Friday, November 5, 2010

The Paterno 399

At 2:30 Saturday, Northwestern and Penn State will have at it in Happy Valley.  PSU Coach Joe Paterno will be seeking his 400th victory (for comparison, USF's win over Rutgers on Wednesday night was #100 in USF's school history).  Here are some factoids that you can recite to your significant other while watching the game (or to amaze your cat or dog if your significant other declines to join you for Saturday football):

  • Joe will turn age 84 on December 21st
  • Joe has been PSU's head coach since 1966;  he's been on the PSU coaching staff for a total of 61 years
  • Joe is already in the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach
  • Joe's teams are 399-132-3
  • Joe's PSU salary is $1.03 million
  • Joe's teams have won 24 bowl games and 2 national championships
  • Joe and his spouse have contributed over $4 million to Penn State University
  • Joe's 400th career victory will come on November 20th against the University of Indiana in Landover, MD 

Wyoming -10 @ New Mexico****
Saturday 5:00 p.m. MTN
These two teams have intrigued me all season.  New Mexico is a disaster, with no wins thus far this year.  Coach Mike Locksley seems certain to be shown the gate at season's end, and watching a little bit of New Mexico's games, Locksley's team appears to be hopelessly outmanned every week.  No insult, but the Lobos have given up.  The Wyoming Cowboys never will give up.  I watched them against a really talented Utah team, and while Utah was slowly pulling away as the game wore on, the Cowboys just kept coming.  This little jaunt down to Albuquerque should be fun for Wyoming.

Missouri -4 @ Texas Tech***
Saturday 7:00 p.m. ABC or ESPN-GP
Missouri is a very good football team.  The oddsmakers can sometimes be as fickle as the stock market.  After one tough week against Nebraska--and a tough week against Nebraska is more the rule than the exception--all the love seems to be gone for Missouri with the 4 point spread. I think they win this one going away.

Oklahoma -3 1/2 @ Texas A&M **
Saturday 6:00 p.m. FSN
There were a couple of teams that I was sweet on when this season started.  Auburn was one, and they've had a great season.  Oklahoma was the other.  The Sooners stiffed us last time we bet on them, but against Texas A&M, they shouldn't be as close as this line.

Illinois +3 @ Michigan *
Saturday 11:00 a.m ESPN
Two Gun is fond of saying "the wrong team is the favorite".  That's the way this one looks.  Michigan is getting all kinds of love based on Denard, but they've shown themselves to be kind of thin defensively and definitely dependent on Denard offensively.  Illinois looks like it has finally grown up and decided to behave like a big time football program, and that creates the opportunity for the talent to shine.  The Illini have plenty of talent. The line on this game looks like it was put up to pull all the money out of the Michigan alumni pockets. 

PS: Do you think I was harsh in my assessment of the tragedy at Notre Dame?  Look at the quotes from Swarbrick and Kelly yesterday (I found them in this morning's Chicago SunTimes) and it will be made very clear, once again, that these people don't give a rat's ass about the child who lost his life due to their negligence.  What a smarmy operation Notre Dame football is, absolutely contemptible, just crank up the band and on we go, nobody will even remember the kid's name if we win a couple. 

2 comments:

Doc said...

Happy Saturday!
PFOS I took your advice and took to the waters last week. Things have changed over the week and we are now in the midst of a full-on 'SWEATER ALERT'. Perfect for football and the Breeders cup. Tampa Bay Downs is 2 minutes away and we may head over there.

I must digress from this weeks blog and from football for a moment to recount a story told to me about a guy from Chicago and his affair with Whitesox baseball. As a young boy he loved all baseball and one of his favorite stories was that of Shoeless Joe Jackson, "Say It Ain't So". He loved to watch "the headhunter", aka George Wynn, aka Early Wynn. Early had a great career with the Sox, but as he reached his 40's he struggled with gout. But he strived to win 300 games. He won his 299th game on September 8, 1962, but failed in three tries to win another. THE WHITE SOX THEN RELEASED HIM. It is here in the story where the young boy's odium for the team begins... More to come in the saga in the upcoming weeks.

PFOS said...

Thank you for the insight. That heart hardening personnel move was fifty years ago. From one perspective, that's a long time to hold a grudge. From someone raised in Grudgeville, I recognize that as half life for a good grudge.