JoePa's good idea (seriously)

I can't say I was entirely surprised when Joe Paterno awoke from his old-man slumber Thursday and revealed that he didn't do any real coaching during Penn State's run to the Rose Bowl last year. Anyone who saw JoePa sitting in the press box for much of last season -- often not even wearing a headset -- had probably come to the realization that he is, at this point, basically just a figurehead.

But what was very interesting was Paterno's sudden outspokenness about the Big Ten's need to add a 12th team, something that's come up occasionally but has never (to my knowledge) been a serious topic of discussion.

The reason usually cited for a possible expansion is money; the addition of a 12th team would allow a conference championship game, something every conference wants because it creates a boost in revenue without raising any ticket prices. But JoePa's reasoning was a bit different:

"We go into hiding for six weeks," Paterno said, referring to the hiatus between the end of the Big Ten regular season and the BCS bowls."Everybody else is playing playoffs on television. You never see a Big Ten team mentioned. So I think that's a handicap."

First, let me say this: He's 100% right. Ever since November of 2006, when Michigan lost to Ohio State and then remained No. 2 for two weeks -- only to be jumped by Florida after Gary Danielson's embarrassing tongue-bathing of all things SEC during that conference's championship game -- it's been obvious that the Big Ten's rule requiring teams to be finished before Thanksgiving is exactly what Paterno said it is -- a handicap.

You can't sit on the sidelines for two weeks while everyone else is facing off in marquee games and realistically expect to maintain your spot in the polls. It's just human nature that the team that's been most impressive MOST RECENTLY will get a majority of the attention, and the Big Ten will always be at a disadvantage in that regard because of its scheduling regulations.

So it's good that a guy with as much respect as JoePa finally spoke out, because you'd assume that something might actually get done. Even if it's not expansion, maybe the conference presidents would at least look into extending the schedule ... right?

"You know, it's a conference that's dominated by a couple of people," Paterno said. "If I start talking, they're polite, but they snicker. They don't know I know they're snickering, but they're polite. ... I wish I were younger and going to be around [another] 20 years."

Wow. To me, the fact that even a guy like Paterno gets nothing but "snickers" for an expansion suggestion shows that the Big Ten isn't taking the idea seriously at all. It's not like he's calling for something wild and controversial here -- we're to the point where half (three of six) of the BCS conferences have championship games.

Do I want a championship game? Not really, since the entire concept is built on money. But the championship game isn't the issue -- it's whether the fans and school presidents want a highly ranked Big Ten team to receive equal consideration to the top teams from other conferences late in the season.

There are two options here (well, three if you include keeping the status quo):

1. Try to pry away a fairly prominent school from another conference (Pitt, Rutgers and Notre Dame are most commonly mentioned), divide into two divisions and play a title game.
2. Scrap the rule that requires all Big Ten games to be played before Thanksgiving.

The whole "which team should join the Big Ten" discussion has been played out ad nauseum on numerous sites, but let's be realistic. The Big East would fight tooth-and-nail to keep its eight teams (any fewer and it would lose its BCS auto-bid, if I'm not mistaken), and because of the money Notre Dame brings in through its NBC deal and BCS contract, the Irish will never, ever, ever join a football conference.

And really, once you get past those teams, you're really digging deep for an Iowa State or some other mediocre school that doesn't bring much of anything to the table.

My feeling is this: If the conference isn't serious about going after one of the big-name schools as part of an expansion plan, the Thanksgiving deadline has to go.There's no real reason that Michigan-Ohio State and Penn State-Michigan State can't play on the last Saturday in November -- in fact, it'd probably be beneficial to those teams to have the option of scheduling bye weeks.

Big Ten teams don't currently have that option, as there are only 12 weeks available in which to schedule 12 total games. USC, on the other hand, can schedule about three bye weeks per year, give the players a break at appropriate times and wrap up on the last weekend of the regular season. That's the way it should be done.

Either way, though, something has to happen in order for Big Ten teams to have a realistic hope of maintaining their place atop the polls late in the season -- even a guy who's almost 90 can recognize that.

