Improbable Storylines from College Football

Improbable Storylines from College Football
from www.si.com

We're living in a world where impossible is nothing, or so Adidas has told me. Dancing With The Stars is still a ratings monster despite bringing on Ted McGinley, the patron saint of jumping the shark. Guns N' Roses' long-gestating Chinese Democracy will actually be released Nov. 25. College football has also had its share of "oh, no they didn't" storylines this season and the Tenth Power is more than happy to dive into a collection of them.

1. Redemption, thy name is Joe Paterno. The Penn State coach came under fire before the season for the rash of off-the-field troubles that had plagued his program, which were infamously highlighted on Outside The Lines. Had he lost his team? The preseason No. 22 is now ranked third and has the clearest path to the BCS title game. Take that, Bob Ley.

2. Nick Saban is college football's Norm Abram. Saban inherited an Alabama program that had gone 6-6 in 2006 and had suffered its fifth straight loss to rival Auburn. Two years and two impressive recruiting classes later, Saban has remodeled the Crimson Tide faster than anyone could have expected, guiding them to No. 1. Though that losing streak to the Tigers has reached six games ...

3. The Phillip Fulmer era finally ends. As colleague Andy Staples points out, it was a little late coming (like three years), but did you ever think you'd see Fulmer actually leave? Let's face it, the man is as synonymous with Tennessee as Dolly Parton, but of late he's become as much fun as a trip to Dollywood or a 9 to 5 marathon.

4. Georgia's allergic reaction to big games. The Bulldogs ended 2007 as the hottest team in the country and it helped earn them the preseason No. 1. How did they respond? They were outscored by a combined score of 90-40 by Alabama and Florida in their toughest tests of the season. At least they can lean on the fact they look good in black.

5. The lack of a marquee running back. SI.com's preseason All-America RBs were Georgia's Knowshon Moreno and Ohio State's Chris "Beanie" Wells. Moreno has had four sub-100-yard games and Wells missed three games with a toe injury. The top three rushers in the country are solid -- UConn's Donald Brown, Michigan State's Javon Ringer and Iowa's Shonn Greene -- but there's no transcendent star here. Is it too late to bring Darren McFadden back from football purgatory?

6. The polls are alive with the sound of mid-majors. There are currently five teams from outside the BCS conferences in the AP Poll, led by eighth ranked Utah, and a week ago, six mid-majors appeared in the Top 25. The Mountain West has three teams in the BCS' top 15, which ties the SEC. The little guys haven't been this prevalent since Gary Coleman and Emmanuel Lewis were on TV.

7. The ACC is no longer the most inept BCS conference. That distinction belongs to the Big East this season. The league's highest-profile team this year is West Virginia, which is 25th in the BCS standings. South Florida, which was ranked as high as 12th in the AP Poll, is currently 1-3 in conference play and tied for seventh ... with Syracuse. Some BCS bowl is going to be awfully lucky to land a Big East team.

8. Big 12 North's fall back to Earth. Last season, the division announced its return by landing a pair of Sports Illustrated covers featuring Kansas and Missouri, and Tigers QB Chase Daniel earned a trip to the Heisman ceremony. Right now, the North's best team is No. 13 Missouri and the division is a collective 3-13 against the South. Was last year just a hallucination? I know I shouldn't have eaten those brownies Adarius Bowman gave me.

9. Georgia Tech's blast form the past actually works. When Paul Johnson was hired to succeed Chan Gailey, the biggest question was whether his triple-option, normally reserved for the service academies and ESPN Classic, could still succeed. But with a 7-2 record and the ACC Coastal Division lead, Johnson's offense is proving as retro cool as a pair of Nike Cortez.

10. That Greg Robinson still has a job. While the likes of Fulmer, Clemson's Tommy Bowden and Washington's Tyrone Willingham are either unemployed or will be at season's end, it's stunning that Robinson and his 9-34 record at Syracuse haven't yet suffered a similar fate. What will it take to get G-Rob fired? Does he have to show up to a press conference in a game-worn Jim Brown jersey and spread jelly over it a la George Costanza?

