Making A Case For Bcs Berth

East LANSING, Mich. - Tying loose ends at the finish line of Penn State's second straight 10-win regular season.... Dec. 6 is the day, apparently. Two weeks from today college football's major-conference championship games will be history. The various bowl committees, a copy of the BCS standings in front of them, will determine which teams will play in which bowls. Of particular interest will be, of course, the five Bowl Championship Series games, which carry with them the sport's biggest paydays. Most of the owners of those 10 berths will be known, based on the games of Dec. 5 and earlier, before they're formally announced. Nos. 1 and 2 in the BCS standings are in, and will play for the national championship. Ohio State is in, as the Big Ten Conference's rep in the Rose Bowl, where it will play the Pac 10 champion (Oregon or Oregon State). The ACC champ (Georgia Tech or Clemson) will play in the Orange Bowl. The Big East champ (Cincinnati or Pittsburgh), and the higher-ranked of the TCU/Boise State tag team will fit in there somewhere. The SEC (Florida or Alabama) and Big 12 (Texas or Nebraska) figure to occupy berths in the Sugar and Fiesta Bowls, respectively. Three spots figure to remain unspoken for, or open to at-large entries. They'll be in the Fiesta, Orange or Sugar Bowls. One of those figure to go to Penn State or Iowa, based on Q-ratings or Nielsen ratings or Rorschach tests or.... something. Something other than the fact that Iowa beat Penn State, at Penn State, Sept. 26. The Nittany Lions may have helped their case Saturday. They put on an impressive second-half show, 35 points' worth, in blasting Michigan State, 42-14. Iowa, meanwhile, was subduing Minnesota in a game that saw more punts (17) than points (12, all by the Hawkeyes). Ricky Stanzi, the quarterback who led Iowa to a 9-0 start, is injured, his status for a bowl game unknown. Orange Bowl representatives were at both Iowa's game and Penn State's Saturday. The rep at East Lansing, Michael Kosnitsky, admitted that the Orange Bowl's first priority is to "get butts in (hotel) beds and feed tourism in South Florida.'' In January, in sunny climes, nobody puts butts in beds better than JoePa and the boys. Nit-News: Among the things on the line in the Penn State-Michigan State game may have been the honor of being named first-team All-Big Ten quarterback. Kirk Cousins of Michigan State came in the league's highest-ranked QB in all the important statistical metrics. Penn State's Daryll Clark was generally second by the numbers. Clark, a senior who was first team All-Big Ten last year, played much better Saturday. He completed 19 of 27 passes for 310 yards, four touchdowns and no turnovers. Cousins, a sophomore, hit on 16 of 28 throws, but for just 155 yards, one TD and two interceptions. As a result, Clark nosed ahead of Cousins in pass efficiency (145.7 to 145.2) and leads Cousins in completion percentage, passing yards, yards per pass attempt and TD passes. Etc.: Cornerback A.J. Wallace (concussion) and wide receiver Chaz Powell (shoulder) both missed Saturday's game with injuries, but are expected to be ready for the bowl. ... Free safety Drew Astorino, who's been bothered by a shoulder problem most of the year, left the game briefly after apparently aggravating it in the second quarter. ... Penn State did not allow a 100-yard rusher this year. ... Kicker Collin Wagner is 1-5 on field-goal attempts from outside the 40 yard-line, and 4-for-10 outside the 30. ... The Lions also had a 28-point quarter in the Eastern Illinois game Oct. 10. ... The Lions have outscored their opponents 187-61 in the first halves of games. And finally: Joe Paterno has the highest-profile hip surgery in Pennsylvania history one year ago almost to the day. At a time when a number of high-profile coaches - Charlie Weis of Notre Dame, Rich Rodriguez of Michigan, Kansas' Mark Mangino - are the focus of attention for the wrong reasons with their futures in apparent jeopardy, it's worth noting that nobody's talking much about JoePa's future, or his health. This is Paterno's 21st 10-victory season. He turns 83 in 28 days. mgross@lnpnews.com