Is Thursday Night.....

[frostlion]

You beat a Top 25 ranked team, you have beaten a top ranked team. That is the standard that has been used forever.

I wonder why it is on that list that Vman provides you do not see the names of:

Johnny Majors
Jackie Sherrill
Foge Fazio
Paul Hackett
Mike Gottfried
Sal Sunseri
Walt Harris
and
Dave Wannstedt

Surely if any of these incredible coaches had solid records against "top teams" they would have been included on such a list.

[The Ancient Enemy]

Let me throw all of us a curveball here. Wouldn't you guys all agree with me that YES it is a valid stat to look at what a coach has done against top 10 teams, BUT is it not also a valid point to look at how that guy did against teams they SHOULD have beaten?

By no means am I hiding Paterno, here. But is it not "saying something" if a guy wins all the games he's supposed to win? I think that's a good statistic, and I'm being honest. A guy who consistently keeps his team motivated to win games against clubs that seem like they aren't as talented.

[shocker]

all of us should agree that teams at all levels go thru cycles of winning/losing. just look at psu a few years back. they went thru a pretty rough 3-4 years. at that time the jokesters record was not very good. during that cycle his run against "top teams" was not very good. Teams will go thru these cycles. Yes teams will consistantly finish in the top 10 or even 20 for a number of yrs and then all of a sudden drop out for a while. just look at fsu. they had a string or went thru a cylce where they dominated. now look at them. psu did the same thing.
So maybe some years a team will be tough against a "top team" and other years they wont be. Some cycles last longer (or dont last as long) than others as well. that is part of sports.
some of the pitt coaches frosty lion mentioned had some pretty good cycles during their tenure at pitt and other schools as well.

[deliverance]

TAE, if that was the case we would see USC in the National Championship every year. They seem to always start out the year ranked 1 or 2. I agree that you could look at it that way, but a few coaches would be at a major disadvantage. It would be too broad of a category, in my opinion. Look at PSU this year. That means they would have to win every game the rest of the year because they won't play anyone ranked higher than them. I guess if you had some kind of break down for that stat it could work.

[vman]

Some more enlightening Joey FACTS heading into the '08 season: 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]

But they are not playing Rutgers and Temple each week now, vman. They play a tough conference schedule. Even with all these5-star recruits, OSU is not blowing people out. What's Penn State's record from 2005 to now? Even with Morelli at the helm, they still were winning 9-10 games a year.

And for the record, Bobby Bowden played way worse teams week to week than Paterno did.

[abpk2903]

Deliverence put it well. Pitt has a solid team but we are yet to find out if they will underachieve as they have a past few years and whether or not they can have a good team and play a BCS game. Penn State has a good team and possibly one of the best teams in the nation but we will find out if they can win big games on the road later in the Big Ten play and have a shot at the Rose Bowl or even the National Championship game. Pitt and Penn State have been different in the type of games they have won over the last decade. Pitt is known to upset teams but struggles in games they should win. Penn State, on the other hand, for the most part (not counting MSU last year) win the games they are suppose to but dont have much success in games that they are not favored (especially on the road). The season is only 5 weeks old and both of these teams have the chance to do great things but also have the chance to finish in the middle of their conference.

[The Ancient Enemy]

Excellent points. Penn State will never be considered a serious B10 team until they win in Columbus, Madison, and Ann Arbor.

[vman]

. Pitt has a solid team but we are yet to find out if they will underachieve as they have a past few years and whether or not they can have a good team and play a BCS game.

Now, I'll really throw a paradoxical curve ball @ you nitters.....although I do not think Pitt underachieved much last yr (they lost starting qb in week one & had a totally unprepared, homesick frosh @ the helm) this was/is a put up shut up yr for the Panthers.... Look @ last Sat....With this loss, the Orange are 2-20 in their past 22 Big East games.....Akron scored four touchdowns in the first half against them, all on drives of 60 yards or longer. Penn State, after a slow start, scored five touchdowns in the first half, all on drives of 55 yards or longer....Pitt scored one and TRAILED @ HALFTIME!! I seriously think Pitt has about as much chance as a snowball in Hades this Thursday and what I witnessed (viewed) last w/e in Syr....nearly made me vomit and is inspiring more Saturday fishin' outings!! And BCS?? BCS??? (I feel like Jimmy Mora) R U Kidding me????

I will certainly be watching (probably with one eye open & one closed, in hopes it doesn't get too ugly) and pulling for the Panthers, knowing stranger things have happened but Thurs may be the beginning of the end......I stated early in yr....no bowl no job for DW; I seriously think it is that black & white

[Crimson09Crazy]

Im growing more anxious by the minute.
Still dont have a feeling on the game yet.
Selvie from USF is questionable and may not play
Thomas and Murray from Pitt are both probable which is a good thing.


Asked this week about the status of the struggling Oderick Turner and his playing time.
Somebody asked Dave if Johnathon Baldwin(5 star recruit) will see more playing time Tommorow.
He replied no Cedric McGee will see more playing time
Ced's good but Baldwin is big time and i wish Dave would see it


They got AJ Green being hyped up as the next Randy Moss at UGA
Alabama has Julio Jones some say next Terrell Owens
I think Baldwin can be a Plaxico Burress type talent


note i dont expect all these guys to have that outstandiung character these 3 gentlemen they are being compared to have but i think their football talents are similar. I wish Wannstedt would use his only 5 star recruit hes ever received!!!!!!
To date i belive he has 1 catch. and also a 2 pt conversion catch and i think a total of 5-6 passes thrown his way? Real creative Dave