A Note On Terrelle Pryor and Russell Shepard

Well, the original post was about who TP would choose between UM, OSU, and PSU. I stated that Pryor's dad wants his son to attend Penn State, which is closer to Jeanette, PA than the other 2 midwestern universities.

Academically, Michigan would win that 3-way fight.
Athletically, Ohio State might win it because of Jim tressel's ownership of the Wolverines.
Aesthetically, Penn State would get the faxed signature with its history of no probations, no NCAA sanctions, and a historically higher graduation rate, especially for Black athletes, than either UM or OSU.

I understand that UM has the most wins in NCAA history. But how many of those were long before the modern era? If you're impressed with the records of a century ago, check out Army's, Harvard's, or Yale's ... they're still Big Dogs, huh?

Since 1948, UM has gone undefeated AND untied all of (drum roll, please) ONCE. The big bad buckeyes managed to do it in 1968 and then again in 2002. Meanwhile, Joe Paterno alone has been undefeated and untied through the Bowl games in 1968, 1969, 1973, 1986, and 1994. Had Penn State had the century-old voting system to anoint them national champions (or as in UM's case in 1997, SPLIT winners), the Lions would have SIX national championships in the past 40 years.

You talk about NFL QB's as if that means anything for a kid like Pryor. Using your convoluted logic, Vince Young should have gone to Rice where Tommy Kramer burned up the NFL instead of to Texas where James Street, Eddie Phillips, and Major Applewhite never graced a pro sideline.  Michigan produces some top-drawer OL, but their list of QB's is not a whole lot more impressive than Penn State's ultra-short list of Chuck Fusina, Todd Blackledge, and Kerry Collins, although Michael Robinson, who was QB on the 11-1 2005 Lion squad, is in the NFL as a RB.

I agree with you that the analogy to TAMU was absurd, but my point was that just as A&M has been irrelevant nationally since 1939, so, too, has Michigan except for a single one-half share of a national title in 1997 ... and that is tainted by the publicly acknowledged scandal involving Charles Woodson that was so egregious, the NCAA lamented that the astute of limitations prevented them from penalizing the wolverines.

Personally, I hope Pryor does pick Penn State, if for no other reason than to send Joe Paterno's last team out a champion. Meanwhile, Rich Rodriguez can try to spend some of that $4 million he owes West Virginia to buy an SUV for next year's top QB out of Texas.