Written by Gene Zarnick
| 24 September 2009
For the past 40 years college football fans have been used to two things every year; that there isn't a playoff system and that coaches Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden will be on the sidelines every Saturday. Those are the givens; like them or not, they are part of making college football what it is today. We've heard all the debates every year about the BCS and all the conflicts and problems with not having a playoff system. I don't want to discuss the BCS anymore. I don't expect a playoff system anytime soon and I can still enjoy college football without one, at least until my team gets screwed out of a national championship. I think its fine that people want to discuss the BCS every year, but I don't understand why people have a problem with the other given above. Just as much talk goes into debating if Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden should be coaching anymore as goes into the BCS banter each year. There are the typical arguments; their too old, they don't travel around and recruit; they're not calling any of the plays; they're not actually coaching; so on and so on. Know what I say? Who cares?
The biggest debates come from fans of neither school. Maybe they don't understand the legend of each coach. For some reason they think that having a "figurehead" as your coach who doesn't do the typical coaching duties is such an injustice to college football that they need to make it known to everyone who will listen to them. I think it's amazing that both schools still are contenders every year, still get great recruiting classes, and still have two of the biggest fan bases with a coach that always has the uncertainty if this will be their last year or not. It's a sign of how much farther along the programs are over other schools that this still works. The coaching world in modern times is grim. It's usually succeed or get fired or succeed and move on. Most coaches want their dream jobs at schools that are already prominent. Will we ever see another coach who has done what Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno have? Not just in team wins, but in the way that they took over a program and stayed with it for decades to bring it to a level that no one could ever have dreamed of when they hired either coach. We should be praising the accomplishments of both coaches instead of trying to push them out the door.
I'm not sure how Florida State home games are, but me being a Penn State graduate, I can ensure everyone that the Nittany Nation takes pride in our football weekends. We want the best team, best tailgate, best student section, best crowd noise, and best of anything else related every time there is a home game in Happy Valley. This weekend you will see the Iowa Hawkeyes enter Beaver Stadium with a target on their back after they ended Penn State's perfect season last year in Iowa. I know for a fact that the entire crowd will be going crazy for this night game and to ensure that the same result doesn't happen this year. College Gameday will be in State College this weekend to not only experience 110,000 fans clad in white, but they will also get to see the first ever College Gameday Whiteout. Now I'm not sure how large the effort will be for this or how it will end up looking, but just the effort put forth by students and fans to come together and try and distinguish themselves as the best fan base is unseen by most programs. This effort continues year in and year out because of one person, Joe Paterno. JoPa turned this program into what it is today and he's the reason why Saturday's at Beaver Stadium are so special. So let's enjoy the man who rolls up his pant legs, wears four inch thick glasses, and sometimes is a little crazy to listen to. So let's stop trying to push these two legends out the door and start embracing the one given that actually makes college football better.
