MSM Working Hard; All-Americans and Bowl Projections

Yes, it's game week, and with only two more days before football--holy shit, really, you should watch Oregon State Thursday night--the Main Stream Media is churning out readership inflators like Joe Paterno mumbles on-air. Both SI.com and ESPN.com came out with debatable content, SI's All-American team, and ESPN's bowl projections. And before I go any further, PSU is represented well in both.

First, on SI's All-American team, Maurice Evans is the first DE listed. It would have been easy to just say he's good at sacking the quarterback (duh, if you're AA, you should be), but SI was kind enough to do some real research and point out that Mo forced five fumbles last year, two of which came in the come-back win over Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl. Stats like that go much further when determining if a guys is just a player, or a play-maker. George Selvie of USF came in at the other DE spot. Who would have thought the team PSU played in its 2005 opener would be thinking BCS bid only two seasons later.

Heading over to ESPN.com, Mark Schlabach and Bruce Feldman gave their bowl projections for 2008. Feldman, while once admitting to me he always liked PSU, was a bit more skeptical of the Lions this season. He slotted them for the Outback Bowl against Tennessee. Hey, at least it's on New Years Day, folks. Schlabach put PSU a bit higher, facing off with Auburn in the Capital One Bowl. Personally, I'd like to see that happen (not over a BCS bid, of course), so that PSU could have a chance at redemption for the Tigers' upset win over PSU in the 2003 Capital One Bowl. Yeah, that was my first bowl game live, and it was quite disappointing.

I should mention that Wisconsin and Ohio State were the two teams ahead of PSU in both sets of picks. Schlabach said OSU would be in the BCS title game, with Wisconsin going to the Rose. Feldman doesn't think OSU will make the big game, going to the Rose, with Wisky in the Capital One.

I'd take three January bowl appearances in four years. But I'd like two bowl wins in three years over SEC foes even better.

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Big Ten represents on ESPN.com's All-Bowl Team

Penn State Center AQ Shipley and Linebacker Sean Lee were named to ESPN.com's All-Bowl team. But just as impressive was the high number of Big Ten players selected. Wide Reciever Adrian Arrington (UM), Tight End Dustin Keller (PU), Linebacker James Laurinaitis (OSU) and Punter Chris Summers (PU) made the cut.

In another shocking compliment towards Penn State football, Mark Schlabach--the same guy who did the All-Bowl team--wrote in his column What's Hot (and Not):

Joe Paterno. Penn State's 81-year-old coach won an NCAA-record 23rd bowl game in his 500th game on the sideline, beating Texas A&M 24-17 in the Valero Alamo Bowl. Paterno became only the second man to coach in 500 games, joining Amos Alonzo Stagg (548 games). Paterno has three more bowl victories than Florida State's Bowden and eight more than legendary Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant.

Oh, yeah, that was under the "hot" column. Nice.

I'm desperately trying to not let this sound like an ESPN.com love-fest today, but I can't help it. After having met Bruce Feldman on a trip to NYC in 2006, and talking with him in person over lunch, I gained a newfound respect for his column. No, I'm not star-struck--that wore off after a few days. It was just interesting to hear what someone like he has to say, off the record and in a casual setting. So, in his mailbag this week, he got this question. I love the answer.

From Matt in Atlanta: Are you not aware of how bad of a coach Dave Wannstedt is? This is a guy that almost single-handedly ruined the Bears and Dolphins franchises. As a Bear fan told me when he was named coach of the Dolphins, "Trust me, he is worse than bad." So be careful before jumping on the Pitt bandwagon. Good recruiting … bad coach.

Feldman: People said the same thing about Ron Zook, and after this year, that doesn't sound so accurate. The reality is the gap between great coaches and bad ones isn't very big. If Jimmy Johnson thinks you're a good coach, I think that tells you something more than what you read on some message boards.

POW! Bitch slap royale!

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