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Five-Step Drop: Change of Heart

February 01, 2011   Mark Hasty   No comments

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1. Rutgers has had a change of heart and will allow quarterback Tom Savage to explore a possible transfer to Florida or Miami. Coach Greg Schiano initially refused to allow the sophomore to talk to either school, citing “competitive reasons.” Savage was able to talk the coach into it, however. According to NJ.com, Savage has grandparents in South Florida. That, along with what Schiano called “my relationship with Tom and everything he has meant to the program,” changed the coach’s mind. Savage was a freshman All-American in 2009 but was replaced by Chas Dodd during this past season.

2. The 13 Iowa football players hospitalized for rhabdomyolysis have all been released from the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. However, the players will not be able to resume workouts until blood tests establish that their kidneys are functioning at normal levels. Seth Roberts, writing in Iowa’s student newspaper The Daily Iowan, suggests that the image of an out-of-control football program in Iowa City is unfair and inaccurate. “For all we know, this was an unfortunate accident – like when USC tailback Stafon Johnson dropped a weight bar on his neck in 2009,” he writes.

HawkCentral.com has an even-handed look at 13 questions about the rhabdomyolysis incident.

3. Here’s a feel-good story for you, and for once I’m not being sarcastic. Nike has donated $400,000 to Penn State’s library in honor of Joe Paterno’s 400th career win. Paterno and his wife Sue have been long-time supporters of the PSU libraries, to the extent that a section of one of the university’s libraries is named after them. It was a classy move by Nike to give so generously to a cause so obviously important to the Paternos.

4. Former Florida defensive coordinator Chuck Heater has joined Steve Addazio’s Temple staff, where he will serve in the same capacity. Addazio, the former Florida offensive coordinator under Urban Meyer, has recruited a number of former Gator assistants to join him in Philadelphia. That list includes former Florida graduate assistant Justin Frye, who will coach the offensive line, as well as strength coach Frank Piraino, who spent last season at Marshall after coaching the previous five years at Florida.

5. Your quick and certainly incomplete police blotter update: Arkansas wide receiver Lance Ray was arrested Saturday for possession of marijuana and alcohol after somebody smelled marijuana coming from his dorm room. The charges are misdemeanors. No official statements have been made about Ray’s status with the Razorbacks. Iowa State linebacker Matt Tau’fo’ou was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving Saturday morning in Ames. Tau’fo’ou has been in trouble before and has been suspended from the team.

 

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Five-Step Drop: JoePa Traps Bolden

January 07, 2011   Mark Hasty   No comments

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FanHouse’s college football staff provides you with a personal quarterback. We do the primary and secondary reads for you so you can properly start your day.

1. Rob Bolden wants to leave Penn State to look for another program in need of a quarterback. He can’t go unless Penn State agrees to release him from his national letter of intent, and Joe Paterno is refusing to do so. CBSSports.com’s Gregg Doyel says the current scholarship system is unfair and the purgatory Bolden is trapped in points out just how unfair it really is. Penn State apparently isn’t going to use Bolden, so why insist he can’t leave? Football is like love; there’s no use pining over somebody who just doesn’t want to be with you.

2. Thursday, Wisconsin defensive lineman J.J. Watt announced he was going pro. A first-team All-Big Ten selection, Watt made 21 tackles for loss this season, good enough for third in the nation. Watt has a tremendous motor and will probably be haunting Pat Fitzgerald’s dreams for years to come. He started out as a tight end at Central Michigan, but that’s just one of many amazing things in Watt’s backstory. I had no idea he’d been on a reality show. I promise not to hold that against him.

 

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Florida Wins Outback Bowl for Urban Meyer, 23 Seniors, Ian Lockwood

January 01, 2011   Brett McMurphy   No comments

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Urban MeyerTAMPA, Fla. — As Florida senior strong safety Ahmad Black loped down the west sideline in front of the Penn State bench with the football in his right hand, his head coach wondered if he would draw a celebration penalty before reaching the end zone.

“I was going to hit him right square in the mouth if he got a 15-yard penalty for holding the ball up,” Florida coach Urban Meyer joked.

High above in a Raymond James Stadium suite, Will Muschamp, Meyer’s replacement starting Sunday, looked on in approval. Back down on the field, Penn State coach Joe Paterno watched helplessly as Black raced by, denying Paterno his 25th bowl win and 402nd victory.

On the Florida sideline, Ian Lockwood, wearing an orange skull cap to cover the scars from his most recent — and second — surgery to try and remove the cancer that is eating his brain, cheered as Black reached Penn State’s 30, changing the football from his right hand to his left hand.

Black kept striding, pointing with his free hand to the Gators’ faithful in the north end zone. Upon finally reaching the end zone to cap off his 80-yard interception return and cap off Florida’s 37-24 Outback Bowl victory against Penn State, Black simply dropped the ball to the ground.

