In a stunning turn of events, the Big Ten is no longer just a moniker for the 11 universities that currently fill its ranks.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish is now officially part of the “Big Ten” conference.

Turbulent Irish-NBC relationship

The process began as early as mid-January 2007 when Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White met with NBC executives for their annual evaluation of their television contract. Unfortunately for the Irish, NBC was not as tolerant of current head coach Charlie Weis’ dismal season as the university was.

Under the current contract which was prematurely extended in 2004 until 2010, NBC Universal pays the university $9 million a year for exclusive rights to their home games. The entire $45 million deal paid off initially as immediately as 2005 when the 9-3 Fighting Irish earned a Fiesta Bowl beat down against the Ohio State Buckeyes.

But despite an even better 10-2 record in 2006, ratings have begun to fall and NBC is suffering the costs. With an even bigger ratings drop, 40% from 2006 and half or 2005 levels, NBC had no choice but to give loads of free ads to companies like Allstate and Procter & Gamble to justify the $55,000 to $ 80,000 rates for a 30-second ad they bought before the Irish season began.

Heading into 2008, NBC is further forced to lower rates to simply entice companies to consider advertising with NBC this season. The Irish just simply isn’t a worthwhile investment for the fourth-place network. NBC’s Notre Dame ratings were half those of ABC’s college football games. “MAC teams make better television than the Irish right now” comments Jeff Zucker, President and CEO of NBC Universal.

When the two parties met earlier this year, talks deteriorated quickly when the topic of reductions in annual payouts to the university was brought up. While no specifics have been revealed, Brian Hardin, director of football media relations for the Fighting Irish was seen storming out of the meeting slamming the door behind him.

Secret Meetings

As early as a week after the NBC debacle, Notre Dame officials begun preliminary, discussions on a contingency plan should the day when NBC does decide to stop televising Irish home football games. Possible scenarios involving competing rival networks were discussed along with the distinct possibility of joining an athletic conference. It wasn’t until initial overtures by Notre Dame to reach out to Fox, ABC and CBS were rejected on the spot and mocked with laughter that the Irish began to seriously consider the conference option.

With their current basketball affiliation, the Big East was their obvious first choice. But it has always been the opinion of Irish fans and especially many on their board of trustees that the Big Ten is a much better fit, competitively and academically than the Big East. They were basically throwing the basketball program under the bus for the good of their football future.

And any unsuccessful attempt to lobby the Big East would blow the entire secret out of the water. Notre Dame officially basically had one shot at this and they went with the Big Ten.

On February 2nd, 2007 a charter twin-jet Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-700 left South Bend Regional Airport at midnight carrying 4 prominent Irish boosters, Kevin White, Juli Schreiber, and Jimmy Clausen headed for Chicago O’Hare International Airport. What happened during that meeting is still relatively undisclosed, but in a surprise press conference held today, the official announcement that the Big Ten will add a twelfth member was disclosed.

Immediate Reactions

When asked about the sudden move by the Fighting Irish, coach Joe Paterno simply dismissed the move as purely financial. “For years I’ve been saying that Notre Dame has gone from being an academic institute to a banking institute. I’ve lobbied for another eastern school to join us in the Big Ten when we made the move, and now they add the Irish. We would have much greater competition if we had added Rutgers, Pittsburgh or even Syracuse, but now that they’ve decided on the Irish, we’re stuck with them.”

Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald was more optimistic about the announcement. “That’s great, Notre Dame has a great tradition and history. We look forward to playing them year in and year out. We are always the team at the bottom of the Big Ten, now with Notre Dame in the conference, we can now look forward to being second to last each season.”

When asked the same question, Michigan’s coach Rich Rodriguez and Wisconsin’s head coach Bret Bielema both asked, “Who?”

Ohio State’s Jim Tressel was unavailable for comment, but in response to email inquiries about the move, he had his assistant mail free copies of Notre Dame’s humiliating loss to the Buckeyes in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl along with bonus extras of all the sacks Notre Dame allowed last season. Unfortunately for the recipients, there were so many bonus extras, it became a box set of 6 DVDs.

Apparently this is not isolated to Fergie and Penn State. All performances scheduled to take place as part of the Gridiron Bash are canceled and as of now, no ticket refund policy has been announced by MSL Sports & Entertainment.

