Blue White Roundtable Doesn't Fight The Crowds

by BSD on Nov 28, 2007 8:22 AM EST in Roundtables

Boy it sure is fun wrapping up your season two weeks before every other conference. While they're all talking about rivalries and conference championship games we're talking about Christmas shopping habits. It must be time for another Blue-White Roundtable. The Nittany Line has the questions this week. Go check out the other guys to see who wears the pants in their families.

Run Up The Score
There Is No Name On My Jersey
The Nittany Line
The Nittany Notebook
William F. Yurasko

It appears that Penn State is a lock for the Alamo Bowl, at this point are you ready to jump on a plane and head to San Antonio or is this game a TiVo moment while you find better things to do like clean the bathroom?

Every Penn State game is an important one to me. So whether they are playing USC in the Rose Bowl or Saint Cathrine's School of the Blind in the Depends Undergarments Toilet Bowl, I'll clear my schedule to watch it. In fact, I try to clear my schedule to watch all of the bowl games. I love bowl season. Just about every game features pretty evenly matched competition which makes for some exciting football.

The rumor mill about the vacant Michigan coaching job is just getting started - who do you think ends up the next Skunkbear's head coach?

Earlier this year Galen tried to corner me into giving my top choice for Penn State's head coach. I couldn't come up with an answer because I honestly don't think about these things. Of course, it didn't help that I was about three sheets into the wind at a tailgate party, so maybe that had something to do with it. But honestly, I almost never speculate about head coaching moves. Look back through the BSD archives and you won't see one post suggesting who our next head coach should be. I could give you a bunch of names of people I highly respect and wouldn't mind seeing run out of the tunnel. But I don't have a favorite. I just don't think about these things.

So in a long winded way of answering the question without really giving an answer, I don't know, and I don't really care. We'll discuss it when Michigan crosses that bridge. Sorry if it seems like I'm ducking the question.

Last week we had your list of the three players that vastly exceeded your preseason expectations, I'm a pessimistic prick (my friends call me captain morale) so name me the three players you had high preseason expectations for that have totally let you down.

The top of the list is Anthony Morelli. I guess I shouldn't be too disappointed since past performance is an indication of future results, but I expected more out of him. I partially believed the Outback Bowl was his coming out party. But in fact it was the defense and Tony Hunt that won that game. This year we saw more of the same from Morelli. He didn't show any signs of progression from last year, and you could arguably say he single handledly lost two of our games.

My second biggest disappointment was Justin King. The two losses that weren't Morelli's fault were arguably King's fault. It's one thing when a player fails to progress like Morelli, but it's another thing when a player visibly regresses like King. Last year he was shutting down NFL draft picks like Ted Ginn and Robert Meachum. This year he was getting abused week in and week out. It got to the point you almost felt sorry for him the way teams were picking on him.

For my third biggest disappointment I'll say Austin Scott. Ever since he first carried the ball in 2003 he was crowned as the next Larry Johnson. We all read the glowing off season reports and we were hoping for a Larry Johnson type senior year. But it never materialized as he was plagued with fumbling problems. Then he got himself kicked off the team all together. Fortunately the disappointment in Scott was softened by the fine play of Rodney Kinlaw and Evan Royster.

Lightning Round

The BCS is a total mess right now. Who ends up in the championship game?

Let me put on my Mark May "Master of the Obvious" hat.


Pay attention mental midgets. I'm about to enlighten you with my infinite wisdom. You may have to ask Craig James to explain this to you.

Looks like West Virginia and Missouri unless the Tigers lose to the Oklahoma Sooners in which case the Buckeyes will sneak in.

Will the BCS shakeup this year finally cause coaches to start pushing for some sort of playoff (I'm looking in your direction SEC)?

God I hope so. If we end up with West Virginia playing for the National Championship with UConn as their signature win and I have to hear Lou Holtz tell us how Hawaii got hosed I think I'll kill myself.

In honor of Black Friday, are you the type of guy that a) Christmas shops early and puts a lot of thought into your gifts b) waits until the last minute and buys whatever's left on the shelf c) gets everything from E-bay & Amazon or d) has a significant other that does all the shopping for you (bonus points if that significant other reads your blog)?

My wife does the Christmas shopping. I just buy something for her when I'm out there fighting the crowd on Christmas eve. And yes, my wife reads and comments on BSD.

