HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Auburn's a year away, Joe Paterno waited 19 years too long and the world of college football is a century overdue in determining a champion.

Those were among the observations from former Auburn football coach Pat Dye during an interview with The Times prior to the Huntsville Quarterback Club meeting Tuesday night at The Ledges. Dye, 72, strongly requested that his speech to the club members and ensuing question-and-answer session not be covered by the media.

"I think they're a year away from having a full deck of cards, (when there will be) the depth and all of the experience," Dye said of Auburn's football team. "Plus, next year they'll have a quarterback that's played a year.

"For them to have the kind of youth -- they played last year but they're still young -- they haven't proven anything, they can't have any confidence because they haven't beaten anybody," Dye continued.

Auburn could surprise "if one of (the quarterbacks) were to come through and have a super year," he said, "but I think it's a football team that's probably going to win some games they shouldn't and lose some they should win."

Dye called the Penn State situation "awful, absolutely awful" and said Paterno "shoulda got out when he was 65 years old, and all of the ego and all of that other stuff wouldn't have got in his way.

"And coach (Bobby) Bowden (Florida State) should have gotten out. And coach (Paul) Bryant. You get that old, you do not have the energy to recruit and do alumni functions and all the things that are demanded of a head football coach," he said.

Dye never knew Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, who was recently found guilty on 45 charges of child sexual abuse and was allegedly discovered in a Penn State shower room with young boy.

"Let me tell you something," Dye said. "What he did, if you caught your brother or your father or your best friend, you'd turn his ass in. Or kill him."

The Southeastern Conference has grown to 14 members with the addition of Texas A&M and Missouri and "the expansion is fine," Dye said. "But they need to put Auburn in the East and Missouri in the West. It makes no sense putting Missouri in the East. It's going to cost the fans, the schools and everybody millions and millions of dollars in traveling."

Dye is a fan of the four-team college football playoff that begins in 2014. The field will be determined by a selection committee, though the number of members and criteria haven't been determined.

"It's always going to be controversial as long as people are involved in it," Dye said. "It's four times better than it's ever been because there's never been a true national champion. Ever. In the history of college football. There have been people that have been named, but there ain't nobody ever settled it on the field. Even when we played Oregon there were three teams in our conference that were better than Oregon, besides Auburn."

So, what if Pat Dye's phone rang in a couple of years and an invitation to serve on the committee was offered?

"If I was on that committee, I'd be unbiased," he said. "But if it came down to it, I'd vote for Auburn. Or Alabama. Or Georgia. Or LSU. I probably wouldn't have to, but I probably would."