Billy Paultz Reconsidered

This is assuming Penn State beats Michigan State Saturday (which I’m not confident they’re going to do), and also assuming the BCS standings stay pretty much as they are at the moment.
OK….
The BCS games are the national championship game (No. 1 and 2 in the BCS standings), the Rose (Big-10 and Pac-10 tie-ins), Orange (ACC), Sugar […]

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I would like to suggest two changes to the BCS formula:
1. The current formula is one-third Harris poll, one-third coaches’ poll, and one-third the average of six computer rankings. Change it to one-third an average of the two polls and two-thirds the computer average.
2. Allow the computers to include margin of victory in their formulas. Don’t require […]

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I’m writing this from the Beav, 25 minutes from kickoff, and the atmosphere is as bland as its been all year. Including the Blue-White game. Senior Day? A complete non-factor.
The Nits figure to be a little sluggish.
Indiana can score, and has an offensive scheme - the “pistol” - that could cause Penn State some problems. The […]

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It’s less than an hour until kickoff at the Beav. I wanted to wait until I got here to make a prediction, so I could get the lay of the land, a sense of the atmosphere, the look in the players’ eyes….
No, that’s crap. I just forgot.
I’m torn on this one. I’m pretty sure Ohio […]

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We are live from Harrisburg International Airport, where the atmosphere is electric…..
The trap game concern is a real one. A quarterback named Kafka (not Franz, but still) has to give one pause. Kafka runs a pretty good passing game that should test Penn State’s mostly untested secondary.
But I’m not bullish on Northwestern’s intangibles, either. The Wildcats […]

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We are live from the Big House, which is being refurbished and already looks cooler than it used to. They’re still working on a huge luxury box section which sits on top of everything directly across the field from the press box- very similar to the Beav.
It’s cold here, and intermittently windy and rainy. And, […]

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Coming at you live from the Philly airport, where I’m waiting to fly to Detroit for the Nits and Wolverines, and where there has just been a Mario Andretti sighting. No kidding.
Among travelers sitting at the gate, there’s exactly the same amount of Penn State attire and Michigan attire. For what it’s worth.
This could be […]

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First, a note about the weather: As this is written, there’s about 5 inches of snow on the ground in State College. It’s already the biggest snowfall ever in SC in October, and they’re expecting twice that much by game time.
All grass parking areas will be closed, and if you’ve been up there, you know […]

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This one is sort of, um, obvious, so let’s talk a bit about the fact that your humble correspondent has gotten the last two Penn State games wrong- I had them beating Iowa and, yes, after witnessing the Iowa game, had them losing to Illinois.
I’ve spent the last half-hour or so researching this, and I […]

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Penn State is sick, hurt, beat up. After last week’s loss to Iowa, in which the Lions suffered the indignity of simply being pushed around on the line of scrimmage, they’re mentally and emotionally damaged, too.
They’re still better than Illinois. But the Illini have talent, and if they lose badly Saturday, at home, their season […]

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