It seems you can't read a Penn State preview this year without half the article reminding you Paterno is old and his contract runs out after the 2008 season, but if you scroll down through this article in the Chicago Tribune you find an interesting statistic.

The Nittany Lions' 29-8 record during the last three seasons is third-best in the Big Ten. Of the conference's 11 teams, only Ohio State (33-5) and Wisconsin (31-8) have better records. And no Big Ten team can match Penn State's 3-0 record in bowl games during that span.

Say what you want about about Joe's age and his control on the team, but the fact of the matter is only two teams in our conference have better records the past three years.

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Facebook stalking?  Yeah.  "Phil Taylor is happy to be released from the STATE PENN". 

Apparently, Penn State has developed a world-class irony program.

Does he have a future playing career at Maryland or Tennessee?

Regarding convenient explanations.

These criminal charges coincide with concerns from a former player, a recruiting analyst, local media and others that Penn State has pursued recruits who are good athletes but might have questionable character issues, in order to improve performance. The team under head coach Joe Paterno faced an unprecedented four out of five losing seasons from 2000 to 2004.

Not sure why they couldn't just mention their names. That would appear to be the "journalism" thing to do.

Former Player - Michael Haynes
Recruiting Analyst - Bob Lichtenfels
Local Media - Stephen A. Smith Mike Missanelli
Others - Unknown - Nice touch ESPN, very....pointless.

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It's really a shame this didn't get more media attention, but this weekend the college football Hall of Fame welcomed one of the greatest coaches of all time when our own Joe Paterno became the second active coach to ever be welcomed to the Hall. And of course, Joe was his usually witty and entertaining self.

Penn State coach Joe Paterno helped a lot of players make it into the College Football Hall of Fame. He counts former Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie among them.

"We made Flutie. I told him that 10 times," Paterno said Saturday evening at a news conference before the pair and 18 others were enshrined. "He came to our place and nobody knew who he was and he ended up throwing for 400 yards.

"But we beat 'em," Paterno added with a smile.

Predictably, there are a ton of stories out there focusing on Joe's status after 2008, but kudos go to Rich Scarcella of the Reading Eagle who was the only person that managed to score a one-on-one interview in the legend's office. And as Scarella puts it, Joe is "sometimes reflective, sometimes fiery, sometimes funny and always interesting." Here are some of my favorite exchanges.

On the status of the Penn State football program.

I think we're fine. Three years ago, we were two seconds away from an unbeaten season. It all depends on what people expect. You have some guys out there, as I call them, the Web site Mob, with no names who complain.

 Friggin' website mob jerks. Hey...wait a minute...

Q: I want to ask you something about the five players who were suspended from spring practice. What do they. . . .

A: Do you want to talk about football or not?

Q: What do they have to do to become eligible again?

A: They have to do better with their grades. Period.

Nice save. Most reporters would be buckling at the knees at this point, but Scarcella keeps going. If the reporter had done his homework he would already know those players were all reinstated after spring practice with the exception of Phil Taylor who was suspended through the summer session by Judicial Affairs.

I found the following exchange particularly interesting. The emphasis is mine.

Q: Would it be fair to say that you go by feel when it comes to picking a starting quarterback?

A: When you've been in it long enough, there's always something that sparks you to say this is the best thing for this football team. I think maybe I made a mistake last year. Jay (Penn State assistant coach Jay Paterno) kept talking about playing Clark a little more to change things. I turned him down on that because I didn't want to get into where (Anthony) Morelli was looking over his shoulder. I didn't think that would be good for the kind of kid that Morelli is. This year it might be a whole different situation.

After week after week of listening to Paterno tell us Morelli was a tough, smart quarterback this is the first time I can recall him ever suggesting #14 may have struggled with confidence issues. Then for Paterno to suggest in his last sentence that "this year it might be a whole different situation" suggests to me our offense will be much better and much more consistent this year. Giddyup!

Speaking of Quarterbacks

The Carslise Sentinel has a fascinating interview with Daryll Clark which is an absolute must read. Again, here are some of my favorite excerpts.

“Jay (Paterno) has never been a person that steered me wrong,” the quarterback said. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for him (and Joe) as far as what they did recruiting (me). (Jay) and Joe sat there right in front of my parents and said, ‘His grades in high school, I’m not ashamed to say, weren’t good. His grades don’t show what type of person we think he is, so we’re going to take a chance on him.’ That lit me up. There were a lot of schools that were like, ‘Hey, we’re not going to take a chance on this guy.’

“They did and I’m glad they did. Jay and Joe have been a very important part of my life.”

Clark eventually got his grades up to NCAA standards and re-upped with the Nittany Lions.

We give Jay a lot of grief around here, but we shouldn't lose sight of the fact he is Joe Paterno's son, so you know that behind the play book full of four yard out patterns there must be a decent man with some redeeming character qualities.

Clark said he talks to former Penn State quarterback Robinson at least “once a week.”

