Steele, Lindy Release Preseason Picks; JoePa Overrated?

We are still 93 days away from meaningful Penn State football but recently some of the preview magazines have hit stands or released some of their rankings and opinions to the Internet crowd.

Phil Steele, highly recommended by Zombie Nation, had some of his stuff leak out late last week. Among the highlights were Penn State being his #1 surprise team for 2009 and having the Nittany Lions ranked 5th in his Top 25. Not too shabby. Then yesterday ESPNs Big Ten blogger Adam Rittenberg mentioned Steele's preseason All-Big Ten teams. Penn State netted six first team selections. They were RB Evan Royster, C Stefen Wisniewski, OT Dennis Landolt, DT Jared Odrick and LBs Navorro Bowman and Sean Lee. Notice anyone missing? How about 2008 first team All-Big Ten QB (both coaches and media) Daryll Clark? OK, so he must have been on the second team then. WRONG! Clark fell all the way to third, behind Illinois' Juice Williams (first) and Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor (second). Wow. Punter Jeremy Boone made Steele's second team while OG Lou Eliades joined Clark on the third team. RB Stephfon Greene, DT Abe Koroma and CB A.J. Wallace were selected for his fourth team.

Steele's preseason All-American were released as well. No Nittany Lions made his first team. Two (Royster, Lee) were named to the second team and another two (Odrick, Bowman) appear on his third team.

Not to be outdone, Lindy's released their own take on the 2009 season. The Lindy's crew has Ohio State winning the conference with Penn State in second followed by Michigan State, Illinois and Wisconsin. Iowa - considered by many as a dark horse candidate for the conference - is sixth. That will ruffle some Hawkeye feathers, no doubt. Here's what Lindy's has to say about Penn State, who they ranked 11th in their preseason poll.

11. PENN STATE

JoePa has Lions Positioned for Pasadena

Ten wins a season has (again) become automatic for 83-year-old Joe Paterno. Penn State has 40 victories in the past four seasons and the Lions have the all-star candidates at critical positions — QB Daryll Clark, DT Jared Odrick and LB Sean Lee — to mop up in the non-conference season and scoot happily through the Big Ten before hosting Ohio State in November.

THE GOOD NEWS: Clark is in the running as the top QB in the league, and the Nittany Lions’ defensive quarterback — Lee — was most of the way back this spring from an ACL tear suffered prior to last season. With Lee and troubled LB Navorro Bowman expected to be on the field in September, the defense should take no more than a baby step backward.

THE BAD NEWS: Three multi-year starters at wide receiver — Derrick Williams, Deon Butler and Jordan Norwood — are gone. Arguably the top two O-linemen from last year’s group, including workaholic A.Q. Shipley in the pivot, have been replaced.

OUR CALL: Penn State faces a low degree of difficulty before carving into what appears to be a soft underbelly of the Big Ten. Then it’s beat the Buckeyes (not the simplest task) and pack for Pasadena.

Royster, Wisniewski, Odrick and Lee are all preseason All-Big Ten performers according to Lindy's. Landolt, Bowman and Boone made the second team. Lindy's follows Phil Steele as saying Daryll Clark is not a top two QB in the conference. This time around Pryor gets the first team nod while Williams heads to the second team. I'd really like to hear the reasoning for this.

In attempt to fill the offseason void (and drum up some hits), Heisman Pundit has released lists of the Top 10 Overrated and Underrated College Coaches. Joe Paterno makes the list. The overrated list. While I admit JoePa is past his prime, I still don't see how he is overrated. The criteria isn't listed by Heisman Pundit so there really is no context. They do make a point saying "this list does NOT mean these coaches all suck", but what's wrong with Paterno?

4. Joe Paterno, Penn State–He wouldn’t be here except for the fact that HE’S NOT REALLY COACHING THE TEAM ANYMORE. Great career, great program builder, but Tom Bradley basically runs this team now.

How is he not really coaching the team? Where is this proof that Joe does nothing? Did he coach from the press box last year? Absolutely. Does that mean he did less in 2008 than in 2007 (or earlier)? No. In fact, JoePa preferred the press box because of the advantages it gave him to coach the team. The one thing I'll give Heisman Pundit is Paterno not making the trip to the locker room at halftime. Sure, Bradley made the speech and game plan alterations. But during the game Joe was still there, voicing his opinion, suggesting plays and overriding his assistants if he felt something wasn't a good idea. How is that not coaching? It's ridiculous to expect head coaches to call offensive and/or defensive plays - that's what coordinators are for! JoePa still is the coach. Tom Bradley is definitely second in command but he still defers to Joe. Paterno's squads have put up 40 wins in the last four seasons. He's still got it.

