Nitt Picks Is Being Watched

Penn State wins.  It's no secret:

Penn State's dramatic victory over LSU in the 2010 Capital One Bowl earned a six percent television ratings increase over the 2009 contest and was seen in more than 7.8 million U.S. TV households.

The Nittany Lions' 19-17 win over the Tigers earned a 6.8 rating for the ABC national telecast on New Year's Day, tied with the FedEx Orange Bowl for the fifth-highest rated bowl among the 34 post-season contests this past season.

So a tie despite the CapOne (1) not being a BCS game, and (2) not being played in prime time.  Not a bad chip to have for down the road.

This is a press release, which usually means it's void of any interesting language or original thought, but it looks like one got by the web editor:

The 1994 Penn State-Michigan game is third with 3.397 million households, followed by the 2005 PSU-MSU contest (3.446 m.). The 2007 win over Notre Dame (3.31 m.) is No. 6 and the Nittany Lions' 2008 thumping of Michigan is No. 7 at 3.23 million homes.

I approve this message.

We all dislike change on some level, and I guess that means we're all Joe Paterno, really.  For example:

"Mike's said he wants to be the Joe Paterno of Oregon State," DeCarolis told the paper. "So we'll put something together to make (his contract) a lifetime deal." 

The discussion is always "best ever?", and the answer is always impossible to settle on.  You have to give The Bear his elite teams at Alabama.  No one had a run quite like Bowden's in the 1990s.  There are guys like Eddie Robinson.

But, besides the all time win record, Joe has become the name to drop when discussing loyalty.  That's a pretty cool thing.

Oh, and thanks one more time Carroll.  For this:

Southern California losing charismatic coach Pete Carroll three weeks before national signing day could not have come at a worse time recruiting-wise for the Trojans. But the timing could be right for Ohio State.

"I think it gives the Buckeyes the edge with Seantrel Henderson," longtime recruiting analyst Tom Lemming said. Henderson, an offensive lineman from St. Paul, Minn., is the No. 1 prospect in the country, according to Rivals.com.

Comeon with that recruiting wall already, Brewster.

Why wouldn't we want another, less nerdy Northwestern?  The Sports Economist did a fine job following the bowl season, this was especially interesting now that expansion is still just as likely as it ever was a "priority":

For the second year in a row, a bowl trip will leave Missouri's athletic department in the red, making Thursday's Texas Bowl a losing endeavor in more ways than one.

[...]

The article makes one thing clear: if a team's fans don't travel to bowl games, they are going to be knocked down in the bowl selection pecking order (as Missouri has been each of the past three years).

So explain to me again why anyone thinks Missouri would be a good thing for the Big Ten? Besides having all the matchup excitement of a, say, a distant cousin of Illinois, they would do us all the pleasure of actually losing money in their bowl games, not only lowering the total pot but then taking out a twelfth of it, leaving a whole serving less for the rest of the schools.  

In scores of other games.  Even with their loss and yardage domination by Penn State, LSU is still pretty clearly the #3 team in the SEC...admittedly way too early rankings have Penn State at 19.