Call it the luck of the Irish if you want, but Bill O’Brien just keeps making the right moves.

If the game next year in Dublin, Ireland, comes to be, add that to the list.

O’Brien is always under the gun to find creative ways to entice players to join the Nittany Lions while they are under a reduced scholarship limit, and barred from bowl, as well as conference and national championship competition.

So far, he’s had pretty good success selling guys on the Penn State brand, the 100,000 + seat Beaver Stadium, and the chance to play for a guy who has as good a pro pedigree as anybody in the college game today.

O’Brien has talked in the past about getting a game overseas as a way to reward his players with a special trip to take the place of a bowl game.  Ireland would do the trick for many, I think.  The chance to visit that country in September, as opposed to, say, Houston, Jacksonville, or some other second-tier bowl venue over New Year’s, stacks up pretty well. 

Even though the game itself is just a non-conference regular season contest, is that really much less meaningful than playing the SEC’s fourth or fifth-place team in the Outback or Capital One Bowl? 

Who knows.  In Ireland, maybe the Lions will even find a four-leaf clover for a little good luck.

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Amid legitimate concern that the NCAA scholarship sanctions, and inability to play in a bowl or for a league or national title would seriously damage Penn State football’s national standing, the release of the first two games of the TV schedule permit at least a little sigh of relief.

ABC/ESPN are putting the PSU/Michigan game at 5 p.m., so it will draw a prime time audience in the second half, and the Ohio State game will be a pure prime time matchup at 8 p.m.  So, the TV folks still view Penn State as a national draw when in a big game, and if the TV folks see it this way, that means a sizeable chunk of national college football viewers do, too.

That’s good news for showing recruits there’s still a good reason to come to Penn State for the next two seasons, while the bowl and title game sanctions remain in place.  Kids in North Carolina and Kansas will see that the Lions are still a program that matters, and can fill a 100,000+ seat stadium.

The addition of Nebraska, a long-time non-conference rival for PSU, and former eastern opponents Rutgers and Maryland next year, should also add to the appeal of the Penn State schedule and experience.  When the Lions joined the Big Ten in 1993, it was thought they would enhance the league often then known as the Big Two and Little Eight–with Michigan and Ohio State being the two. 

It hasn’t quite worked out that way.  Penn State has won or shared three Big Ten crowns in 20 years, and has the third best league winning percentage since joining (excluding Nebraska’s two-year mark).  But, there has never developed a great rivalry for Penn State in the league.  Conference honchos tried to manufacture one with a season-ending game against Michigan State for the coveted Land Grant Trophy.  Yeah.

Michigan leads Penn State 10-6, and while that is relatively close overall, the Lions won three of the first four, then the Wolverines took nine straight in the 2000s, and PSU has won the last three.  Ohio State has been the best overall big time opponent, with the series at Buckeyes 15-13.  Hopefully that will continue and build with the teams, and Michigan, all in the eastern division, and Maryland and Rutgers can add to the drama. 

Here’s hoping an annual inter-divisional game with Nebraska makes it onto the schedule, too.  All of this will help the Lions remain relevant through the sanctions and beyond.

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The Big Ten got it right the second time around.

The division realignment in 2014, when Maryland and Rutgers join the conference, makes sense geographically and has decent competitive balance.  Calling the divisions East and West is also much better than the boneheaded Leaders and Legends.

Penn State will be in the East, with Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Indiana, and the two other actual eastern teams, Maryland and Rutgers.  This puts three top tier football programs together (OSU, Michigan, PSU), along with occasional title competitor Michigan State, and three programs that aren’t at that level yet, in Maryland, Rutgers, and especially Indiana.  The league’s biggest traditional rivalry remains an annual affair–Michigan vs. Ohio State–though these teams can’t play for the league title.

The West Division has all the teams in the central time zone–Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Illinois, plus Purdue.  The middle state geographically, Indiana, is the one that is split.  Nebraska and Wisconsin headline this division, with Iowa the pretty good #3, and Northwestern the occasional team that makes a run. Illinois, Purdue, and Minnesota would be the bottom three here, at least at present.

