What Would Have Happened If Penn State Had Joined The Big East?

In case you missed it, Mike Tranghese conducted an interview in which he talked extremely candidly about Penn State's long-rumored bid to join the Big East that was shot down in 1982.

Naturally, that got me to thinking, how exactly would the sports landscape look nowadays if the Big East had gotten 1 more positive vote for PSU and gone on their little envoy to State College and the Nitts had accepted? Tranghese certainly has a fun little theory:

"The whole face of college athletics would be changed now. If we had taken Penn State in 1982, we may still have football independents. The idea wasn’t to take Penn State and start a football league. It was to give Penn State a place. And then they would have been aligned with Syracuse and Boston College. We probably would have brought Pitt in, too, and the four of them probably would have agreed to play and continue as independents. I think the whole face of college football would have changed. I don’t think Florida State would have moved and Miami would have moved. All of it came about when Penn State made the decision to go to the Big Ten."

Hmm...interesting thought by Mike, but I don't fully buy that at all. I still think that football would have gone to a heavy emphasis on conferences, and that while Penn State was certainly an important domino to fall in that chain reaction in 1989, I don't think them joining a power basketball conference like the Big East would have prevented them, and others, from looking to line up with football conferences around that same time period.

What many people around my age or even a little older may not know or really remember is that Penn State was in the A-10 for b-ball prior to leaving for the Big Ten. That wasn't really enough of a support for them, which is why they were so keen to the Big Ten's overtures. I think the Big East would have given them more support, though, had they joined.

There is also the little matter about Joe Paterno's failed All-Eastern sports league or whatever the hell that was supposed to be called. That infamously failed around the same time the Big East was deciding not to extend an invite to Penn State in '82. To me this is truely bizarre for the Big East, but whatever. Maybe they were worried about not having a natural partner for Penn State, but adding the rival Pitt Panthers at the same time seems to make quite a bit of sense to me. And, it is my complete and total guesswork belief that had Penn State joined, JoePa would have eventually come to think of the Big East as the potential substitute for the All Eastern Sports League that he wanted, and maybe he would have helped to spearhead a Big East Football Conference. After all, Syracuse, Boston College and Pitt would have all been in the Big East at that time, and others like Miami, Temple, Rutgers and Virginia Tech could probably have been easily swayed to join up for all sports if the bonus was a football conference, that is if you believe Paterno's faith in the others schools lining up for his conference, and I do believe him.

While I respect his opinion, I do disagree with Trangehese's assessment that we would still have major programs like Penn State, Florida State and Miami still as independents. I believe the almighty dollar would have won out eventually regardless of Penn State being the first important domino to fall or not. Because really, the conferences as a collective unit clearly had more power than the individual programs at this time, with just one exception: Notre Dame. The Irish of course are still independent and making a pile of money because of it, but I don't buy for a second that any other school could pull this off. I respect the huge following that PSU, FSU and Miami have built up, but they pale in comparison to the total numbers and the geographic reach of the Irish. Eventually these three would have realized they were better off joining a football conference than going it alone.

So clearly there would have been some sort of alternate timeline for the Big East. If I were to predict I think it would have looked something like this (keep in mind I'm dealing only on what the basketball and football versions of the conference would have looked like, the other sports, I could really care less about):

1979: Big East is founded by UConn, Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, Syracuse and Boston College for basketball. No football conference.

1980: Villanova joins for basketball. 8 Teams now in the basketball league.

1982: Pitt and Penn State join for basketball. This is where the alternate "Watchmen-style" universe starts up.

1987: I believe Paterno would have put aside the grudge about the All-Eastern Sports League in order to create the Big East football conference, because well, it would have been basically the same thing. I even think he would have been the leader for this cause. And so I think the Big East Conference gets a football league, 4 years earlier than they did in reality, because of JoePa and his impressive pull. Paterno would have worked to assemble some of the same teams from his original conference. Obviously Pitt, Penn State, Syracuse and Boston College would have been in as they were when the league initially formed. The league would have then added Rutgers and West Virginia from Paterno's original plan for sure. From there we require some guesswork, as 6 teams probably wouldn't have been enough. There is a chance UConn could have joined in 87. Turns out they were part of Paterno's football plan in 82. I'm not sure what the deal with them was and why they were I-AA for so long, but I'm going to assume that they wouldn't have been able to join. So we now look at the independents. I think Virginia Tech and Temple are fair bets to be in for jumping to the Big East, and the other target would have been Miami. I'm going to say that the Hurricanes stay stingy and don't yet join. I think the new schools start out as football-only, much like how things worked in 91. So now we have a conference that shakes out like this:
Basketball: UConn, Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, Syracuse, Boston College, Villanova, Pitt, Penn State
Football: Pitt, Penn State, Syracuse, Boston College, West Virginia, Rutgers, Temple, Virginia Tech
That's a pretty solid conference, no? Even if it is a little bit weird.

