Post-Season Thoughts on 2011

by Big Al

I suppose I will have more thoughts later, but I am ready to close the chapter on what was the worst year I have ever seen in college football... perhaps the worst year in college football since the days when people were being killed by the flying wedge. I have seen bad things happen before, but I have never seen it so pervasive, nor have I seen it extend to terribly to areas off of the field. I don't know if this is rock bottom, but I sure as heck hope so. If it isn't, I dread to imagine what rock bottom could be.

Alabama's Wins the National Title!

Meh.

The Rematch

There are so many things I could say about this that I don't know where to begin. Nobody really cared because it had no interest for anybody outside of one small region of the country. Two teams separated only by one state (Thanks Mississippi!) playing a bowl game in that very same region in a game that was actually played earlier in the year. I couldn't even bring myself to watch it—some college football commentator I am.

Had there been ANYTHING different about this game, it would have been more interesting. Had Oklahoma State played instead of Alabama it would clearly have been more interesting. Had the game been played in Pasadena instead of New Orleans, it would have been more interesting. But, instead, everything was supercondensed into a black hole of a game from which no interest could escape.

The Sugar Bowl

I am happy for Michigan and their ability to resurrect themselves this year; they suffered through 3 years of terrible football and now they seem to have turned things around. It pains me, as an Ohio State fan, to say that, but it's true nonetheless—they earned some happiness.

Still, I can't shake the feeling that the Sugar Bowl picked Virginia Tech as their opponent so that Michigan would have a chance to win. That is THE only reason I can come up with. There were better AQ teams available, and there was a crapload better team in Boise that could have generated much, MUCH more interest in the game and put more eyes on televisions. But the Sugar Bowl picked Virginia Tech—conceivably the worst of all the available teams on every imaginable way of looking at things—as an opponent for Michigan. I can understand picking Michigan, they were WAY too attractive to turn down this year; but Virginia Tech still boggles the mind.

ESPN

Generally speaking, I have no problem with ESPN. But I do have a problem with their decision to put the national title game on their cable channel, rather than ABC. As strange as it may be for some to comprehend, a lot of people in this country do not have cable. Which means that they are not going to see the national title game, because it is not on television. ESPN is devaluing a huge property by putting it on a station that many people (e.g. people living in the hills, woods and bayous of rural Louisiana and Alabama) do not get. How does that make any sense?

Oregon Finally Wins the Rose Bowl!

If I remember correctly, it has been something like 96 years since the last time Oregon won the Rose Bowl. That is quite a lot of history to overcome. I would like to congratulate the Ducks on making that possible. It took them a few tries, but they finally got it done. So, once again, congratulations to the Ducks; it was a long time to wait, and this draught was no less sweet for the aging.

The BCS

I have stood by and supported the BCS and its always-entertaining chaos, but it seems that the football gods are working overtime to see that the mortals demolish it. Personally, I will almost always support the republic against all non-representative forms of government in everything, but the republic of college has been cursed for the last 8 years or so, as everything that could go wrong has gone wrong for it. The dictatorial-style struggle to prove who is strongest will inevitably follow.

Oddly, the NFL may, perhaps, have the most to lose from the change. When the players on the best teams (USC, Alabama, etc.) are playing an additional 3-4 games each year against pro-caliber players starting at age 18, many of the best potential pros will be broken and ground down by the time they get to the NFL. That's going to hurt the NFL's product even as they are going to be stuck with the medical tab for many players' college experience.

My advice once playoffs are enacted? Teach your kids to enjoy soccer; you might not need it, they will.

Penn State

If this isn't rock bottom, we need to cancel college football immediately.

There were a lot of scandals and problems in college football this year, but none so big as that at Penn State. I don't want to dive into it any more than required to acknowledge its existence so that we can look at the repercussions.

The biggest repercussion was the firing of Joe Paterno (oh, and the university president, but whatever) and the trouble Penn State had finding a replacement. They eventually settled on Bill O'Brien, the New England Patriots' current offensive coordinator. Not a popular hire, but they were going to have trouble finding someone to take over an already radioactive job in which the new coach could never match up to the legends about their predecessor.

