Paterno's Press Conference

JoePa was surprisingly jovial towards the press Tuesday at his weekly press conference. But that's hardly shocking. He's won 20 games in two years, two January bowls, a Big Ten title, five All-America selections and gets paid, well, enough. I thought it was most interesting how he handled the Quarless/Harriot situation.

"Right now, neither one of them will play this week and they may not play for three or four weeks, I don't know yet. I had told them both to get going and some of the kids on the team got together with the captains, (Terrell) Golden, (Dan) Connor and (Anthony) Morelli. They elected them captains; I didn't appoint them as was suggested by some people. They were elected. They said (to me), 'how about we let them back on and you do some other things to them,' and I said, 'well, okay.' So that's where we are. They're practicing with us, but they're not going to play for us (this week)."

Did we hear that correctly? Is Joe now allowing his team leaders to actually lead AND his coaches to actually coach? Holy crap, the sky is truly falling in Happy Valley! Joe has kicked kids off the team for almost any reason in the past, mainly to keep up the clean image PSU has enjoyed.

Most times, I'm sure he didn't like doing it because everyone would get on his case about being too strict to even the best players. This time, Joe got a huge win-win situation.

Quarless and Harriot go out after hours. They get trashed. Joe comes down hard, actually wants to kick them off the team completely. Team captains step in, knowing PSU needs those idiots to win a championship this season. Penn State keeps two very good, very key players on the team, while Joe Paterno can still maintain the "you mess up, you get out" image the college football universe praises him for.

All I have to say is Joe better swallow his pride by September 22, when PSU plays THEM in the Pig House. Look for the FIU/PSU preview tomorrow! Full of fun facts, stats and, of course, predictions.