Super Patriotic Memories -  Besides Devin Mcourty's appearance above, Rutgers actually whipped Louisville later that season, 63-14.  RU and Patriot WR Tiquan Underwood tallied two TDs that evening.  In 2003, Vince Wolfork started on the defensive line for Miami in the Hurricane's last appearance in the Big East in a game against Pitt to win the conference title on their way out, 28-14.  Several weeks before, we watched Pitt knock off Virginia Tech, 31-28, with :47 left when RB Lousaka Polite bowled over  a VT defender for the winning score.  Polite is now Wolfork's teammate.  Wes Welker played WR at Texas Tech in '03 when we saw Tech rack up a lot of passing yards, but it didn't matter as Phillip Rivers outgunned the Wolfpack to a 49-21 win over the Red Raiders.  We had a chance to see Tom Brady face Penn State when he played for Michigan in 1999.  However, at our hotel the night before, four-year old GGA Eric was sick to his stomach all night long. We sold the tickets the next morning and headed back home.  Michigan (7-2) defeated PSU (9-1), 31-27.  This Super Bowl should be as close.

Good moves-bad moves - Former Rutgers' Head Coach Greg Schiano's move to take over as Head Coach of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers has it plusses and minuses depending on whose perspective you consider.  For Rutgers, it's both good and very bad.  Greg Schiano improved Rutgers' image as a football program since the beginning of his career there starting 11 years ago. He leaves with a 68-67 career record and six bowl games even though all but one didn't even exist before his tenure there increasing the gluttony of bowl games existing today. During his 11 years, he proved that he couldn't take that program to become a perennial Top 25 /BCS contender.  He never won the Big East Conference nor earned a BCS bowl bid.  It was time for him to move on to give Rutgers a chance to get someone else in there to get them to the next level.  That's the good part. The very bad part is his timing how he left the program he "loved" a week before the national signing day for the next freshman class.  He supposedly had the strongest class in RU history in waiting (but they say that every year), but all the recruiting efforts are now for naught as the sharks in the water remind them that the guy they were going to play for is no longer going to be there.  Can you blame the kids?  The next question is who will replace him? To be honest, RU probably has until this Sunday (Jan 29) to pull the trigger if they want to keep the recruits who are now teetering.  Rutgers has eyes on a couple of active head men, but are they going to all of a sudden going to pull out, leave their current recruits in a lurch, and prove to the Rutgers recruits on very short notice that he is worth waiting around for?  That's only one perspective of the good and the bad - Rutgers'.  Another is for Schiano himself who never earned a good reputation as a strategic game day coach.  Is he going to allow his coaching staff at the next level so what needs to be done, or is he going to micromanage which was his reputation with the Scarlet Knights?  He 's taking a shot at one of only 32 jobs of its kind in the world, and he's going to make a lot of money.  Good for him and good luck to him, but before his five-year contract is up, we think we'll see him coaching some other pro secondary just as he'd done much earlier in his career. Bad move for him short-term. His record at RU the first five years was 19-39 which leads us to another perspective- Tampa Bay's.  Nick Saban and Steve Spurrier among others couldn't make the grade at the pro level and they won national championships at the collegiate level.  How does a guy with a 68-67 record without good game-planning skills going to match up against some of the best in the business?  Good luck Buccos!   When I left the Naval Academy back in the mid-70s, my late father sneered and asked me, "Well, now what are you going to do?" I knew what his reaction would be before I somewhat seriously replied, "I'm going to become head coach at Notre Dame."  He turned, winced, and said grumped, "Aw, geez!"  Now I wish I'd taken on that disbelieving challenge. If had have lived long enough to see what these guys make and the job security they have bouncing around from team to team, he might have taken my answer much more seriously.  Bad move on my part?

Naval maneuver - Navy joins the "Big East"!  I give them credit for taking a shot at moving into that conference where if current trends continue, they could do well as they can be competitive against the lineup of teams now in the league.  The move gives them a chance to compete for an FBS bid, whatever that means in the future, and it gives them a chance to "fly the flag" to different ports (uh...parts) of the country.  I give them credit for holding out to retain their traditional games.  Not only did they prioritize keeping room for Army, Air Force, and Notre Dame on their schedule annually, but they got the agreement of the conference to allow them to finish the season with their traditional game against Army. Why would anybody in their right mind ever even consider that going by the wayside?   My first reaction, being a Navy fan, was that this will give me a chance to see some more away games locally on the road, but realization set in quickly that aside from RU and UConn, no other "Big East" foe is within a day's driving distance to see such games.  WVU, Pitt and Syracuse are all on their way out.  Navy can compete with the likes of the existing teams like Louisville,Cincy, and South Florida, as well as with newcomers SMU, Houston, and UCF, but those are a flying destinations.  One of the purposes of Navy football has always been to allow the Mids to see the country and the country to see Navy football.  Will this help recruiting?  As I said, the Navy can now show the flag regularly now even in far off San Diego and Boise!  Somehow though, this conference has to come up with a new name. Big East?  How about "Big Country"?

