The recent penalties handed down to Penn State will have a huge impact on the upcoming Big Ten season.  Penn State was expected to be a competitive team before this disaster struck, and now it will most likely not be that way for quite a while.

A number of players are expected to transfer at no penalty, and a number of them could potentially stay in the Big Ten.  The real loser in this situation besides the victims of child abuse is the Big Ten Conference.

Wisconsin can punch their ticket to the Big Ten Championship game with Penn State and Ohio State both being ineligible for post season play.  Wisconsin only has to beat out Illinois, Indiana, and Purdue to lock themselves into the Championship game.

Those three teams were not expected to be very good anyway, which makes this season even that much more boring for the Big Ten on the Leaders Division side.  The Legends Division should be exciting, but that won’t make up for the lost cause on the other side.

However, with Ohio State and Penn State both under the microscope it could generate short term media attention to head their direction to see how they attempt to overcome the recent situations.  This could potentially be very beneficial to the Big Ten.

The winners in this situation are the other schools in the Big Ten.  They now have a chance to not only swoop in and take current players off the Penn State roster, but for the next four or five seasons they are going to have their chance to get their hands on a number of recruits that will now be looking elsewhere.

There won’t be any special recruiting tools needed to lure a player away from Penn State.  All a coach has to attack is the chance to play in a bowl game and the lack of exposure Penn State will get due to the decline in the quality of their football and the poor reputation that has now been established.

Time will tell how if the penalties will be worse than the death penalty for Penn State.  However, the immediate impact will gear more towards the Big Ten and how the other football programs will be able to take advantage of the punishments handed down to Penn State.

In the wake of the guilty verdict of Jerry Sandusky child molestation hearing, the NCAA is expected to announce harsh penalties on Penn State and their football program as early as Monday.

While I have been very critical of the program and university for allowing Sandusky to terrorize young boys on Penn State’s own facilities, what else does the NCAA want to do that hasn’t been done?

Much like an ambulance chaser or Al Sharpton or Jessie Jackson, the NCAA wants to get their stink on the tragedy that the university and the entire state of Pennsylvania so desperately wants to begin to heal.

Multiple media outlets are reporting that the NCAA is expected to announce harsh and even “unprecedented” penalties, due to lack of institutional control during Joe Paterno’s legendary (and now infamous) coaching career, but look at what has already been done in less than a year that the Sandusky scandal was finally brought into the public eye less than a year ago.

• Paterno is dead.  Unfortunately, he died before he could see his own legend collapse , the legend that he determined was worth more than the innocence of so many young boys that were terrorized by Sandusky.
• Sunday, Penn State president Rodney Erickson determined that Paterno’s famous statue in front of Beaver Stadium was taken down.
• Former Penn State president Graham Spanier and former athletic director Tim Curley are no longer in their positions at the school and are currently facing jail time for perjury and crimes committed by allowing the scandal to reach the heights it did.
• The entire Penn State football coaching staff has been removed, and new head coach Bill O’Brien has brought a new staff that, unlike the last one, has done nothing wrong and has not harbored any pedophiles.

After all the changes have been made, along with the harsh (and fair) public critcism of Penn State and Paterno’s football program, why does the NCAA feel they need to do any more?  Who is left to punish?

The significant loss of scholarships and the loss of bowl games to the university is going to punish the players, new coaches and students who had absolutely nothing to do with Paterno and other former Penn State officials’ lack of judgement.

Instead, the NCAA is going to punish the very people that have joined together to help heal the damage that Sandusky, Paterno and other former admistrator caused.

Unfortunately for Penn State, this is an opportune time for the NCAA to flex their muscles in the public eye and pat themselves on the back for maintaining the status quo in a sport that makes a lot of people, including the NCAA, billions of dollars.

The sad part is that NCAA gladly benefited financially from Penn State football when Paterno was at the helm. All the bowl games, all the jersey sales and all of the video games that used Penn State and NCAA logos have sent a stream of revenue to the NCAA offices.

While the NCAA obviously used the vast majority of those funds to aid other sports programs across all divisions and all sports, salaries were paid, too. In a recent article in USA Today, it was reported that current NCAA president Mark Emmert rakes in $1.6 million per year for his position, and they’re not generating that cash from a 50/50 raffle.  It comes from the revenues from sports, the vast majority of which is football.

