12ABEHREND BEACON December 4, 2009 www.thebehrendbeacon.com Sp PSU FOOTBALL Penn State versus lowa for BCS berth The Nittany Lions have a le gitimate shot at stealing a BCS bid. Penn State does not deserve On Nov. 7, Ohio State and Penn State essentially com peted to play in the Rose Bowl. Quarterback Terrelle Pryor and the Buckeyes soundly routed Penn State 24-7. The only other ranked team the Lions played this season, the lowa Hawkeyes, upset Penn State 21-10 at Happy Valley. How does a team that lost to its only two ranked opponents earn a BCS bid? For a Big Ten team who did not win the conference, it needs just the right combination of two things to play in a BCS game. First, it has to be in the BCS ranking's top 14. The Lions are number 11. With no regular season games left to play it is beyond unlikely that the team's BCS PROJECTIONS BCS National Championship Why Florida? The Gators are the number one team led by one of the best college football players, Tim Tebow. The Gators must de feat Alabama, the number two ranked team in the SEC Champi onship, to secure a berth in the National Championship game. Why Texas? Texas is the number three team in the country. The Longhorns must defeat number 22 Nebraska in the Big 12 Cham pionship and watch either the Gators or Crimson Tide lose and the SEC Championship and fall out of National Championship contention. A win over Nebraska secures a spot in the National Championship for Texas. BCS ranking will drop below the top 14, if at all. The second factor taken into account is a program's mar ketability. The one team that is Penn State's greatest competi tion to get into a BCS game is none other than the lowa Hawkeyes. By merit, due to head to-head competi tion, it is reasonable that lowa be selected as an at-large bid over Penn State Unfortunately for lowa merit is often overlooked when the BCS committee selects at-large bids. What the Nittany Lions need is for one of the BCS bowls to ignore the Hawkeyes' present success in preference for Penn State's legendary program. Allstate Sugar Bowl Why Alabama? The Sugar Bowl is host to the SEC Championship team. The winner of the SEC Championship on Dec. 5 will be the number one team and in the National Championship game. This leaves the Sugar Bowl with the first at-large pick and will choose the SEC runner-up, which is most likely Alabama. Why Cincinnati? The Sugar Bowl will have the fourth pick in the BCS at-large selection process. Cincinnnati will likely beat Pitt in the Big East Championship and recieve an automatic bid into the BCS. The Sugar Bowl will most likely pick Cincinnati as the last eastern conference champion. Penn State also has arguably the most successful coach in college football history. Joe Pa terno has won 393 games, most all-time. He has a record 35 bowl game ap pearences, 23 bowl game wins and 38 winning seasons. ~ ~. _;,~ SHAWN ANNARELLI Sports editor Hawkeye head coach Kirk Ferentz has led the lowa to seven bowl appearences in ten years and has won four bowl games. In head-to-head competition Ferentz is 7-2 against Paterno. The lowa football program has proven to be superior to Penn State this season and through- Paterno is the only coach to ever win all five BCS lowa has only won 12 bowl games in its his- Tostitos Fiesta Bowl 14 P• nn t•t• v•r us B• is Why Penn State? The Fiesta Bowl has the second and last pick in the at-large picking process. To pick the best team on the board, TCU and not a big name school, lowa or Penn State, would be rat ings suicide for the game. Penn State is the most marketable at large team available and will be picked as the Fiesta Bowl wants to avoid having a TCU versus Boise State game. Why Boise State? With the last pick the the Fiesta Bowl will se- lect the last undefeated team available, the Boise State Bron cos. The Broncos will likely de- feat New Mexico on Dec. 5 to solidify a perfect regular season out the last decade. There is not a soul in their right mind that would select Penn State over lowa based on performance alone. But all is not fair in the world of college football. The marketability of Joe Pa terno and the history of Nittany Lion football arguably trump any other coach or football pro gram. It is no secret that lowa should get into a BCS bowl game over Penn State. In the BCS system it does not come down to which team has earned a spot as much as how many seats a football program can sell, how many hotels and bars can be filled by a team's fans or how many casual fans will tune in to see a given team play. The dollar signs BCS bowls see in Penn State might not re ward lowa its rightful position as an at-large bid. Why Georgia Tech? The winner of the ACC Championship gets an automatic spot in the Orange Bowl. Georgia Tech faces un ranked Clemson on Dec 5. for the ACC Championship. The Yellow Jackets are heavy favorites over the Clemson Tigers and with a victory will advance to the Orange Bowl. Linebackers Pete Massaro, Josh Hull and Jared Odrick attempt to block an lowa field goal. The Hawkeyes beat the Lions 21-10. FedEx Orange Bowl Why TCU? The Orange Bowl has the third pick in the at-large se lection process and with a top four team, TCU, left on the board it only makes sense to take the Horned Frogs. As a top four BCS ranked team, TCU is guaranteed to be an at-large pick. It will be TCU's first BCS appearence. orts The Rose Bowl 700, - 2.0 n vers s Ohio S Why Oregon? The Pac-10 Cham pion has a guaranteed spot in the Rose Bowl as long as it is not a top two team. No worries here. Number seven Oregon will face and is favored to defeat sixtienth ranked Oregon State for the Pac -10 Championship on Dec. 5. Why Ohio State? The Big Ten Champion has an automatic bid in the Rose Bowl unless it is a top two team. With two losses to ac count for, Ohio State is stuck with the Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes de feated lowa and Penn State in its last three weeks to secure the Big Ten Championship. Ohio State is the only team with a definitive BCS destination
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