Recent history hasn't been kind to Nittany Lions in Columbus

www.espn.com
What's the biggest story of this college football season so far?

I've been getting that question recently.
The answer is pretty easy: Teams rising from nowhere to national-title contention in a month and a half.
The symmetrical flip side is that three teams pegged for big things (Auburn, West Virginia, and Clemson) have plummeted from the preseason top 10 to oblivion. None of these teams is receiving a single poll point. This sort of complete collapse is unusual, too. Thus, Tommy Bowden has been forced out and Tony Franklin has been sent packing. But let's return to the "good" stories.

"College GameDay"

Set your alarm clock Saturday. Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and the rest of the "College GameDay" crew will be in Columbus for Penn State-Ohio State. Tune in to find out about the Nittany Lions, Buckeyes, all the Week 9 action and everything else in college football.
When: Sat., 10 a.m. ET (ESPN)
Where: Columbus, Ohio
The top three in the first BCS standings had an average preseason AP ranking of 19th (Texas 11th, Alabama 24th and Penn State 22nd). That's amazing actually. The fast, unexpected rise of any one of these traditional powers would have been a pretty big story, but to have all three jockeying for the top positions is historic. In every year since the birth of the BCS, at least one of the top three in the first edition of the standings started in the AP top three. This year, all three were long shots in August.
Throw in No. 6 Oklahoma State, which did not get a single preseason vote, and you've got an even less likely race for the title.
What makes it more interesting is that it's a throwback threesome. The last time the Longhorns, Crimson Tide and Nittany Lions were all in the top five at the same time was 1979. Plus, nobody in this group looks like an impostor. Last season, when USF and Boston College found themselves somehow positioned at No. 2 in the BCS, it felt false. The swoon by both teams bore that out.
I don't see any of these three spitting the bit. I also don't see the order of these three changing until one of them loses. Penn State will not convince enough pollsters it belongs above either Texas or Alabama to overcome a significant edge in the six BCS computers. The Lions' computer average is No. 7, which ranks below three teams with one loss.
The Horns and Tide aren't going to drop if they continue to navigate the two toughest conferences. If Penn State gets out of the Horseshoe with a coveted signature win, the Nittany Lions' fans will have to start pulling hard for a Texas or an Alabama loss. Or else start dreading a repeat of '68, '69, 73 and '94. In those seasons, Penn State teams with perfect records were left out of the championship picture.
Penn State fans have a right to be anxious. Many are blaming Ohio State for the tarnished national image of the Big Ten, after lopsided losses to Florida, LSU and USC on very big stages.
Those fans are missing the point. The Big Ten is viewed as a pretty weak conference, but it has been a team effort. Mediocrity reigns. A key blow is that Wisconsin (with four straight losses) now ranks among the nation's most disappointing teams. The Badgers' meltdown and Michigan's struggles are depriving Penn State of quality wins. Not playing Minnesota, of all teams, removes the chance to face a bowl-bound Big Ten squad. Who'd have thought that?
The Big Ten's 2008 performance could certainly haunt Penn State far more than Ohio State's recent misery against heavyweights. I just disagree with pundits who claim pollsters are somehow biased against the Lions because of the Bucks' flops. Alabama was the first fast riser to gain attention. The win over Clemson has been devalued just a bit, but remember it was the Tide who started the Tigers' tailspin.
Bama's first half at Georgia remains one of the season's most impressive 30 minutes of football. Being the strongest first-half team in the nation (its average lead at half: 21 points) helps perception, too. The Tide have played some close games, but haven't had to rally from behind to win, a fact that also strengthens their image.
