Cupcake schedules

[The Ancient Enemy]

He's right, Pitt did beat Furman, much to my disappointment.

I know I sound like a broken record, but I try to look at things objectively. Here's what I see as the biggest reason the Big East is not better than the Big Ten: coaches have left Big East teams to take Big Ten jobs. Not even Big Ten jobs, but other jobs in general. Even Rhodes left to take the same position at Auburn. Is this not an acknowledgment that the SEC is a much better place than the Big East? If these coaches keep bolting, doesn't that show you where your conference ranks?

There's people who think WVU is going undefeated this season. That's a possibility, sure. But take a look at it. Lost all their coaches basically, lost 3 of their 4 offensive weapons, and return 4 guys on defense. Yes, Noel Devine is very good. But he is not a returning starter. You have no idea how this story is going to play out with him as an everydown back. Chances are he'll do fine, but still.

Then you have South Florida. Sporting News actually had the audacity to call USF "Linebacker U." How can you even let that get printed, if you're an editor? There's about 10 schools that I can name that have better LB's from season to season than USF. I'll go ahead and name them, in no order. Oklahoma, Ohio State, USC, Penn State, Texas, LSU, NC State, Maryland, Miami, Florida, Florida State, PITTSBURGH, Michigan, Iowa, Alabama, South Carolina, maybe even UNLV. That's 17 schools off the top of my head. In addition to that, USF is one of the biggest annual disappointments in the nation. How can you look at this program's track record and say "this is the team that will win a national title for the Big East"? And as far as USF's supposed awesome recruiting, go take a look at that, pal. They aren't outrecruiting any of the BCS teams down there.

Wannstedt recruits pretty well for a program that has been under .500 for a few seasons. I give him all the credit in the world for that, I really do. But what he'll be remembered for was his lack of toughness with those coordinators. When Rhodes and Cavanaugh were there, Pitt had the worst coordinators of any schools in the BCS, I say that not because I am a PSU fan, but because I watched many Pitt games and sat there shaking my head the whole time. Those guys are complete buffoons. So Rhodes left and Wanny hired a guy with a bad track record. Look at how bad SMU's defenses were under the Bennett regime. Dude, if you can;t recruit down here, I really don't know if you can recruit anywhere. In Bennett's defense, he's a great guy, and I hope he can clear his name, even though I genuinely hope Pitt loses every game by 70 points. Actually, that's not true, because I picked Pitt to win the Big East. So either way, I'm satisfied.

I'm not sure if Rutgers can win the conference this year, but those WR's are amongst the nation's elite.

UCONN is probably the biggest joke east of Nebraska.

I seriously would not be surprised if Cincinnati won the Big East this year. That coach is gonna be a hot commodity after 2008. Will he stay there? History says no way, Chico. Brian Kelly's @$$ might wind up in Happy Valley once the hype machine starts rolling while Cincy does well again.

[vman]

While we're on objectivity:

Versus Teams Ranked 1-5:
COACH W L T GAMES WIN %
Bob Stoops 3 4 7 43%
Lou Holtz 6 9 1 16 41%
Steve Spurrier 7 14 1 22 34%
Lloyd Carr 4 8 12 33%
Mack Brown 3 6 9 33%
Pete Carroll 1 2 3 33%
Bobby Bowden 7 30 37 19%
Joe Paterno 6 27 33 18%
John Cooper 1 8 1 10 15%
Mark Richt 1 6 7 14%
Tom Osborne 5 30 35 14%


Versus Teams Ranked 6-10:
COACH W L T GAMES WIN %
Mark Richt 2 0 2 100%
Bob Stoops 5 1 6 83%
Tom Osborne 11 3 14 79%
Pete Carroll 7 2 9 78%
Bobby Bowden 15 8 1 24 65%
Lloyd Carr 7 6 13 54%
Lou Holtz 9 8 17 53%
Steve Spurrier 6 6 12 50%
John Cooper 3 9 1 13 27%
Mack Brown 2 7 9 22%
Joe Paterno 6 22 28 21%


Versus Teams ranked 1- 10
W L T G %

Pete Carroll 8 4 0 12 67%
Bob Stoops 8 5 0 13 62%
Lou Holtz 15 17 1 33 47%
Lloyd Carr 11 14 0 25 44%
Steve Spurrier 13 20 1 34 40%
Bobby Bowden 22 38 1 61 37%
Mark Richt 3 6 0 9 33%
Tom Osborne 16 33 0 49 33%
Mack Brown 5 13 0 18 28%
John Cooper 4 17 2 23 22%
Joe Paterno 12 49 0 61 20%


Versus Unranked Teams:
COACH W L T GAMES WIN %
Steve Spurrier 83 1 84 99%
Tom Osborne 202 8 2 212 96%
Mark Richt 48 4 52 92%
Mack Brown 78 7 85 92%
Bob Stoops 69 7 76 91%
Lou Holtz 69 7 76 91%
Lloyd Carr 86 9 95 91%
Pete Carroll 47 5 52 90%
Bobby Bowden 227 26 3 256 89%
John Cooper 90 12 2 104 88%
Joe Paterno 290 44 2 336 87%



Joe Paterno enjoyed legend status years before his 2 national titles for leading PSU in their glory years of 1968, 69, 71 & 73, which saw the Nittany Lions cruise to a 45-1 record. Over those four seasons, Penn State faced one regular season opponent that finished in the top 15 of the final rankings. The result was a 31-11 loss to Tennessee in 1971. Paterno lost more games in his first 8 years of Big Ten play than he did in 27 years as an independent while facing regulars Temple, Rutgers, Maryland, Pitt, Syracuse, West Virginia, Boston College, Army, and the occasional Colgate, and Brown. In conference play, Jo Pa is 34 -48 versus Big Ten Conference teams finishing with a winning record and 16-37 versus conference foes that finished the season with less than 5 losses...... and just 5-32 versus final top 10 clubs since 1986

[The Ancient Enemy]

I'll take this challenge.

