Throw out the record books, throw out the scandal, and throw out the fact that Joe Paterno is one of the most well known coaches on Earth.  Throw out everything he’s accomplished, everything that eventually brought him down, and your opinions on what his legacy will come to be.

And focus on the fact that no matter what you think of the man they call Joe Pa, that today is a sad day.

Today, we found out that the man who once seemed destined to coach forever, was on the verge of leaving the world forever. The Citizen’s Voice reports that Paterno is near death.  Even his greatest detractors, and the people involved with the Jerry Sandusky scandal still very much swirling around Penn State’s beaten and bruised program and the many who were affected, couldn’t have wanted this.

They used to say that Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno hung around as long as they did in the coaching game, because if they left it would be their demise from the world.  Football gave them purpose, football kept them going, football was in many ways, the world they had built for themselves.

So when FSU decided to move on, cutting Bowden loose just a few seasons ago, many wondered if he could live without football.  So far, so good.  People wondered the same for years about Paterno, whose health had been failing in recent years. Paterno is in serious condition it’s being reported, just months removed from his November 9th firing at Penn State.

It was just days after that fateful night that Paterno was diagnosed with cancer.  Now the radiation and chemotherapy, which has weakened him to his bare bones, appears to be a dead end without hope, leading to a final goodbye. We last saw Joe Pa outside in his house, appearing to be in good spirits, the night he was removed as head coach of Penn State, a position he held from 1966-2011. That memory will be seared in my mind for a long time.  The riots, the outpouring of support, the idolization a community had of a football coach, worthy or not.  You remember where you were on nights like that. I remember where I was when 9-11 happened.  I remember where I was when Osama Bin Laden was killed.  And I will remember where I was when Joe Pa came out of his house to say, what almost amounted to be his final goodbyes.

Who could have thought that night, when he and his wife waved goodbye to a crowd of adoring and bitter fans, that it would be his true farewell.  Everything has gone downhill ever since.

While trivial in nature, Joe Pa left the game of college football as the all-time wins leader in NCAA FBS with 409. He stands alone as the only coach to win 400 games and 5 of his Penn State teams won major bowl games. In 2007, Joe Pa was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Today, down to possibly his final few hours, maybe days, his longtime wife, Sue called close family and friend to say their goodbyes.

A call no one ever wants to make.

I never met Joe Pa the person, so I can’t make a judgement call on who he was and what he stood for.  What I know is this: it’s always terribly sad to say goodbye to a loved one, no matter what their celebrity status. At the end of the day, we’re all just people, and we’re all equally vulnerable.

And that’s all there is to it.

Paterno is 85.

The BCS Championship is over. Mercifully. Or to put it as the championship hats read: done! As in the SEC can have it’s moment in the sun, while it pours on the other side. Did LSU’s no-show, help propel us closer to a Plus-One? Did Alabama put up the greatest defensive performance in BCS history? Does Honey Badger care? Did Alabama just kick another Field goal? And where in the word was Jarrett Lee?

Juiced Sports Radio breaks it all down. Plus, is Oklahoma State worthy of #2 once more?

The top 2 teams in the land have arrived in New Orleans, where on Monday January 9th they will clash heads in a rematch of their scintillating (cue the sarcasm) Game of the Century: a bone-crushing 9-6 offensive shootout, which sent offense back to the 40’s (hey look, there’s Tim Tebow and the Broncos!)

And while ESPN has the hype train rolling, trying to build anticipation for a game that only the analysts seemed to want, it’s hard to get jacked up for two teams that we’ve already seen.  Like that terrible old MTV reality show, Next, we’d like to stick this matchup back on the bus and try again.  But it’s what we’re stuck with, so what the heck.

After 4 BCS bowl games of pure, unadulterated offensive explosion, the final game of the 2011 college football season will be settled by two powerful defenses.  The two offenses were invited to come along, but they had to find their own ride, because it’s been the D that’s carried both of these teams to the last step.

So no, the 308 combined points we’ve seen in the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, and Orange (West Virginia just scored again!) will make the BCS Championship game look like the ugly duckling, but in a strange way, after the video game numbers we’ve been seeing, it might actually be — wait for it, wait for it, refreshing to see some real defense.  The 77 total points average per game is likely to be significantly lower when the Tide and Tigers meet for a second time, even if the two offenses have had a month to prepare (which they have).

We know the Tigers deserve their #1 spot, and the bowl season has only further cemented that lofty notion:

Just look at that schedule and drool over the remarkable strength of teams that LSU has plowed through.