This may yet turn out okay for Penn State. Pete Carroll was widely considered a terrible hire for USC and you saw how that turned out. Okay, the very end was pretty bad, but there wasn't a Trojan out there who didn't enjoy the ride before it came to a halt.

On a side note, Bill O'Brien's very success in New England is currently his biggest problem: he is not joining Penn State until he finishes his playoff run. That means that he is not recruiting or hiring assistant coaches or learning the ropes that will be trimming Penn State's ship.

Many people in the Penn State family are upset that Tom Bradley was not kept on as head coach. I can understand their reasoning: they wanted to keep the Penn State family whole, hire from within, and have some continuity with its legendary coach. However, the administration decided to look outside the Penn State family for their hire, and I can also understand their reasons: they desperately wanted a fresh start that is without the stain left behind by the previous administration.

LaVar Arrington tweeted something about his displeasure with the new hire; which is good, because he is vital for allowing me to talk about some things that have been said about Penn State.

The Snow Globe

Back in the '90's, there were two excellent linebackers playing roughly contemporaneously at Penn State and Ohio State: LaVar Arrington and Andy Katzenmoyer. Say what you will about either of them—Katzenmoyer, admittedly, didn't have a good or long pro career—but they were fearsome freaks of nature that could run down plays from sideline to sideline and hit like runaway bulldozers when they arrived. Both played with abandon and instinct and they were something to see.

Andy Katzenmoyer, however, had a problem: he was not bright. In fact, his unremarkable classload and academic work was the source of a lot of jokes at his and Ohio State's expense.

I will not argue with that. However, I will point out that LaVar Arrington was probably every bit the nitwit that Andy Katzenmoyer was, but he did not make it into Sports Illustrated for it. He was known for his work on the field, but he disappeared when he was off of it.

I have heard several people compare State College/Happy Valley to a snow globe. That is, it is a place that is entirely self-contained, where nothing comes in and nothing gets out. And, like a snow globe, it looks very beautiful and pristine from the outside. That works for Penn State, and they would have liked to keep it that way.

I seriously doubt LaVar Arrington did much to distinguish himself as a student while he was at Penn State. But he could be forgotten about, just like Penn State before and after the football game.

Penn State plays a game, then they disappear into the winding, narrow backroads that connect/divide Penn State from the rest of the world. In fact, the very difficulty of getting to Penn State helps them remain hidden from the world; unless there is a compelling reason to go to State College, nobody goes there. You don't even pass through the town on your way someplace else, because it's not particularly between anywhere and anyplace else. And the only really compelling reason for someone to go to Happy Valley is Penn State.

That means that people who might be interested in finding out about strange goings-on in State College (reporters, for instance) are not going to go there unless there is something solid to report; rumors and unsupported allegations do not merit 3-4 hour drives. In fact, the only people who are on scene, and know where to look, and what to look for, and can tell people about it (such as local reporters) are people who want to be in Happy Valley and likely love Penn State (the only distinguishing feature of Happy Valley). These people are not likely to report anything bad until they are required to do so. Penn State doesn't exactly control their own message, but their isolation means that anybody who knows how to find out what is going on has an interest in not letting a bad message out.

This is a sword that cuts both ways: Penn State can hide things because they are divided from the world. But they can become an afterthought for the same reason; they lack the visibility necessary to overtake more visible programs in the polls. For a traditional power, they have had a surprising lot of undefeated seasons that left them without a national title.

All this means that Penn State can hide problems for a long time if they feel like it. But that means that problems can be allowed to build up, fester, and get worse. Then, when something does come out, it can start an avalanche of bad news.

Penn State is dealing with the avalanche. Hopefully, it has stopped. But there may yet be some snowpack that has been loosened and is ready to come down.

Additional Note: I've heard the report that Jerry Sandusky was in the school president's press box just a few days before he was arrested. I don't know if it's true or not. But I do know the actual news item is not the remarkable. It's just a case of finding another reason to kick the same dog over again. The dog is already down, kicking him again isn't going to knock him down any more.