Ode to JoePa -  His 61 years at Penn State certainly ended with a whimper and not with a bang as it should have. A huge oversight on his part tarnished so many good things he'd done for people, his players, Penn State University, its students, central Pennsylvania, and college football as whole.  Since 1979, I watched Joe Paterno coach 86 of his games at Penn State winning 64 and losing 22.  Included among those victories are two championship teams, three bowl wins, his 324th win to beat Bear Bryant's all-time win record, and his 400th victory in his 2012 win against Northwestern.  Regretfully, I did not see his record-setting 409th this year versus Illinois due to a freak October blizzard.  Over the years, he gave so many at Penn State so many great memories coaching a team with class and integrity which exuded throughout the entire university.  Despite what the current administration says, he may not have been bigger than the school itself, but he certainly had more influence making it what it is today than anybody else.  He set the standards for what Penn State had become based on the class and integrity with which he led that football program.  Beyond the football program, many other students applied to Penn State just to be part of the Penn State aura created by Joe Paterno.  There was not a game that  I ever remember seeing the Lions play in where Joe was always a major topic of conversation. He generally tried to put the focus on the team, but media and fans alike always paid attention to what Joe was thinking, doing, or saying.  Charlie Roberts, a regular GGA and Lehigh alum, recently mentioned his wife Laura remembers talking about how thrilled she was as an undergrad in State College when she passed JoePa on the street back in the 70's and that he waved to her.  It was a thrill she's never forgotten.  I remember during a Mountain Day celebration at my alma mater, Juniata College, 30 miles south in Huntingdon, when the school took a traditional day off for outdoor festivities at a nearby state park.  Some friends and I instead drove up to State College to watch the Lions practice.  Upon approaching, one of the guys pointed up to a platform and was so impressed because he saw the platform overlooking the practice field where Joe Paterno would direct his practices.  As we drew closer, we busted his chops when we realized it was a diving platform over the swimming pool!  None the less, that was the kind of effect Paterno's reputation had with people who didn't know him personally.  My late high school football coach, Joe Molitoris, had met Paterno at a  coaching clinic back in the early 60's.  About five years ago, Coach Mol attended a Marine Corp League dinner where Paterno was the keynote speaker.  Afterwards, Coach Mol approached Joe Pa who put his hand up and said, "Wait, don't tell me your name.  Tell me where you coached!"  Coach Mol replied, "Well, Boonton (NJ) High School."  JoePa replied, "Your name is Joe Molitoris! You coached Jim Kiick at Boonton, and you gave me a ride to the airport after a clinic when my car broke down!"  Mol was astounded. That was over 40 years before they met again.  With my friends John and Kelle Massimilla and their three kids and extended family, all Penn State grads, we spent a lot of time tailgating at Penn State before and after games.  There was always the love for Penn State and the football program, but there was always the aura surrounding us because this was all the result put together by one man, Joe Paterno.  He was there for so many years and did so many wonderful things in his life for so many others.  He left me with a lot of fun memories of great games and good times up at Penn State.  It's a shame that his lack of a reaction (" I wish I had done more" as he recently admitted.) tarnished so much of his long legacy.  Many will weigh that into their final opinion of him, but the only one whose opinion counts now is God's.  Rest In Peace, JoePa!  Thanks for the many cherished memories.

Final battle - Congratulations to Alabama in their 21-0  win over LSU for the FBS Championship.  Like our buddy Charlie Murren (Auburn) told us, he couldn't see Nick Saban losing to Les Miles for the second time in the same season.  He was right! What struck me was that LSU knew who and what they were going up against, but just didn't seem to have an offensive game plan ready despite having five weeks to prepare.  We all knew Bama's defense was tough.  The LSU line would have to block better and a few new wrinkles needed to be put in place to generate some offense after the struggle the two were embroiled in during mid-season, but it seemed like the Tigers were still trying to determine the best way to move the football as the game progressed.  I don' know how may times Jordan Jefferson attempted to throw out passes to his wide receivers in the flat, but they never worked.  I also never saw four defenders ready to make a play against the option.  However, the option is not effective when you mix it up with a bunch of non-option plays.  It's most effective if you set up a rhythm with series of dives, pitches, and keepers.  You can't just decide to run an option play once and then give up on it.   I didn't see any running game established to use play action to set up the passing game.  After weeks of watching bowl games featuring plays with wide open receivers, I can't believe that the Tigers could not generate a few plays to do the same during this game.  Alabama is good and prepared.  LSU is also good, but seemed unprepared to offer the offensive challenge we were looking for.  It's difficult to beat a good team twice in the same season, but in the end, they were probably the two best teams out there.  The result is another argument for a playoff system to allow more than two teams to get there.  Overall, I think the bowl season is becoming a bigger and bigger waste - not fun for many of the teams nor fans at all.  And as I've said before, there are too many of them.  They're not special any more. I have plenty of ideas that I will enlighten you with here during the off-season.  I hear and hope that with the expiration of the current BCS television contract, that things will get better.  The only thing that is stimulating that direction though is probably the decline in this year's TV ratings.

Went to the wrong authority - Sally Jenkins' Washington Post article about her interview with Joe Paterno indicates that Joe went to the wrong authority after sitting down in his kitchen with assistant coach Mike McQueary to hear what he witnessed in the Penn State locker room the night before.  He could have avoided this whole mess had he probably gone into the next room and told his wife Sue instead of "running it up the ladder" to Athletic Director Tim Curley.  In the article, Sue Paterno, grandmother to seventeen "great" grandchildren as Joe describes them, stated," If someone touched my child, there wouldn't be a trial, I would have killed them." Had he spoken to her immediately about what was reported, he might not have gone to that extreme, but maybe hearing that from her would have fired him up to do the right thing and call the police.