The league is going to a nine-game conference schedule in 2014.  That’s not perfect, but it allows for three cross-division games a year and keeps teams from not playing somebody in the conference for a long time.  I haven’t heard, but I would like to see a cross-division rival set up to play every year, and would like it to be Nebraska for Penn State. 

This also limits teams to three non-league games each year, and in the years Penn State plays five conference road games, expect to see the lowest possible FBS schools coming in to get a payday and to give the Lions three non-conference home games those years.  Yes, you’ll be paying top dollar to squeeze into your no-back seat to watch Louisiana Tech, East Carolina, and Ball State.  Because, as you remember, the NCAA has changed the culture of college football to be all about the student athlete.

Lions fans will get a top name, non-conference opponent at home about five times a decade. 

There are drawbacks, but the new division alignment is an improvement.  Perhaps, over time, PSU can develop a good season-ending rivalry with Maryland.  That would be nice.

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Star Central Dauphin recruit Zayd Issah will not be on the Penn State football team this fall, after being charged with knowingly passing counterfeit money at Harrisburg area fast food restaurants.

That much we know, but now a whole lot else.  So, I’m left wondering who made what decisions, and if they are the right ones.

Former Penn State administrator Vicki Triponey alleged during the whole Sandusky mess that Joe Paterno had interfered with and threatened to have her fired when she tried to impose the same discipline standards on football players that she did on the rest of the student body.

Having seen much of the cranky, defensive, get off my guys Paterno over the years, I can believe at least much of those charges.  So, on the surface, it would seem Penn State’s, and one assumes Bill O’Brien’s, decision to back away from Issah so as not to give the appearance of interfering may be a sound one.

But, whatever happened to the right of an American citizen to be innocent until proven guilty?  Issah has been charged with a crime.  He has not been convicted of anything.  He has not even had his day in court.

Police say Issah and two other young men ran when confronted about the alleged phony bills at the fast food joint.  Okay, doesn’t look good, but refer to the previous paragraph.

Police also reportedly say they know Issah knew the bills were false because of comments on Facebook.  Because we all know if it’s on the Internet or social media it has to be true. 

I also can’t help but remember the Rashard Casey incident.

To referesh, Casey was Penn State’s starting quarterback.  Over the summer he was charged with assaulting another individulal in what police claimed was a racially motivated incident–a hate crime, if you will.  Paterno stood by Casey, welcoming him back to the team and starting him at quarterback amid sometimes withering criticism for doing so.  All along, Paterno insisted there was more to the story than was being told.  And he reminded people Casey, like the rest of us, is innocent until proven guilty.

Eventually, the charges against Caseywere dropped.  Seems upon further investigation, it was the other individual or individuals who instigated the confrontation, possibly with racial motivations.  Casey, it turns out, was innocent after all.  He was not robbed of a season on the football field.

Paterno knew Casey well.  Casey had been on the team for four years when this happened.  Joe apparently felt he could trust Casey when Casey looked him in the eye and said I didn’t do it.  Some have questioned whether Paterno would have done the same for a backup offensive lineman.  JoePa defenders would like to think so–I would like to think so–but we’ll never know.

While O’Brien signed Issah, he obviously does not have the same relationship Paterno had with Casey. 

We’ll have to see how all this plays out.  If Issah is guilty, he’ll pay a penalty.  If he repents, will he be offered a scholarship?  Should he be?  What about if he’s innocent?  And would things have been different if Sandusky had never happened?

We’ll have to see.

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Call it karma.  JoePa’s revenge.  Or just the way things worked out.

Almost a year later, the four highest profile players who left Penn State after the NCAA sanctions are all fairing poorly, while two of their replacements seem to have brighter college football futures ahead. 

Running back Silas Redd had a superb season in 2011, then bolted for USC, where things started off well enough.  But, the Trojans lost five of their last six games.  In the final seven contests last year, Redd averaged just 56 yards.  Two weeks ago, Redd tore the miniscus in his left knee in practice, and needed surgery.  No prognosis yet, but he has just one year of eligibility left.

Zach Zwinak, fourth on the depth chart at running back last June, ended up a thousand yard runner on a team that won eight games, including a season-ending win over Wisconsin.  With a full offseason as the number one guy, and two years of eligibility left, this guy’s upside seems pretty good.