Oregon just won the Rose Bowl.  West Virginia just won the Orange Bowl.  Mississippi State won the Music City Bowl. Florida won the Gator Bowl. Auburn won the ChicFilABowl. Alabama is in the national championship, Arkansas plays Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl tonight, and Georgia lost an epic 3 OT thriller to Michigan State in the Outback Bowl.

Which means of the 13 teams LSU played this year:

- 5 teams won their bowl game (2 won a BCS game)
-  1 lost their bowl game (Georgia)
- 1 plays tonight (Arkansas)
- 5 of their opponents failed to make a bowl game (Northwestern St, Kentucky, Tennessee, Western Kentucky, and Ole Miss).

If Arkansas wins tonight, LSU can lay claim to beating 3 of the AP’s final top 5.  That’s insane.

And that’s before LSU even takes the field.

That said it’s hard to argue — even with a loss — that anyone was better than LSU this year. The voters are going to have quite the dilemna if the Tide pull off the win.

A special thanks to the fine people at H&R Block who emailed me this nifty little infographic (if you’ve followed Juiced throughout the years you know how much we love infographs)! This one is particularly neat in not just its design but in the depth of its information. So while you prepare for LSU-Alabama after a slew of video arcade game scores, check this thing out. And impress your friends with your newfound sports knowledge (chart after the jump, click on it to zoom in).

It’s been a fun, crazy, and as usual, controversial season in the wonderful world of college football.  That didn’t just go for the teams involved.  The Heisman trophy, the most coveted individual award in sports arguably is up for grabs tonight.  The field has been narrowed to  a fantastic five, but there were plenty others who were more than deserving for the little guy with the stiff arm.

When tabulating our Heisman winner, Juiced Sports writers and staff weren’t limited to just voting for Robert Griffin III, Andrew Luck, Montee Ball, Trent Richardson, and Tyrann Mathieu.  So who did we choose?  Our votes after the jump.

Mitch Blatt

1. Robert Griffin III / QB / Baylor

Robert Griffin III had the best season and led Baylor into the top 25. He did it in the big games, too, throwing for 430 yards against Texas A&M, 425 against Oklahoma State, 479 against Oklahoma and 320 against Texas.

2. Montee Ball / RB/ Wisconsin
3. Andrew Luck / QB / Stanford

Brad Clark

1. Robert Griffin III / QB / Baylor

RGIII took home the Davey O’Brien Trophy on Thursday and seems he is the frontrunner for the Heisman on Saturday. The junior signal caller has posted just shy of 4,000 passing yards, 36 TD passes to 6 INT’s and has ran in 9 more scores. I’m pretty sure that should do it.

2. Trent Richardson / RB / Alabama
3. Andrew Luck / QB / Stanford

Scott Jacobs

1. Matt Barkley / RB / USC

I was absolutely baffled when Barkley was shafted by the Heisman voting committee.  The number one QB out of high school, Barkley finally lived up to his lofty billing this season, quietly leading USC to a 10-2 record and a top 5 ranking.  Barkely threw for 3528 yards this season to go along with 39 TDs and just 7 picks.  But here’s why he gets my vote: USC was ineligible to play for the post-season, which for some might’ve made it difficult to stay motivated.  Not Barkley.  He simply got better as the season went on, and so did the Trojans.  If you don’t have to be a national title contender to win the Heisman (see Griffin III), why can’t Barkley get consideration?  And for my money, he might just be the best player in college football when it’s all said and done.

2. Tyrann Mathieu / CB / LSU
3. Andrew Luck / QB / Stanford

Mike Kaye

1. Trent Richardson / QB / Alabama

His team is in the National Championship game and he is the best offensive weapon on the team. If you look at the QB and WR play on Alabama, it is obvious that without Richardson, the team is devoid of play-makers and would solely rely on their defense.

2. Robert Griffin III / QB / Baylor
3. Andrew Luck / QB / Stanford

Shane Smith

1. Trent Richardson / RB / Alabama

2. Case Keenum / QB / Houston
3. Robert Griffin III / QB / Baylor

Photo: AP

West Virginia is not a football powerhouse.  But the soon to be newest member of the Big 12 next year, is a name.  They’ve been on the BCS stage before.  Remember their 13-9 loss at home to Pitt?  That cost them a berth in the national title game in 2007.  Pat White and Steve Slaton were prime-time names in college football for years.  West Virginia has been here before.

Plus, they’re 9-3 (respectable enough I suppose in the whacky world of BCS automatic qualifying) and they’re ‘wait for it, wait for it,’ actually ranked! Yeehaw.  So after the Mountaineers quietly held on to beat a disappointing USF team in Tampa last night, assuring them at last a share of the comedically mediocre Big East, it kept hope alive that the Big East wouldn’t be the first team to send not only an unranked team to the BCS, but an unranked 5 loss team.

