically has no idea when he will ever retire. 1 year, 5, years, hell even 10 years if Penn State is willing to allow a funeral procession to step onto the field. And this is why we have seen Norwood reluctantly leave Penn State despite his son still on the roster and the panic growing for Bradley leaving Penn State. Because now, it is entirely possible. We can only pray that Bradley’s loyalty to Penn State is stronger than Joe’s stubbornness. Joe might not be hurting the program by sticking around, but he is destroying the post-Paterno era. The less he reveals to the world, the more chaos will rain in Happy Valley when he does decides to go. Let’s only hope he has something up his sleeves.

This has started gaining steam and it is really going to be a problem if it is true. I pray it is not, but at least we should be informed of the possibility of a Bradley-less Penn State. This was reported by David Jones of the Patriot Times (the same glory whore of a reporter who believed that Joe Paterno’s salary was a matter of national security) so I wouldn’t put too much into it until it is backed up with other legitimate sources. But at least there is the possibility of this:

Penn State defensive coodinator Tom Bradley has been contacted by an intermediary at West Virginia University regarding the Mountaineers’ coaching vacancy, The Patriot-News has learned.
Bradley, who has been a Penn State assistant coach for 29 years and defensive coordinator since 2000, indicated he is interested in talking to West Virginia officials for the job, a source told The Patriot-News.
Bradley did not return two calls made Monday by The Patriot-News.
The Mountaineers are seeking a new coach to replace Rich Rodriguez, who was introduced Monday as the head at the University of Michigan.

I see no reason for Bradley to leave because it is almost a certainty that he is the next one in line for the Penn State coaching position. The only problem right now, is Joe Paterno has become so stubborn he is basically holding onto the job on a year to year basis leaving no room and peace of mind for Bradley and his assistants to plan their own futures. Do you think Bradley wants to stick around with West Virginia dangling in his face if he believes Joe Paterno will stick around for another 5-8 years which he very well could? Larry Johnson? There is no doubt Joe Paterno deserves to decide his future, but at this point, he keeps pointing to his age and whether he feels up to coaching as the determining factor of whether he comes back, and to the detriment of this program, it is not acceptable.

I can’t control myself, I am still chuckling at the sight of Ryan Mallet running the spread option. I know Rich Rod is a great hire especially away from a school ranked higher than where he eventually ended up, but common Michigan. Its like hiring a sushi chef to take over a high class Italian restaurant. Sure you can slowly change your system into a spread attack, but didn’t your little brother try that with inconsistent success just as recently as last year? I know, I know, you’re Michigan and basically defy the laws of physics, but ask Nebraska how switching to a new system (though they tried the West Coast-style offense) overnight turned out for them. Hey, Rich could work out and dominate the Big Ten a la Jim Tressel style. But how successful was Northwestern, Purdue, Illinois, Michigan State and Indiana in a smash mouth league. Yeah, Illinois had its year this year, but how consistently successful can you be if you basically run a gimmicky offense.

Hope you enjoyed the sight of the winged helmets trying the spread option as much as I have.

Seeing the trend?

	Non-Conference Quality Opponents
Florida Gators	Southern Miss (9-5), @ Florida State (7-6)
Texas	@ Ohio State (10-2)
Southern Cal	Virginia Tech (10-3), Notre Dame (6-6)
LSU	@ Arizona (2-10),
Ohio State	@ Texas Tech (9-5), Washington St. (10-3), Cincinnati (7-7)

There is something to be taken from the last 5 BCS champion. They all scheduled quality opponents from other BCS conferences. In this day and age of needing to almost go undefeated to make it to the championship game (except this year), schools are shying away from scheduling other BCS opponents taking the easy way out and paying for that easy W. This is why Coastal Carolina and Temple serves absolutely no purpose being on our schedule. If we win, great, no one outside of Happy Valley cares and there is not a chance in hell voters will move the Lions up the rankings for beating Coastal or Temple. If we lose however, oh, break out the ear-muffs because the laughter will be heard all the way from El Paso. So scheduling these useless matchups are not only unattractive to ticket holders, but is a no-win situation.