1991: This is about when West Virginia, Rutgers and Virginia Tech start demanding their entry into basketball and everything else. Temple and VT stay A-10 for whatever reason in basketball, as that was how they both rolled for several years. Never could really figure that one out. So then we have 6 schools that are full-fledged all-everything members (Penn State, Pitt, Syracuse, Boston College, West Virginia and Rutgers), 6 schools that are non-football members (UConn, Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's and Villanova) and 2 schools that are non-basketball members (Virginia Tech and Temple). 14 institutions in all, with 8 in football and 12 in basketball. Seems like great numbers all-around

1993: This is when I think Miami joins up for football, one year later than they did in reality. Not entirely sure why I picked it like this, but it seemed about right. Like I said earlier, it makes sense that maybe it takes a little longer for some of the dominos to fall to convince the final football independents not named Notre Dame to join up with conferences, and with the Big East already established in football, the Canes might have to wait another year or two. This is my reality, though, so I am sticking with '92. Seems to make some sense. They also join up in all sports immediately. Here's how things look:
Football (9 Schools): Miami, Pitt, Penn State, Syracuse, Boston College, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Rutgers and Temple
Basketball (13 Schools): Miami, Pitt, Penn State, Syracuse, Boston College, West Virginia, Rutgers, Providence, Seton Hall, Georgetown, Villanova, UConn and St. John's

1995: I don't think a 13 school basketball league would have been a big hit for long. The guess here is that the Big East not only gives Notre Dame the non-basketball bid that they got in real life, but that Virginia Tech and Temple are both granted the complete membership both sought around this time.
Football (9 Schools): Miami, Pitt, Penn State, Syracuse, Boston College, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Rutgers and Temple
Basketball (16 Schools): Virginia Tech, Temple, Notre Dame, Miami, Pitt, Penn State, Syracuse, Boston College, West Virginia, Rutgers, Providence, Seton Hall, Georgetown, Villanova, UConn and St. John's
That's right folks, the 16 team behemoth comes a decade earlier than it did in real life. Unwieldy much? This is where the real interesting stuff starts to hit the fan.

2001: I have felt since the moment the Big East started play with 16 basketball teams that a split was inevitable between the football and non-football schools, and it almost occurred even before the 16 team conference in 2004/2005. I think it occurs around 2001 in this alternate universe after 6 years of a 16 team basketball league. Here's how the battleground would have been drawn just on the schools that were previously in the conference:
Football/ Basketball Conference (9 Members): Miami, Pitt, Penn State, Syracuse, Boston College, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Rutgers, Temple
Basketball Only Conference (7 Members): Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall, Georgetown, Villanova, UConn and St. John's

But let's be honest, that isn't enough teams. At least for the basketball only conference that would likely be the one to retain the "Big East" moniker. As for the new conference, I'm just going to give it a bland name like the All-Eastern Sports League (sound familiar?). I'm not creative enough for anything more than that. So then the new Big East conference needs at least another member or two. I think this is when the C-USA raid occurs at Notre Dame's urging and that they swoop in and snag DePaul and Marquette who would fit absolutely perfectly. They also might look at some A-10 schools like Xavier, Dayton and Duquesne to even things out between ND and the eastern seaboard teams. For now, I will stick with them just taking Xavier as well for an even 10 teams. I think the Eastern Conference stays put at 9 schools. For now. So now here's what it looks like:
All-Eastern Sports League: Miami, Pitt, Penn State, Syracuse, Boston College, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Rutgers, Temple
Big East: Marquette, DePaul, Xavier, Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall, Georgetown, Villanova, UConn and St. John's

2004: This is when the raid occurred between the Big East and the ACC. I don't think that happens now, as with Penn State in tow Miami should be happier at the level of competition and not looking to leave, and the ACC would have to be a bit afraid of us right now, as that is clearly the superior conference. If anything we think about raiding the ACC, but we'll get to that. Nothing actually happens in this season.