Catching up: Indiana won't be good

* I wrote last month about the pointlessness of Indiana moving QB Kellen Lewis to receiver, but his athleticism might have made him a respectable threat (even if there was nobody to throw him the ball). Unfortunately, we'll never know. Lewis was dismissed Wednesday for the classic "violation of team rules," meaning that what was probably going to be a horrendous offense just got ... well, horrendous-er. I can't really blame Bill Lynch for the dismissal, though, as this was already Lewis' second chance (he was suspended last spring for missing classes and team meetings). You've gotta draw the line somewhere.

* This apparently isn't new, but it's been revealed in numerous places recently that the Big Ten does not allow November games to be scheduled at night. I can't imagine that there'd be too many instances in which a school would want to schedule a night game in November -- trust me, even the day games at that time of year are freezing -- but I also don't see why the Big Ten needs to regulate that. If a situation did arise that called for a prime-time game (Ohio State's visit to Penn State on Nov. 7 comes to mind), shouldn't it be an option? It seems that for a conference that's struggled on the big stage in recent years -- and has lost some prestige because of it -- it'd make sense to showcase your top teams and games on at least an occasional basis late in the season.

* Pitt receiver T.J. Porter, who was suspended for spring practice, won't return to the team. As I mentioned at the time of his suspension, with LeSean McCoy and LaRod Stephens-Howling now in the NFL, Pitt desperately needs the passing game to step it up this year in order to have any semblance of an offense. With fifth-year senior Bill Stull at QB, stud sophomore Jonathan Baldwin and senior Oderick Turner at receiver and the talented Nate Byham at tight end, the pieces are in place -- even without Porter -- for former Cal offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti to work his magic. But a team that couldn't put a single point on the board against Oregon State in the Sun Bowl has a long way to go, and losing last year's third-leading receiver certainly won't help.

* Speaking of bad offenses, UCLA named redshirt freshman Kevin Prince the starting QB after a spring game in which he started, um, 0-for-7 with an interception. Apparently he played well later in the game, but that still left him 24-for-57 passing for 280 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions in three spring scrimmages. It'd be hard to play any worse than the injury-riddled, interception-prone rotation of 2008, but it's also hard to envision much of a step forward from last year's horrific 17.7-point-per-game performance -- especially when the coaches are saying things like this:

"I just think we need guys to step up," Neuheisel said. "They've got some of the best coaches in the land. It's time now to grow up."

* Congratulations to Tim Brown, Gino Toretta, Chris Spielman, Grant Wistrom, Major Harris, John Robinson and the 12 other former players or coaches inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. It's easy to forget about guys of the past with all the focus on recruiting and transfers and so on and so forth, but keeping in touch with the tradition and history of the game makes college football what it is. I just have one complaint: If Toretta was worthy, how do you explain Desmond Howard and Eric Dickerson being left out?

QB carousel

Way back in the spring of 2007, Steven Threet and Robert Marve were two of the most sought-after high school passers in the country. They were overshadowed a bit by the two superstars in their class -- Jimmy Clausen and Ryan Mallett -- but they were good (according to Rivals, anyway):

It's been a long two years, hasn't it? There are two noteworthy things about that once-formidable top 10:

1. That, my friends, is a bust-eriffic list. Brantley will have his opportunity once The Tebow Child finally departs, and Clausen appears to be developing into a good (if overrated) starter ... but the rest? Yikes.
2. A whopping FIVE of those 10 quarterbacks have transferred from their original school, including two (Threet and Marve) who are making news once again this week as de facto free agents.

Threet announced in February that he'd had enough of the Rich Rodriguez offense -- he wouldn't have been starting in 2009 anyway -- and the search was on for his third stop in three years. An FCS school seemed logical since he had already redshirted, but let's face it: Who can resist the co-eds at Arizona State? (Answer: not Threet.)

Threet didn't have a lot of luck with coaching stability at his first two stops (he originally committed to Georgia Tech just before Paul Johnson took over), but barring a complete disaster this season, he should be safe at ASU under Dennis Erickson.

