ShareThisBy B.G. BROOKS
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Some have questioned, but none ever doubted, Joe Paterno's staying power as Penn State's football coach.
Now give 79-year-old JoePa kudos for toughness _ and also for listening to his doctors.
Paterno was planning to coach Saturday against Temple despite undergoing surgery Sunday to repair a broken left shinbone and torn knee ligaments.
Thursday, Paterno decided to follow doctor's orders and not coach the game.
Paterno talked with his assistants during a meeting in his Mount Nittany Medical Center hospital room in State College, Pa.
"You guys know what you're doing and what I want enough that I don't need to be there creating a huge distraction Saturday," he told them, according to a team statement. "Enough on me; let's get back to football."
Paterno was injured in a sideline accident Saturday when hit by Penn State tight end Andrew Quarless and Wisconsin linebacker DeAndre Levy.
Paterno had several screws inserted in his leg and is wearing a temporary brace.
Team doctor Wayne Sebastianelli advised Paterno that coaching Saturday might jeopardize his recovery.
"He just realized he's got to be proactive in this condition," team spokesman Guido D'Elia said.
A decision on whether Paterno will coach in Penn State's regular- season finale against Michigan State on Nov. 18 will be made next week.
Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley and offensive coordinator Galen Hall will oversee their units, but Bradley, a Penn State assistant for 28 years, will make final decisions.
In his 41st season at Penn State, Paterno previously had missed only one game in his career. That was Oct. 15, 1977, when his son, David, was involved in a serious trampoline accident. Paterno skipped the Nittany Lions' 31-24 win at Syracuse.
Earlier this season during Penn State's loss at No. 1 Ohio State, Paterno was forced to leave the sideline twice because of illness. And during practice this season, he was hit by _ get this _ Quarless and another player, but suffered only bruises.
His coaches know what to expect from him _ and they sympathized with the medical staff treating him last weekend.
"I wouldn't want to be a doctor in that hospital," Bradley said. "He's champing at the bit to get back to practice."
But Paterno apparently still ran the show while hospitalized. D'Elia likened the game reviewing/planning done by Paterno over the telephone to "like operating a drug ring from a prison cell."
Hooray for Houston:
Until Saturday, not much spectacular had happened in Houston's Art Briles era. His 16-20 record (three years) entering this season featured a seven-win effort in his first year followed by three-and six-win seasons.
But a 27-10 win Saturday against Tulsa, the defending Conference USA champion, pushed the Cougars' records to 7-3, 5-1 and made them the odds-on favorites to win the conference's West Division.
Freak of the week (or season):
Georgia Tech receiver Calvin Johnson usually adds a highlight a week to an already impressive career highlight reel.
The 6-foot-5 junior has made 49 catches for 795 yards (16.2 yards a catch) and 11 touchdowns this season, numbers impressive by any standard but made even more so by his speed and athleticism.
NFL scouts can't comment publicly on college underclassmen, but one watching Johnson catch nine passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns last weekend said, "I haven't seen anybody like him, ever. You don't see guys that big and that fast. He's a freak."
The anonymous scout predicted Johnson, if he so chooses, will be the top player drafted in the spring, adding, "He'd be stupid not to (come out). His stock will never be higher."
Take your clock and . . .
First-year Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema had a solution last week for the new rule that immediately starts the clock on kickoffs.
With Wisconsin leading Penn State 10-3 late in the first half and not wanting to give the ball back to the Nittany Lions, Bielema instructed his kickoff team to twice go offsides and allow time to expire.
His explanation: "As a football coach, I'm hired to do two things _ win football games and graduate our student-athletes. At that point in time, I didn't think, with 23 seconds remaining, it was going to affect our GPA status, but I did think it gave us a chance to win."
The No. 16 Badgers did _ 13-3 _ and improved to 9-1, 6-1 Big Ten Conference.
Touring the Big 12:
_ The national rankings in pass efficiency feature seven Big 12 quarterbacks in the top 33, prompting this from Texas coach Mack Brown: "Every time you turn on the film, you see somebody playing well (at quarterback). That bodes well for the conference in the future." The Magnificent (or at least Efficient) Seven: Texas' Colt McCoy, Nebraska's Zac Taylor, Oklahoma State's Bobby Reid, Texas Tech's Graham Harrell, Missouri's Chase Daniel, Oklahoma's Paul Thompson and Texas A&M's Stephen McGee.
_ Oklahoma's Bob Stoops has coached 100 games for the Sooners. His track record: 82-18, three Big 12 championships, one national championship, two additional appearances in the national title game, a bowl game in each of his eight seasons (including 2006). Oklahoma's pre-Stoops era produced a 51-46-3 record and three bowl appearances after 100 games and a 19-30-1 mark and one bowl trip after 50 games.
_ Texas A&M fans (and others) are scratching their heads over a couple of coaching calls in last weekend's 17-16 loss against Oklahoma. Down seven points in the final 7:41 of what could have been a statement win, Aggies coach Dennis Franchione called for two fourth-down field goals _ he faced fourth-and-2 and fourth-and-6 _ and never got the ball back to try for a third winning kick. The first call was especially puzzling, given the presence of 280-pound power back Javorskie "J-Train" Lane and his 18 touchdowns this season. Texas A&M (8-2, 4-2) better handle Nebraska (7-3, 4-2) at home Saturday or a feel-good season could sour.
Touring the Mountain West:
_ Texas Christian coach Gary Patterson, like most of his peers, wants trips to run according to schedule _ no hotel, meal or travel glitches. But the glitches began early during last weekend's visit to Las Vegas. When Horned Frogs players arrived at their hotel about 4:30 p.m., some of the players' rooms weren't ready. TCU's Friday schedule went awry, and Patterson wasn't happy. "I like controlling every variable of what we do," he said. Next day, though, the Horned Frogs (6-2, 2-2) got back on track, beating Nevada-Las Vegas 25-10.
_ The Rebels, meanwhile, are suffering under second-year coach Mike Sanford (3-17 overall). They've lost eight consecutive games and 13 against Division I-A opponents. Patterson told the Las Vegas Review-Journal: "(Sanford has) just got to find a way to turn it around. I like all the head coaches in the conference, and I don't wish (UNLV's struggles) upon anybody." The Rebels (1-8, 0-5) face San Diego State (1-7, 1-3) on Saturday.
_ New Mexico senior quarterback Kole McKamey, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in early September, hopes to be granted a medical redshirt and sixth year of eligibility. If it's granted, he might have trouble unseating redshirt freshman Donovan Porterie, who is 3-0 as a starter and has completed 57-of-106 passes for 849 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions. In 22 career starts, McKamey is 13-9.
Get to work, Dirk:
In six seasons with Arizona State, coach Dirk Koetter is 19-27 in Pacific-10 Conference games, with 12 of the losses by 20 points or more. In the 27 losses, the high-scoring Sun Devils have yielded an average of 40 points.
