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BSD Mailbag Fun

The player that is dead to me has awaken dormant feelings of hate unlike any I've seen in Nittany Nation in some time. They are not really angry at [the player that is dead to me]. What angers Penn State fans more than anything in this world is the thought that Pitt fans believe they have beaten us. But what brings us to a frothing rage is the thought that Pitt thinks they are better than us. To wit, I received the following email from what I assume is a Pitt fan.

I just read your little blog on LeSean McCoy.  I have just a few comments.  Feel free to respond rationally.  I enjoy hearing the opinions of others.

"Little blog" indeed. Anyway, I will try to respond "rationally".

1.  Compete for National Championships at Penn State.  Sorry, I can't help but to laugh at this one.

Ok. How to respond to this "rational" point "rationally". Last season Penn State was 1 play and 0:01 away from getting a spot in the BCS championship game. Historically you will find that Penn State usually cracks into the top 10 or even top 5 every three or four years. That's all I'll say about that.

2.  I believe Louisville, Rutgers, and West Virginia all finished higher than Penn State this year.   There is a reason top NFL, ACC and SEC schools wanted Petrino, Rich Rod, and Schiano.  In case you were wondering, the reason is they all did a great job in making their school's football program legitimate.   Also, Pitt signed a pretty long contract to play Notre Dame starting in the 2008 season.  Interesting to note that Notre Dame would sign a long deal with Pitt with even incentives while Penn State wouldn't.  I am sure you are biased and will disagree, but Penn State is not half the program Notre Dame is (even with that old bat still coaching).

There are really four points here all listed under item number two. I will try to address all of them.

Re: West Virginia, Louisville, and Rutgers. I'm not sure what his point is here. I don't recall ever bringing them into the discussion about [the player that is now dead to me]. They all had fine seasons, but I doubt they would have been so good if Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College were still in the Big East.

Petrino, Rodriguez, and Schiano are all good football coaches associated with second rate programs. Their jobs are stepping stones to bigger opportunities. That's why they get better offers. You don't see Alabama and and Miami courting Jim Tressel or Kirk Ferentz. That's because everyone knows Big Ten jobs are more attractive than Big East jobs.

Regarding long term deals between Pitt and Penn State, Joe Paterno addressed this earlier this year. Years ago when the two programs used to play a regular series, Pitt would double the price of their tickets when Penn State came to town. Penn State didn't think it was fair that their fans should have to pay twice as much as other visiting fans, but Pitt was not willing to budge. Penn State offered to play 2-for-1's to make it fair, but Pitt refused. So the rivalry came to an end. Paterno has claimed if Pitt were willing to treat Penn State fans like other visiting teams, a deal could be worked out.

As far as your assertion that Penn State is not half the program Notre Dame is, I'm not sure how you "rationally" quantify that, but Forbes magazine took a shot at it recently. They valued the Notre Dame football team at $97 Million. They valued Penn State at $63 Million.

63 x 2 = 126
126 > 97

So it would appear Penn State is indeed better than half the program Notre Dame is. Sadly, Pitt did not make their top 15 list so we can't compare Pitt and Penn State directly.

The "old bat" comment wasn't very nice. I thought we were being "rational" here.

3.  Pitt was named the 17th best public university in the United States.   Penn State was 18th.  Don't kid yourself by thinking Penn State is a superior University.  One of my best friends couldn't get into Pitt but got accepted to Penn State, so again, quit pretending like PSU has higher academic standards.

I may be wrong, but I don't think I ever claimed Penn State's acedemic standards are higher than Pitt's. To the contrary, Pitt is a fine institution of higher learning. But I will say Paterno's acedemic standards are higher than Wannstedt's.

On his radio show this week, PSU insider Phil Grosz revealed that Paterno had a meeting last Thursday with [the player that is dead to me] and his parents. In that meeting, Paterno told the family there were some things the kid had to do before Paterno would welcome him into the program. A few days later [the player that is dead to me] committed to Pitt. You can draw your own conclusions.

4.  JoePa decided Evan Royster and Brent Carter looked good enough?  Ha, this one is even worse than the national championship one.  Honestly, what kind of morons actually believe this nonsense.

Well, time will tell how well Royster and Carter do just as time will tell with [the player that is dead to me]. Insiders to the program speak very highly of Royster. They seem to think we will be just fine with or without [the player that is dead to me] and Green. I agree with them.

5.  Broderick Green is a hell of a back, but so is McCoy.  The idea that they wanted McCoy out of the picture to sweeten the deal is just insane.  The odds of Penn State getting McCoy before he chose Pitt were tenfold higher than their odds of getting Green.  No sane staff would stop recruiting the more realistic star to "make PSU more attractive" to the unlikely recruit.

Well, our friend from the school out west may have stumbled on a valid point here, but even a broken clock is right twice a day. It's highly unlikely that Paterno told [the player that is dead to me], "Take a hike, kid. We got a big time recruit coming in and we need to make some room on the depth chart." But you have to admit, Penn State is a little more attractive to Green now that [the player that is dead to me] is out of the picture.

Programming Note - Blogging will be light to possibly non-existent the next few days. Look for regular hardcore blogging to resume on Monday.