Of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I respect Heisman Pundit regardless of our conflicting views.

Bad Wikipedia: Version 1

While looking up things about Bill Cowher and this whole PSU speculation, I decided to check out everybody's favorite source, Wikipedia, and found a gem of a lie.


(Click on the picture so you can actually see it but if you're too lazy to do that, it reads: "Recently, it has been discovered that the Cowher's are selling their new house in NC because the Coach is about to sign a contract to become the next head coach of Penn State, following Joe Paterno's retirement in 2009. Accompanied with their new coach the Nittany Lions also added another member to the team, top recruit Terrelle Pryor.")

Not only is that a lie, it doesn't make sense. The whole PSU thing was only a rumor to begin with and this establishes it as fact. It also states that JoePa is retiring in 2009, something widely speculated but far from certain. Finally, this clever writer decides to stick in that PSU got Terrelle Pryor, which is not true (..yet..). Either way, if we do get Pryor, he'd be here before Cowher would be so yeah....what the heck?

FYI: I'm too lazy to change it and found it amusing so hurry up and check it out for yourself before somebody with a conscience decides to fix it.

Delayed signing a good thing for Penn State

Just wanted to emphasize a lot of what Eric wrote. A lot of the things I said last night have changed. Pryor is most likely not signing today. And I don't consider Michigan the front runner. Eric is most likely right about why Michigan may be third. Does Pryor really want to go to the program that is completely overhauling its system? There will be drastic changes in Ann Arbor. And I read more articles about Pryor and some friends gave me insight and it echos what Eric wrote: Ohio State was his choice. However, that he is going to delay signing can only be a good thing for Penn State and even Michigan. It just shows that he isn't sold on the Buckeyes in some way, even if it is a family reason. If it is true that he doesn't want to play right away - a very good idea - then Ohio State and Penn State are the better options. I can't imagine being this young man right now. What an excruciating, long process. This could probably hasn't gotten any time to himself. Hopefully he makes the right decision and does what he wants to do. Otherwise it could be a long college career for him, and not in a good way. From my experience and from an atmosphere standpoint, you can't go wrong in Happy Valley.

New Life for Penn State in the Pryor Sweepstakes?

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Pryor will not make his college decision later today. In the article, it also says that Pryor will "probably make a visit to Penn State." Pryor's father said that the two exchanged their selections and that they did not match. His dad says he didn't pick Ohio State. It is purely a guessing game but it looks like Terrelle probably picked Ohio State while his dad almost certainly picked Penn State. I was wondering why he never dropped PSU off the list. I think it's safe to say that it is because of his father. Why else would he come to Penn State for yet another visit? Does this mean that Michigan is effectively off the list? The more I think about it, the more I think that he's a little afraid to commit to a program that's being completely revamped. Furthermore, his dad also claimed that playing early is not important for Pryor and that it might even be better that he sit back and learn the college game first (another strike against UM and pretty much confirmation that he picked PSU). If you asked me, after reading the article, I would say that Pryor's list reads:

1-Ohio State
2-Penn State
3-Michigan

I thought PSU's chances were slim and none but after this latest setback, there is reason for hope.

Pryor to commit tomorrow?

One of the most dynamic high school players in Pennsylvania football history will make a decision tomorrow that could alter the look of the Big Ten for the next three years. Terrelle Pryor of Jeannette is reportedly set to decide his college of choice at a press conference set for 12:05pm tomorrow (Wednesday, February 6th). The Associated Press claims that Pryor has decided against Oregon and lists Michigan and Ohio State as his top two choices. However, Penn State is indeed in the running despite being viewed as his third choice. I give the edge to Michigan because of Rich Rodriguez's offense. I would not count out Penn State though. They are expected to use an offense in 2008 similar to the one used in 2005, when Michael Robinson earned Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year honors and lead Penn State to an Orange Bowl victory and #3 ranking. Daryll Clark will be running that same offense this year. Pryor could redshirt in '08, learn from Clark throughout the year, and be poised for a two to three year run as QB at Penn State. What are the odds the uberprospect signs with Penn State? Slim. Maybe 15%? Who knows. We will find out tomorrow.