Go Joe Go

Legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno has always been a feisty character. You don’t coach football at age 84 without some feistiness.

So does it surprise anyone that Paterno wants to return to the field today (Wednesday) after suffering an injury last Sunday at practice? Joe Pa was struck by a player and ended up in the hospital with an apparent hairline fracture in the pelvis.

Paterno could have taken it easy and allowed his injury full healing. Instead, he wants to return to practice quickly and run sessions via a golf cart. This is a senior citizen who will not be playing cards and shuffle board anytime soon.

Joe Pa reminds me of that bunny in the television commercial that refuses to give up. I say go for it, Joe. Why sit around and become old?

Paterno says he wants to coach until he is 90. That may be an ambitious goal but I wouldn’t want to tell the feisty guy he couldn’t do it.

The Crazy Big Ten Football Race

The Big Ten Conference still has three team tied for first place heading into the final league weekend.

For a good while last Saturday it looked liked Michigan State would fall from the top, but the Spartans rallied against Purdue. Wisconsin went to Michigan and handled the Wolverines, while Ohio State survived Iowa.

This week, Michigan State is on upset alert. The Spartans travel to Penn State and Joe Pa’s club (although inconsistent this season) could gain the victory.

Ohio State should beat Michigan in Columbus, but maybe the Wolverines have an upset left in them. But I reasoned the same way last week against Wisconsin.

Of the three teams, Wisconsin seems to have the easiest game. Northwestern is not playing good football now partly because the Wildcats lost starting quarterback Dan Persa.

If there remains a tie, the tiebreaker gets confusing for a guy without math skills. Regarding head-to-head play, Michigan State and Ohio State did not play. Wisconsin owns the tiebreaker over Ohio State and Michigan State owns it over Wisconsin. The BCS ratings are also a factor. This week, Wisconsin is 7th, Ohio State 8th and Michigan State 10th.

So hopefully some clarity will come this weekend. If not, we leave it up to the math people.

This Iowa-Penn State Matchup Looks Lopsided

While most TV sets will air either Oregon-Stanford or Florida-Alabama, most sets in Iowa and some in Pennsylvania will turn to the game in the corn state.

Iowa and Penn State have staged some close games over the years with Kirk Ferentz usually besting Joe Pa. By the way, Ferentz being a Pennsylvania native probably takes great delight in beat the Lions.

Most expects don’t give Penn State much of a chance in this one. The Hawkeyes have too many weapons on both offense and defense. And with a non-experienced quarterback, Penn State figures to lack in scoring production against that tough, tough Iowa defense.

But maybe Joe Pa likes his underdog status. He can sneak through the backdoor rather than go through the front. Some people question whether Joe Pa has the athletes anymore, so a surprise in Iowa City would be more notable.

Iowa already has an unexpected losing falling to Arizona a couple weeks ago. The Hawkeyes want to get back into the national picture and setup the game with Ohio State in the near future.

Ferentz will have Iowa ready.

Today's College Football Menu Offers a Feast

If you cannot become excited about one or more of today's college football matchups, then you are either not trying hard enough or you are not a real college football fan.

Wow, what a week two. The cupcake schedule must be taking a breather and so early in the year too. You got to love it.

Other than the Iowa-Iowa State game, my personal favorite is Penn State-Alabama. Can Joe Pa win with a young quarterback? Will the lost of Mark Ingram and a young secondary for Alabama make this game close?

But if those games don't draw you attention, how about Miami-Ohio State, Florida State-Oklahoma, Michigan-Notre Dame, Stanford-UCLA (an early conference game) or Arkansas-UL-Monroe. On the last one, I was just checking if you were paying attention.

So start flexing those fingers and hands. With so much action on the remote today, you don't want to get carpal tunnel so early in the season.

What game are you particularly interested in and why?

Enjoy the action.

Leave Joe Paterno Alone

Joe Paterno, better known as Joe Pa, is in his 45th year as coach at Penn State. Yes, he is old, but he is not dead. Questions continually dog him about possible retirement.

Joe Pa is a tough guy. He appears crusty with the media folks. I often wonder what it would be like to cover him and his program.

But regardless of your thoughts and feelings on Paterno, he is a coaching survivor and he deserves to retire when he see necessary. I think Joe Pa might want to die on the football field, however.

He admits he doesn't do the actually coaching he once did. That is not a surprise. But the buck still stops with him. Besides being the football coach at Penn State, he IS Penn State. The guy means a lot to his university, college football and higher education in general.

I, too, thought a few years back he should retire. The Lions were slipping and the cries for Joe Pa's retirement were loud.

But I have changed my mind. I think Bobby Bowden's situation at Florida State helped change my view. Joe Pa is still winning and still having a major impact on Penn State. He will know when the fire or health tells him to depart.

Besides where would college football be without his demeanor and old style looks?