2005: In the All-Eastern Sports League, pathetic Temple is still given the boot and UConn leaves the Big East for the Eastern Conference so that they can play football. I also think the conference wants to add a 10th team so that there isn't an awkward bye every week, and that they still go ahead and raid Louisville from Conference USA, as the Ville is a legit school and probably should have been playing with the big boys a long time ago. This also gives a bit of a credibility bump to the All-Eastern Sports League in basketball. Here's what that new conference looks like:
All-Eastern Sports League (10 Teams): Miami, Pitt, Penn State, Syracuse, Boston College, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Rutgers, UConn, Louisville
Big East (9 Teams): Marquette, DePaul, Xavier, Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall, Georgetown, Villanova, and St. John's

2006: Both conferences raid and expand. The All-Eastern Sports League does to the ACC what the ACC did to us in real life. Miami wants a mate for the south and lures away Florida State and VT can't support anything unless their mates Virginia are included, so the new league gets to 12 teams. I think this is a definite possibility, as the almighty dollar from the title game is so very important (even if the ACC title game is a trainwreck in real life) and the new conference looks like this:
All-Eastern Sports League: (12 Teams): Miami, Pitt, Penn State, Syracuse, Boston College, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Rutgers, UConn, Louisville, Virginia, Florida State
We'd have to break this up somehow, so here's my guess:
North: Pitt, Penn State, Syracuse, Boston College, Rutgers, UConn
South: Miami, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Florida State, West Virginia, Louisville

In addition, the Big East goes and snatches up St. Joseph's to add and give it 10 teams again and pair them up with fellow Philly schools Nova and Temple:
Big East (10 Teams): Marquette, DePaul, Xavier, Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall, Georgetown, Villanova, St. John's, St. Joseph's

And that is the final maneuver I see being made. Just like in reality, the Big East is in constant flux over the last 20 years in my alternate universe. Sorry if this was confusing or stupid or if you skimmed this beast and were thrown off by my referring to the football/ basketball conference as the All-Eastern Sports League late in the column after the split. That's just a working name. It's late and I had no creative juices flowing and things kinda ran together a bit.

Still, I think it would be tough to deny a lot of the stuff I stated here would have been plausible if we had just been smart and invited Penn State in and JoePa still had the passion for an all-football conference. He would've been perfect to lead the charge and his school could have given the Big East more credibility, and couple with Miami would have given us two big time powerhouses in the mid-90s and maybe even prevented an ACC raid. I may not be a Penn State fan, but there is no denying their clout and potential impact. Sigh. If only.

Big East Tournament Predictions

One of the goofiest tournaments that you will ever see kicks off today at Noon and won't end until Saturday night, probably sometime around 11:30 or so. And despite having games every day and it being a single elimination tournament, there are just 16 teams participating. The Big East Tournament might just be the most unique thing going these days. And because I love college basketball, the Big East, and tournaments, I figured I'd throw on the old prognosticator's hat and make predictions for each of the 15 games slated for the next 108 hours or so.

Tuesday Games
Cincinnati over DePaul
St. John's over Georgetown
Notre Dame over Rutgers
Seton Hall over South Florida

Wednesday Games
Providence over Cincinnati
Marquette over St. John's
Notre Dame over West Virginia
Syracuse over Seton Hall

Thursday Games
Louisville over Providence
Villanova over Marquette
Pitt over Notre Dame
Syracuse over Connecticut

Friday Games
Villanova over Louisville
Pitt over Syracuse

Saturday Games
Pitt over Villanova

I mean, of course I'm picking Pitt to win the title. I tried to incorporate a couple upsets in there, but this is a pretty top-heavy conference, so the big upsets were minimal. I do think Villanova has a very good shot at making some waves and the same goes for Syracuse. Nova has been overshadowed all season by the big three in the conference, but that is a very good team that I think could make a long run in March. Syracuse, after some mid-season issues, appears to finally have their head on straight, and you know Cuse-UConn is always a fantastic game. That's vintage Big East right there, and I really think it would be a coinflip. Besides, with Louisville losing in the semis, UConn should still just barely grab a 1 seed. Also, I am hoping that one BET win will put Providence over the top and into the NCAAs. I would love to see them be a cinderella story in the Big East with 2 or more wins in the BET, but I just can't picture them beating the Ville.