The Gridiron Bash, a football pep rally that would feature a live performance by Fergie in Beaver Stadium, has been postponed by the event’s promoters until further notice.

According to press release at live.psu.edu, the decision was made “due to a recent NCAA ruling regarding the participation of student-athletes.”

Debbie Brandwein, vice president of communications for MSL Sports Entertainment, said that the participation of student athletes was vital to the event.

MSL Sports Entertainment is working closely with the NCAA in order to resolve any issues. There is no set date for when the event will be rescheduled, but MSL Sports Entertainment is looking at its fall schedule for a possible rescheduling, Brandwein said.

Lions are sitting at #2 in the latest Division I U.S. Sports Academy Directors’ Cup standings, 95.75 points behind first place Stanford. Thats not a lot if you consider that they offer 100 points for a championship, any championship.

The Lions are ahead of #3 Ohio State and #5 Michigan. Boo yah! Beat that Ohio State, with your football national title. Ouch, too soon? And Michigan, with your 9 consecutive winning streak against us.

Top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships by both the wrestling and fencing teams helped Penn State move up from its fifth-place position at the completion of the fall sports season.

Strong showings from both the women’s indoor track and field and women’s swimming and diving teams also contributed to Penn State’s current point total of 572.25 points, with Stanford totaling 668 in first place. The Nittany Lion’s hold a 66.25 point lead over third-place Ohio State.

The wrestling team earned 85 points for its third-place finish at the NCAA Championships, which included four All- Americans and 197-pound national champion Phil Davis.

The defending national champion men’s and women’s fencing teams earned 80 points with its fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships.

The women’s indoor track and field team crowned its highest All- American total in program history with nine with its 15th-place finish at the NCAA Championships which earned 59.25 Director’s Cup points.

The women’s swimming and diving team contributed 45 points to the Cup standings with a 29th-place finish at last weekend’s NCAA Championships, led by All- American Kelly Nelson in the 200-meter butterfly.

Current standings as of March 27th:

1. Stanford, 668.00
2. Penn State, 572.25
3. Ohio State, 506.00
4. California, 499.00
5. Michigan, 489.75

Go State! Beat the Tree!

Boy, was I wrong. All year long, the critics were loud and clear. The nation’s #6 ranked conference in the RPIs was too weak to compete with the big boys this year. 4 seeds to the Big Ten were more than most were willing to award the conference and James Delany should have sent rose baskets to the NCAA selection committee.

Hell, with the Big East and Big 12 so deep and competitive this year, why even bother inviting anyone else to the Big Dance? They would only be good for bad uncompetitive television. But like make-a-wish kids, 4 lucky teams from the Big Ten received their tickets to the Dance and everyone made sure they knew what a great honor it was to just be asked.

That was until the tournament began.

The Big East spat in the face of the NCAA selection committee when 5 of their teams were left watching from the stands by the time the second round ended. Thats 29% of their original 7 that made it to the Sweet 16.

4 out of 6 Big 12 teams dropped by the second round ended. Thats a 33% survival rate.

And that conference that everyone shrugged off as undeserving? From the original 4 teams dancing, 2 made it to the Sweet Sixteen. Thats 50% by my count.

Logic dictates that the more teams you have, the better your chance of advancing teams into the sweet sixteen. With 7 teams, it is almost statistically impossible NOT to have anyone in the Sweet Sixteen. By advancing 2 teams to the Sweet Sixteen, leaving teams like Pittsburgh, Kansas State, and Baylor in their wake, they began to raise some eyebrows.

This is not another tirade on how the conference was underrated and overlooked all year, we all know that to be true at this point. But even with the blowout losses against Davidson and Memphis, Wisconsin and Michigan State have done more than reach the Sweet Sixteen this year. They have begun to chip away at the ‘Big Ten is weak’ brick wall that the conference has not been able to get past since Ohio State’s loss to Florida in football and basketball two years ago.

Congratulations to the Badgers and Spartans for getting into the Sweet Sixteen this year, you have all done us a bigger favor than most will realize. Losing to Memphis and Davidson (the way Curry is playing now) is nothing to be ashamed about. Its been a great run fellas.