While he wasn't exactly a smashing success at Michigan in an ugly 3-9 season, Threet's play wasn't the reason for the poor record. His accuracy was lacking, but he has an impressive arm and showed good decision-making for a redshirt freshman. Considering the lack of quality QB options at ASU -- senior Danny Sullivan is atop the depth chart, with sophomore Samson Szakacsy and freshman Brock Osweiler in the wings -- Threet will have a legitimate shot at the starting job.

The only problem: That shot won't come until 2011. As a transfer who has already used a redshirt year, Threet will be forced to burn a season (his redshirt sophomore year) and will have two years of eligibility remaining.

Marve was also looking at Arizona State after leaving Miami under less-than-friendly circumstances, but with Threet already on his way to Tempe, it now appears likely that he'll end up at Purdue.

According to ESPN, Marve has developed a "close relationship" (I don't want details) with Boilermakers coach and Joe Tiller look-alike Danny Hope and has already worked out an academic plan to ensure his admission.

Purdue certainly needs quarterbacks -- with Curtis Painter off to the NFL and Justin Siller off the team due to a lack of effort in the classroom, fifth-year senior Joey Elliott and redshirt freshman Caleb TerBush are all that's left. In other words, expect Marve to be starting in 2011 and 2012 if the transfer goes according to plan.

Mike Leach hates the NFL

A lot of us are confused by the NFL draft process and how some elite college football players get passed over on an annual basis, but Texas Tech coach Mike Leach took it to a new level Monday.

When asked by the Dallas Morning News about Graham Harrell going undrafted -- while Texas A&M's Stephen McGee went in the fourth round -- Leach responded with this gem of a backhanded compliment:

"I'm happy for Stephen McGee," Leach told The Dallas Morning News. "The Dallas Cowboys like him more than his coaches at A&M did. ... The truth of the matter is that the NFL drafts quarterbacks notoriously bad. That's indisputable."

Ouch. My first reaction was to laugh, but the truly funny thing is that he's right. McGee couldn't hold onto his starting job at Texas A&M (getting jumped by the more athletic Jerrod Johnson after suffering a shoulder injury), and considering the NFL's general lack of success in finding quality quarterbacks, maybe we should trust the scouts less and our eyes more.

Even more amusing, though, were Leach's comments about the Cleveland Browns, who he blamed for Crabtree slipping out of the top five after reports surfaced that coach Eric Mangini considered Crabtree a "diva."

"Michael Crabtree has been more successful as a receiver than that guy as a coach at this point," Leach said. "... My definition of a diva is someone who's loud and self-absorbed. Michael Crabtree is the furthest thing from loud that I've seen. ... Let's see how all those non-divas do up in Cleveland this year."

You've gotta love the pirate. He doesn't care what anyone thinks about his play-calling, his attire or his opinions, and there aren't many coaches you can say that about.

Another thing you've gotta love: Irony. With Harrell in search of a job Monday after going undrafted, he was invited to training camp by ... the Cleveland Browns.

Who's the boss?

Over the past seven years, there's no debate that USC has been the most dominant team in the country. From top-10 finishes to BCS wins to conference titles to recruiting, it's been an all-around ass-kicking.

But the gap between the Trojans and the rest of the college football world is closing fast ... or has it already closed? A thought popped into my head the other day: Which team has actually been better in the past three years, Florida or USC? Is Pete Carroll still running THE elite program in the country?

"Better" is obviously a somewhat objective term, but it'd be hard to argue against Florida. With two national titles in that time (compared with zero for USC) and 35 wins (compared with 34 for USC), the only case you could make for the men of Troy is consistency -- USC hasn't finished outside the top five since 2002, and their average final ranking in the past three years is 3 (compared with 5.5 for Florida, which is skewed by the 9-4 season in between national titles).

One of the primary reasons for that consistency is recruiting, as USC seemingly gets whatever players it wants in greater quantities than anybody ... right?

