Billy Paultz Reconsidered

When I was a kid there was a heavyweight title fight between champ Larry Holmes and a colorful stiff named Chuck Wepner.
Holmes methodically beat Wepner senseless. They called the fight in the sixth or seventh or whatever. Afterward Howard Cosell interviewed Wepner, who said he was disappointed they called it because, “I felt like I […]

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As is always the case when Penn State loses, people are blaming the coaching and the play-calling.
It’s not that that’s wrong. It’s just oversimple; it requires some clarification.
People who think Joe no longer does any actual coaching are wrong. The teaching, game-planning, Xs-and-Os and play-calling are taken care of by his assistants, with Joe in […]

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When Penn State throws the ball on all downs with quick drops, short and intermediate routes, spreading the ball around the field and to all possible targets (including TE Andrew Quarless), using the pass to set up the run, it’s a pretty good offense.
When Penn State pressures, disrupts and knocks around the other guy’s quarterback, which it’s […]

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It’s true that Ohio State has played a weak schedule and failed to dominate it. It had 10 straight three-and-outs vs. Akron, for example. It’s true that the Buckeyes’ ascent to the top of the BCS has had more to do with others slipping than with Buckeye brilliance.
But that’s no slight to Ohio State; it’s […]

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A Tampa TV station (WTTV, a Fox affiliate) is reporting that Missouri will be invited to join the Big Ten.
This move, rumored for some time, would have to create an interesting domino effect. Presumably Arkansas would replace Mizzou in the Big 12, where Arkansas used to be and where it still has many longtime rivals.
That […]

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This won’t be easy. The Hoosiers have a QB who can run and throw and a big-time receiver and they’re at home.
But it says here Indiana losing last week helps the Lions. So does having had the experience of playing against a mobile QB at Illinois. Indiana is pretty ordinary on defense.
Looking ahead to Ohio State […]

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One of the amazing things about the baseball playoffs:
In regular-season baseball, there’s almost no such thing as momentum that carries over from day-to-day. The short-series, playoff baseball, day-to-day momentum is huger than huge, an irresistable force in the universe.
It’s not just that one game can change everything. One sequence or even one pitch can.
The 1996 […]

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For the first few minutes of today’s presser the phone feed was crapping out for a second or two every 10 seconds or so during Joe’s responses. Not the questions, just the answers. Annoying, but borderline tolerable.
Then Jeff McLane of the Philly Inquirer asked Joe a question about Austin Scott - the first question of […]

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Although I said this in the paper today, once again: If Penn State had used Saturday’s game plan against Illinois and certainly against Michigan, it would possibly if not probably be undefeated now.
In that case, given the insane current national picture, the Lions would almost certainly be ranked first or second in the BCS standings, and the Ohio […]

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The Badgers might be a little better than Penn State, although with the home field they’re probably about dead-even.
After losing just once in a year-and-a-half, Wisconsin fell to Illinois last week. Doesn’t that put the Badgers in the same “trap game,” scenario Penn State was in when it went to Illinois two weeks ago? I […]

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