January News and Notes

I’d like to start today’s post by congratulating friend of the blog, Brian Bender, on completely crushing the competition in the first annual Prime Pick ‘Em Bowl Pool.  Brian correctly predicted the winners of 23/34 bowl games and currently holds a 3 game lead over 2^nd place with only tonight’s National Championship Game remaining.  Barring any major shuffling, I'll finish in the middle of the pack, going exactly .500 with 17/34 correct predictions.  I’ll have to think of some kind of reward for Brian’s dominating efforts, and to give out to future winners.  For now, he'll just have to settle for my congratulations and the knowledge that he has won the prestigious first ever Prime Pick 'Em Award!

Speaking of bowls, this was the last year of the current BCS bowl system as the college football world looks towards next year’s playoffs.  As I stated earlier, there were 34 bowl games (plus the NCG) and I managed to catch at least a little bit of every single one of them!  There were plenty of great games, and a surprising amount of incredible endings.  Some of my favorite moments included:

- Washington State literally fumbling away a victory in the first bowl game of the season

- BCS busting favorites Northern Illinois and Fresno State getting taken to school by supposedly inferior opponents
- Duke’s near upset of Texas A&M on New Year’s Eve
- Michigan State winning the Big Ten’s first Rose Bowl in what feels like forever

- UCF continuing to prove the doubters wrong as they punched Baylor in the mouth
- Oklahoma shocking the world by thumping Alabama and leading to this.

Now I've had quite a few people ask for my thoughts on the current Penn State head coaching situation.  Don’t worry folks, in due time (possibly later this week).  I want to give an informed opinion once all the dust settles.  One thing I can’t stand is reckless speculation and rumors.  What I will do, however, is briefly recap what we know for certain at this point.

First, Bill O'Brien is officially the new head coach of the NFL’s Houston Texans, in case you were living under a rock for the last week.  So far he has taken virtually the entire staff with him.  Only 3 assistant coaches remain on the staff as of the writing of this post (Larry Johnson, Mac McWhorter, and John Strollo), which brings us to our next topic.

Defensive line coach Larry Johnson has been promoted to interim head coach until a new coach can be hired.  Coach Johnson has been on the staff for 18 years now and is the only holdover from the Paterno era.  Since there are no games going on right now, this new role basically means that he’s in charge of keeping the 2014 recruiting class together.  Considering that LJ is one of the best recruiters in the country and was responsible for the commitments of most of this class, I’d say he’s the right man for that job.  Good luck to Coach Johnson over the next few weeks!

Speaking of recruiting, it appears that all of the recruits in the 2014 class are either still committed, or waiting to see what happens… with one exception: QB Michael O’Connor.  O’Connor was set to enroll at Penn State this month after completing high school early, however, he has delayed his enrollment and reopened his recruitment.  Christian Hackenberg is the only scholarship QB on the roster right now, so it would be really nice if O’Connor stuck around, but apparently he’s dealing with some personal issues at the moment.  You can read more about his situation here.

Finally, on the Christian Hackenberg front, the freshman QB’s father gave some rather interesting and ominous comments recently.  Thankfully, according to our friends over at OnwardState.com, it looks like Hackenberg is set to come back to class in a few days and has “No Intention of Transferring”

Well, that’s all for now folks.  Enjoy the National Championship Game tonight at 8:30 on ESPN between the Florida State Seminoles and the Auburn Tigers.  It’s the end of an era, and the last real college football for almost 8 months, so soak it in!  Will the mighty SEC finish out the BCS with a record 7^th straight crystal football?  Or will “Famous Jameis” and the Noles end the streak?  Should be fun!