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Comments

what am I missing

PSU a lock for the Alamo Bowl? I have gone over this in my mind a couple times now and I can't see us moving into the Alamo Bowl unless Hawaii loses, OK loses and TN loses and ILL moves up. It is the perception that PSU will beat out UM for the Alamo Bowl. I would think that the Champs Bowl would be MORE of a lock. Either way I have the RV diesel'd up and am ready to go either place, I am glad I live in TN it knocks off 700-800 miles off the trip to either one.

by PSUinTN on Nov 28, 2007 9:17 AM EST 0 recs

Disappointments

Agree on Morelli and Scott for sure. I think I'd throw Chris Bell and Andrew Quarless in there too, probably ahead of King. Man, if those two can get themselves together next year...

King was disappointing for sure, but I'm not going to be as hard on him as some others. He was playing injured and the scheming (10 yards off the WR) was questionable. Against Purdue, he was allowed to play more aggressive and was breaking up passes and seemed more comfortable. I think he can bounce back next year.

Get up State.

by speedomike02 on Nov 28, 2007 10:01 AM EST 0 recs

King

playing injured? Please elaborate.

by Nick7 on Nov 28, 2007 10:43 AM EST up 0 recs

What's that smell?

Sounds like someone is getting a whiff of why we didn't want to put the corners up on the line.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

Hail to the Lion!

by BSD on Nov 28, 2007 11:14 AM EST up 0 recs

Dang

I do NOT want to pay the money to be a member at FOS. Dang it.

by MarkoMancuso on Nov 28, 2007 11:28 AM EST up 0 recs

How much longer

until the reason for the soft zone coverage is revealed? This has been bugging me since it was mentioned on this blog!

by Nick7 on Nov 28, 2007 1:35 PM EST up 0 recs

Is this a secret?

Mike am I not supposed to say anything?

Get up State.

by speedomike02 on Nov 28, 2007 9:19 PM EST up 0 recs

Big 10 finishing early

I seriously get down/grumpy when I have to watch all these teams still playing games. We wrap everything up nice and neat before the holidays and Pitt still had two games left, hell a bunch of teams still had two games left. It pisses me off to no end.

Angelo

by nittanyroar on Nov 28, 2007 11:30 AM EST 0 recs

Agree

It's ridiculous.

Start the season later maybe, but to have the season end so early is ridiculous.

Then again, Pitt fans are probably wishing their season ended two weeks ago.

by CDRS on Nov 28, 2007 1:49 PM EST up 0 recs

If I Am A D-I..........

recruit and I watch Kentucky - UT and Ark - LSU while the Big 10 teams are done......I am booking my next visit South. Its one of many a recruiting disadvantage faced by teams like PSU. IMHO.

Eric Watters Atlanta, Ga.

by ech2os on Nov 28, 2007 2:31 PM EST up 0 recs

Recruiting In and Against the South

First, believe it or not, a lot of people don't like the South. The weather is not all that its cracked up to be, it's too hot in Florida and Alabama, and if you think the weather doesn't get crappy in Kentucky (which might as well be in Ohio) in December well, that's wrong. Not to mention the many stereotypical things people think about places like say, rural Mississippi, or any place in Louisiana other than LSU's campus and few sections of what's left of New Orleans.

Second, and I mean no disrespect, most of the schools in the SEC suck academically. Vanderbilt is a great school, but after that, there is not much going on down there, except football and NASCAR. Some kids are actually interested in graduating from College with a good degree.

Third, the girls, yes, there are lot of cute girls in Southern Colleges. How many of them are willing to date a guy from the North is a different question. Regardless, even if you're from the South, I'd say there are plenty of cute girls at any college, and since football players get first pick, I'd imagine that the discrepancy is negligible.

As far as the Big Ten being done while everybody else is still playing, Big Ten football players are home for Thanksgiving, with a sporting chance of being caught up on all their course work in time for finals. This is unquestionably better for the players than extending the season by another week.

I'd have no problem starting the season a week earlier though, then there would be an off week and no class disruption.

For the Glory National Champions 1982, 1986, 1994,

by jesse. on Nov 28, 2007 4:07 PM EST up 0 recs

Right on the mark

The weather is HORRIBLE! I spent a week in southern North Carolina once and it was awful. I thought I was gonna die of heat exhaustion. Thank God for air conditioning.

