LA Times says anyone but Penn State

by formerlyanonymous on Oct 26, 2008 4:45 PM EDT Comment 22 comments

Can't get no love for Penn State or the Big10.

The always idiotic Tom Dienhart:

So, please, don't give us Penn State on Jan. 8, 2009, in Dolphin Stadium. Give us life, give us liberty, give us hope for a good game. That means give us Texas, Florida, Alabama, Georgia or USC. Heck, we'll even take Texas Tech and its diabolical offense and kooky coach. They all have been more impressive than – and likely would beat – any Big Ten team.

Even a perfect Penn State.

More with the LA Times being ridiculous:

Big Ten is in a boring State No one wants to see this conference in the BCS title game again, do they?

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Penn State’s best non-conference win was over Fresno State? Really? And what was the SEC’s best non-conference win?

Oh wait. They don’t have one, either. Their best win, by most of the statistical rankings, is probably over Miami or Louisville, both of whom are probably worse teams than Oregon State, who’s probably really the Big Ten’s best non-con win. Otherwise, the only BCS conference wins that the SEC have are over Clemson, NC State, or Arizona State, none of whom would be ranked in the top half of all of college football.

But they’re the SEC, and so therefore they are Awesome By Default.

Jackasses.

by Bleed Blue 'n White on Oct 26, 2008 5:27 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Funny

Does the Big 12 have any teams with a defense like ours? SEC?

by dawsonPSU10 on Oct 26, 2008 6:13 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Best of Both Worlds

I think we are a good mix of SEC/Big 12.. Our offense is comparable to anyone in the big 12 and are defense can hang with anyones in the SEC.

by smashmouthsteel on Oct 26, 2008 7:55 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I think that's the real key

we may not have the absolute best offense, but we have one of the very top offenses. We may not have the absolute best defense, but we have one of the very top defenses. What other team can really claim that? Does the Big 12 even have a top 25 defense in the whole conference?

Penn State is a very well balanced team on all aspects of the game, but not only are we well balanced, but we’re dominant as well.

It is kinda like in NCAA college football games, when you create a team (at least when I last played it). You have the option of being a cupcake (weak in both), or a run heavy team, or a pass heavy team, pr a balanced offense team (all three of these with average defenses), or a strong defensive team (with average offense), or a Juggernaut (strong on all sides of the ball).

Well, Penn State this year chose the Juggernaut option.

by The JuggerNitt on Oct 27, 2008 9:21 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nice gratuitous self-plug there... lol

If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

by TheMightyErik on Oct 27, 2008 2:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

lol

that’s where I came up with the name, to be honest. After I saw how powerful and balanced our team was on defense, on offense, passing and rushing, well it just was the obvious choice. About 2 minutes to slap Marvel Comic’s Juggernaut’s head onto Evan Royster’s body, and voila!

by The JuggerNitt on Oct 27, 2008 2:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Whatever works, my man!

Did Nittany end up dropping some Scarlett sod-serpents on Saturday after the pen debacle? lol

If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

by TheMightyErik on Oct 27, 2008 3:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't know

I was down in Columbus at the game, and made my (MSU alum) girlfriend clean up the rest of the mess.

Not that she likes football (she hates it, actually, but barely tolerates it for me), but she’s rooting for Penn State to win it all. Not because it will make me extremely happy, but because she looks at all money I’ve spent going to games this year, and doesn’t want it to be a waste. Well whatever works, so long as we win it all!!!

by The JuggerNitt on Oct 27, 2008 4:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

How about...

…maybe PSU is the best team in the nation, whether we are in the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, MAC….it doesnt matter!

PSU is the best team in the nation…PERIOD!

Pat Devlin in '08, er, '09

by Nick7 on Oct 26, 2008 8:07 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

not the best team

maybe the best coached team…

You find out life's this game of inches. And so is football.

by BleedingBlue4Psu on Oct 27, 2008 12:20 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

What kills me

Is that USC wins 17-10 against Arizona, yet they are somehow more impressive than us. I guarantee if Alabama were to beat LSU in the exact type of game we had with Ohio State, we’d hear about how great the defenses, competition, etc. in the SEC are.

F all that. Just keep winning and wait for Bama or Texas to lose.

by speedomike on Oct 26, 2008 8:10 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

strength of schedule...

most of these writers don’t know their ass from a whole in the ground… USC doesn’t play anyone all year and we’ll never hear anything about it…

I don’t like to look ahead at possibilities because down the road doesn’t mean shit if we don’t take care of business one week at a time but on the possible bright side, MSU could be a little boost in our strength of schedule if they can beat Wisky and then the Boilers before heading to Happy Valley… they would be 9-2 and potentially a top 15 team on the last day of BIG10 play…

by WETSU on Oct 26, 2008 8:46 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Hoping our Vanquished Opponents Continue to Win

It’s a sick delight: rooting for our slain opponents to pick themselves up and do something good from here on out. I’m all about rooting for Oregon State to beat Cal & Oregon, for Pryor to put some head out and learn how to score a bunch of points, and for Sparty to march into the Beav at 9-2.