Several Penn State bloggers have decided to put together a round table entering spring practice and I was lucky enough to take part in this one. And this year’s participants are:

Black Shoe Diaries
The Nittany Line
There is No Name on My Jersey
Tangled Up in White and Blue
William F. Yurasko
The Big Eleventh
Nittany Notebook
Run Up The Score
NittanyWhiteOut

Let’s get on with it then.

Let’s start with the ugly news. Chris Baker, Chris Bell, Phil Taylor, Knowledge Timmons, and Navorro Bowman are all sitting out the spring practice sessions. What impact will this have on the 2008 season?

Huge. As much as fans would brush off these players as mere ‘thugs’ since the suspensions, the losses would be huge for Penn State.

Thats a combined 55 starts with Baker, Bell and Taylor playing in all but 1 game last season. These are experienced players we are losing, not a bunch of bench warmers so the impact of their suspensions is bigger than most believe it to be.

Considering that last year’s season was very much the result of a defensive letdown as it was Morelli, further losses to the defense especially experienced defensive players is the last thing Penn State needs to improve on last year’s record. Despite the multitude of defensive personnel on this list, the biggest loss is Chris Bell.

You’re talking about an underclassman receiver who caught 1 ball against Notre Dame, but squeezed 51 yards out of it. Then theres the 37 yard reception against Illinois in his only catch that game. This is was an up and coming wide out for Penn State who can turn greatness out of nothing. He will no doubt be the biggest loss for Penn State if he was suspended indefinitely.

Would you move Sean Lee to middle linebacker like Paul Posluszny in 2006 and Dan Connor in 2007?

Out of all the linebackers deployed in every defense there none is more important than the middle linebacker to the 4-3. Also referred to as the “MIKE backer”, he needs to be the best tackler on the team as well as its most physical player. This is because the 4-3 defense is designed to turn everything back inside towards him. -Scout

Penn State utilizes the 4-3 base defense with 4 defensive linemen and 3 linebackers. There is no linebacker in our current crop that is a better tackler or a more physical player than Sean Lee. The staff did the same with Paul in 2006 and Connor in 2007 for the exact same reason and I see no reason to break tradition. Sean Lee played outside linebacker last year because we had a better Connor playing in the middle position. Repeat that with Connor in 2006 and add in Paul to the mix. So the chain continues and lets hope we will always have strong candidates to plug in the middle for years to come.

If Lee stays on the outside, who would you start at the other outside linebacker assuming Bowman is out of the picture?

We are Penn State. There is never a shortage of linebackers here at Linebacker U, unfortunately for us though, not many of them have the experience we were accustomed to during the era of Paul, Connor and Lee. If the coaches decide to leave Lee on the outside, I could foresee either Josh Hull or Jerome Hayes inserted into the other outside position. This is purely under the assumption that the coaches would put Sales in the middle position as our second strongest linebacker.

I would much prefer Hayes playing opposite Sean Lee, he is a much more instinctive linebacker with good sideline to sideline speed, but unfortunately he went down with an ACL injury last year. If he manages to stay healthy through spring and fall practice, look for him to torture defenses alongside Lee and Sales.

Which position on the field is our weakest link?

Where do I even start. If we’re talking about experience, its quarterback, if we’re talking depth, we’re looking at cornerback. The loss of Chris Baker would have most people claiming defensive tackle as our weakest link seeing, but lets not forget that Abe Koroma is more than capable as a replacement. It was his injuries that kept him from the first team last year, not his ability to play the position.

Its a toss up between quarterback and cornerback. But with two quarterbacks competing for 1 spot, cornerback would be our weakest position due to our lack of depth.

We have two capable cornerbacks in A.J. Wallace and Lydell Sargeant, but if either one of them gets hurt, who’s next? Usually it’s Knowledge Timmons, but he’s busy getting suspended and we have no idea how long it will take him to get out of Joe’s doghouse. Besides Timmons, we have Devin Fentress, Drew Astorino, Willie Harriott and D’Anton Lynn. Who? Exactly.

Two much heralded freshmen, but freshmen nonetheless, and two juniors no ones heard of for a reason. Lion fans should pray for our two cornerbacks and hope they remain injury free and more importantly, out of trouble. Any more losses would make things critical.