• USC -- 12 five-stars, 34 four-stars (based on Rivals' rankings from the past three seasons)
• Florida -- 11 five-stars, 37 four-stars

Eh, not really. Florida has pulled in about the same amount of blue-chip talent, and if we're talking about who's really done the best job of recruiting, think about this: In only two years at Alabama, Nick Saban has accumulated a phenomenal 40 four-star or five-star players, 10 more than USC in that time and 12 more than Florida. And fresh off a BCS appearance, it seems doubtful that those numbers will drop off much in the near future, meaning another SEC juggernaut is looming on the horizon.

But here's the thing USC has going for it: In a relatively weak Pac-10, a BCS appearance is essentially a given. And with the hype Carroll has built around the school and the already-established tradition, it will continue to be a power until some other coach comes along and screws things up -- it's too hard not to be good at USC.

But in terms of overall dominance, don't forget about Florida and what Meyer has done there. He's turned it back into the powerhouse Steve Spurrier built -- albeit in a MUCH different manner -- and should be given credit for having a program that is just as good as (or better than) USC right now in nearly every aspect.

Stop

In its unending quest to salvage Bobby Bowden's shot at the all-time major college wins record, Florida State has appealed to the NCAA to allow Bowden to keep all of the 382 wins on his resume -- even if the football team has to forfeit some of those victories.

The appeal also asks that the players who weren't involved in the recent academic scandal be able to keep their individual records.

The basis for their argument? Ummm ....

I don't know. If you're forced to forfeit (or "vacate") wins -- and basically all record that those games were ever played -- I don't really see any reason certain records should still count. It'd be convenient for Bowden, of course, and I know everyone in Tallahassee would get warm fuzzies if Bowden gets to retire as the all-time wins leader, but a forfeit is a forfeit.

And this quote from Bowden is just laughable:

"There's just so many kids who didn't need help and didn't want help, but somebody was giving it. We suspended 25 guys for four ballgames and lost two of them. They all got [grades of] F's. Cheating, to me, should be a university problem. We discovered it. They didn't discover it. If they make us forfeit these games, doesn't that mean any time someone cheats a team is going to have to forfeit games? It seems to me that would open a can of worms."

Really??? So the players were completely innocent victims of a rogue academic adviser with the devious goal of helping athletes get better grades? Please.

And yes, if a player is cheating in school, the team SHOULD have to forfeit any wins he participates in -- by rule, that player is ineligible.

Bowden is one of the all-time greats and is deserving of his accolades, but statements like these are the reason not too many people in the college football world will be shedding tears when he finishes behind Joe Paterno (who, by all accounts, has always done things the right way).

The NCAA should stick to its guns here; when a situation arises that's truly deserving of a penalty, don't back down just to cater to the record book.

I'll never understand

Sometime in the fall, I remember laughing my ass off when seeing that Mel Kiper's top-ranked senior QB prospect was Purdue's Curtis Painter. Good call.

If we're talking about predicting draft status, though, I can't claim to have done a whole lot better. The guy that I (and most other college football fans) recognized as one of the best passers in the country -- Chase Daniel -- appears to be about as much of a draft afterthought as Painter, despite putting up another 4,000-yard, 38-touchdown season. On the flip side, a guy who no educated observer thought had a chance as a QB in the NFL -- Pat White -- has been hyped up to the point that it appears he'll be taken in the second round.

Look, I loved Pat White and the dynamic offense West Virginia was able to put together with White, Steve Slaton and Noel Devine. It's been fun to watch and it's changed the way offenses everywhere are designed.

On top of that, I do believe that White has the athleticism and speed to be an effective player somewhere. I could see him as a slot receiver or a kick returner, and he could be of value to a team that wants to give him a few snaps each game in the overhyped Wildcat formation. Colts GM Bill Poliani compared him to Kordell Stewart and Antwaan Randle El -- both valid comparisons, I believe -- but after playing in a modern version of a triple-option offense, you're telling me that a left-handed version of Tommie Frazier or the 2009 model of Antwaan Randle El is that valuable?

And that this guy ...



... won't be "anything other than a clipboard holder in the NFL?"

Whatever. I'll just file this away as reason No. 4,552,613 why I don't understand the NFL draft.