Wednesday, at an Orange Bowl press event set up by the Penn State sports information office for the purpose of creating opportunities for dialog between reporters and the the players, something was missing: the players. Our curmudgeonly head coach, Joe Paterno, had announced at the last minute that the players had better things to do and that he would face the press alone.
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Last night, Bobby Bowden’s two touchdown underdog Florida State Seminoles (8–4) pulled a 27–22 upset over #5 Virginia Tech (10–2) in the inaugural ACC championship game, earning the Seminoles an automatic Orange Bowl selection. Their opponent: the Penn State Nittany Lions.
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Tomorrow, Penn State fans will know which BCS bowl has selected the Nittany Lions for its 2006 edition, ending several weeks of analysis and speculation. Will it be the Orange Bowl or the Fiesta Bowl? Who will provide the opposition? Notre Dame? Virginia Tech? Oregon? Florida State?

Beyond passive speculation, fans will be sitting on the edge of their chairs today watching USC vs. UCLA and Texas vs. Colorado—a loss by either USC or Texas could land the Nittany Lions in the Rose Bowl in the game that will be played for the [still somewhat mythical] national championship. LSU fans have their hopes, too. You can bet that if, for example, UCLA beats USC, you’ll be hearing a lot of squawking about which of the many one-loss teams really deserves the shot at the so-called national championship.

Yeah, the BCS is as screwed up as ever. Our curmudgeon-in-chief, Joe Paterno, even called the BCS “a joke” in a press conference this year.

Penn State will be rewarded with a lot of money for itself and its conference, no matter which BCS bowl selects them. The BCS is a big money institution for all involved. Thus, it is no surprise that Congress is making noise about investigating the BCS system.

Oh, boy! Now, we’re really getting somewhere!
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