Stat Group 1:
============

None of those records are great. Take a look at the disparity in games played between paterno and the rest of those names. And why is Mark Richt allowed to be evidence as to why Paterno sucks, as he is in group 2, yet he's below Paterno in group 1?

Stat Group 2:
============

Joe Paterno played in 11 more games than the next closest coach. Next.

Stat Group 3:
===============

61 games, next closest being 49. Better start criticizing Osbourne and Bowden, too, if you think Paterno built a record against cupcakes.

Stat Group 4:
==============

Next closest coach is 80 games below him, and Paterno has an 88% percentage, which I think we all agree is stellar.



Here's what is hilarious: Since PSU has been good for what, 4 seasons now? Watch how every year the Pitt fans say "over the last 6 years PSU is XX-XX in league play" "Over the past 7 years PSU is XX-XX in league play" "Over the past 8 years PSU is XX-XX in league play". Sooner or later you have to acknowledge that they are one of the top teams in the Big Ten every season now and they have fixed a lot of the problems. Everything is cyclical, which I would assume any pitt fan would realize, since they have not been to a bowl in 4 years.

[vman]

Think you may need a comprehension/reading graphs tutorial??

I'll take this challenge.

Stat Group 2:
============

Joe Paterno played in 11 more games than the next closest coach. Next.

"Stat group 2" would be record vs teams that finished the season ranked between # 6 & #10 in the country; now Joe has coached in 28 such games & won only 6 and you propose that's fine based on logic that he's 97 yrs old & has been coaching since Moby Dick was a minnow/played in more games than those other coaches???

And the niteer's lament of oh we get a bye in ooc scheduling 'cause we play in the tough big 10........In conference play, Jo Pa is 16-37 versus conference foes that finished the season with less than 5 losses.....that's a winning percentage of 30%.....less than a third of your tough contests won!

[abpk2903]

First off, a good coach is recognized by winning the games he is suppose to and Joe Pa wins them obviously. Secondly, you talk about how Penn State's schedule is soooo weak for the last 982342 posts but then prove yourself wrong by putting up evidence of how many times Joe Pa has faced top 5, 10, 25 teams compared to his counterparts and he leads in nearly every area. thank you for finally proving that Penn State's schedule is just as tough as anyone else's.

[vman]

he leads in nearly every area.

YOU GUYS HAVE SERIOUS COMPREHENSION PROBLEMS!

HE DOES NOT LEAD IN ANY AREA!!

IN GAMES VS TOP 10 TEAMS (YOU KNOW REAL TEAMS/TOUGH GAMES) JOE HAS WON 12 OUT OF 61 GAMES FOR AN ATROCIOUS 20% WINNING PERCENTAGE!!!and just 5-32 versus final top 10 clubs since 1986!!!!

SINCE JOINING THE BIG 10 , Jo Pa is 34 -48 versus Big Ten Conference teams finishing with a winning record and 16-37 versus conference foes that finished the season with less than 5 losses!!!!!

THE ONLY REASON HE'S PLAYED MORE OF ANYTHING IS DUE TO THE FACT HE'S BEEN HEAD COACH SINCE 1948!!!!!!

AS MYRON WOULD SAY YOI MAYBE DOUBLE YOI.....NO WONDER YOU GUYS DON'T MIND GETTING SUCKERED IN TO PAYING FOR...ERRR PLAYING TEMPLE, COASTAL CAROLINA, FLA INT & YOUNGSTOWN!!!!!!

[abpk2903]

Its not like he leads a young coach by 2 or 3 games against top teams most of those coaches have coached for several decades themselves and are still have not coached half as many big games as Joe Pa. If this is how you are going to prove Joe Pa is/was a bad coach congratulations you found something on him. I will let the record speak for itself. I dont care if you play Turkeyfoot Valley that many wins is impressive.

[The Ancient Enemy]

Basically what he is trying to do is always include everything pre 2005 so the results are skewed in his own favor. Pitt doesn't make a bowl game for 4 years and he's optimistic based on no evidence, but if Penn State goes in the tank for a few seasons, the sky is falling.

I'd say that an 82 year old coach, who is clearly in his twilight, and is going out winning 9 or 10 games a season for his final stretch, is pretty dang good. I think that's actually very impressive, and shows how GOOD of condition the program is in for Bradley or Schiano or Lou Holtz or whoever the hell takes over. There's plenty to criticize, but at the end of the day, 9 wins is better than 5, going forward.

When Joe leaves, they have a chance to take another step forward, and hopefully they'll go from 9 wins a season to 11 or 12. But like I said, 9 wins a year from a coach who is basically clueless, is pretty good from where I am sitting.

[deliverance]

Does JoePa still really coach the team? I think he's more of just a figurehead. Look at him yell at his assistants on the sidelines and you can tell they just tune him out. He may have the job of "Head Coach", but I really don't think he is coaching the team.

[ham55]

He's enough of a head coach to totally change the game plan hours before the Michigan game this year. I'd say he's still a very very large part of what goes on at Penn State.