By intervening now and hammering an already crippled Penn State program that has shown the world that they are taking every step possible to move on and heal from this tragedy, the NCAA is only going to slow down the progress of all of the good and dedicated people who want to restore Penn State to everything it can be.

photo courtesy of USA Today

With this past weekend’s leaked emails from former Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley, not only is it clear that the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal is far from going away, but it also solidifies that Joe Paterno’s legacy is not just forever tarnished–it is forever disgraced.

Not only does the Penn State PR nightmare continue for the university and the entire athletic department, but now it could be facing possible NCAA sanctions for a complete and utter lack of institutional control.

Whether or not the NCAA will go after Penn State is yet to be determined, but as ESPN’s Colin Cowherd pointed out on his Monday radio show, the NCAA would seem awfully hypocritical if they don’t.  It was the NCAA, after all, that hammered USC a couple of years ago because former running back and Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush’s parents took money and gifts from the program.

The NCAA made an example of USC because of their lack of control, stripping them of multiple scholarships and they deemed them ineligible to compete in bowl games the last two seasons.

So, if putting up parents of a player in a home closer to campus, so they can be closer to their son is lack of control, all eyes will be on the NCAA in the coming weeks to see their take on top administrators, including the former president, AD and Paterno for allowing a sexual predator to stay on the streets and have access to Penn State facilities (which is where a number of the Sandusky’s victims were assaulted).

The recent emails released to the public show that not only was Paterno and other top school officials aware of Sandusky’s bizarre behavior, but they also were going to turn Sandusky over to Child Welfare Services, based on former grad assistant Mike McQueary’s account of Sandusky molesting a young boy in the Penn State shower room in 2001.

Instead of getting Sandusky off the street and preventing him from hurting more children, the decision was ultimately made by the Penn State brass to brush the incident under the rug to preserve the Joe Paterno…I mean, Penn State brand.

USC never knowingly allowed a sexual predator to roam free among society, and they certainly didn’t give him the keys to their facilities to lure young boys, but that didn’t prevent the NCAA from arrogantly flexing their muscles to show the world what happens when your program doesn’t police itself to their satisfaction.

The NCAA backed themselves into quite a corner, and as more and more information from the Penn State scandal continues to leak, and former officials, including Curley and former president Graham Spanier face possible jail time, the sports world will be watching and waiting to see how the powers that be in the NCAA will react to an actual lack of institutional control.

photo courtesy of abcnews.com

After 46 years of coaching, 409 wins vs. 136 losses and 3 ties, 37 bowl appearances with 24 wins, Joe Paterno died Sunday, January 22, 2012. He was 85 years old.

The legacy Paterno will leave behind is up in the air among all college football fans; will he be remembered for the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal, or will his legendary coaching career and humility reign as his memory? No matter what people think of him, there were plenty of those who could not look any higher upon him.

The memorial on January 26 included an audience of nearly 12,000, among them family, friends, students, die-hard fans, and, most memorable, current and past players. The service included many speeches given by these athletes, and Bleacherreport.com has compiled some of the most notable ones from the afternoon.

No speech seems to explain all that is JoePa, however, than that given by senior linebacker Mike Mauti. Both Mauti and his father were athletes under Paterno, resembling one another both in skill and personality. Mauti’s speech portrays Paterno as a sarcastic and devoted man, one who remembers every single one of his previous and current players and who recognizes the importance of being a modest athlete.

It is evident that Joe Paterno will leave a greater mark on college football than any other coach in the past or those who will come along in the future, even with the Sandusky allegations. College football and athletics in general have lost a major figure in the game, and if there is someone who can have half the legacy Paterno had, we, as fans, are incredibly lucky.

Photo courtesy of the Sports Hernia Blog.

Just months after being fired from his head coaching position, legendary college football icon Joe Paterno passed away over the weekend.  Friends, family and fans across the country mourn his departure, and much discussion–and even anger–has sparked as people debate on what his legacy is and will be.  (photo courtesy of 995themountain.com)

There are many supporters, who include former Penn State players, like Todd Blackledge and Matt Millen, who have been very vocal about criticizing media and fans for jumping on Paterno and holding him more accountable than all others involved with the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

The fact is that many people dropped the ball, and I agree that Paterno has been held more accountable in the media than Mike McQueary (who initially reported Sandusky’s improper behavior with a young boy in the Penn State shower room), and it has been Paterno’s name  that has been on the forefront and not former athletic director Tim Curley or former PSU vice president Gary Schultz (who are both currently facing perjury charges due to the alleged cover up).