The two have remained close since 2005. Robinson, now with the San Francisco 49ers, and Clark have been mentioned in the same breath by fans and media alike.

What’s not to compare?

They both offer punishing running styles, both have muscular builds and are both a good blend of brash, humble and confident.

What no one yet knows is whether or not Clark can follow in Robinson’s footsteps as a leader.

But he will tell you, just a few weeks outside of preseason camp, that he will do whatever it takes to achieve Robinson-like status around Happy Valley.

“He lets me know how tough it’s going to be,” Clark said, “how tough it can get and the things you have to do to remain humble and fight out of a funk if you happen to deal with one. There’s people that don’t want you to play. There’s people that want you to play. There’s people that don’t think you can play. You can’t really play into that.

“Mike reaked of leadership and I think that’s one thing that really stood out about him. He took command of the offense, at the line he’s making checks, he let everyone know that when the time gets tough, he (was) going to get through them. That’s what I am working on now to get that trust.”

Anybody ever recall Anthony Morelli saying he called a former PSU quarterback, or any quarterback for that matter, to ask for advice? Anyone? The fact that Clark looks up to Michael Robinson, talks to him regularly, tries to learn from him, and ultimately wants to follow in his footsteps as a team leader bodes well for our team.

I probably spent more time on this than Steele did, but I suppose that's what blogging is all about.  I'll review the first teamers in depth, summarize the rest of the PSU representation, and give some final thoughts below:

Big Ten 1st Team:

DE Maurice Evans - Frank Cooney has Evans as the third best DE in the nation, so, ya, he's kind of a big deal.  He was also named to both the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Rotary Lombardi Award watch list. The nice thing about DE's is they tend to bring a fairly consistent game week in and week out. Production is another issue, but this has a lot to do with the ability of an offense to scheme around select players. Either way, he is going to be making plays or making it easier for others to do the same.  There is also no question he belongs on the 1st team.

SS Anthony Scirrotto -I'll be the first to admit that I have a tough time judging how well a SS is actually playing.  You typically see them on three different plays: (1) lining up and destroying a receiver when the QB throws a 'hospital pass' (have to give credit to my high school hockey coach for that one). For example:

Ahh, good times.  Moving on...(2) when the corner either blitzes or blows a coverage, leaving the safty to cover as a corner, or (3) chasing down a guy who has already caught the ball in stride headed down field. It's difficult to judge which one of these things is the player blowing his assignments and which is his ability to make up for others' shortcomings. I do know this: he hits people hard (see above), he runs a 4.56 forty (solid, not great), he led the Big Ten in interceptions (6), and finished second amongst all players in the conference with 14 passes defended. What I'm getting at is that he's pretty good at what he does, even if he does look short on the field for some reason.

LB Sean Lee - I couldn't resist bringing him up, and I'm still not fully over his injury, which doesn't sound right but you know what I'm saying.  Rehab is coming along, although as suspected it sounds a little discouraging.

The Rest of The Story

CB AJ Wallace (2nd Team), DT Phillip Taylor (4th Team) and LB Tyrell Sales (4th Team) also made the list.  Wallace is what guys like Paterno call a "football player".  He doesn't dominate at any one position but has shown the ability to play WR, CB and return kicks with a high level of success.  King was as quick as any player on the field, but Wallace might have a better football sense and that will help him become the lock down guy we need.  Taylor gets the nod here despite make more bad news than good.  While he is a solid player I think Ollie Ogbu should have been named here instead.  Sales recorded 50 tackles last season and by most accounts has shown improvement during the off-season.  With the injury to Lee, he is going to have to "step it up", as they say.

Special Teams 1st Team

P Jeremy Boone - No question here, and with Paterno's ultra-conservative road game plans, Boone might end up being a lot more important to PSU's success than most people realize.  While he struggled in the loss to MSU, he posted an impressive 51.4 yard per kick average in the bowl game and shows consistency..

KR AJ Wallace - See above...basically Wallace and Williams are one of the better 1-2 punches in the Big Ten.

Special Teams 2nd Team

PR Derrick Williams - More of this, please:

Special Teams 3rd Team

K Kevin Kelly - Here's the deal:

So basically, he's money inside 40 and, well, not money outside 40.  This is great if you are settling and want the three points, but it can be frustrating when you are trying to mount a drive at the end of a half or are facing a 4th and long on the opponent's 30 yard line.  Don't get me wrong, I'll take perfection from inside 40 all day long, I'm just saying there is room for improvement.

Other Defensive Notes...

-Ohio State has 10 of their 11 defensive starters on Steele's first three teams. 
-Illinois will never be able to replace J, he's an American Hero , but they appear to have another decent linebacker in Martez Wilson.
-Minnesota has just one player on the All Conference Team, 3rd Team LB Steve Davis.  Ok, that's the wrong Steve Davis, but there probably isn't that much to share about the football player anyway so enjoy the read on Snooker.