Penn St-ain’t (NCAA)

Today is Championship Saturday, or whatever ESPN is billing it as. Whatever it’s called, it is an important day. Coronations are to be completed (Texas), and grudge matches to be revisited (Florida/Alabama).

In reality, there is very little actually at stake. Yes, the national championship match-up will be decided, but out of a pool of only three teams. Out of ten potential BCS bids, eight are already sewn up.

Alabama and Florida will both obviously be invited regardless of what happens today, as will Texas. Ohio State, Oregon, Cincinnati/Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech/Clemson and TCU have all already punched their tickets. Those are the “sure things.” God willing, Boise State seems to have a reasonably tight grip on the ninth spot.

That leaves only one true BCS vacancy. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t already been decided, however. It has. Barring a miracle tonight in Dallas–that being Nebraska scores some touchdowns–the final bid is certain to go to either Iowa or Penn State of the Big 10.

While few fans outside of Great Lakes territory would argue that either are among the ten best teams in the country, for whatever reason, one of them is going to a BCS game. Well, it’s not for whatever reason. As everyone knows, the Big 10 is where college football’s real money and power is. That’s why Houston or the losers of Cincinnati/Pittsburgh or Georgia Tech/Clemson will not even be considered for the final spot.

So while it’s a situation no college football fan wants to be in, we are now stuck debating the merits of Iowa vs. Penn State. And it’s not even close–Iowa blows away Penn State on every conceivable level.

But like so much in college football, who is likely to get picked has absolutely nothing to do with what has actually happened on the field. The BCS, like all bowl committees, only wants who will make them the most money. That means things like a school’s national prestige and number of mobile fans will always trump results.

One of the things that actually happened on the field in 2009 was that Iowa beat Penn State. At Penn State. The Nittany Lions were held scoreless after the first quarter in their 21-10 loss.

But Penn State’s inferiority to the Hawkeyes this season goes far beyond their head-to-head match-up, which again, should still be enough of a tiebreaker between two teams that share the same record, 10-2, and play in the same conference.

Plain and simple, Penn State’s BCS “case,” outside of having living legend Joe Paterno as its coach, is laughable.

For the entire season, they played two ranked teams. They lost both times, with both losses coming at home, no less. One was, of course, to Iowa, while the other came against Ohio State, who ambled by 24-7.

That means that in their two only important games this season, they were not even competitive. In case you were wondering, their toughest non-conference opponent was Temple. They did manage to win that one.

Iowa, on the other hand, beat the Nittany Lions in State College and then took Ohio State to overtime in Columbus. They also played and defeated two real non-conference teams, Iowa State and Arizona.

Did I mention they had the same record as Penn State and played and defeated them on the road?

Apparently what I didn’t mention was that Penn State has a far larger fanbase, much more storied tradition and one very popular old coach. That’s why the Hawkeyes will almost certainly be relegated to the Capital One Bowl, and why no one even pretends that things are fair anymore.

–Patrick Daugherty, Red Editorial Staff