Oh, yeah I almost forgot. In some parts of south (including North Carolina) it gets so cold that they have crippling ice storms. It's not exactly Hawaii in the winter

by MarkoMancuso on Nov 28, 2007 5:44 PM EST up 0 recs

Must Have Hit A Button..........

so let me press it again :) I lived most of my life in Pennsylvania. I have lived in Atlanta for the last 8 years. So I have a good deal of experience with both locations. There are many reasons that PA's population has remained constant over the last 30 years while states in the South and the Southwest have exploded. Between 2000 and 2006, not one of the 100 fastest growing counties in the country was in Pennsyvlania and only 2 were in Ohio and none were in any other states in the NE. However, Georgia alone had 24 of the top 100.

As for academics, there is no disputing the superiority of the Northern Schools. However, I think the Parks and Recreation Degree Morelli gets from PSU will spend just as worthlessly as one from Tennessee.

The girls.....no comparison. The number of total foxes walking around Sanford Stadium in Athens is not up for debate. And as long as you aren't a stereotypical loudmouth with no manners, the Southern girls like Northern guys just fine.

I was simply stating that if football is what you really love, then watching that borderline unwatchable Ohio State Michigan game one week and then watching Ark-LSU and UT-Kentucky the next might make me think twice about committing to a Northern School.

I don't think there is anyway to dispute the notion that while the SEC is playing for two more weeks, the Big 10 is done and not playing for anything. That cannot HELP recruiting. If you look at the top 10 recruiting classes from the last 5 years, 80% of the schools are from warm weather areas.

And Jesse....much like The South did not win the Civil War, Penn State did not win the National Championship in 1994. :)

Eric Watters Atlanta, Ga.

by ech2os on Nov 28, 2007 10:21 PM EST up 0 recs

1994 National Champions

The only "button" you pushed is with respect to the pervasive opinion that everything the SEC does is great, and nobody else anywhere knows anything about football. I am glad that you like living in Georgia.

The South surrendered, Penn State didn't.

For the Glory National Champions 1982, 1986, 1994,

by jesse. on Nov 29, 2007 10:16 AM EST up 0 recs

Wait

PSU didn't win the National Championship in 1994? I guess someone is also going to tell me that Ki-Jana Carter didn't win the Heisman in 1994.

by Nick7 on Nov 29, 2007 10:30 AM EST up 0 recs

Don't be a fool

Kerry Collins won the Heisman trophy in 1994.

For the Glory National Champions 1982, 1986, 1994,

by jesse. on Nov 29, 2007 10:44 AM EST up 0 recs

Nah.........

I do love living down here. Jobs all over the place (Atlanta has 14 Fortune 500 HQs with a Metro , great weather (more often than not), cost of living is low, girls are hot, no snow, etc etc.

Ask Barry Alvarez what he thinks about trying to build a team in Wisconsin vs. Baton Rouge.

I have spent the better part of the last 8 years defending the Big 10 down here against SEC Fan. I agree with you that there are a lot of things "wrong" about the SEC. Chief among them in my opinion is the fact that in the 2007 recruiting class the conference had 44 recruits not make it into class this fall. Compare that with 13 in the Big East and 4 in the BIG 10.

For the record, I don't know any 18 year old guys pumped full of testosterone and ego that would ever make the argument that there were too many good looking girls around.

The point about the South was that as some hillbillys down here haven't let go of the Civil War, maybe you should let go of 1994. Penn State hasn't won a National Championship in going on 22 years. That's a long time for such a "great" program.

Nick.....nice comeback Potsie.

I too used to tire of hearing all the SEC talk when I lived up North. But having lived in both places, I now understand it. I always pull for the SEC teams to fall flat on their face in the bowls and especially in their BCS matchups, because like you, I tire of the attitude that they don't play football anywhere else but in the South......but the fact is the the Big 10 is 8-7 in BCS Bowls while the SEC is 9-4. The Big 10 has 1 BCS National Title to the SEC's 3. 9 times Southern Schools have been in the BCS title game and only Ohio State has participated from the North, the SECs average margin of victory in its BCS matchups has been 16.7 while the Big 10s has been 7.3. Those stats don't lie. And as much as I love Penn State and pull for the Big 10 every year, I can't defend them against the South all the time cause the ammo just isn't there.

Eric Watters Atlanta, Ga.

by ech2os on Nov 29, 2007 11:44 AM EST up 0 recs

Didn't Finish That Thought.......

metro area of 4.3 million while Philly and Pittsburgh combined have 13 with metro pops of 8.1 million. Average price of a house in Metro Atlanta is 175k vs. 243k in the Philly Metro area. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Eric Watters Atlanta, Ga.

by ech2os on Nov 29, 2007 11:48 AM EST up 0 recs

Whatever.

