It was 44 years, one month and 17 days ago that Joe Paterno won his first game as Penn State's head football coach.
On Saturday, against Northwestern, he goes for victory No. 400 in State College, Pa.
"Coach Paterno is college football," said Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald, who was born seven years after Joe Pa's first victory.
Paterno, 83, has a 399-132-3 record, the most victories in Division I-A history. It's a milestone that probably never will be broken. Who is crazy enough to coach long enough to break it?
"Mind-boggling," said Jim Tressel, who has 237 victories in 25 years between Ohio State and Division I-AA Youngstown State. "It's hard to comprehend."
There is speculation this could be Joe Pa's final season, but people have been saying that for years. He just keeps going.
"Football, to me, has been a vehicle by which I can have some impact on some people in a very impressionable part of their lives," Paterno said during his weekly news conference.
"I've not ever gotten to the point where I have felt, 'Hey, I'm going to get out of this thing.'
"But it's going to come. That's why I don't get excited about 400 if it happens because, geez, you hang around long enough.
"How many years I been a head coach? Forty? You've got to win a couple of games in that time."
The desire for competition is part of the reason he continues to coach. Golf and shuffleboard just aren't going to be adequate replacements for that weekly adrenaline rush.
"Stimulating maybe is the best way to put it," Paterno said. "During the week, you fret, you worry, you gripe. You go home and you don't talk because you're thinking.
"But when it comes game day, it's fun."
Joe Pa fans around State College have started a grassroots campaign to add "Joe Paterno Field" to the name of Beaver Stadium. There's a sense of urgency to do it now while Paterno is still coaching.
By Saturday night, they should have 400 good reasons to make it happen.
Tiebreaker talk
The Big Ten championship has ended in a tie nine times in the last 21 years, and that's likely to happen again.
With four weeks remaining, four teams are at the top with one loss -- Michigan State (4-1), Ohio State (4-1), Wisconsin (3-1) and Iowa (3-1).
On paper, it's looking like a possible three-way deadlock between Michigan State, Wisconsin and the winner of the Ohio State-Iowa game on Nov. 20 in Iowa City.
The Big Ten's tiebreakers to determine the automatic BCS representative (Rose Bowl) are head-to-head competition, followed by overall record and then highest-ranked in the BCS standings.
Here are the likely scenarios:
Three-team ties
Michigan State, Wisconsin and Iowa: Iowa would be eliminated based on overall record because of its nonconference loss at Arizona. MSU and Wisconsin then revert to the two-team tiebreaker rules with MSU going to the Rose Bowl because of its victory over the Badgers.
Michigan State, Wisconsin and Ohio State: The tiebreaker would fall to the BCS standings with Wisconsin currently No. 9, Ohio State No. 11 and Michigan State No. 14. The question is whether an Ohio State victory over Iowa would be enough move the Buckeyes past Wisconsin (best guess: yes).
Two-team ties
Michigan State and Wisconsin: MSU wins tiebreaker because of its victory over Badgers in its Big Ten opener.
Michigan State and Iowa: Iowa wins because of its victory over the Spartans last week.
Michigan State and Ohio State: The teams don't play, so the tiebreaker becomes the BCS standings with Ohio State a near-lock to remain ranked higher.
Wisconsin and Ohio State: Wisconsin wins because of its victory over the Buckeyes.
Wisconsin and Iowa: Wisconsin wins because of its victory over the Hawkeyes.
Thank goodness there's going to be a championship game to decide it next year.
Joe Pa wants mulligan
Paterno was quite candid about a recruiting mistake he and his coaching staff made on Northwestern quarterback Dan Persa, who ranks ninth nationally in pass efficiency.
Persa is a fourth-year junior from Bethlehem, Pa., but the Nittany Lions passed on him.
"We had some other people in mind," Paterno explained. "We probably should have been a little more aggressive in our approach.
"We didn't give it the kind of effort his ability deserved. I wish we had it to do over."
Nov. 3, 2010