Recently some prominent alum have threatened to withdraw their contributions to Penn State if the two idiots who wore Virginia Tech victim costumes for Halloween were not expelled prompting the university to actually issue a memo asking the students to conduct an ‘impromptu’ show of support. It is not the irony of requesting an ‘impromptu’ show of support which interests me, but rather the fact that the administration felt compelled by the threat of the dollar that they actually responded. I hereby call upon alumni and graduating students to issue monetary threats against the school. If we see Coastal Carolina or Temple on the schedule next year, we will keep those dollars tucked away in our wallets instead of headed over to dear ol’ State.

That’ll make em listen. Money always talks.

Oregon State is coming to town next year replace Arkansas State. And no offense to the Indians but the Beavers are much more useful BCS computer stats wise, and competition wise for the Nittany Lions. Oregon State is (8-4), third in the Pac-10 behind only USC and Arizona State. The Indians are from the Sun Belt, is 5-7 and plays more directional schools than the SEC. So you can see how the Nittany faithful is overjoyed with the replacement even if its not a major opponent. Losing to Oregon State isn’t exactly the same backbreaker as losing to a Sun Belt school. The Beavers did beat #2 Cal at Cal so they aren’t exactly the pushovers people put them out to be.

Oregon State is 8-4 this season under Coach Mike Riley, finishing third in the Pac-10 standings with a 6-3 record. The Beavers won six of their final seven games, including a 38-31 overtime win over No. 17 Oregon in the Civil War, as well as a victory at then-No. 2 California. Oregon State is playing Maryland in the Emerald Bowl on Dec. 28.

In 2006, Oregon State knocked off No. 3 Southern California en route to a 10-4 record, culminated by a 39-38 win over Missouri in the Sun Bowl.

Now that would make 2 interesting opponents on the Lion’s schedule next year. With the Beavers coming to town and the Syracuse Orange game scheduled, we just moved a few spots up the toughest schedule list. Don’t feel too bad for Arkansas State. They replaced Penn State with Alabama which should be a much more even matchup.

Now how do we get Penn State to kick Coastal Carolina off our schedule next year?

“I was only assisting them in their search for a coach. I have a great job at a wonderful place, a place that my family calls home. It’s time that Michigan goes on with their search for a football coach. I’ll say it again, I’m going to be the coach at LSU next season.” Les Miles

Man, its almost getting sad to watch at this point. Its like the bad breakup between a desperate girlfriend and a guy who’s moving on. You can kick, scream, cry and throw as many tantrums as you want, but its just not going to happen. Common Michigan, you missed your chance, and Les Miles clearly is in a better situation at LSU than returning to your mecca of Ann Arbor. It serves him no good, creates even more pressure, and your fans will drive him out faster than Lloyd Carr if he does not quickly return to the national championship. That IS why fans are deeming Les Miles as the next savior of Michigan football isn’t it? Because he is back in the BCS national championship and Michigan is making their annual trip to ‘We-lost-to-ohio-state-so-we-are-here.com’ bowl. Its time to move on or actually pony up more money to entice coaches. This is like the ugly high school chick who thinks shes hot stuff and gets frustrated when there are no takers. Heres to seeing Appalachian State’s coach at Michigan next year.

It took long enough, but someone out there had to finally say it. The football world does not revolve around Michigan football. Yes, they are important. Yes, they are one of the winningest programs out there, but just like how Notre Dame can completely disappear from the face of the earth like this year, the college football world can become even more exciting and flourish. Can you remember a season of more memorable games and exciting upsets in your lifetimes?

