'Bobby Bowden is greater than Joe Paterno' of Penn State

Mike Bianchi ran a column in today's Orlando Sentinel that included the line, "I've said it once and I'll say it again right now: Bobby Bowden is greater than Joe Paterno not just because of the games he has won but because of the imprint he has created." Let's take a deeper look into Mr. Bianchi's deeply flawed analysis...

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Early in the column Bianchi takes the NCAA to task for "ruining" the career victories race between Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno...

"Regrettably, the NCAA has sucked out every ounce of joy from this victory chase by punishing Bobby for the mistakes made by a couple of academic minions at FSU. This would be like stripping Mark McGwire of his home-run record because the Cardinals' middle reliever tested positive for steroids."

Wow, what a terrible analogy. The HUGE difference being that Mr. Bianchi's fictitious middle reliever didn't hit any home runs for McGwire, while the players who cheated were part of those 14 F$U victories. But it gets better...

"Leave it to the NCAA to rob college football of something it richly deserves — a chance to see which dynastic giant of the profession can outdo the other. It's not enough the BCS gives us a mythical national championship; now the NCAA is trying to feed us a fictitious national record book as well."

A "fictitious national record book" as opposed to the current NCAA Football Records Book, which includes Bowden's 31 victories at Howard College? (Against such powerhouses as the Tennessee Tech freshmen, Gordon Junior College, and the University of Mexico.)

Then there's the forfeit victory that Bowden received for a 1983 loss to Tulane for - hold onto your hat! - NCAA violations. At the time Bowden said, "I wouldn't mind getting a little forfeit. I'm getting to the coward stage and would accept a forfeit."

But wait, Bianchi is just getting started...

"It's not fair to the fans who have admired these two men for generations. It's not fair to Paterno, whose monumental milestone would come with a huge asterisk if Bowden ends up with more victories on the field but fewer in the record books."

No, Joe won't have an asterisk (huge or otherwise) beside his final victory count regardless of what happens with Bowden. Joe will have won all his games at a major college without cheating and while graduating the vast majority of his players. There will be no need to otherwise qualify his record. But wait, there's more...

"I've said it once and I'll say it again right now: Bobby Bowden is greater than Joe Paterno not just because of the games he has won but because of the imprint he has created. Penn State football was already a power when Paterno took over from his predecessor Rip Engle, a College Football Hall-of-Famer who never had a losing season and compiled a 104-48-4 record in 16 seasons."

Let's look at the claim that "Penn State football was already a power when Paterno took over." Here are Penn State's final AP Football Poll rankings during the Rip Engle era from 1950 to 1965...

• 1954: 20th
• 1959: 12th
• 1960: 16th
• 1961: 17th
• 1962: 9th

Sorry, Mr. Bianci, you're entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts. And the facts simply don't support your claim. During Rip Engle's 16 years, Penn State made the final rankings five times, with a single Top Ten finish. It strains credulity to say the Nittany Lions were "already a power" when Joe took over.

All that being said, we can agree with Bianchi's final point...

"Wouldn't you love it if Bobby, one last time, fooled everybody, pulled a Puntrooski out of his cap and took FSU to the national championship game? And wouldn't you love it even more if his opponent was JoePa's Penn State Nittany Lions?"

Penn State in the BCS Championship Game? Yes, we'd like that very much.

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