Michigan? Meh…

pax et amor

by jtothep on Oct 28, 2008 8:50 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Could it possibly be...

that we could actually DROP in some phantom computer ranking after our bye week this week? You know…kind of like in 94 when we lost the #1 ranking after BEATING Indiana??? I hate to sound like sour grapes but that’s the type of $hit that happens to us.

by jw0475 on Oct 26, 2008 8:49 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I've had those thought, as well

But what can you do? We just need to ride the next few weeks out and finish our business and hope the computers don’t get us this time like the humans did the last time

If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

by TheMightyErik on Oct 26, 2008 9:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

actually

it is more likely that bama will drop in 1 or 2 of them by playing Arkansas State at home.

JoePa in '09

by JGuiher on Oct 26, 2008 10:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why would it be crazy? We would drop if our opponents look worse after next week than they do this week. This is the way it should be.

The idea that you can’t move down if you win, and you must move down if you lose (and you can’t move if you don’t play) is poll inertia – and it is not a good thing.

So, basically, root for Ohio State, Illinois, and Oregon State. Those are the teams that pin our statistical rankings the most. Root for Michigan State, as well. Wisconsin losing will hurt us a little, but not that much as they were already pretty marginal this week. Michigan State staying strong will help us a lot more at the end of the season.

by Bleed Blue 'n White on Oct 27, 2008 5:26 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

more great insight by the bleeder of Blue 'n White

yay rhymes!!!

I’ve always found it ridiculous when a team in the teens loses to the #1 team by a small margin, and somehow moves down in the polls (say from like 12-17), while if the #5 team (who perhaps at htis point had the same credentials as that #12 team) lost to that same #1 team by the same score, they’d move down say to #10. How does that make any sense? If anything the #12 team should move UP (as long as there are no teams with obviously better records/wins).

by The JuggerNitt on Oct 27, 2008 9:26 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

BeeBeeDub

Continues to persevere. Bringing Statistics Fundamentals to the proletariat one post at a time…

pax et amor

by jtothep on Oct 28, 2008 8:52 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Wow

so I just read through that LA Times article (I already read the Dienhart article earlier), and just wow. I love how both articles use completely flawed logic.

Penn State (& the Big 10) sucks, because in their game between 2 top-10 teams they only won 13-6 in a close game. Look at these other schools that won by huge margins (but aren’t the 2 schools ahead of them in the polls). They scored 63, 58, and 52 points this weekend (but when Penn State has had scores that high, or nearly that high, in virtually every other game they played this year…well then they suck because they had this low scoring game against a top 10 team with a very good defense, and yet still maintain one of the top 10 scoring offenses!!!!)

Texas, on the other hand, should be forgiven, because every top team has had a close game. Moral of the story: these things happen (but if they happen to a Big 10 team, then they suck!!!!). Sure, Colt McCoy had similar mistakes as Terrelle Pryor, and Penn State didn’t make ANY mistakes in the game, but the Big 10 sucks, so Cold McCoy is much better. (Ed. Cold McCoy does look phenomenal, and should Texas win out in the regular season, should win the Heisman)

Also, USC should be forgiven for it’s loss to a team that Penn State beat, because, you know, USC does these things (yes, I know the writer didn’t explicitly say that in this article, but you know he was thinking it, and besides, I just love pointing out how ridiculous it is when people think it is a good quality when a team decides to not really play a game, and to disrespect the sport).

Also, illogical statements are fun!:

“Penn State is No. 3 in the BCS, and probably needs a loss from No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Alabama to get in, if you believe the undefeated champions of this year’s best two conferences, the Big 12 and the Southeastern, deserve to settle it on the field.”

Um…if Texas or Alabama lose, then they won’t be the undefeated champions of one of this year’s best two conferences, so I guess I’m fine with that? And to be honest, if Texas & Alabama do win out, I think they are deserving of playing for the national championship. Unfortunately I also think that Penn State, if they win out, is deserving of playing for the national championship. Settle that one, BCS gurus. Quick: it involves scrapping your shitty system and implementing at the very least a +1 format, and ideally guarantees that no more than one team can finish the year (after all bowls/playoffs) undefeated.

Finally: what logic do you use to say that Penn State would get slaughtered by the SEC (or Big 12) champion? I know it isn’t perfect, but the pretty much universally agreed upon “best model” of predicting the outcomes of college football games is Jeff Sagarin’s PREDICTOR (not to be confused with his ELO-CHESS, which is what the BCS uses, and which is handicapped by not including margin of victory). According to PREDICTOR, Penn State is #3 in the country. Where are Texas and Alabama? 4 and 7, respectively. According to PREDICTOR, Penn State would even beat Alabama @ Alabama, while the matchup between PSU @ Texas would be decided by who’s home it was played in.

One final comparison. I am listing the points scored per game, and points allowed per game, for the top 3 teams (and their rankings), and the “average margin of victory” (just one subtracted from the other). Tell me who you think would win in those matchups.

Texas: 45.6 (4) || 18.4 (28) || 27.2
Alabama: 31.9 (34) || 13.8 (10) || 18.1
Penn State: 41.8 (8) || 11.1 (3) || 30.7

But, I guess you are right, Chris Dufresne, winning by an average of 4 touchdowns and a field goal is boring.

by The JuggerNitt on Oct 27, 2008 10:10 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs