2006 ORANGE BOWL PREVIEW

2006 Orange Bowl Preview - Paterno vs Bowden

"I think we just ought to forget about the Bobby Bowden-Joe Paterno relationship. I think we ought to be looking at two good football teams that are going to go down there and have a chance to knock each other's brains out."

Joe Paterno’s attempt to avert attention from himself and place it on his team as he’s done his entire career has failed more than ever. Everyone is talking Bowden vs. Paterno like it’s a heavy weight title bout, and it is. Maybe JoePa should sit back and enjoy the deserved attention associated with a hall of fame career, but I suppose it wouldn’t be true JoePa style if he didn’t stay true to form to the very end.

Bowden and Paterno are 1 and 2 respectively in wins among major college coaches with Bowden edging out Paterno by 6 wins with 359. And it’s no wonder these coaches are getting all the attention; no. 1 v. no. 2 sounds a lot better than 3 v. 22, Penn State and Florida State’s respective rankings. But this game should be a lot closer than the ratings might indicate. Florida State knocked off number 5 Virginia Tech in the ACC title game to save their season and to qualify for a BCS bowl for the 6th time in 8 years. Paterno’s bunch has had to work their way up from the bottom of the Big 10 over the past few years and will be making their first BCS appearance. Going into the season, the Nittany Lions had lost 17 of 24 games. But Penn State managed to turn things around, edging out co-Big 10 Champs Ohio State for the BCS bid by beating them during the regular season, and Penn State nearly went undefeated with their only loss coming at Michigan by 2 points.

That’s not too bad for a coach that many thought was too old and needed to hang it up several years ago. In terms of age Bowden is 76 and Paterno will be 79 before the Orange Bowl, and both coaches look like they could patrol the sidelines well into their eighties. As far as their personal rivalry goes, Paterno has won 6 matchups to Bowden’s 1, but Bowden lost all 6 of those when he was at West Virginia. Paterno’s post season stats are staggering with a 20-10-1 all-time bowl record with two national titles and 20 top 10 finishes, not to mention he is the only coach to win the Cotton, Fiesta, Sugar, Rose, and Orange bowls! Bowden’s 19-8-1 and .696 winning percentage edges out Paterno for the best winning percentage all-time in bowls. Never again in history will there be this many wins on the same field. Maybe we should just forget about the players and let Paterno and Bowden get in the boxing ring or duke it out with Playstation controllers in their hands. I’m guessing these two guys in shiny trunks might not be the best television, but in essence they will have Playstation controllers in their hands, calling the shots in the national spotlight once again.

In true JoePa style I’ll divert from the main topic of interest, as Paterno often does in interviews, to talk a little about some of the players and the game. First off, Florida State will have the home field advantage playing in Miami. They also have an advantage in that this is not their first BCS appearance. Penn State hasn’t won a bowl since 1999 and has never played in the BCS as I mentioned before. These 2 factors should help FSU to make up some of the gap. Also FSU’s defense is among the fastest in the nation, and they were able to shut down Marcus Vick in the ACC title game. Penn State’s QB, Michael Robinson, is a similar player. It will be interesting to see if the Seminoles can shut down another running QB.

It should be noted that Michael Robinson is a bigger, stronger QB than Vick, which should present a slightly different obstacle for the FSU defense. Penn State has a little defense of their own led by Junior Linebacker Paul Posluszny, winner of both the Bednark Award for the nation’s top defensive player and the Butkus Award for the nation’s top linebacker. This could be a defensive battle as Penn State has given up just 16.5 pts/game on the season. FSU is giving up 21.7, but I expect them to really tighten the clamps as they try to knock off consecutive top 5 teams.

On January 3rd, we will witness a matchup for the ages between the two best college coaches in history. There more than likely won’t be another coaching matchup of this magnitude in our lifetime, unless they square off again next year. I only hope the game itself will do these coaches justice.

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