Saturday, December 8, 2012

Penn State: Overcoming the Sanctions

With the College Bowl Games fast approaching us, I think it would be a good idea to take a look at one ineligible team that was forced to overcome a lot of adversity this season. That team is Penn State. Penn State has been a powerhouse in college football for as long as I can remember; Until November 5, 2011, when news broke that former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky had been arrested on child sex-abuse charges. Two days after the arrest, Penn State's Vice President, Gary Schultz, and the school's athletic director, Tim Curley were charged with perjury after lying to a grand jury about Sandusky's actions. From there, the situation continued to spiral downward and long time head coach, Joe Paterno, was fired along with Penn State's President, Graham Spanier. Coach Paterno later passed away from complications of lung cancer on January 22, at age 85. Many people believe that the stress over his firing and of the scandal played a major role on his poor health, myself included.

The scandal hit the community of State College, PA, especially hard. Every Saturday, the stands fill up with 100,000+ fans. College football was one of their great prides and questions were raised as to if the football program would ever survive. In State College, football was a tradition and a way of life.

Penn State football is a big deal in State College, PA.

But for the Nittany Lions to move forward, they would need a new head coach. They got their man in New England Patriot's offensive coordinator, Bill O'Brien. He seemed to be the perfect fit for the team under their unusual circumstances. In his introductory press conference, O'Brien called himself  "mentally tough," a quality that Penn State needed in their new coach.
The harsh sanctions were delivered by the NCAA to the football program on July 23rd. They handed the Nittany Lions with a $60 million dollar fine, 5 years of probation, a 4-year bowl ban, loss of scholarships, and a vacation of all wins dating back to 1998. Many said that Penn State would have been better off receiving the "death penalty." They NCAA also allowed any Nittany Lion player to transfer immediately and be eligible to play.

The first win over the sanctions came when only 9 student athletes transferred. The most notable transfer was Junior running back, Silas Redd, who left for USC. Redd was the feature back for the team in his Sophomore season and compiled more than 1,200 yards and 7 TD's last year. I, for one, questioned how the team would survive such a big loss. The answer lied in 4th string running back, Zach Zwinak. The 232 pound tailback earned his first start in week 4 against Temple and never looked back. He finished the season with exactly 1,000 yards on 203 carries.

Then the season began and we really got to see this new era of Penn State football. It started off bleak with a 24-14 loss to a beatable Ohio team at home, followed by a 17-16 loss at Virginia. It seemed like there was no more strength in this football program. But O'Brien pulled his team together in the end by winning 8 of their next 10 games. They finished the season 8-4, but more impressively finished 6-2 in the Big Ten, which was good for second in the conference. This team would have been playing for the Big Ten Championship if it wasn't for the sanctions.

Bill O'Brien was named Big Ten Coach of the Year recently. It was well deserved. A lot of coaches may have wanted their contract voided after taking one look at all the penalties facing this team. That's why it made me sick when he didn't win college football's Coach of the Year award. The winner of that award was Notre Dame coach, Brian Kelly. Notre Dame went undefeated this season, but what obstacles did they overcome? O'Brien has played a huge role in the ongoing process of recovering from the darkest time in the history of, not only Penn State football, but the university. He is the reason that Penn State is what it is today. Because of him, Penn State football is not going away.

Big Ten Coach of the Year, Bill O'Brien, has brought hope for Penn State for their future.
http://pennstatermag.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/dsc_76561.jpg





For more information on Penn State football refer to these links...
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2 comments:

  1. William WhislerDecember 10, 2012 at 10:43 AM

    Penn State would be playing for the Big Ten title only if you count the fact that Ohio State was still ineligible because Ohio State won the Leaders Division in the Big Ten

    ReplyDelete
  2. Eaglesfan534December 10, 2012 at 3:57 PM

    Good point. forgot to mention that.

    ReplyDelete

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