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