[Alberta's Child]

The 1994 PSU team got everything it deserved. Penn State was a perennial championship contender as an independent school because it always had the freedom to accept a bowl bid against a top-ranked conference champion in one of the major bowls. This is why independents like Penn State, Notre Dame and Miami had a disproportionate number of national titles back in the 1980s and early 1990s.

The only way they would be left out in the cold was if the Rose Bowl -- where both of the teams had automatic bids -- was played between two of the top-ranked teams in the country.

That all ended when Penn State joined the Big Ten -- which they did for purely financial reasons. So they end up as one of the top-ranked teams but were forced to play an Oregon team with three losses in the Rose Bowl. Too bad, eh?

[FlJoePa]

Well, if it wasn’t for the popularity of Big East Basketball at the time, we would have had an Eastern All Sports Conference with PSU, Pitt, WVU, BC, Syracuse, Temple, Rutgers, Maryland (maybe), etc.

Sure PSU took the money, but it wasn’t sports money. It was CIC money and the incredible increase in research grants that have resulted.