TRS All Big East Team

UPDATE: I guess the Big East now just names the top 6 players to the All-league squad. Not sure what changed, as that used to be 11 (it was last season). I don't like the much, much smaller team, and can't figure out how the hell they can claim there are 11 players better than Levance. Maybe they are naming a coaches team or something too. Not sure what's up. If I were to just name 6 to the first team, they'd be: Blair, Young, Thabeet, McNeal, Williams and Harangody. I'd find room for Fields on the second team.

I'm really not sure what day the All Big East squads get announced, but I'd have to assume it is sometime in the next couple days prior to the BET. Unfortunately, I can't trust those coaches to do the right thing, especially when guys like Jerry Wainwright and Fred Hill have the same amount of say as coaching icons like Jim Boeheim and Jim Calhoun and up-and-coming coaching stars like Jamie Dixon and Jay Wright. I'm not even sure Wainwright is familiar with what good basketball looks like. If he is going off his team as a model I think he might vote Gary McGhee as the Player of the Year.

Anyway, because I can't trust these results because of the idiocy of some coaches and the politicking of others, I figured I needed to pump out my own All Big East teams, complete with the same numbers of players as the coaches team will have on the teams (11 on the first and 10 on the second as well as 6 honorable mentions). I'm really not sure what kind of All-Anything basketball team can have 11 players, and can be chosen with no regard to position, but that's how the Big East rolls.

So let's get to it:
First Team
F Sam Young Pitt
F DeJuan Blair Pitt
G Levance Fields Pitt
F Luke Harangody Notre Dame
C Hasheem Thabeet Connecticut
F Terrance Williams Louisville
G Jerel McNeal Marquette
G Jonny Flynn Syracuse
F Earl Clark Louisville
F Dante Cunningham Villanova
G A.J. Price Connecticut

Second Team
F Jeff Adrien Connecticut
G Deonta Vaughn Cincinnati
G Wesley Matthews Marquette
F Lazar Hayward Marquette
G Jeremy Hazell Seton Hall
G Dominique Jones South Florida
G Eric Devendorf Syracuse
F Paul Harris Syracuse
G Scottie Reynolds Villanova
F Da'Sean Butler West Virginia

Honorable Mention
G Weyinmi Efejuku Providence
G Alex Ruoff West Virginia
G Kyle McAlarney Notre Dame
G Dominic James Marquette
C Greg Monroe Georgetown
F Dar Tucker DePaul

Seriously, can you imagine if the Big East went to the traditional 5 or 6 man teams? That'd be insanity. I had a hard enough time paring down the First Team to 11 and the Second Team to 10. It was splitting hairs between Clark, Cunningham, Price, Adrien and Matthews for the first team, and the same thing goes for leaving off Efejuku and Ruoff from the second team and including Butler. I will be very interested to see how this plays out. I also couldn't decide what to do with Dominic James. He would have probably been a borderline first teamer had he stayed healthy, but I'm not sure what will happen now. Honorable mention seemed good enough, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him make his way onto the second team out of respect for what he has done.

A Big East Power Poll

As I said yesterday, football is done with actual on-field actions, and I can really only do so many NFL offseason posts in the first week after the Super Bowl, so let's focus on something else. For now, that will be the Pitt Panthers and their top 10 basketball team. It seems like every week a new contender emerges in the bloated Big East and a new underdog pulls a monster upset over a previous favorite. So how do we make sense of it all? By puting together the old Power Poll, of course!

The National Title Contenders
1. Connecticut- The Huskies not only are the Big East's top team, right now they are tops in the nation. This is a very, very good squad that is built very well for a run in March. Jeff Adrien, Jerome Dyson, Hasheem Thabeet, and A.J. Price are all star-caliber players and any one is capable of killing you at any time.
2. Louisville- Coming into the season I was very skeptical of Louisville. I felt that too often in the past they had been overrated because of their head coach. This year, however that is certainly not the case. The three headed monster of Terrance Williams, Samardo Samuels, and Earl Clark make this a dangerous squad. Williams is one of the best all-around players in the country. Their big weakness though is at the point guard where career underachieve Edgar Sosa has continued to disappoint.

3. Pitt- Jamie Dixon is doing it again at Pitt. For the past several seasons the knock on the Pitt program has been that they just can't get past the Sweet 16 in March. With this squad though, the Panthers figure to have their best shot ever at advancing. I mean if you can't do it with a core of Sam Young, DeJuan Blair, and Levance Fields with several very good role players, when can you do it?