Who is your pony in the quarterback contro…uh, competition?

I’ve talked about the quarterback competition in an earlier post. But the only reason we have this controversy is because of the lack of significant playing time by either candidate. Had Clark been given the opportunity to throw the ball a lot more last season, there would be no question about his passing ability. Instead we were treated to draws and running plays by the speedster racking up 78 rushing yards on 12 carries all season including 2 touchdowns. In the Alamo Bowl against Texas A&M he ran the ball 6 times for 50 yards including an 11-yard touchdown alongside Morelli in the shotgun.

So great, we know he can run. But can he hit a billboard with a football?

On the other end of the spectrum, we have Pat Devlin who only threw 1 pass all of last season. An incompletion against Florida International. Since that throw, he was relegated to hand off duty when the game was either lost or well in-hand.

While many will curse the quarterback controversy currently unanswered at Penn State, I whole heartedly embrace it. We can either have a quarterback by default like with Zack Mills or Anthony Morelli simply because they are upperclassmen, or we can actually enjoy the competition and the benefits it brings in pushing both quarterbacks to perform better. Without a clear leader under center, both candidates actually have to perform to earn the job. Morelli won it simply by waiting on his hands for 3 years. I much prefer the competition, don’t you?

But I would expect Daryll Clark to be the main guy under center come September. Pat Devlin is good, but Clark simply brings the intangibles Lion fans haven’t seen since the Robinson season.

Name three players that absolutely have to step up their performance this spring?

Pat Devlin. For all the talk about a two quarterback controversy, Pat has done relatively nothing all last season to even stake a claim for the title. At least Daryll Clark has thrown 9 passes completing 6 of them for 31 yards last season. Pat threw one and it fell incomplete to the turf against Florida International. Daryll has also rushed for 3 touchdowns including an 11-yarder to tie the game against Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl. Daryll is simply just more accomplished on the field to be challenged by Pat. Pat is Daryll’s off season competitor by default of his heralded status coming out of high school.

Brett Brackett is my number 2 pick. With 3 star receivers on the team next season, it would be odd for a wideout to make this list, but Brett has to have a great spring to become 2009’s star receiver. By 2009 we lose the trio of Williams, Butler and Norwood to graduation and/or draft so a new go to guy has to be found. With Bell’s suspension, Brett is in the best position to be it, but whether or not he gets the title will depend on spring practice.

Stephfon Green. With Evan Royster the clear #1 tailback for the Lions this fall, Green can be lightning to Royster’s thunder. Rumors out of spring practice is that Stephfon Green makes the first team defense look slow. You bet that’s exciting. If he has a great off season, he may see the field as early as this year providing a great one-two punch for the Lions.

Lightning Round

Who is your pick to win the Red Worrell award given to the offensive player that shows the most improvement during spring practice?

Daryll Clark

Who is your pick for the Jim O’Hora award given to the defensive player that shows the most improvement?

Abe Koroma

Your 2008 team captains are…?

Sean Lee and A.Q. Shipley. I was tempted to name Scirrotto on this list, but unlike Connor when he was named captain in 2007 after a bow and arrow incident, Scirrotto has not redeemed himself enough to earn that spot.

This just in:

It’s still a little more than a decade away, but mark September 1st, 2018, on your calender right now.

On that day the Vols will open their football season with a big battle against Ohio State University in Knoxville. It will be followed by a Sept. 7, 2019, game at Columbus.

When asked about Ohio State’s ability to schedule big name opponents, Penn State athletic director Tim Curley asked, “Who’s bigger than Oregon State?” To which reporters pointed out Ohio State has scheduled USC, Miami, California, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma and today, Tennessee as future opponents for a home and away series each.

Seemingly a little flustered Curley points out that unlike Ohio State which has been to multiple national championships and are reaping in the extra revenue from merchandising, Penn State needs opponents who are willing to play at Beaver Stadium twice in return for just 1 home game. If Penn State had its way, they would want all 3 of the games in a series to be played in Happy Valley he added. And that is why Temple holds the livelihood to Penn State’s athletic budget.

