JoePa re-ignites the "B10 12th team" topic

[Glenn]

Paterno wants 12 teams in league

By Ivan Maisel
ESPN.com

NEW YORK -- Penn State coach Joe Paterno said Thursday night that he has pushed within the Big Ten conference to expand it to 12 teams as a method of leveling the playing field in college football.

"We go into hiding for six weeks," Paterno said, referring to the hiatus between the end of the Big Ten regular season and the BCS bowls. The other major FBS conferences play into the first weekend of December.

"Everybody else is playing playoffs on television," Paterno said. "You never see a Big Ten team mentioned. So I think that's a handicap.

"I've tried to talk to the Big Ten people about, 'Let's get a 12th team -- Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt -- we could have a little bit of a playoff.'"

Paterno spoke to several college football reporters before a booster meeting at the Plaza Hotel. The comments came in response to a question on whether a team from the Northeast could win a national championship. The 1986 Nittany Lions are the last No. 1 team from the region.

"The only [Northeastern] team that's got a shot would be us, and yet we've got a tough job because the Big Ten is not as visible in the key times as the Southeastern Conference and the Big 12."

Asked what sort of response he had received, Paterno raised his eyebrows in a facial shrug.

"You know, it's a conference that's dominated by a couple of people," Paterno said. "If I start talking, they're polite, but they snicker.

"They don't know I know they're snickering, but they're polite. ...I wish I were younger and going to be around [another] 20 years."

With the conference commissioners holding so much power, Paterno said, the whole landscape could change if two or three people change.

"We're not talking about invading Normandy," Paterno said. "We're talking about some alignments that could happen very quickly."

Paterno, 82, made a few references to having dismounted the soapbox he used for so many years. On the other hand the new hip he received last November has restored the vitality for which he is so well-known. He looks, sounds, and yes, coaches younger than he has in years.

"I coached this spring," Paterno said. "That may be the kiss of death. Last year, all I did was supervise. ...I was really more of an observer. Now, since I'm walking around. I can grab the kids and say, 'You can't do it that way.' I can look 'em in the eye and grab 'em, and that's part of the fun for me. To have an impact on the pace of the practice, the enthusiasm, those are the kind of things that I missed."

The winningest coach in the game renewed his call for a four- or eight-team playoff to replace the BCS. He also decried the NCAA decision to force Florida State coach Bobby Bowden to vacate 14 victories in which the Seminoles players were later found to have committed academic fraud.

At the conclusion of last season, Paterno led Bowden in career victories, 373-372.

"My feeling is, Bobby coached the team he had and he won, OK? He ought to get credit for the wins," Paterno said. "I think that's ridiculous. Can anybody in this game, with all the rules of the NCAA, stand up and say, 'Every single kid I got, every single kid, is absolutely pure?' That's a tough statement to make."

[Glenn]

I think Pitt makes the most sense, but I've always thought that Louisville might not be a bad choice, either.

Not even going to think about ND anymore, that ship has sailed.

[WTFchris]

Why do conferences go with the numbered names at all? Like Big Ten, Big 12, etc.

Then when you change teams everything gets messed up.

[Zip Goshboots]

Why not go with the "Behind the Eight-Ball" Conference? It's funny when a 900 year old man has to tell the conference big shots that 11 teams in the "Big TEN" is stupid, and that no championship game is costing the conference a lot of money, and makes the Big Ten even more irrelevant because its season ends sometime around Halloween.

[FillyCheezeSteak]

I still think Missouri is the first choice with Pitt being the 2nd choice.........just a feeling.

[Tahoe]

^ Missouri...good thought.

[DennyMcLain]

"My feeling is, Bobby coached the team he had and he won, OK? He ought to get credit for the wins," Paterno said. "I think that's ridiculous. Can anybody in this game, with all the rules of the NCAA, stand up and say, 'Every single kid I got, every single kid, is absolutely pure?' That's a tough statement to make."

So... whaddaya sayin', Joe? Your kids cheat? Hmmmmm?

Join me, Joe, and together we will rule ESPN.com

[Wilfredo Ledezma]

They should add TCU or Colorado State to the Big 12 and then toss us Iowa State...

then you have 2 divisions

- Michigan, Mich St, Ohio St, Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern

- Wisconsin, Minn, Iowa, Iowa St, Illinois, Penn St

[Glenn]

I don't think you'd ever see UM and OSU in the same division. Wouldn't they want to leave a potential UM/OSU B10 Championship Game in tact?

Now as for what that does to the annual regular season-ender, that's part of the problem with them adding a Champ. game in the first place.

For progress to be made on this, a lot of tradition is going to have to go out the window, hence the reluctance.

[Wilfredo Ledezma]

I don't think you'd ever see UM and OSU in the same division. Wouldn't they want to leave a potential UM/OSU B10 Championship Game in tact?

Now as for what that does to the annual regular season-ender, that's part of the problem with them adding a Champ. game in the first place.

For progress to be made on this, a lot of tradition is going to have to go out the window, hence the reluctance.

True, I forgot about that. Good point.

Switch Ohio St & Illinois then (that way Illinois & NW are together).

Usually what happens is you play for sure every team in your division (so that's 5 games right there) and then play 3 teams in the other division for two straight years (home and home) and then play the other three teams, two years after that. So really, your conference record is irrelevant, and your division record is what matters.

Then, the Big Ten Championship (assuming it'd always be indoors) game... you can rotate it between Ford Field, Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis), and possibly the Metrodome (although I think the Gophers are getting a new outdoor stadium next year) or the Carrier Dome if Syracuse were to join.