The Unknown Entity
4. Marquette- To any Marquette fans out there: I know, I know, you were the last undefeated Big East team and are still in second-place in the Big East. But I mean, c'mon. You guys, for some bizarre reason, haven't played anybody yet and just got drubbed by lowly South Florida. Congrats you beat Georgetown and Notre Dame in the midst of their nuclear meltdowns. The 'Nova win was a very good one, I'll give you that, but we'll talk again after you've gone through the wringer from Feb. 25-March 4 when play UConn, at Louisville, and at Pitt in succession. If you get even 1 win there, you get elevated to National Championship Contender. Deal? Deal.

The Sleeper
5. Villanova- I don't think Nova has the juice to consistently knock around the big talent teams often enough to be considered a Final Four/ National Championship squad, but this is still a very good squad. On any given night they could certainly beat any other team if they play to their abilities, but they also have had trouble finishing as they lost close games to Louisville, Nova, and UConn.

Not Ready For Prime-time Players
6. Cincinnati
7. West Virginia
I gave these squads this name and lumped them together in one paragraph because they remind a lot of one another. Not necessarily in their play on the court, but in the way I feel about them. They are both programs on the rise in the Big East, but yet they definitely aren't yet ready to contend for the conference title and consistently play with the top squads. Still, they beat the teams they are supposed and are definitely capable of pulling an upset or two. Barring a collapse they'll both also be dancing.

Still Have Work To Do8. Syracuse
9. Providence
Given the depth and the hyping of this conference, most would consider it a disappointment if at least 8 squads and maybe even 9 don't make the tourney. Well, right now it looks like the league's best hopes for those bids are Syracuse and Providence. Neither is anywhere near in yet, but they are on the right track and with a few more wins over quality squads they should be on the right track to a dancing.
The Overachievers
10. Seton Hall
11. St. John's
Not a lot was expected of these two squads coming into the season and while certainly neither one is really tearing things up, both are making decent enough progress as they try to build their programs up. Neither is going to go dancing, but both have good shots at an NIT bid, which would at least be a decent start. They can also both play with just about anyone in conference.
The Implosions
12. Georgetown
13. Notre Dame
These two traditional powers in the conference came in with several talented players on their roster and reasonably high expectations. That is especially true for the Irish. Yet after solid starts in the Big East both are in the midst of epic collapses. It figures that ND's collapse will cost Mike Brey his job, and while G-town is disappointing they rae also a very young team.
Bad But Not The Worst
14. South Florida
15. Rutgers
USF came into the Big East for football and geographic purposes and it was to the definite detriment of their b-ball program. However after a few years of cellar dwelling the Bulls appear to at least be making some progress. It will be a long journey, but with three wins the Bulls already have as many wins as they ever have since joining the conference. The Knights meanwhile are a program headed in the opposite direction. They may have 1 win, but they are still a mess of a squad.
The Trainwreck
16. DePaul
The Blue Demons came out firing yesterday against Pitt and gave us a brief scare, but that team is really, really bad. They absolutely fell apart the rest of the game. Losing by 19 to Rutgers is downright embarassing. I honestly don't think the will win a game the rest of the year as their schedule is pretty brutal.

The Power of the Big East

I'm headed to the Pete tonight to watch our beloved Panthers take on a frisky mid-major in the Siena Saints, a game that, while certainly won't give us much of an indication of Big East play, should at least be something of a challenge for the Panthers, especially early on. I'll report back in tomorrow with my thoughts on the game, and hopefully they are nothing but upbeat and cheery.

On the national college b-ball scene, the red giant known as the Big East continues to make all other conferences look like white dwarves. And yes, that was an astronomy analogy. Deal with it. In the latest Top 25 polls, the Big East has 8 teams in both polls, 6 in the top 15 in the coaches' poll and an astounding 7 in the top 15 in the AP poll. And in all honesty, I think a few others besides those 8 could see time in the Top 25 before the end of the season. West Virginia, as much as I don't like to admit it, is a pretty good team with a fair amount of talent, but that's bound to happen when you have a coach who has consistently run shady programs. Seton Hall, Providence, and St. John's look like they are programs on the rise and have gotten off to strong starts this season and will be teams to reckon with in Big East play, and Cincinnati looks to be headed back up after a few down years. Really, the only teams in the Big East that have struggled thus far are South Florida and DePaul.

