COTTRELL COLUMN: Even at 81, JoePa's still got it

One of the beautiful things about college football — and sports in general — is that, every now and then, some feel-good story pops up that you never saw coming.

We are seeing that, and then some, with Penn State’s resurgence this season.

Head coach Joe Paterno — 81 years young and virtually unable to walk at this point — has the Nittany Lions undefeated and ranked third
in the country.

Paterno has taken more criticism than anyone not named Nick Saban over the last few years, as his age has advanced and his losses have mounted, but he now has a fairly complete team virtually assured of an undefeated regular season and has even taken back the all-time coaching wins lead.

In the last year of his contract, Paterno has proved all the doubters wrong, opening up his offense and putting forward a ferocious defense.

Former quarterback Anthony Morelli’s graduation probably didn’t hurt matters, either.

But here Paterno stands, needing only to run through the relatively-weak Big Ten and have either Texas or Alabama lose to get a shot at the national title.

And the scary thing is, even if he does decide to stick around for another year, he’ll be well-positioned to make another run.

I’ve made plenty of jokes at Paterno’s expense over the last few years, but at this point those jokes have to end.

The man still has it.

Bearer of Bad News
Saying something like this in the South is akin to heresy, but let it be known: The SEC is not very good this year.

Before you start screaming apostasy, let’s look at the facts.

** As of right now only four SEC teams are ranked, and only three are demonstrably good.

** Outside of maybe South Carolina and Ole Miss, there is no discernable middle of the pack, as Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Vanderbilt are all really bad.

** The conference’s record against non-conference BCS foes? A not-too-great 5-6.

The lack of experienced quarterbacks has been a definite problem, and offensive tinkering at Tennessee and Auburn has proved disastrous.

But this has proven to be a down year for the conference, as the Big 12 has, for this year at least, taken on the mantle of toughest conference.

What Is Going On Here?
SEC fans can take some heart, though: At least their conference has some discernable hierarchy.

The ACC, my favorite punching bag, is currently in one of the strangest logjams I’ve ever seen.

Virginia, who you may recall me calling “historically bad” just a few weeks ago, is suddenly leading the Coastal Division after consecutive conference wins over Maryland, North Carolina and Georgia Tech.

Preseason division favorites Clemson and Virginia Tech are treading water (that’s probably being too kind for Clemson), Outside the Huddle darling Wake Forest suddenly stinks, Florida State and Maryland are suddenly building toward a Nov. 22-showdown for the Atlantic Division title, Duke (DUKE!) is very much in the title picture and almost no one is out of the running.

Something tells me this isn’t what Commissioner John Swofford had in mind when he plucked Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College away from the Big East.

Tim Cottrell is sports designer of the Opelika-Auburn News. He will write a weekly column on college football during the season. You can also read him on the O-A Sports Blog at oanow.com. He can be reached at 737-2511 or tcottrell@oanow.com.