Curley clearly noticed that the reporters in the room were unimpressed with his answer and went further.

“Ohio State, well we play them every year, don’t we get credit for having them on our schedule?” When someone pointed out that it was actually mandated by Big Ten scheduling rules, he simply shrugged. We have big plans in the works by Joe Paterno and my office to schedule big time names like St. Mary’s Community College for the blind and the University of Phoenix to which an unidentified observer in the back of the room yelled, “they don’t have a campus!”

“I beg to differ, they have a very impressive stadium sitting in Glensdale Arizona, and was just recently the host of the national championship game as well as the Fiesta Bowl” he snapped back to which he abruptly ended the press conference.

In reality, this is a 2 horse race between Daryll Clark and Pat Devlin. The common assumption is that Clark is the scrambler and Devlin is the strong armed quarterback.

Reports say “[Clark] lacks the speed to be an electrifying homerun threat like a Michael Vick or Steve Slaton. What observers say is Clark’s real strength is his presence in the huddle and command of the team.”

The only quarterback that has seen any meaningful time on the turf is #17 Daryll Clark who played in the Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan State and Texas A&M games. His best showing was surprisingly in the loss to Ohio State when he completed 4 of 5 passes, but for only 13 yards. Not exactly eye popping stats.

But it is the lack of any significant play time that has been the sole reason for the brewing quarterback controversy. Had Clark been given the opportunity to throw the ball a lot more last season, there would be no question about his passing ability. Instead we were treated to draws and running plays by the speedster racking up 78 rushing yards on 12 carries all season including 2 touchdowns. In the Alamo Bowl against Texas A&M he ran the ball 6 times for 50 yards including an 11-yard touchdown alongside Morelli in the shotgun.

So great, we know he can run. But can he hit a billboard with a football?

On the other end of the spectrum, we have Pat Devlin who only threw 1 pass all of last season. An incompletion against Florida International. Since that throw, he was relegated to hand off duty when the game was either lost or well in-hand.

While many will curse the quarterback controversy currently unanswered at Penn State, I whole heartedly embrace it. We can either have a quarterback by default like with Zack Mills or Anthony Morelli simply because they are upperclassmen, or we can actually enjoy the competition and the benefits it brings in pushing both quarterbacks to perform better. Without a clear leader under center, both candidates actually have to perform to earn the job. Morelli won it simply by waiting on his hands for 3 years. I much prefer the competition, don’t you?

Record	overall	31-4	28-6	27-8	35-1
	conference	19-2	16-2	13-7	19-0
	against tournament teams	8-4	3-3	5-5	10-1
Resume	RPI	10	34	15	3
	SOS	58	129	41	27
	Quality Wins	13	0	11	15
Team Stats per game	Points	67.6	78.8	71.1	79.9
	Turnovers	12.2	12.3	13.7	12.2
	Rebounds	38.4	38.3	41.1	43.3
	Free throw %	0.707	0.719	0.739	0.597
	3pt %	0.356	0.367	0.374	0.353
	Blocks	3.3	3.4	4.3	6.1

With everyone dubbing Curry and the Davidson Wildcats as this year’s Cinderella team, what does that make the Badgers? The wicked stepmother? From the way the audience is tortured with their style of play, they might very well be. But in this tale, Cinderella will not find her glass slipper. The clock will strike midnight on Friday ending Davidson’s fairy tale run in the Big Dance.

Davidson enters the match up with hot shooting Curry, but for most of the season and all 2 post season games, Wisconsin has shown why Big Ten play is a whole different animal altogether. Just ask Pittsburgh who is sitting at home nursing their bumps and bruises from their game against Michigan State. Wisconsin will have no problem defending one streaking player, Kansas State’s Michael Beasley can attest to that.

Wisconsin has 13 quality wins playing a schedule ranked the 58th hardest in the nation. Davidson has no quality wins even though they’ve played the 129th toughest schedule in the country. Not exactly battle tested.

And that is why Cinderella shall be left out of the Elite Eight ball in this tale. She will not live happily ever after, she won’t even make it out of the attic. It’s been a good run though.

Spring football has begun, but amidst all this March Madness hoopla, we’d like to put out our very own ‘One Shining Moment’ montage to Penn State football before we are force fed more North Carolina, Duke, Memphis and Kansas videos by CBS.

