The Nittany Turkey

Primarily about Penn State football, this is a tale told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

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Archives for January 13, 2011

UConn Hires Pasqualoni

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Former Penn State linebacker Paul Pasqualoni is the new head football coach of the UConn Huskies, replacing Randy Edsall, who left to become the head coach at University of Maryland.

This announcement at least temporarily throws a wet blanket on the head coaching aspirations of Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley, who interviewed for the Connecticut job after being rejected by Temple and Pitt.

Pasqualoni, a Connecticut resident, played at Penn State from 1968-71, alongside such PSU legends as John Cappelletti, Franco Harris, John Hufnagel,  Lydell Mitchell, and John Skorupan.

He served as linebackers coach at Syracuse from 1987 to 1991, when he became head coach until 2004.

Most recently, Pasqualoni has been tight ends and linebackers coach for the NFL Dallas Cowboys in 2005-2008. He was then hired by the Miami Dolphins as defensive coordinator. After being fired by the Dolphins in 2010, he returned to the Cowboys as defensive line coach and after the firing of head coach Wade Phillips, was elevated to defensive coordinator.

Read the official announcement from the University of Connecticut.

Outback Bowl Was Top Non-BCS Bowl

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Penn State propaganda apparatchik Jeff Nelson has revealed that the 2011 Outback Bowl featuring the University of Florida Gators and the Penn State Nittany Lions had the fourth greatest television audience among all 35 bowl games this season. The only three games drawing higher ratings were the BCS SSMNC game, the Rose Bowl, and the Sugar Bowl. The Outback Bowl’s 7.1 rating on ABC was a 101 per cent improvement over last year’s game, in which Auburn beat Northwestern 38-35 in an exciting overtime game.

The Nittany Lions have a huge fan base, and that helps get their bowl games upgraded. As we all know, bowl games are about money, not about college football. Unlike coaching (see yesterday’s diatribe), there are no “deserve-tos” in the big money bowl arena. Getting Penn State and the home state Gators, too, was a dream match-up for the Outback Bowl sponsors and for ESPN/ABC.

Now, if I were a conspiracy theorist, I would conclude that all those rampant “Paterno’s final game” rumors that were cranked up in December came from ESPN/ABC’s plants on the message boards. What a way to pump up the ratings. Who would want to miss Joe Paterno’s final game?