Instant Analysis: Michigan State-Penn State

Joe Paterno has surgery to look forward to, but thanks to his team’s dominating performance in the Big Ten season finale, the college football icon also has a second Rose Bowl trip in his future.

The Nittany Lions—unsure about the confidence level of quarterback Daryll Clark—received a first-rate effort from their resilient signal caller on Saturday afternoon in Beaver Stadium. With a flurry of downfield throws in the bone-chilling conditions, Clark ensured that Penn State’s next contest will take place in a land of sunshine and palm trees.

Some observers might be inclined to lament PSU’s loss to Iowa a few weeks ago, wondering “what might have been” in the process. That approach, however, would be both inappropriate and shortsighted, because this slaughter of the Spartans just brought this program its second Big Ten title in the past four seasons. For all their struggles in the Anthony Morelli era, the Lions—ascendant under Michael Robinson in 2005, on their way to the Orange Bowl—are how headed back to a BCS battle with Captain Clark at the controls. A hobbled but hallowed head coach once again found quarterback magic in Happy Valley, and that’s why another magical run to the Roses has been completed in University Park, Pa.

One has to remember that, heading into the 2008 season, Ohio State was the clear favorite in the Big Ten, with Wisconsin being touted as the other Big Ten club likely to make a run at a prestigious January bowl. Those in the Nittany Nation had good reason to think that a third-place finish was attainable—maybe even a backdoor run at second place—but quite frankly, the brass ring seemed to be off the table for a program that was mired in controversy due to off-field incidents that tarnished the school’s image. Attention spans are short in the world of big-time collegiate athletics (as with everything else under the sun), so it’s worth cherishing this accomplishment if you wear Penn State colors. There was nothing automatic, preordained, or guaranteed about this conference crown, which comes with the perfect New Year’s gift: a Paterno parade to Pasadena.

Today’s victory—besides offering a welcome emotional boost that should make his surgery and rehab proceed that much more smoothly—gives JoePa yet another crowning achievement in a career that has been stubbornly and persistently productive. While Bobby Bowden and Florida State have muddled through since the Seminoles played Penn State in the 2006 Orange Bowl, Paterno now has another Big Ten banner to boast about. This championship was earned by his players on the field, but it was also the product of Paterno’s legendary longevity, which has been viewed by many as a negative, but can now be seen—once again—as a positive, as was the case in the 2005 season.

To further appreciate the meaning of this moment for Penn State, briefly consider the regular season that wrapped up today for the losing team in this lopsided affair. Michigan State finished its Big Ten campaign with a 6-2 conference mark, the best since the 1987 Rose Bowl team under then-coach George Perles. Current boss Mark Dantonio has taken the Spartans to new heights… and yet, Michigan State is “merely” 9-3 overall, and in third place in the conference. For Penn State and Paterno to win yet another conference crown, and gain another BCS bowl in the autumn of JoePa’s storied career, is a testament to the staying power of the bespectacled old-school icon who—while clearly showing his age—is simultaneously managing to defy it.

They are… Penn State. They are Rose Bowl-bound as well. College football’s subculture might insist that nothing short of the BCS Championship Game really matters. Penn State’s football family, players and coaches alike, shouldn’t buy that notion for a second. Not on a day when they claimed first place at the end of the 2008 Big Ten season.