I understand why Tom Bradley was chosen as interim successor to Joe Paterno, but he really isn’t the warm and cuddly face the University needs right now. At a time when the program should be showing great humility, Bradley has been anything but. He’s only making more people hate PSU.
But who really cares about him as he’s gone in two games anyway. This contest in Madison is a play-in game to the inaugural Big Ten Championship game. Simple as that. Winner goes to Indy, for a chance to reach the Rose Bowl. Loser goes to the Outback Bowl maybe. Or in the case of PSU they could drop all the way down to the Ticket City.
I still say they do the right thing, and decline a bid. Penn St. has gotten damage control wrong at every single step of this scandal, time to finally get one right.
Penn State (9-2, 7-1) Analysis:
You’d be hard pressed to find an All-American college football season as obscure and overlooked as Devon Still in 2011. Sure, the pedophilia scandal at Penn State is much bigger and more important than football.
And the media is treating it as such they should. Also, leading to Still’s relative obscurity is the fact that offense sells tickets, and gets the glory. Defense is overlooked. And as well know, the PSU offense is awfully bad, with the quarterbacking and passing game phantasmagoric.
However, Still, a 6-5, 310-pound senior is getting it done for a Penn State defense that ranks third nationally in points against (13.0 per game), trailing only Alabama and LSU.
The Nittany Lions’ defense is eighth nationally in yards allowed per game (287.3). Still has been Penn State’s defensive leader and is tied for 11th in the country in tackles for loss (16.5 for 75 yards), of which four of those are sacks for 34 yards in losses.
In the wake of the Penn State sex scandal, the fact that a book called Touched, the story of Jerry Sandusky’s life in his own words, still sits on Amazon’s virtual bookshelf is both disturbing and horrid.
This disgusting coincidence is highlighted by many Amazon “book reviewers.” We’ll show some of the best best book reviews after the jump. Sandusky’s autobiography highlights his college football career and his involvement in children’s charities, including the founding of his charity, “Second Mile.”
Like I said in a previous post, I believe it should be removed from the virtual shelves.
But here’s one edition that’s even more disturbing.
On Friday, the NCAA said they would launch their own investigation into the Penn State pedophilia scandal. This will accompany the criminal investigation into the allegations against Jerry Sandusky. And then there’s the internal investigation by Penn State University itself.
Former FBI director Louis Freeh was named Monday as the leader of that investigation.
According to the AP, Freeh’s inquiry
“will go as far back as 1975, a much longer period than a grand jury report issued earlier this month.
Wisconsin Badgers (9-2, 6-2) Analysis:
At least two coaches in the Big Ten (Pat Fitzgerald of Northwestern and Brady Hoke of Michigan) love to say “stats are for losers.” But tell that to Montee Ball, who’s STATS ARE OFF-THE-CHARTS RIDICULOUS.
He is to getting rushing touchdowns what Christina Aguilera is to aging a decade in less than a year. Or what Sunday Night Football intro singer Faith Hill is to not aging. (She seriously looks the exact same as she did in 1995) Maybe the “Aguilera-Hill Polarity” can replace my “Snooki-Tisdale Dichotomy” to point out the most extreme of extremes as I continue my amateur work in the social sciences. Could you ask for a bigger disparity in body type than former Illini Center Mike Tisdale and best-reason-in-history-to-have-an-abortion Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi.
Ball was named league offensive player of the week, as he rushed for two scores and added another on the receiving end to bring his season total to a Big Ten record 30 touchdowns, becoming just the fifth player in FBS history to score 30 or more touchdowns in a season.
He had career highs in rushes (38) and yards (224) in Wisconsin’s come-from-behind win over Illinois.
And Linebacker Chris Borland was named conference defensive player of the week as he recorded a career-high 16 tackles, adding 1.5 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles. His second forced fumble gave Wisconsin a short field, allowing the Badgers to score on their ensuing possession to cut the Illinois lead to 17-14
Ball, not Russell Wilson, is the Badgers true Heisman candidate, but when I look at the PSU passing stats, and then look at Wilson’s, it’s kind of like looking at Camryn Manheim, and then looking at Alison Brie.
Prediction to be taken with an entire truckload, not just a grain of salt: Wis 27, PSU 10 (All-time pick record 36-19)
To quote the classic 80s film “Three Amigos”
“Tell us we will die like dogs.”
“You will, die like dogs.”
“No, we will fight like LIONS!”
These Lions don’t have enough fight to win in Madison. Still has had a great season, but he still has to face the big boys up front from America’s Dairyland. And trying to get past them is like trying to move the entire Mars Cheese Castle with just your hands. I predict Sconnie wins the line of scrimmage, and the game.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, a Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports.
A Fulbright scholar and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; he’s also a member of the FWAA, USBWA and SPJ. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB) You should too.
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