 

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Urban Meyer Goes Out a Winner as Florida Tops Penn State in Outback Bowl

January 01, 2011   FanHouse Staff   No comments

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Florida’s Urban Meyer is leaving coaching at age 46. Penn State’s Joe Paterno is not, at age 84. The two manned opposite sidelines Saturday in the Outback Bowl, and Meyer was sent out a winner with a 37-24 victory.

The game was actually much closer than the final score. It was neck-and-neck throughout and Penn State actually held the lead for a good chunk of the game. But Florida closed with 17 unanswered points. Penn State was driving, and trailing only by six points, with a chance to win the game when Matt McGloin was picked off by Ahmad Black with 55 seconds remaining in the game. After Black’s 80-yard touchdown return, the game was iced and the celebration began on Florida’s sideline.

Meyer was doused, fittingly, with Gatorade and later seen with his teary-eyed wife and children.

Penn State (7-6) actually outgained Florida 349-280, but five interceptions doomed the Nittany Lions, not to mention Florida’s two non-offensive touchdowns that ended up being the difference (the other was a 27-yard blocked punt return midway through the second quarter).

McGloin completed only 17 of his 42 pass attempts for 209 yards and a score — and also heaved those five picks. Evan Royster closed his career with 99 yards on 20 carries.

Florida (8-5) averaged just a touch under four yards per play offensively. Jordan Reed gained 70 yards on 24 carries. Chris Rainey ran for 67 yards on just six carries and Omarius Hines gained 30 yards — including a 16-yard touchdown romp — with his two carries.

 

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Florida vs. Penn State: Outback Bowl

January 01, 2011   FanHouse Staff   No comments

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Wow. Talk about an interesting coaching matchup. The Outback Bowl between Florida and Penn State provides exactly that. The Gators and Nittany Lions meet in Tampa, Fla., at 1 p.m. The game will be televised by ABC.

On one side, you have a relatively young coach who has had enough for now. Urban Meyer is coaching his last game at Florida. He will be replaced by former Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp.

On the other side, you have a much older veteran who is one of the most respected coaches in the history of the sport. Joe Paterno earned his 400th victory earlier this season. As he is every year, Paterno is dogged by persistent rumors that this is it, this is the year when he’s done. He says it isn’t so. To date, it hasn’t been so but it is a situation worth watching.

Paterno is in his 45th season and has a 401-134-3 record. Meyer turned 46 in June.

 

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Five-Step Drop: Joe Paterno Is Healthy, Just Ask His Wife

December 28, 2010   Mark Hasty   No comments

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FanHouse’s college football staff provides you with a personal quarterback. We do the primary and secondary reads for you so you can properly start your day.

1. Sue Paterno would like you to know there’s nothing wrong with her husband Joe’s health. In an interview posted on Fight On State, Penn State’s Rivals.com site, Sue Paterno says the rumors about JoePa have no truth to them. “He’s (supposedly) in the hospital when he’s sitting at the table for dinner,” she said. “He wasn’t even near the hospital.” Paterno also said there have been no discussions with the Penn State administration about her husband’s future, while Paterno’s daughter Mary Kay Hort denied the rumors of private planes flying the entire Paterno family to Tampa for the Outback Bowl, which the rumors alleged would be Joe Paterno’s final game.

2. “No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.” That’s a quote from Voltaire, a great French writer. Jeff Potrykus of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel wonders which snowflake of a play was responsible for the avalanche that Wisconsin’s season turned into. “Head coach Bret Bielema’s No. 1 choice occurred on the final play of the first half of the Arizona State game,” he writes. “He still believes Dezmen Southward and Shelton Johnson combining to tackle Kyle Middlebrooks at the UW 1 to prevent a kickoff return for a touchdown was critical.” I was there, among a disbelieving press corps that largely believed Wisconsin’s season would turn out to be nothing special. I was wrong, though I still stand by my assessment of Wisconsin at that time.

 

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Five-Step Drop: So Long, JoePa?

December 24, 2010   Mark Hasty   No comments

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FanHouse’s college football staff provides you with a personal quarterback. We do the primary and secondary reads for you so you can properly start your day.

1. Joe Paterno can’t coach forever. That obvious truth has hovered around him for at least a decade now. But when will he actually hang it up? Atlanta radio host Matt Baxendell has been saying for a while Paterno would retire after the upcoming Outback Bowl. He’s been a lone voice until now, but John Taylor at CollegeFootballTalk.com has been hearing from “multiple sources in and around the athletic department” that Paterno may in fact retire after the bowl game due to “significant health concerns.” Taylor also reports, “Paterno allegedly struggled mightily at the senior banquet at season’s end, with his players supposedly tweeting about their coach being ‘out of it’ and Paterno referencing playing in a ‘Thanksgiving bowl game’.” That doesn’t prove a thing, and CollegeFootballTalk.com is quick to point out, “We are not reporting that Paterno is stepping down/retiring/resigning after the bowl game.” The site goes on to note that these rumors need to be addressed, which they do, and not just by saying that Penn State’s previous non-statements about Paterno’s future are still in effect.