Anthony Fera was an all-conference kicker and punter who took his foot to Texas.  He injured his groin in the summer, and player in only six games last year, hitting just two of four field goals, and didn’t punt at all.  In the Longhorns’ spring game before Fera’s senior season, two other kickers hit field goals and extra points, while Fera attempted none.  Nor did he kick off.  He punted twice for a 34.5 yard average.

Things couldn’t have started worse for Fera’s replacement, Sam Ficken.  Who can forget that dismal performance in the rain at Virginia, when just one more field goal–out of four missed, in addition to a botched extra point, cost the Lions a one-point loss.  While it was a season long struggle, Ficken stuck with it, and by November was getting better–hitting the game winning field goal in that overtime, season-ending win against Wisconsin.

One time starting quarterback Rob Bolden, who headed to LSU, never saw the field for the Tigers.  Bolden is missing LSU’s spring practice with a knee injury.  It’s not known the extent of the injury, but there are at least three QBs likely ahead of Bolden on the squad, and he may well have seen his last major college action.

Receiver Justin Brown did do well in his senior season at Oklahoma, with 73 receptions for 879 yards, and five TDs.  He also averaged 14 yards on punt returns.  But, the Sooners’ Kenny Stills, who had 82 catches and 11 TDs, was the one Oklahoma receiver invited to the NFL combine. 

The NCAA fined Penn State $60 million for allegedly failing to properly oversee the football program and let Jerry Sandusky roam free.  The NCAA itself has lost the first round in a class action suit by former players, suing because the NCAA uses their likenesses in advertising, video games, and so on, with no compensation. 

If the NCAA eventually loses that suit, some say it could cost them billions.

Hmmmm……….

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Penn State Associate Athletic Director Fran Ganter retires Feb. 28, and with him goes the last major link to the Paterno era.

Ganter played under Paterno from 1967 to 1970, and and served as an assistant coach from 1971 to 2004, rising to become the only assistant head coach ever under Paterno.  Ganter was offensive coordinator for many years, and as such, bore much of the criticism for Penn State’s often staid offenses.

However, many Nittany Lion fans believed, as do I, that the buttoned down offense was mostly Paterno’s doing.  Ganter was unleashed during the 1994 season, when even JoePa couldn’t order his offense to be slowed down.  That 12-0 Rose Bowl champion squad was just unstoppable, with Kerry Collins, Ki-Jana Carter, Bobby Engram, Kyle Brady, Freddie Scott, and the list goes on.  That, to me, showed what Fran Ganter could do.

The Ganter retirement story says it was he who delivered the letter to Paterno’s house, containing the number Joe was to call, the night the Trustees fired Paterno over the phone.  Was that decision made because someone thought having the letter delivered by one of Joe’s trusted former assistants would soften the blow?  Or, maybe the Trustees thought the Paternos wouldn’t open the door for someone they didn’t know.

Ganter was often discussed as an heir to Paterno.  But Ganter’s wife died suddenly of a heart attack in her early 50′s, and Ganter soon moved into administration, perhaps needing more time to finish raising their four sons. 

One of those sons, Chris, quarterbacked the State College High football team in a playoff game against Central several years ago.  Fran Ganter attended, and agreed to a halftime interview on my live broadcast of that game.  He was very gracious, as we talked for about five minutes about that 1994 team, and the current Nittany Lion squad, which faced a big game the next day.

Also in attendance that night was Jerry Sandusky, visiting a York area family whose son was on the Central squad.  We called Sandusky to the booth, and surprised him with Ganter’s presence.  Paterno’s two long-time coordinators, both then several years off the staff, seemed genuinely happy to see one another, and it appeared they hadn’t been together for a while, as they chatted catching up with each other.

Fran Ganter was at times overshadowed as his offense was perceived as playing not to lose the games, while Sandusky’s defenses took center stage.  I think Ganter did much more than that, though, and should get credit for much of the Nittany Lion’s football success in the 80s and 90s.

Thanks for the memories, Fran.  Enjoy your retirement.  It is well earned.

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