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Message: [QUOTE="FfldCntyFan, post: 5300415, member: 71"] I don't see how maintaining relationships with Seton Hall and Providence would have been sufficient in keeping PSU out of the Big 10. Football was independent at that time [b]and[/b] football was the driving factor in the Big 10 wanting PSU. Ohio St won a national title in 1968. After that the champions were Texas, Nebraska, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Pitt, Notre Dame, Alabama, Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Penn St, Miami, BYU, Oklahoma, Penn St, Miami, Notre Dame, Miami. Ohio St was #1 going into the 71 (1970 season) Rose Bowl but lost (Jim Plunkett's Stanford). No Big 10 school entered bowl season with a realistic shot at winning the title over the subsequent two decades while Penn St won two titles, twice went into their bowl game in a one vs two matchup and in 1969 would have had a reasonable shot if then President Nixon hadn't declared the winner of Texas-Arkansas as the national champion, allowing the Cotton Bowl (which the SWC controlled) to not invite Penn St as the SWC champion's opponent. The methodology of selecting a champion in those days can easily be debated, but Penn St clearly exceeded the entirety of the Big 10 over that time frame in terms of being within striking distance of national titles. [/QUOTE]