Monday, October 20, 2008

College schedules affect rankings

Penn State's ranked third in the first release of the BCS standings, due in large part to their soft "pre-season" schedule. I know Joe and the AD have the challenge of balancing a challenging schedule with one that allows the team to build confidence, but they appear to have erred a little too much on the soft side in recent years. Granted, the overall weakness of the Big 10 conference hasn't helped. That said, you'd think they could raise the bar. College football is a different matter, but when faced with similar choices when I was in college, I aimed high.


When faced with selecting courses and professors, I purposely sought the toughest profs sacrificing a cakewalk 'A' with a soft prof in exchange for sitting under the best and busting my tail for a 'C'. I figured it was a better investment of my tuition dollars. The challenge of surviving, Ryrie-roulette (which, BTW, I did not) or doing more than "nodding-your-head-yes" for Cawood and publishing top-notch 10-pagers for Master, only enhanced my Bible education. They were men who were so notorious they're reputations, consistently applied over years, decades and generations, had become legendary. Like alligators, defending the Faith, they could sniff errant theology down the hall and each of them could shrink an off-base student in a matter of sentences. In a sick way, it was entertaining to see them chewed to pieces. And even in one case, once aware of another prof who was off base... the prof was gone mid-year. These men were tough and they were good. Everyone knew it and in some cases, their legend had been passed down from earlier generations.

Without regard for the transcript, I subjected myself to the highest standard and though my BCS rank suffered my overall education was enhanced. I'd hate for Penn State to be the only undefeated team in the nation, but still be ranked 3rd in the BCS.