JoePa Calls Out the BCS Commissioners

People often give the Big Ten ‘tude for being old-fashioned, but at least one head coach in this conference is in favor of a playoff system.

Earlier today, Penn State’s Joe Paterno called the BCS commissioner’s reasons for saying no to a playoff “bogus.” Say JoePa, who will be turning 82 on his next birthday:

“I don’t think so right now, and I don’t know why,” said Paterno, who is entering his 43rd season as Penn State’s head coach. “I’m only going to be a head coach another 10 or 15 years, and I don’t think it will happen by then.”

And then he proceeded to crack up at his own joke. This is why I love this man.

Paterno’s contract runs out at the end of 2008, and so far, it has not been extended, mainly because his son, the quarterback coach, sucks harder than Paris Hilton when there’s a camcorder in her face. If Paterno and all Penn State alumni had their way, they’d someday push his coffin out on the field so he could coach from beyond the grave.

At the early May BCS meeting, only the ACC and SEC commissioners were pro-playoff, or at least pro for the playoff system that was suggested – a four-team playoff. The reasoning given for the strong “no” was that this would extend the season by two bowl games for some teams.

And Paterno knows that’s a crock of bull. He cited March Madness, noting that it is much more disruptive than a four-team playoff would be.

He also has beef with the BCS’s governing board about the coach’s poll, which limits your picks in the final round of voting. Paterno has’ voted in the poll since 2004, when coaches were basically forced to vote for USC even tough Auburn was undefeated.

“They said, ‘Well, you’ve got to vote or else you can’t participate.’ So I will not participate in the voting,” Paterno said. “Not that I’m against what other people want to do, it’s just that philosophically I think you ought to win it on the field. If I have to vote for somebody only because people have said these are the two teams that ought to be in the BCS championship game and I think they left somebody out that probably ought to be in it, that’s when I’ll feel a playoff ought to be appropriate. I’ve always been for a playoff.”

You go, JP.

Picture via Newscom.