Texas' resilience against Oklahoma and dominance of Missouri make the Horns a clear No. 1 for now. Games with the Pokes and Red Raiders (and a road game at Kansas) guarantee they will stay put if they keep winning.
Penn State's one chance at a signature win is Saturday night in the Shoe (ABC, 8 ET). This Nittany Lions group has answered each challenge so far. It certainly seems ready for this one.
In a matchup of gifted QBs who have each crossed state lines and will face their home-state schools Saturday night, Daryll Clark gets the clear edge on Terrelle Pryor. Clark has not started that many more games than the freaky freshman, but he has had significantly more time in college football.
This is Game 9 for Clark as "The Man," but he's been a quick learner. He's been a big upgrade from Anthony Morelli in the red zone so far. Last year's Lions QB would press and make poor decisions in the clutch. Clark has avoided that, although this week brings a heightened challenge, for sure.
Penn State has been in the red zone a staggering 41 times, scoring touchdowns on 32 of those trips. Clark has thrown seven red zone TDs, with just one pick. If the Lions maintain that efficiency this week, I love their chances.
Clark also avoids the negative plays which destroy drives. He is excellent at throwing away the ball and avoiding sacks. Pryor, on other hand, has been trapped a lot. It's totally logical. His decision-making is not as quick as it needs to be, but it's improving. Against Aaron Maybin and the Lions' rushers, Pryor will have to read and react and make the proper throw faster than he has so far. Frequent sacks would kill Ohio State's chances.
The Buckeyes have surrendered a whopping 21 sacks, one for every eight passes attempted. Penn State has allowed just six sacks, one for every 38 attempts!
Running the ball is an obvious priority for both offenses. Ohio State said that Penn State's tackles were mashed by Michigan in the first 20 minutes, before adjustments were made, and the linebackers reshuffled. The changes were dramatic. Until the meaningless final possession, Penn State smothered Michigan's offense on eight straight possessions after the defense's drowsy start.
The Bucks' embattled O-line will try to show that Maybin's transformation from a third-down specialist to an every-down DE is not yet complete. Simply put, Beanie Wells must create a bunch of 5- and 6-yard runs and a long gallop or two. Pryor will have to freelance and make a big throw or two as Brian Robiskie, Ray Small and Brian Hartline work free against the Lions' zone defense.
This year, the bigger concern for Penn State is the defense.
Meanwhile, Lawrence Wilson's knee injury robs the Bucks of their best edge pass-rusher. OSU is not known for creative pressure packages, so it will be interesting to see how (and if) it can get near Clark. Relying on an excellent secondary to cover Derrick Williams, Jordan Norwood, Deon Butler and the tight ends all night won't work. Can the Bucks create enough pressure on third downs with power pass rushes?
A nightmarish history of offensive failure in Penn State's visits to Columbus creates an intriguing backdrop Saturday night. In the seven straight losses at the Shoe, the Lions' offense has never topped 10 points! Ohio State has produced a staggering eight nonoffensive TDs in those seven games!
Penn State's brain trust faces an interesting challenge, too. With Joe Paterno seated in the press box, headset tilted forward on his head, he is just a few feet away from the play-calling tandem of his son, Jay, and Galen Hall. In the past, Joe never spent much time on the headset, until he decided to jump on to second-guess the play-calling philosophy.
These days, hearing the communication between Dick Anderson, Hall and JayPa, Paterno has actually pulled back and is doing less second-guessing. The unusual method of collective play-calling is working well. But with Joe so close, it had better be decisive and quick again Saturday night!
To outsiders, Penn State arrives with more at stake. But this feels like a "circle the wagons" game for Ohio State, which found a different gear last week. The Bucks will be a very tough out.

It may gall the patrons of High Street to hear it, but the nation wrote off Ohio State six weeks ago.

