Associated Press
The college notebook …
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. ó Penn State coach Joe Paterno said Florida State’s Bobby Bowden should “decide what he wants to do now” but otherwise refrained from commenting about the future of the Seminoles’ coach.
Responding to a question from a listener Thursday during his weekly radio appearance, the 82-year-old Paterno said the 79-year-old Bowden is a “wonderful person,” and that Bowden has helped build Florida State’s national reputation.
Paterno leads Bowden 387-384 for most wins.
Paterno said he’s trying to avoid news about the future of Bowden, whose tenure came under fire this week after the chairman of the university’s trustees said the coaching staff was in disarray and Bowden should leave after this season.
“I don’t know what’s going on, put it that way, but I certainly think Bobby, being what he’s done, and the kind of person he’s been, he certainly deserves … he ought to be able to decide what he wants to do,” Paterno said on the show.
“I don’t know what he wants to do, and I don’t know what (Florida State) wants to do,” Paterno said. “Nobody calls me up, and if they call me up, I say, ‘Hey, no comment.’ ”
PLAYER SHOT
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ó Peter Wilkes, a walk-on punter at Southern Miss, is in critical condition at a Memphis, Tenn., hospital after being shot at his home in Union City, Tenn.
Police said the case is under investigation as an accident or self-inflicted gunshot wound.
GEORGIA-TENNESSEEKNOXVILLE, Tenn. ó The annual meeting of the Bulldogs and the Volunteers used to be one of the premier matchups in the SEC’s East Division, but the game has lost a bit of its luster this season.
Neither team is ranked for the first time since 1937.
Georgia (3-2, 2-1) is trying to get back on track after the loss to LSU. Tennessee (2-3, 0-2) is just trying to get its first SEC win under new coach Lane Kiffin.
BLACK HALL
ATLANTA ó The city of Atlanta will soon have two football halls of fame. Former NFL quarterbacks Doug Williams and James “Shack” Harris announced Friday the Black College Football Hall of Fame plans to hold an inaugural induction ceremony in Atlanta.