2. The fallout from Ohio State’s player suspensions has some wondering if some or all of the suspended players might opt to enter the NFL draft instead of serving the suspension. Fairly or not, most of that speculation is focusing on Terrelle Pryor. Pete Thamel of The New York Times suggests that Pryor’s NFL future is anything but guaranteed, saying Pryor “is regarded by NFL personnel evaluators as a project on and off the field.” In fact, Thamel quotes longtime NFL scout Dave Razzano as saying, “He needs to grow up” and “I wouldn’t touch him with a 10-foot pole.”

 

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Joe Paterno Plans to Return in 2011

November 23, 2010   FanHouse Staff   No comments

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Joe Paterno announced Tuesday that he expects to return to the Penn State sidelines in 2011 for his 46th season as coach of the Nittany Lions.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “We’ve struggled a little bit this year, the youth and the injuries and the whole bit. But I think with a good spring and preseason practice … We’re going to be a good football team, and I’d like to [be] part of it.”

The Lions are a young team, and Paterno wants to see them through development. Next year is the last on his current contract, a three-year deal.

Like Brett Favre, the 83-year-old Paterno’s potential retirement is discussed every year. Paterno dealt with an intestinal illness this summer that forced him to cancel appearances, only fueling speculation.

 

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Pickin’ on the Big Ten, Week 12

November 18, 2010   Mark Hasty   No comments

I had a great introduction, but apparently it’s unsportsmanlike to keep trying hard this late in the season, so let’s skip it and get right to the games.

Penn State vs. Indiana (FedEx Field, Landover, Md.)

There are flashier games in the Big Ten this weekend, but I doubt you can find one that means more to the teams involved.

Indiana coach Bill Lynch is fighting for a bowl bid and possibly his job. No one expected IU to beat Wisconsin last week, but no one expected the brutalization it had to endure. The Hoosiers simply didn’t know what to do on offense without Ben Chappell, and didn’t know what to do on defense at all. That’s no exaggeration; Wisconsin scored on every single possession. IU’s bowl hopes are still alive, but just barely, with a 4-6 record. If it loses this game, there will be no trip to the postseason.

Penn State is already bowl-eligible at 6-4 and certainly going to a bowl game. But which one? If this is Joe Paterno’s last season (and one of these seasons has to be), it would be nice to send him off with a trip to a New Year’s Day game. The Rose Bowl is out, but the Big Ten plays three other bowl games on Jan. 1, and they’d all love to have the Nittany Lions. The Nits can’t be picked for those games over any team with two more wins than they have. An 8-4 Penn State team is a lock for New Year’s Day. At 7-5 it’s a little bit tougher. At 6-6 it’s impossible — and shouldn’t happen anyway.

Ben Chappell is expected to start for Indiana. That gives the Hoosiers a much better shot at pulling off the upset. However, the Hoosiers aren’t much of a threat to run the ball, which is Penn State’s biggest defensive weakness. Penn State’s offensive struggles are not entirely behind it. IU has had some decent defensive performances this year (no, really, it has, despite last week’s disaster) and will need one more to keep it close. This will be a decent game just because of all that is at stake. I like Penn State to win, but anybody expecting Indiana to give up 83 more points (or even 43) is deluded. Penn State 31, Indiana 17.

 

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Reckless Predictions for Nov. 13

November 13, 2010   John Walters   No comments

Because ESPN has gone all Brett Favre on Cam Newton (what is it with the state of Mississippi, quarterbacks, scandal and ESPN?), lots of intriguing Saturday story lines are being neglected. Two terrific Texas tussles, for instance, involving No. 10 Oklahoma State at Texas and No.25 Texas A&M at Baylor. Then there’s Stanford, tip-toeing up the stairs at No. 5, visiting Arizona State. And No. 21 Nevada visits Fresno State.

At least College GameDay got it right, camping out in Columbus for Joe Paterno’s 400th victory. What? He did that last week? Then what in the name of Eddie Robinson are they doing there?

On with the reckless predictions:

In Moscow, Boise State comes out on fire. I forsooth Broncos being up by four touchdowns after the first quarter against the Vandals, then cruising home to a 52-14 victory. Call me crazy, that’s just how I see it going down.

In Evanston, a wideout named Ebert (Jeremy) toils in the same metropolis where a film critic named Ebert (Roger) is a legend (and a legendary tweeter). Critics give the Iowa-Northwestern thriller two thumbs up, though one believes a better working title would be “North by Northwestern.”

 

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