“if the guy from Rutgers turned it down, why can’t Les?” Skip Bertman (LSU athletic director)

I can already see the hordes of Wolverine fans headed to their local hardware stores for pitch forks and torches, but you had to have seen this coming. Lloyd Carr might have voluntarily ‘resigned’ following the Ohio State loss, but even my grandmother can see he was basically forced out. There was no option A or B for him. To be the first ranked team to drop out of the polls in losing to a subdivision Appalachian State team was the first of many signs of the eventual resignation. It was the loss to Oregon however, that placed the nail in his coffin. There was no turning back, I would not be surprised if he gave his 2-months’ notice following the Oregon loss to Michigan.

But this is exactly the problem with Michigan football. They believe they are the center of the college football universe. The only fans that might be even more pompous would be Notre Dame fans, and they are a whole different animal. It is one thing to want a victory, it is another to demand it. Even as we speak, Wolverine fans are flooding forums and blogs demanding Bill Martin’s head for blotching the Les Miles situation. Not once, do most of them actually consider the possibility that Les Miles would have eventually stayed at LSU. Yes, I’ve read the rumors about backdoor gestures towards Michigan that went unreturned, but even that did not guarantee Les Miles on the next flight to Ann Arbor.

Michigan, like their fans exist in their own bubble of self glorification. Simply the word Michigan can evoke a smug grin on their faces. And because of it, they expected coaches to line around the block in the cold with resumes in hand dying for the new opening in this mecca of college football. But eventually, the cold hard truth has Wolverine fans dismayed and angry. Even the coach at Rutgers, whose only 3 bowl appearances are under the current head coach in its program’s existence, has turned down the job Wolverine fans deemed unattainable by mere mortals. The process is only going to get tougher on these Wolverine traditionalists. Eventually the athletic department will realize, that the word Michigan is not as powerful as they believe and cold hard cash is the way to go if they expect to lure a big name coach from either the NFL or another football program. They better learn it quick or soon we will see Wolverine fans headed for the nearest ledge of the highest bridge. To hear their holy grail is actually just another ordinary goblet will lead to mass panic in Ann Arbor.

Hey, I know the critics will point out that Penn State’s resounding ‘Joe Must Go’ chant was heard just as recently as 2 years ago, but they must realize that while those doing the chanting might be short sighted morons, they did have a valid point. Joe Paterno came off his second losing season in a row and 4 in 5 years at that point. Lloyd Carr has been the definition of stable success in the Big Ten. He might not have been able to win the ‘big one’ but ask Alabama, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Miami if they won’t be happy to have the success Lloyd Carr has had prior to his resignation. If Lloyd Carr couldn’t cut it, boy does the next Wolverines coach have his work cut out for him.

I did not intend to blog during the weekends, but recent events have not only disturbed me, but jolted me out of my weekend hiatuses.

I could stomach football players making boneheaded decisions. Its definitely unacceptable, but not as sickening as the two idiots who dressed up as shooting victims from Virginia Tech for a Halloween Party. I refuse to post the images simply because they do not deserve further recognition. The two, a male (Nathan Jones) and female (Jessica M*), decided it would be a good idea to dress up as dead students from a massacre just as recently as last year. I have always deemed myself Penn State proud, but after finding out about these images in a phone conversation with someone in Boston who saw the images on television, I was starved for words. These two morons were unable to make the right decision a two year old could make when deciding to dress up as either the ‘good guys’ or the ‘bad guys’ for Halloween. I am ashamed to call them students at Penn State and understand any of the backlash that people around the country will soon shower upon this university. But do remember there are 90,000 of us. These two might not be the only idiots in town, but they are definitely not the majority. If I had my way, I would have them both expelled and tossed out on their rear ends in the freezing weather, but unfortunately ‘free speech’ gives them a wall to cower behind.

WE ARE! … Ashamed!

*Updated (1/08/2008): I was contacted by Jessica with an apology to those affected and upset over the incident and parts of her email is posted. We at NittanyWhiteOut commend her for stepping up to the plate and apologizing for her actions. As 18-23 year olds, there is no doubt students make mistakes, some more evident than others, but it takes guts and courage to simply say “I’m sorry” which Jessica has done. We wish her the best of luck and time will heal all things.