Yup, Louisville completed their season by also beating USF 34-24, assuring themselves of a Big East title as well.  Louisville is 7-5, has losses to both Marshall and Florida International (though FIU is halfway decent this year) and lost 3 games in a row in October.  They might be a nice comeback story, but they’re the nightmare scenario the Big East and BCS has to to be dreading.

So here’s where we stand: All the cards appear to be in Cincinnati’s hands.  The Bearcats (remember them/wish you could go back in time Brian Kelly?) can also clinch a tie in the Big East with a win over Connecticut this Saturday, which would give us a three way conundrum in the Big Least.  Should Cincy drop the ball and allow the Huskies to prevail with a win, it would hand the Cardinals a BCS berth via the fact that they won the head to head matchup over West Virginia.

A 7-5 team in the BCS?  While a team like Boise State (no chance for the BCS), South Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin perhaps etc. falls to a 2nd and 3rd tier bowl.  People have been clamoring for change.  This could be that moment.  If Cincy wins, thereby creating the afformentioned 3-way tie, the winner of the BCS berth would be awarded to the highest rated BCS team.  Since West Virginia is the only ranked team amongst the group, they’d get the trip to Sun Life Stadium, against either Clemson or Virginia Tech.  While far from a spectacular matchup, it’d be a heck of a lot better than say Clemson versus Louisville (yikes!)

People clamoring for the BCS to whisk their automatic qualifying status away from the Big East may actually get their wish, as the higher ups may be forced to take action should this embarrassment occur.

While far from a star, West Virginia brings credibility to the conference with a 9-3 record.  A 7-5 Louisville team in the Orange Bowl just might bring shame.  And the worst BCS ratings in … history?

The world has gone mad.  First Rebecca Black’s horrific song, ‘Friday’ which spawned a plethora of hate and hilarious spoofs, and eventually got her on national news, has re-emerged just in-time for the holidays.  Black isn’t in Kohl’s new commercial, but the song is clearly molded in her well scolded name.  And trust me, it’s awful.

Then, Mississippi State goes out and hashtags (literally) their end-zone, for Saturday’s Egg Bowl.  Which of course goes glowingly with their awkward gold numbered uniforms (see the unis after the jump), which read (you guessed it) Hail State on the back.  Hail, the higher ups at Mississippi State that they didn’t do the unthinkable and (gasp) hashtag their uniform.  Though you know there’s someone sitting there watching all this, going, ‘we could do that.  We totally could.’

And on a uniform note, why does every college football team striving to be cool, feel the weird need to put gradients in their uniforms? Gradients only look good in print ads and on HD.  They don’t look good on football jerseys (cough, cough Maryland).

So what does this mean?  Is Twitter paying for this?  Is Mississippi State doing this to bolster their name?  Is this some unique P.R. stunt to get the nation talking about a hashtag?  Is this the real life version of a sponsored tweet?  We still don’t know the answers to this, but I will tell you this: it’s brilliant.  It’s Maryland flag uniforms brilliant.  People are talking about it.  Afterall, in today’s world, Twitter now equals people talking.

As for the 50 year old, 20 year season ticket holder who looks at the endzone on Saturday in Starkville and asks, “What the hell is that,?” well… this isn’t for him (or her).  It’s probably aimed at the recruits.  If you can’t buy Cam Newton, maybe you can attract a star with a pound sign.

You knew Twitter was rolling when during the MLB Playoffs, baseball simply posted a #POSTSEASON behind the backstop for every game and the millennial generation never questioned it.  Hashtagging things is becoming as American as apple pie.  Or a stupid Kardashian story. It’s part of the pop culture. To quote NPH in How I Met Your Mother, “Wait for it, Wait for it,” it’ll probably soon be in the dictionary. If ‘Google’ is, #hashtag or #hashtagging has to be on its way.

I’m not sure if that’s scary or fascinating: probably a mix of both.

Nevertheless, going back to Mississippi State, it’s a fascinating idea that could have social media repercussions on how Twitter and Facebook and future social media sites operate and get their name out there.  For a school caught in the doldrums of mediocrity and nailed to the corner of irrelevance and invisible (as it pertains to the SEC and the college football spectrum) it’s a bold move which will be heard.

And yup, tweeted.

SHANE SMITH

With news of West Virginia collegiate sports jumping the sinking Big East ship to the Big 12, it is now inevitable that the Big East Football is going to plummet into the depths of the sports Bermuda Triangle: where one can find the likes of the USFL, XFL, and Ryan Leaf.

