The '05 Michigan-Penn State "conspiracy"

According to Posnanski, Paterno told friends he was considering pulling the Lions out of the Big Ten as a result.

Would have been potentially the biggest overreaction of all time. 

The man was a competitor, which leads to overreacting sometimes...The greatest competitor of them all: Bo

Seems ironic in perspective of all Penn State fans have said and done in the last few months. Certainly emblematic.

Never let the WR get inside at the goal line.

Touchdown. Manningham.

Or is this just bluster and paranoia on the part of Paterno?

Maybe instead of blaming the officials, why dont he blame his corner for playing shitty coverage on #86.

Hm. Another thing that Paterno didn't follow through with.

Didn't he lobby for 2 seconds to be put on the clock during their last drive?

I guess this is further proof that JoePa had gone senile long before the rest of the world took notice. 

Paterno argued AND got time back on the clock before Penn State's last touchdown in that exact same game.  (I was there.  I saw the whole thing in person).  The ref gave him 2 seconds back.

Lloyd later argued to get time back on the clock with about 30 seconds left.  Watch the tape and you'll see that we should have got at least 3 seconds back.  But the ref gave Lloyd 1.  Just enough for PSU nation to come back and cry later.

Why was it O.K. for JoePa to do it but not for Lloyd to do the exact same thing?

I somehow ended up with front row tickets, right in the endzone (We had tickets in the section, students had fall break, and that year a small student section was started in that endzone, so it was easy to sneak down).

I remember watching as Manningham caught the ball 15 feet in front of me.  That day, I entered the stadium a big Michigan fan, and left absolutely fanatical, and I still am.

I know, I know...cool story bro

So, here's a guy who felt like he had the power to unilaterally pull Penn State out of the Big Ten over some perceived injustice in a football game, but when it came to stopping a former member of his staff from raping children, he was helpless to do anything about it outside of reporting it to his "superiors."



Now that's a man who had his priorities in order.

More bluster from the King of Narcissistic Hubristic Despots. 

Paterno should have retired gracefully 15 years ago, but no...he was too fucked in the head to allow himself that luxury and release the school from being held hostage by his legacy.

was the game that got me into football, i still remember it like it was yesterday. Lloyd Carr pulled a great move in that game though to get the two seconds back, JoePa was just bitter. It established Chad Henne to Mario Manningham, the only qb-reciever combo of that level I've seen for Michigan. Heres hoping Shane Morris and Darboh or Treadwell changes that. I was excited about switching to such a running quarterback, but the beauty of an excellent passing game has been lost.

Pretty sure they didn't have an 11-1 season. I think it was officially 0-12.



Who's this conspiracy include? The Big Ten? If so, how was Michigan winning that game better for the conference? It cost the conference a Championship game team.

In situations like the end of that game, with ball, little time left, behind by less than a td, and timeouts to burn, Carr would have certainly relayed to the refs that if the clock doesn't stop at the end of the play, he wanted an immediate timeout. Nothing unusual about that at all. For all the great success Michigan has had through the years, 0ne of, if not the main reason OSU and PSU fans hate Michigan is because even when we've not had the best years, we've spoiled their seasons when they were otherwise undefeated.  Of course some of the fans are delusional about conspiracies against their team.  It's sad when the coach is the head delusionist.

I was supposed to meet her for dinner and I was listening to it on the car radio. She sat in the restaurant for me just a little too long. Worth it.

Given the way the supposed management at Penn State stacked up, since Paterno had a say in the hire of his own former superior in the athletic department, and indeed, serve as the director himself while coaching football back in the 1980s for a time, then I wouldn't have been shocked that, if he really had wanted to do it, he could have pulled Penn State somehow, or convinced the school it was a good idea. After all, they listen to him apparently now that he is dead. 

Having said that, I am pretty sure these are the words of the competitive side of Joe Paterno. He must have wanted to eject State College from the face of the Earth in 2003 when they only beat Temple, Kent State and Indiana (and now, of course, only unofficially  - it's a sad day when you have to vacate wins against these fine football programs). Again, in retrospect, it's a shame that didn't happen. 

Like others, I was at the 2005 game, within sight distance of Manningham's catch. If Paterno wanted to leave the conference at that moment, I wouldn't have given a you-know-what. I was too busy cheering. 

WE ARE

taking our balls and going HOME!

Recalling the play, a UM player went out of bounds and the clock continued to run - 5 or 6 seconds should have been added, not just 2! 

That year I had "roving" season tickets, with tickets to all the games except Minnesota for Homecoming but always in different seats. We had four kids from PSU sitting right in front of my son and me and they were really good sports. Not sure if my recollection is completely correct, but I thought when PSU went ahead on their TD at the end of the game they had been trailing most, if not all, of the game to that point. Even though they had sat there the entire game and listened to us cheering, they didn't go overboard in celebrating or trash talk anyone. Then, when UM won, they shook a lot of hands and congratulated a lot of UM fans on a great win as they tried to make their way out. Good kids.

It was also the first time I went to a game and the stadium stayed full for so long after the game was over. I think the next time I experienced something like that was the ND game under the lights last year. 

That was a terrific game - would love to see it on BTN again.