Those on the other side bring up the fact that Paterno, himself, admitted to–he could have and should have done more to help the alleged victims.  Even though Paterno was never indicted, his silence and contentment with simply handing over the responsibilities of Sandusky’s heinous acts allowed a known sex offender to run free and ultimately, to torment others for nearly ten more years with free reign.

No matter which side you are on, the fact is that Paterno will be remembered for both the very, very good, but also for the very, very bad.  Just like Pete Rose is known for being Major League Baseball’s all-time hits leader, he is also known for being the guy who bet on baseball and has been forever shunned by the Hall of Fame.

You cannot dispute the positive impact that Paterno made on his university, the thousands of players he coached or college football itself.  Unfortunately for Paterno and his supporters, he will also be forever linked to Sandusky and how he turned a blind eye and allowed a monster to molest even more children.

Running a great practice, being a great recruiter or keeping up graduation rates will never erase the last few months of his tenure at Penn State. 

On Sunday, Penn State’s basketball team took on Indiana and they observed a moment of silence.  Ironically, it was Paterno’s nine-year moment of silence that cost him his legacy.

Week 11 of this year’s college football season had its share of bigtime match ups, great individual performances and emotion.  Check out CSF’s take on our top four storylines from last weekend’s action.

Despite turmoil, Penn State shows ultimate class: Despite the Jerry Sandusky child sex scandal and the following administrative leave of assistant coach Mike McQueary and the mid-week firing of legendary coach Joe Paterno, Penn State officially started the healing process this weekend for the football program, the student body and most importantly, for the victims of the alleged abuse.

It started the night before, when students and faculty held a candlelight vigil for the vicitims of Sandusky’s heinous crimes.  On game day, the Penn State fans gave a warm welcome to the team when they got off the buses and again, the the Nittany Lions took the field.  An emotional moment of silence showed fans, many of whom were in tears, was followed by both teams meeting in a

BCS Computers get lucky again: Supporters of the BCS, which depends on computer formulas to determine the best teams in the land, got a huge break last weekend.  For the second straight year, Boise State will not be able to blame computers for not getting their shot at college football immortality.  Last year, a missed field goal at Nevada cost the Broncos a perfect season, and last weekend it was a missed field goal at home against TCU.

Just south in Palo Alto, the Stanford Cardinal fell to Oregon, ending the nation’s longest active winning streak and effectively taking them out of BCS Championship contention.  In the end, the Ducks simply had too much speed and athleticsm for the Cardinal, who still played an admirable game.  These two losses leave only LSU, Oklahoma State and Houston, who has never been taken seriously for a national title run, due to their schedule.

The Dawgs are back:  After dropping their first two games of the season, many had written off the Georgia Bulldogs and many fans were calling for head coach Mark Richt’s head.  Eight straight wins later and the ability to control their own destiny in the SEC East has a way of creating optimism.  After the 45-7 rout of Auburn last weekend, the Dawgs simply have to win this weekend at home against lowly Kentucky to officially punch their ticket to the SEC Championship next month.  You wouldn’t have guessed it a couple of months ago, but Richt’s very young and very talented squad will finish this season with nine or ten wins and a ton of momentum going into next season.

Brandon Weeden torches Texas Tech:  The Red Raiders were flying high after their upset win at Oklahoma on October 22nd.  That flight was short-lived, and they have dropped three straight since then, with the most recent loss resulting in a 66-6 beat down at home against Weeden and the Oklahoma State Cowboys.  Weeden shredded the TTU defense to the tune of 423 yards and five TDs.  In fact, Weeden had almost as many touchdowns (5) as he did incomplete passes (6) in this blowout.  The victory kept OSU in the #2 spot in the polls, and a win in the Bedlam game against Oklahoma would secure a shot at the BCS title–but don’t expect the Sooners to roll over…….the road to the Big 12 still goes through Norman until proved otherwise.