Thank you. It's great to see everyone. Great to be here. You know how excited I am looking forward to this event. The fact they moved it up a week really made me have a great summer, and I hope you've had a great summer (smiling).
We certainly appreciate what you do to promote college football and college athletics. I think you do a tremendous amount to provide a lot of positive self‑gratification for a lot of student‑athletes. We appreciate that more than you know.
-Nick Saban, 2012 SEC Media Days
The college football season kicks off in 42 days. With that in mind, I'm looking forward to a number of things on and off the field. Here a few thoughts and predictions as we try to get past these "sports dead" summer days.
* It may be just a matter of semantics, but it infuriates me when some says that Joe Paterno made a "mistake." A mistake is hiring the wrong guy at your office. A mistake is not calling a time out late in the game letting an extra 20 seconds tick off the clock then running out of time to try and kick a field goal. A mistake is leaving the milk out on the counter. When someone comes to you and says he saw a grown man having sex with a boy in the same building you work in everyday and you do nothing, that is NOT a "mistake." When you have the time and authority to make a conscious and rational decision and you decide to cover up obvious and terrible criminal conduct, you are committing a deliberate wrong act. That is NOT a "mistake," you are intentionally doing wrong. And in my mind, the enormity of the wrong in this case overshadows whatever good Paterno may have done in his life. We are not talking about marital infidelity or padding your expense account. Paterno failed as a person when faced with the knowledge of criminal sexual misconduct by a long time friend.
*Needless to say, I think the statue of Paterno outside Beaver Stadium must be moved. I don't understand how any true Penn State alumni could be glad to be reminded of Paterno's epic moral failure as he or she entered the stadium on Saturday. Don't destroy the statue, put it somewhere apropriate to remind anyone that sees it that coaches are not gods and football is not heaven.
* A number of writers and talking heads have advocated the "death penalty" for Penn State football. While I do think there is some merit to the argument, I think it is a bad idea and will never happen. Obviously, Penn State is opposed to it. I'm sure the B1G is opposed to it as well. You create scheduling nightmares, bad publicity and lost revenues. The NCAA is run by the schools. The NCAA's powers are granted by the schools they are tasked with "supervising." Having said that, PSU could be slapped with bowl bans and a loss of scholarships.
* Phil Steele knows his football and puts out a great magazine every year. But I can't figure out how he has Florida State playing for the National Championship. The Noles have 5 sophomores on the offensive line. FSU struggled to run the ball last season and while they will be better on the ground, I don't see a title run. Should they make it to the Title game it would go against the recent history of title teams having a great deal experience along the offensive line and a solid ability to run the ball. The last 10 teams to play for the national title finished their respective seasons with a national average ranking of 19th for rushing yards per game. The Seminoles finished 104th last season in that catagory. The other team Steele has in the BCS Championship, Oklahoma, checked in at 50th. Just something to think about.
* My title game is LSU versus Wisconsin. The Tigers are loaded and motivated after last year's BCS beat down. The Badgers have an excellent QB and running game combined with an experienced defense and favorable schedule.
* Conference Champs:
ACC: Georgia Tech
B1G: Wisconsin
Big XII: Oklahoma
SEC: LSU
Pac-10: USC
* 5 Biggest Games of the Season
1. LSU v. Alabama2. USC v. Oregon
3. Florida State v. Clemson
4. West Virginia v. Oklahoma
5. South Carolina v. Georgia
Plenty more to come as we get closer to the season openers.
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