Imagine that...

[El-Moldo]

From today's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Article entitled Paterno Gives Coordinator Permission to Talk to Temple: "In other news, Paterno admitted replacing Lousiana Tech, which has asked out of a scheduled Sept.16, 2006 game at Penn State, could be difficult. We're probably going to have to go to a Division I-AA school, he said, because EVERYBODY ELSE IS BOOKED." Hmmmm. Imagine that......Also, Temple has been given permission to talk to Tom Bradley about their head coaching job. Could they be the first of many? "They're coming to get you Marsha! They're coming for you Marsha!!!"

[The Ancient Enemy]

Here's the thing:

Bradley could stay at PSU, get that job, and who knows what would happen. He has no head coaching experience, and as well as the defense is doing, that doesn't change the fact that he has no head coaching experience. Penn State is not going to turn that program over to some bum. Ther eis too much money at stake. Did Nebraska give the head job to some bozo? Well... yes, but he was in the Super Bowl, at least. Point is, there's too much at stake. I'm looking at PSU to go the same route as Nebraska and hire an NFL coach.

Bradley taking the Temple gig may be counter-productive. Temple sucks. Their academics are way down, they have a bad location, they have a stigma, and there's no one on that team worth talking about. Even when they join the MAC, they are still going to be a doormat.

What about Jerry Sandusky? Could he be back in the Penn State picture? I don't doubt that Bradley will get calls from Buffalo as well as other schools, though. I would think that PSU has enough money to keep him, and I always thought he was the successor.

[The Ancient Enemy]

Also...

As bad as Temple is, they are now in a decent conference. They are still a I-A opponent. PSU has not scheduled a game against Stony Brook yet.

The real travesty is not in Temple or Buffalo, it's in the Sun Belt. The Sun Belt teams being give I-A status is nothing more than a successful attempt to make I-AA teams fair game. The Sun Belt teams are not good. They never have been, and never will be. They are nothing more than a cupcake conference that was created so that teams can get credit for another worthless win and not have to suffer the stigma of beating up on a I-AA school. If you watch Sun Belt football, there is really nothing better going on that is not happening in Harrisonburg or Savannah.

[El-Moldo]

Who knows. Maybe PSU can entice Bradley to stay as Defensive Coordinator for 4 or 5 more years. Maybe they can hide his salary too, and give him ALOT more money to stick around awhile. You know, pay him nearly as much as a head coach, but keep it secret. Then he can slip in when JoePa retires.

[The Ancient Enemy]

Temple's football program isn't just in a tailspin, the whole university is. That's why the Big East dumped them. Conferences keep teams sometimes because of their academic worth. Temple stayed in the Big East because the Big East needed them academically. Now, the academics have fallen off, and they are kicked out of the conference. They finally had a good enough reason to give them the boot. It would take 15 years to get that football team off the ground right now, and as good as Bradley is, there's no way he could do it.

[El-Moldo]

Ah. But the point is, Bradley IS talking. Maybe he's using Temple to practice his interviewing skills for MORE interviews coming in the near future.

[The Ancient Enemy]

Why'd Sandusky leave? Paterno extended that contract whenever he was supposed to retire. Sandusky should have gotten that job. We will more than likely go through the same ordeal with Bradley.

[frostlion]

Bank on it:

(1) No way does Bradley go to Temple. Never.

(2) No way will PSU schedule a D1-AA school. It might be tough to find a replacement, but it will happen.

[The Ancient Enemy]

They should be able to find somebody to play. If it ends up being Virginia Tech, well, better to lose early than late. Texas is still benefiting from the OSU win, and OSU might still play in a BCS bowl.

[frostlion]

Here are the D-1A schools that have an open date on the day PSU was to play La. Tech and do not have a 12th game:

Arizona
Florida St
Kansas St
Louisana Laffette
Louisville
Marshall
Maryland
Miami of Ohio
NC St
Oklahoma St
Oregon St
South Florida
SMU
WVU


From these I think the _most_ likely from a recruiting point is Maryland, but there are other nice options: Fl. State, WVU, Louisville,....