I mean that's 12 squads right there that in any other conference would figure to be favorites to earn NCAA bids, yet in the Big East, they will have to fight tooth-and-nail to earn a 7 or 8 seed for most. In my mind, though the Big East deserves double digit bids, they will only get 9, which would be a record. So here's how I break it down on percentage points for the Big East's 16 teams:

UConn 100%
Pitt 100%
Louisville 99%
Notre Dame 98%
Syracuse 95%
Georgetown 85%
Villanova 83%
Marquette 83%
West Virginia 60%
Cincinnati 24%
Seton Hall 23%
Rutgers 20%
Providence 15%
St. John's 12%
DePaul 2%
South Florida 1%

Anyway, all this leads me to my long-standing question: How long can this league really stay intact as is? Though nothing has been public about any trouble in the league, you've really got to wonder how long schools like Seton Hall, DePaul, Providence, and St. John's will really want to stay at the bottom tier of the conference. Big East football will keep bottom-feeding South Florida in-conference for good, but the rest worry me. Especially the three long-time Big Easters there who have exceptional tradition but have watched their success dry up in recent years. I also wonder about Notre Dame, too, even though they have enjoyed success. The latest capsizing football season really makes me wonder if they are edging closer toward coming to their senses and joining the Big Ten for all sports. Of course, there is a slim chance they could just join up with the Big East in football, but that seems unlikely.

I think the appointment of another Providence man as the new Big East commissioner will stave this off temporarily, but it can't be easy for the lesser Catholic schools, who at this point must feel like they are buried alive. I think this peace can only last for so long no matter what, and the bet here is that this Big East, unless we see some parity start to hit the league, is very different 5 years from now. But only time will tell.

Random Notes from around the Three Rivers

I racked my brain for a good portion of the day and truth be told, I just could not really come up with a truly good idea for a column, so I decided instead I would bounce around the Pittsburgh sports scene and give some commentary on what's going on in our slice of heaven.

-As I am typing this, the Pens are in the midst of a monster collapse against the hated Philadelphia Flyers. Such a huge collapse, in fact, that they pulled Marc-Andre Fleury prior to the third period because he blew a 3-0 lead and it has morphed into a 4-3 tilt in favor of the Fly Guys. It remains to be seen how this one turns out, but I am becoming increasingly concerned with this team's apparent inability to play a complete game. The season is still young and the Pens will undoubtedly have ample time this season to work out some of these kinks, but good teams just don't have these kinds of collapses. When the Pens are on their A game, they can outplay anyone in the league, but these moments just don't come often enough.

-If Big Ben says he is healthy enough to stay on the field, then you know what? I believe him. At no point in his career has Roethlisberger ever shown interest in anything but winning, and I truly don't think personal stats and glory are secondary to this kid, and as much as it may have looked like he was struggling badly in the Indy game (and even he admitted that he was), I am willing to give our Super Bowl winning QB the benefit of the doubt, and let's not forget one thing folks. Despite how well he played in the second half of the Redskins game, there is a reason why Byron Leftwich was run out of Jacksonville and Atlanta and spent several months without so much as a nibble on the free agent market.

-This one goes out to a certain person who is a fan of that largest college in the state. Earlier this year, I heard certain things emanating from State College about a certain math equation that seemed to develop: If Penn State > Oregon State, and Oregon State > Preseason National Championship Favorite Southern Cal, then quite obviously, Penn State > Southern Cal. Now a few months later, I'd like to present the following equation to you crazy Stater fans who pretend not to care about Pitt, but get all riled up about Pitt anyway: Earlier this season, the following equation developed: Pitt > Iowa. Last weekend, Iowa > Penn State.... Would you like for me to finish that equation??? No? Okay. Well I look forward to the comments anyway.

-Speaking of my beloved Panthers, it is going to be unbelievably fascinating to see how the goofy Big East shakes out the rest of the way. I know that there are countless college football fans who look down their nose at the Big East, and for some they probably have the right to do so (looking directly at the Big 12 and SEC), but I really believe it is the most parity-filled league, and I think that's a good thing. While it hurts the league's ability to have a truly elite team, it keeps all the fans interested (except of course for Syracuse, who absolutely owns Louisville for some reason, but would likely struggle against Gateway High School), and it also can lead to possible scenarios like the potential 5 team tie that the Big East could have atop its ranks in a few weeks if things break just right.

-I'll be headed to the Panthers' clash with Fairleigh Dickinson at the Pete tomorrow night and will report some impressions afterward. It should be a laugher, meaning there could be some very intriguing looks at the youngsters.