Before that, do we even have enough players left to play against each other in the Blue/White game this year? If these kids don’t appreciate the full ride they have through college, then so be it and lets get moving with the rest of the team. There are no place and time for thugs here at Penn State.

Without further ado, One Shining Moment (mp3). Drumroll please…

The ball is tipped
and there you are

you’re running for your life
you’re a shooting star
And all the years
no one knows
just how hard you worked
but now it shows…

ONE SHINING MOMENT, IT’S ALL ON THE LINE
ONE SHINING MOMENT, THERE FROZEN IN TIME

But time is short
and the road is long

in the blinking of an eye
ah that moment’s gone
And when it’s done
win or lose
you always did your best
cuz inside you knew…

ONE SHINING MOMENT, YOU REACHED DEEP INSIDE
ONE SHINING MOMENT, YOU KNEW YOU WERE ALIVE

If you have ever encountered the legend himself, you would know he is not the ruthless coach you see on media day. He is the proud grandfather of 16, and 5 children. He is the father figure for over 100 student athletes a year that grace Penn State’s hallowed stadium and thousands of those who have passed through the years.

Do not make the mistake of underestimating the man though. Many have and they have all walked off the turf in defeat. Even the president of the university Joe has helped built into a national name retreated from Joe’s cozy ranch-style house in 2004 unable to convince the legend into retirement.

He epitomizes what those in-house refer to the ‘Penn State way’.

His ‘Grand Experiment’ has consistently produced above-average academic success exceeding the national average of 64 percent by 19 points and in the past 5 years has topped the country three times. Statistics most commonly reserved for private, ivy institutions, not a public state school in the middle of Pennsylvania. He understands that when it comes to student-athletes, student comes first.

With increasing pressure to win on the field, that message has become increasingly lost, but Joe does what he does best, ignore the mainstream and stick to his way. And his 3 consecutive bowl victories, including a BCS win since the attempted coup has shown his way still works.

So how is a coach who delivered Penn State’s only 2 national titles and built this institution from the ground up, on the hot seat?

It’s not like we are in the midst of the dark 03’ and 04’ seasons. Joe has actually delivered a BCS orange bowl, and 2 consecutive 9-4 seasons in the last 3 years and the administration is now awarding him with a pink slip?

If we were Notre Dame, 9-4 seasons would have automatically sent us into the BCS, making it 3 BCS appearances (*note appearances, not wins) in 3 seasons, but unfortunately we were not dubbed the overrated poster child of the NCAA (Notre Dame has lost their last 9 bowl games) and thus have to earn our spot in the BCS like everyone else.

Joe is the reason why 110,000 seats are filled every Saturday even against a team no one has ever heard of prior to a matchup with the Lions. He is why Penn State continues to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated and ESPN even during losing seasons.

But he no longer recruits with the best of them, critics say. Joe Paterno does not own a cell phone and has never sent an email message. Yet he is able to haul in big time recruits like Derrick Williams, Pat Devlin, and so forth. Whether or not these big time recruits actually live up to their hype is another question altogether. I find it even more impressive that he can do what other coaches do without the aid of technology.

This is not an endorsement of his recruiting tactics. I too believe he should modernize, but Joe is certainly not deadweight when it comes to recruiting.

I find it appalling that the administration has not offered him whatever he wants contract-wise this late into March. That is a move usually reserved for coaches on the hot seat and Joe Paterno’s seat warmer has been disabled the year he won us our 2^nd national championship.

Ultimately the decision rests with the Athletic Director, Tim Curley and university president, Graham Spanier. But they must understand that while critics of the legendary coach might be the loudest right now, they are certainly not the majority. There are many, including myself who will believe that Joe Paterno has earned his meal ticket.

Any attempt by the university to force him into retirement will be met with the utmost resistance. And I’m not talking Bob Knight fired at Indiana protest-type resistance. Bob attacked a player, he deserved to be fired. Joe Paterno has never done anything wrong and is the reason why Penn State is Penn State today. In a time when newspapers and political figures are giving their endorsements to candidates, I have chosen Joe Paterno. Old Main, you have been warned.