The once prominent football conference now must somehow try to rely on teams struggling for .500 records to keep a BCS bid and draw important non BCS teams to the league. The last ditch efforts to acquire Boise State, Army, Navy, and every other team that is relatively appealing will inevitably still fail at keeping the Big East a BCS conference.

After the departure of Miami, Boston College, and Virginia Tech in 2003 to the ACC many were surprised to see the Big East continue to thrive. Louisville, Cincinnati, and UCONN all emerged as top 25 teams. The conference was also anchored by Pittsburgh and West Virginia who were always primed to compete in a BCS game. Slowly but surely the tides turned in the east. Louisville collapsed on itself after Brian Brohm graduated, Cincinnati failed to pick up where Brian Kelly left off, and UCONN became relevant after winning several games due to fantastic luck (my personal favorite was WR Larry Taylors call for a fair catch that the ref’s missed and returned for a TD (Watch below) only to lose their coach to Maryland.

Even Rutgers could brag about the development of Ray Rice and South Florida could brag after hitting the number 2 BCS ranking before imploding on themselves in 2007.

But all of these are a distant past. Cincinnati and UConn both lost 5 star coaches to bigger and better places, USF saw their upstart coach leave under questionable choices, and Louisville and Rutgers were never able to capitalize on their mid 2000’s success.

Now that West Virginia, the most consistent football team in the Big East, is breaking up with the Big East it should be only a matter of time before UConn heads for greener pastures in the ACC (thanks to their basketball, soccer, and baseball programs, not football). This means that the Big East will attempt to remain a BCS football conference with a remaining core of Cincinnati, USF, Rutgers, and Louisville (and potentially UConn).

If you are Boise State and that is the option on the table, wouldn’t you rather hold out for the PAC-12 to become the PAC-16, or the Big 10 to become the Big 14? It seems like a move to the Big East would be a temporary lateral move for the likes of Boise State because competing against Rutgers, Navy, UCF, USF, etc is just as appealing as playing UNLV, Nevada, SDSU, and Hawaii. So with the high probability that Big East will lose their BCS eligibility, the writing on the wall of this becoming a second class conference is very very clear.

While the disintegration of Big East football may not be the worst thing to happen to the collegiate landscape, it is however very sad to see the best college basketball conference suffer such a devastating casualty on account of football greed. College basketball, the Big East tournament, and March Madness are one of the only remaining pure forms of collegiate athletic entertainment that has remained consistent for decades. The 4 day tourney at Madison Square Garden is going to lose pieces that have been essential to its success for over 30 years and that is truly the saddest consequence of the nation’s BCS obsession.

Stay tuned for my next column where I will give my solution to keep Big East basketball one of the purest and most entertaining conferences in the NCAA.

Photo: Getty

MITCH BLATT

The weekend has started at Juiced Sports, and this weekend its not just about college football. Its about the Friday night DJ competition and the tailgate concert. The Campus Socialite Blitz n Beatz Tour descends on Bloomington for a weekend of parties including a DJ competition tomorrow night and a tailgate concert. (Football schedule in full post.)

The DJ competition takes place at Jake’s Bar and Party House and starts at 11. Juiced Sports will be there taking pictures and interviewing DJs. Saturday morning, there is a tailgate party before IU’s expected loss to Illinois.

Oh, and you wanted the college football schedule? We got that too.

Here it is:
Tonight: #9 Oregon vs California, 9 PM on ESPN
Tomorrow: Fresno State vs #5 Boise State 9 PM ESPN

Saturday
#11 Texas vs #3 Oklahoma, 12 PM on ABC
#1 LSU vs #17 Florida, 3:30 PM on CBS
#21 Virginia Tech vs Miami (FL), 3:30 PM on ABC
#10 Arkansas vs #15 Auburn, 7 PM on ESPN
#14 Nebraska vs Ohio State, 8 PM on ABC

And o yeah, your FX game of the week:
Texas Tech vs #23 Texas A&M, 7 PM on FX

SCOTT JACOBS

If you haven’t seen Moneyball, go out and see it. We plan on checking it out.  Besides that, football should be your priority this weekend.  Duh! Some really intriguing matchups fill this week’s schedule.  And ah yes, what will Maryland be donning this weekend?

#14 Arkansas vs #3 Alabama – 3:30 PM on CBS
#7 Oklahoma State vs #8 Texas A&M – 3:30 PM on ABC / ESPN2
#11 Florida State vs #21 Clemson – 3:30 PM on ESPN
#2 LSU vs #16 West Virginia – 8 PM on ABC
#23 USC vs Arizona State – 10:15 PM on ESPN