-It's not the least bit surprising to see the Pirates keeping all quiet on their home front while other teams are a wheelin' and a dealin' following last week's meetings. The Bucs don't actually have a ton of potential trade candidates on the roster. Of course, it's almost considered to be a sure thing that Jumpin' Jack Wilson will be dealt, but I think we will see Neal Huntington stand very pat on that one until he gets a good deal, and no good deals are likely to come through until after the elite free agents are off the market.

-Right as I was having a bit of a brain cramp as far as what to write next.... GOAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL for Sid the Kid. He comes in from the right circle and drills one past the keeper from his knee. I mean, I know Sid has gotten off to a bit of a slow start (as slow as one can call it when a player is averaging more than a point per game) but this guy absolutely OWNS the Flyers doesn't he? Ever since Dirty Derian Hatcher cheap shotted him and knocked out a tooth he has been a one-man wrecking crew against the Pens biggest rivals. Very exciting stuff, and let's see if the Pens can get another one on the board here in the waning minutes of the third to cap another exciting comeback.

-I've previously postulated, though I don't think in this forum, that I thought that the Big East could be headed for a split down the line that would cause them to lose some of their catholic schools (specifically St. John's, Seton Hall, Providence and DePaul) because of how difficult it has been for these schools to compete since the expansion. But with the announcement of a Providence man, John Marinatto, to replace Mike Tranghese as commissioner, I am going to shelve that prediction. I do think that this could lead to something (I have no idea what) being done to give the Catholic schools a leg up against their much larger competition. I also think that this means this will essentially be a continuation of the Mike Tranghese era, and while that isn't necessarily a bad thing, I think the Big East could have used some new thoughts regarding their incredible uniqueness, and this likely means regurgitated thoughts.

-Remember a year ago when the Pirates were rumored to be getting Kelly Shoppach and Cliff Lee for Jason Bay and it was shot down by the Pirates because it was viewed as not being enough? Well, a year later, after getting some serious question marks in exchange for J-Bay and watching Cliff Lee take home the Cy Young earlier today, I'd say they made the wrong call there. To be fair, most thought it wasn't enough for Bay and hindsight is always 20-20, and yours truly certainly was opposed to it, it probably isn't a great sign when you can say that your GM turned down a deal that would have allowed him to acquire the Cy Young winner at his lowest value of his entire career. Still though, I'm not actually upset with NH, just wanted to bring it up in case anyone forgot.

-Here we go with a SHOOTOUT!!!!!! Petr Sykora shoots first for the Penguinos, and... he shoots it directly into the goalie's pads. Here comes Simon Gagne against Sabourin... and he makes a brilliant poke check! 0-0 after the first round! Next for the Pens is Kris Letang, a shockingly good shoot out man. Here he comes... DENIED by Biron on the forehand, and he even tried to put it in a second time and was denied twice, luckily it only counts once. Next is the dreaded Mike Richards... and Sabourin makes a spectacular save after getting deked out like crazy. Here comes our star Sid the kid.... and he MISSES the net! Damn! That was a poor move by 8-7. Jeff Carter is last... you can feel the tension... SABO MAKES THE SAVE!!! We're going to extra shots. GENO! GENO! GENO! Here comes Malkin...He makes a sick move but can't finish with what Paul Alexander calls the old Peter Forsberg move. Poke check by Biron stops him. Kimmo Timonen skates up... He had Sabo beat but HE HITS THE POST! Next up, sell your soul because here comes Satan!!! Miro is poke checked away by Biron and we are still scoreless after 4 1/2 rounds. Oh man this is nerve wracking. Joffrey Lupul coming in... and SABO makes another one! WOW this is unreal. Here comes the rook, Alex Goligoski...What a MOVE!!!!! HE SCORES!!! Back and forth he snaked and he knocked it around Biron. Here comes the hated thug Scotty Hartnell... I hope he breaks his neck... and Sabourin poke checks it out!!!!! PENS WIN! PENS WIN! PENS WIN! What a performance by Dany Sabourin in relief, and that jerk Hartnell, after getting stopped, bowls over Sabourin in a typically ridiculously dirty play and talks trash on him. Ooohh Man do I hate that guy. It doesn't matter though because that loser choked!!!!!! Pens with their second monster comeback in a row! On that note, I think I will call it a column here with this little strem of consciousness-y account of the Pens shootout. Good Fight, Good Night!