Penn State coach Joe Paterno keeps waking up on the wrong side of the polls, which is fine for now. But heaven help the voter/coach or media-type who ignores the second-ranked Nittany Lions if they finish undefeated and without a national championship.
That’s what happened in 1994, and Paterno is trying to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“I think somebody’s got to pick somebody and if they want to pick Florida as No. 1 right now, that’s fine,” Paterno said after his team dropped from first place in the Associated Press media poll despite a 57-21 road victory over unranked Louisville. “I just hope when it’s all said and done that we don’t have what happened in ’94. That if we’re able to get through what obviously is going to be an extremely difficult Big Ten schedule (we’ll be No. 1).
“I think the Big Ten right now, without question, is the strongest conference in the country, football-wise. I think we have plenty of time to prove whether we deserve to be No. 50 or No. 1.”
Most of the other coaches in the Big Ten followed the conference company line and expressed surprise at the Nittany Lions’ flip-flop with Florida in the AP poll this week. But Purdue’s Joe Tiller said that for the moment, Penn State is exactly where it belongs.
“I agree with what the pollsters are considering: not only the fact whether you win or lose a football game, but also who your opponent is,” Tiller said. “I think the fact that Florida was able to beat a very good Tennessee team versus a Penn State-Louisville matchup probably swayed many, many people. And I’m not so sure that isn’t the way it should be.”
Hello, Akron: Michigan’s Lloyd Carr wouldn’t come right out and say it, but look for Michigan and other high-profile Big Ten teams to re-evaluate their upcoming non-conference schedules.
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The Wolverines play a non-league schedule of Colorado, Baylor and Notre Dame this season and face Syracuse in 1998-99 and UCLA in 2000, but they might tweak their future matchups once the Bowl Super Alliance kicks in next year. In short, it won’t make sense to play so many tough games out of conference.
“I think every team will need to look at their philosophy of their scheduling and the overall goals of their program,” Carr said.
Translation: Michigan’s long-term scheduling partnership with Notre Dame might be discussed.
No hurry: Iowa leads the nation in total offense and is second in scoring offense. Halfback Tavian Banks is the NCAA’s leading rusher and scorer, averaging 214.6 yards and 22 points.
Now the Hawkeyes face winless Illinois, which means Iowa should be 4-0 entering its Oct. 4 game at Ohio State. Asked if he wished for a little more adversity, the better to prepare his team for the Buckeyes and an Oct. 18 game at Michigan, Iowa coach Hayden Fry said, “There’s plenty of it ahead, but I don’t want to rush it. I don’t want to encourage it.”
Briefly: Wisconsin offensive lineman Aaron Gibson is in danger of losing his title as the NCAA’s largest Division I-A player. Badgers coach Barry Alvarez said the athletic Gibson is “down” to 370 pounds, from a high of 390 earlier in the season . . . Ohio State coach John Cooper said he expects Stanley Jackson to start at quarterback against Missouri Saturday. Jackson is nursing a sprained knee . . . A season-ending knee injury to junior linebacker Vernon Rollins means Raj Clark is now an Iowa starter.