This is a very good column. I preferred college football when there was no guarantee that the top two teams would meet in the postseason, much less a playoff. There was something satisfying about having debates about who would have won a hypothetical championship game. And, in retrospect, it was a lot better when winning a conference made for a successful season for even a blue blood program like Ohio State, Alabama, or USC.
My wife and I just recently finished Men In White. As a State College/Penn State native and graduate, the emotions of the sanctions still resonate. What the football team went through is nothing like any program did, especially when I see what Baylor, LSU, Ohio State, Michigan, Iowa and others did without any punitive measures. The bonds created on those teams are like none ever we’ll ever see. Men In White brought out the same emotions I felt when those events happened.
Only one quibble with the book: I would have loved to see the continued effects in 2017, even 2018 and how the Franklin era affects/affected us. Seeing the post B1G championship and how we feel about the football team would have been a great post script. But ending on a high note after the hell we went through is indeed a fitting end to a tough time in PSU football history
Very nice, thinking person's column. I remember having a great deal of admiration for PSU players who stayed....and served up the basis for returning the program to more-than-respectability and a threat to win any game they play. A couple of thoughts about the expanded playoffs. First, it doesn't change anything for the handful of teams for whom the "Natty" or national championship is the only acceptable result. Second, we will see some 2 loss teams who would never see the previous playoffs but will win when they get hot in the expanded field. And that's OK, even pretty cool. Interesting times. Go Bucks!!
This is a very good column. I preferred college football when there was no guarantee that the top two teams would meet in the postseason, much less a playoff. There was something satisfying about having debates about who would have won a hypothetical championship game. And, in retrospect, it was a lot better when winning a conference made for a successful season for even a blue blood program like Ohio State, Alabama, or USC.
My wife and I just recently finished Men In White. As a State College/Penn State native and graduate, the emotions of the sanctions still resonate. What the football team went through is nothing like any program did, especially when I see what Baylor, LSU, Ohio State, Michigan, Iowa and others did without any punitive measures. The bonds created on those teams are like none ever we’ll ever see. Men In White brought out the same emotions I felt when those events happened.
Only one quibble with the book: I would have loved to see the continued effects in 2017, even 2018 and how the Franklin era affects/affected us. Seeing the post B1G championship and how we feel about the football team would have been a great post script. But ending on a high note after the hell we went through is indeed a fitting end to a tough time in PSU football history
Very nice, thinking person's column. I remember having a great deal of admiration for PSU players who stayed....and served up the basis for returning the program to more-than-respectability and a threat to win any game they play. A couple of thoughts about the expanded playoffs. First, it doesn't change anything for the handful of teams for whom the "Natty" or national championship is the only acceptable result. Second, we will see some 2 loss teams who would never see the previous playoffs but will win when they get hot in the expanded field. And that's OK, even pretty cool. Interesting times. Go Bucks!!