From www.espn.com

It may gall the patrons of High Street to hear it, but the nation wrote off Ohio State six weeks ago.
That would be about the time the Buckeyes trudged off the grass and up the concrete tunnel at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, singing that song from the musical "Wonderful Town," the 2003 Broadway revival.
Why oh why oh why oh
Why did I ever leave Ohio?
Typical American college football fans know about Script Ohio and The Horseshoe and The Ten-Year War. They know that Ohio State long ago received membership in the sport's elite. They know that even with all that glory, Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel is in the midst of the most successful run in the history of the scarlet and gray.
It's just that the typical American college football fan these days is scared to death that Ohio State will win the rest of its games and play in the BCS Championship Game again. The Buckeyes have played in the past two, and FEMA is still trying to assess the damage.
So when this season started, and USC defeated Ohio State 35-3 in the Buckeyes' third game of the season, you could hear the sighs of relief from downtown Los Angeles to downtown Tuscaloosa. It looked as if the national championship party could be held without the Buckeyes around to pour vinegar into the punch bowl.
To coin a phrase: Not so fast, my friend.
The Team That Won't Go Away has come back. With five straight victories, topped off by a -- go ahead and say it -- BCS-worthy, 45-7 rout on the road of Michigan State, Ohio State has played well enough to return to the top 10. That leaves it in the championship waiting room, poised to pounce the minute Texas, Alabama and, yes, Penn State should fall from the ranks of the unbeaten.
That is the beauty of Ohio State's game on Saturday night (ABC, 8 ET). The No. 9 Buckeyes (7-1, 4-0 in Big Ten) will play the No. 3 Nittany Lions (8-0, 4-0). With an upset victory at Ohio Stadium, Ohio State may no longer be met with universal eye-rolling.
Anyone who has heard the disciplined messages of Tressel will understand that this is not a subject he has broached with his team.
"We never mention it," Tressel said. "In August, we talk about an ultimate goal: See if we can earn our way into the top two teams in the country, play for that championship, see if we can become champions. After that, it's never mentioned again."
It usually isn't difficult for Ohio State to knock off Penn State. The Nittany Lions are 0-7 in The Horseshoe since they joined the Big Ten Conference. Penn State last won at Ohio State in 1978, when the Buckeyes started a freshman quarterback who played beyond his years. Terrelle Pryor, based on early returns, is expected to have a more productive career than Art Schlichter.
This Penn State team has been one of the bigger surprises of the 2008 season, at least to those outside of the Nittany Lions' football building. Quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno said Thursday that, by the end of spring practice, this team gave off a vibe that felt a lot like the 2005 team that went 11-1.
You remember that season. Veteran coach Joe Paterno, hounded by critics who believed he had passed retirement age long ago, came within a last-play loss to Michigan of his fifth undefeated record.
Three years later, Paterno, 81, is in the last year of his contract. He began the season again confronted by questions of how long he would coach; that's what happens after consecutive records of 9-4, with a cumulative record of 9-7 in the Big Ten.
The president of the university has not committed to allowing Paterno to stick around for 2009, which would be his 60th season of Penn State football and his 44th as head coach. His right hip hurts so bad that Paterno is reduced to sitting in the press box for games.
And if eight games are any indication, Paterno has his best team since 1994. Those Nittany Lions went undefeated and had three of the first nine picks in the NFL draft the following April. The new Spread HD has been the ideal vehicle for a smart, experienced offense led by late-blooming redshirt junior Daryll Clark.
If Joe Paterno is measured not by the calendar but by the same criteria by which his peers are judged -- wins -- then he has defied his critics once again.
That may be the best way to look at the game Saturday night:
The Team That Won't Go Away is playing The Coach Who Won't Go Away.

College Gameday Final Recap

A couple of teams looked championship ready -- and one was Ohio State
Guess Who's Back?
Alabama coach Nick Saban spoke after the No. 2 Crimson Tide's 24-20 victory over Ole Miss on Saturday about his team's lack of self-discipline.
"Discipline is doing what you're supposed to do the way you're supposed to do it when it's supposed to get done," Saban said. "But self-discipline means you can do it in any circumstance whether you feel like it or not. You make yourself do it."
Listen to the coach. Don't give in to the dread in the pit of your BCS stomach that the Big Ten champion and the Pacific-10 champion have reasserted themselves in the national championship race.
You know you want to scream, "Not Ohio State! Not again!" Don't do it.
You know you want to penalize USC, not reward it, for winning at Washington State 69-0. Don't do it. Had the game been in Los Angeles instead of Pullman, the score may not have gotten out of control. Trojans coach Pete Carroll could have emptied his bench. With only 64 players on the USC travel roster, per Pac-10 rules, Carroll didn't have a bench to empty.
But let's get back to Ohio State. The fear that the Buckeyes have rewritten their name on the short list of BCS Championship Game contenders is based not only on their back-to-back losses in the past two of these games, but also the 35-3 beatdown Ohio State suffered against USC last month. Your fears may be valid. But consider:
First of all, Ohio State beat a very good Michigan State team 45-7 in East Lansing. As much as it may hurt to say it, the Buckeyes on Saturday looked like one of the best teams in the country.
Second of all, Ohio State next plays Penn State. The winner of their game in Columbus on Saturday night will be one of the best teams in the country, even if it's leading the Big Ten.
And third, with Missouri and BYU eliminated from the national championship race, there is that much more room for an Ohio State to re-enter the discussion.
The Nittany Lions overcame a sluggish start, scoring the last 39 points of the game to defeat Michigan 46-17. Penn State performed the mirror image of Alabama by starting slow and finishing fast. That will always be more impressive than a team that starts fast and hangs on.
"We're not just focused on winning," Saban said after the game. "We're focused on how we win."
If it will make you feel better, concentrate on the way Texas toyed with Missouri in a 56-31 victory Saturday night. When the Longhorns ascended to No. 1 last week, they earned a combined 83 of 126 first-place votes between the AP and coaches polls. Between their performance and that of the Tide, the Longhorns received 123 of 126 first-place votes Sunday. One team looked championship-ready again this week. Ohio State did too, and if the Buckeyes find a way to upset Penn State, you may as well get ready to deal with them again.
A New Way Of Offense

It wasn't exactly how Barry Switzer would have called the offense.
There were no wishbone elements in Oklahoma's offensive attack. But other elements of the Sooners' offensive onslaught were eerily reminiscent of how "The King" would have done it -- mainly in its sheer domination.
Oklahoma erupted for 674 yards of total offense -- its best performance in more than 20 years -- as the Sooners cruised to a 45-31 win over Kansas.
But unlike some of Switzer's run-heavy efforts back in the day, this one was a bow to modern offensive philosophy. Sam Bradford threw for a school-record 468 yards and the much-maligned offensive line paved the way for 206 rushing yards as the Sooners cruised to a convincing victory.
"We always want more," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said of his team's 97-snap offensive binge. "I would have liked to have had three more snaps and just kept moving and gotten to 100. I would have liked to have had a couple of plays back. But I guess that's being a little greedy."
Bradford broke the previous school record of 429 yards set by his quarterbacks coach, Josh Heupel. But Bradford was happier about his team's ability to bounce back from its late struggles last week against Texas than any individual accomplishment.
"Obviously, getting the numbers are nice, but the most important thing is come out here and get a win," Bradford said. "Our offensive line did a great job, we got the running game going and I had all the time in the world back there to pass."

Harper's Return

Clemson quarterback Cullen Harper said he was told one thing by his new coach before he took the field against Georgia Tech on Saturday: "Go out there and lead."
Easier said than done.
In less than a week, the Tigers had lost just about all of the offensive leadership they had, and in less than a quarter on Saturday, they lost their starting quarterback. Again.
Harper, who was benched in one of the final decisions former coach Tommy Bowden made for the program, took over for an injured Willy Korn and made enough plays for his team to beat Georgia Tech. Unfortunately for the Tigers, they also made enough mistakes not to.
Despite the 21-17 home loss to the Yellow Jackets, interim head coach Dabo Swinney said Harper earned the starting job back for their Nov. 1 trip to Boston College.

McCoy's Cold Shoulder
In a team meeting Thursday night, Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt gave LeSean McCoy a little history lesson.
He told McCoy that Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium is where Tony Dorsett set the all-time NCAA career rushing record in 1976. Wannstedt wasn't just trying to further his sophomore running back's education; the implication that McCoy needed a big game on the same turf was pretty clear.
McCoy didn't set any records in Saturday's 42-21 win over the Midshipmen. But maybe he would have if he could have caught his breath. The man they call "Shady" overpowered the Midshipmen, rolling to a season-high 156 yards and three touchdowns on just 18 carries.
All but 28 of his yards came in the first half. Dealing with a chest cold, he touched the ball only four times in the second half and sat out the entire fourth quarter.
"I couldn't breathe tonight," he said. "I was gasping for air. It sucks because I really couldn't get in there too much."

THREE OBSERVATIONS FROM THE WEEKEND
1. Lane Kiffin is going to Clemson, unless it's Syracuse, Tennessee, Washington or campuses yet unnamed. Listen, Kiffin performed well as an offensive assistant at USC. He's a personable guy. But just because he became the latest victim of the Al Davis Freak Show, he is the hottest head-coaching candidate? Kiffin took the Raiders job! That's a question about his judgment. Kiffin lost in Oakland. If I'm an athletic director, explain to me again why I'm chasing him.

2. Wake Forest, Boston College, Florida State and Maryland are tied for the ACC Atlantic lead with 2-1 records. BC is the only one of the four that hasn't yet played any of the other three, and two of those three games will be on the road (at FSU, at Wake). The Seminoles and the Eagles have played the most consistent football of the four. Their game is in Tallahassee on Nov. 15.

3. UCLA offensive coordinator Norm Chow has coached three Heisman winners, but his work with former third-stringer Kevin Craft may be the best of a distinguished career. The Bruins are 3-4 after beating Stanford 23-20, scoring 10 points on two-minute drives. They ran 13 plays in 2:30 before halftime to go 88 yards and pick up a field goal. They went 87 yards in 10 plays over 2:21 to score the winning touchdown, a 7-yard pass from Craft to Cory Harkey, with 10 seconds to play. That's good coaching.

HELMET STICKERS
RECE DAVIS
McCoy The numbers Colt McCoy has put up against Oklahoma and Missouri the past two weeks are just plain sick. I don't remember anybody operating at such an efficiency level as he is right now.

Helmet Stickers Go To:
• QB Brian Brunner, CMU
20-28, 346 yards, TD vs. WMU
• QB Mike Hartline, UK
239 yards, 2 TDs in final 4:15 vs. Arkansas

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOU HOLTZ
I just feel like there's something special about this Penn State team. They're as balanced as any team in the country. They play smart, have a precision passing game, can run the ball and play great defense.

Helmet Stickers Go To:
• WR Brennan Marion, Tulsa
233 rec yards, 3 TDs vs. UTEP
• QB Chris Turner, Maryland
28-41, 321 yards, TD vs. Wake Forest

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MARK MAY
To me, Texas Tech still has major problems on defense. Of all the top 10 teams that have a good chance of falling off in the second half, I think the Red Raiders are the leading candidate

Helmet Stickers Go To:
• QB Colt McCoy, Texas
29-32, 337 yards, 4 total TDs vs. Missouri
• RB Shonn Greene, Iowa
217 rush yards, 4 TDs vs. Wisconsin

Who will Replace Joe Paterno?

WHO WILL REPLACE JOE PATERNO?

Good God, man. What's it going to take? Forget stepping down or being fired. Let's take this one misstep at a time. We now know that the next Penn State coach will not come from the current staff. That has to be the result after the four-letter, in a fine report Sunday, detailed the staggering number of legal problems involving Nittany Lions players in recent years.
Forty-six players, 163 criminal charges, since 2002. Coach Joe Paterno called the well-researched report a "witch hunt." Twice. He was a little off. Wrong gender, wrong profession and the reporting wasn't exactly as taxing as a hunt. More like shooting fish in a barrel.
In case you've been stranded on Mt. Nittany lately, JoePa's program passed out-of-control a long time ago. Shortly after the report aired, two players were kicked off the team. How's that for being proactive? The hiring of an outside coach is not official, mind you. Paterno is still running around telling recruits that the next coach will come from inside staff. Supposedly, he wasn't bold enough to say the hire will come from inside the family (heeeeere's Jay!).
There are some fine coaches on Joe's staff. You feel for a guy like defensive coordinator Tom Bradley who, under normal circumstances, would figure to get the job. But the perception has to be that the staff is part of the problem when it comes to finding a solution to the off-field madness. Call it guilt by loyalty.
President Graham Spanier has just about all the ammunition he needs to start the informal search process. A search because Paterno is coaching without a contract this season, making it easier for Spanier to pull the rip cord. Informal because whoever the school targets might have to wait five more years, if Penn State gets hot this season.
Oy.
If the uniform were that of, say, Miami or Oklahoma, Penn State would be labeled a renegade. JoePa, though, has built up a lifetime of cred as a teacher and educator so we're not quite to the running-wild-in-the-streets stage just yet.
Yet.
"I'm an egg head," he said. "I can take football and use this game to help some kids be better people."
Spanier is the one in charge and has his own opinion of Paterno's program -- lately. "Staggering," he called the numbers that came out of the investigation. "Very high, and they shouldn't be that way."
After watching years of presidential collegiate speak, I consider myself somewhat of a language expert. Let me translate: This is the last straw. Joe is out of here. It's just a matter of how he wants to go. He can make this easy or I can make it hard for him.
So let's get beyond the "when" and proceed to directly to "who". In descending order, these are some of the guys Paterno is trying to outlast, er, might get the job.

Bill Cowher, free agent: The Jaw could have the Penn State job the moment Joe steps down, if he wanted it. That's the rub. No one knows where Cowher's head is at on this issue. He can win (check the Super Bowl ring). He has western Pennsylvania roots. Given his history, Cowher would clean up the program in short order, on and off the field. His name surfaced in the latest North Carolina State search but Cowher wasn't ready to give up the good life just yet.

Mark Dantonio, Michigan State: A Big Ten guy entering his 11th season in the league (as an assistant or head coach). Before that, Dantonio coached under Ohio State grad Glen Mason at Kansas. Many consider the Spartans to be the "it" team in the Big Ten this season. It doesn't hurt that Dantonio has a national championship ring under Jim Tressel either.

Brian Kelly, Cincinnati: Young enough, 46, and accomplished enough to make the next logical move to State College. Cincinnati just won 10 games for the first time in five decades. This guy is a quarterback-maker. The quarterback he left behind at Central Michigan, Dan LeFevour, has helped the Chips win consecutive MAC titles. Ben Mauk threw 31 touchdowns for the Bearcats last season. Kelly's name came up during the Michigan search but the word was that Michigan would never hire a former Central Michigan guy. Big mistake. Don't limit yourself, Penn State.

Greg Schiano, Rutgers: Rutgers' types get nervous every time I put Schiano on this list, but that's what comes with success. Like Wake's Jim Grobe (see below), Schiano is happy with where he is. There's also a new house and new facilities. Schiano continues to pull in recruits. Recruits aren't asking him how long he is going to be around because his contract goes until 2016.

Al Golden, Temple: It's going to take something better than 4-8 at Temple for this former Penn State assistant but that's the point. Golden went 4-8 at Temple. In his second season. This is freaking Temple! It's also a program on the rise in the winnable MAC.

Butch Davis, North Carolina: Maybe. Some day. It's still too early in the Carolina process to bolt.

Kirk Ferentz, Iowa: Probably lost his spot in line the past two years when the Hawkeyes went 6-7 and 6-6. Combine that with a run of off-field problems (sound familiar Joe?), you can probably remove Ferentz's name from the list for now.

Jim Grobe, Wake Forest: A courtesy mention because Grobe has proven he isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Michigan and Nebraska took a run at him last year and he turned them down. Grobe is just a guy happy in his own skin.