The only person who is getting their buttons pushed here is you. I say that not everybody likes living in the South and you spent 20 minutes on Google researching the median cost of homes and population trends in the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia metro regions? The weather down there can't be that great.

As for 1994, I am totally at peace with it. Nebraska won a vote, good for them, they had a great team. The New York Times/Jeff Sagarin Computer Poll awarded their National Championship to Penn State; I choose to recognize that methodology, on the basis that it was less biased. You can recognize whatever you like.

For the Glory National Champions 1982, 1986, 1994,

by jesse. on Nov 29, 2007 12:29 PM EST up 0 recs

Not Really...........

It doesn't take much research to confirm what I knew already. I try not to just run my yapper. I try to back what I say up with empirical evidence, hence the statistics. Its 65 and not a cloud in the sky by the way.

I am sure as a Penn State fan you are less biased and are looking at that year objectively. Makes sense.

I was just trying to give you a different perspective. Clearly thinking outside your world isn't a strong suit. Don't look at this as a debate on who is right or wrong or better off living where they live. That isn't what I am trying to do. I was trying to illustrate why recruits might be attracted to schools in the South over schools in the North. If you agree that recruits are part of the population and then acknowledge the general population has been migrating South and Southwest over the last 20 years, then it follows that more recruits will look to the South and Southweast and not vice versa.

The bars down here are packed on Saturdays with Ohio State, Penn State, Mich. State, etc. etc. clubs of Georgia. That's because people move from the North down here. In 28 years of living in PA I never once walked into a bar that was dedicated to Georgia or Florida fans. That because people generally don't move North from the South.

But back on point, I wasn't saying everybody loves the South. I was just saying that I, my opinion, think that if the shoe were on the other foot and the Big 10 was still playing and the SEC was done, I would consider that a recruiting advantage for the Big 10 as well. If you have a good reason that would refute that notion, I would love to hear it.

Later.

Eric Watters Atlanta, Ga.

by ech2os on Nov 29, 2007 2:05 PM EST up 0 recs

I also live in the South..

Albeit South Carolina, and most of what Jesse said in his original post was sterotypes. I grew up 20 miles from State College, and have been well traveled. I am not a hillbilly, redneck, or whatever else you might term me, I have seen the Europe, Australia, and much of the U.S. The south by far is one of this most pleasant places to live. But that is all MY opinion. I do feel that not having games the last few weeks is an issue with recruiting but who knows to what degree? As for the women...TEN TIMES THE HOTTIES at a southern game compared to a northern game. In the south a game is a "SOCIAL" affair, not a football game. Girls dress very nice in Sun Dresses for most games, there are alot of girls there on "Old Money" who live the soriority life. More than what I ever witnessed in the north.

by carolinaeasy on Nov 30, 2007 4:04 PM EST up 0 recs

Disappointments

Austin Scott wasn't one, because I never expected much from him. He was bust since his freshman year, and the Orange Bowl was a mirage created by huge holes on a single drive. When FSU's D line played better, he did nothing.

#1 Justin King

Maybe he was hurt, but he sure didn't play anywhere near expectations.

#3 Quarless
I thought he was going to have a breakout season, and be PSU's best TE since Kyle Brady. he was invisible

#3 Morelli
I didn't expect great play, but I did expect progress, especially when he had an O line that provided him with protection

by DocP on Nov 28, 2007 1:08 PM EST 0 recs

Wisconsin

has accepted a bid to play in the Outback Bowl...

WE ARE, PENN STATE!

by LinebackerU on Nov 28, 2007 3:56 PM EST 0 recs

UoM

I REALLY don't see the Alamo Bowl picking us over Michigan who beat us for the millionth time in a row.

by ignition719 on Nov 28, 2007 4:46 PM EST up 0 recs

Alamo and Champs

I see us going to the Champs, if Alamo is taking better ranked in Big Ten team. We're 5th in the standings and Michigan is 3rd.

WE ARE, PENN STATE!

by LinebackerU on Nov 28, 2007 4:01 PM EST 0 recs

Just thought of something...

So since Wisconsin going to the Outback Bowl, what the hell happens if Illinois goes to a BCS bowl?

Talk about a clusterf*#$ - that would mean the Capital One Bowl would be forced to choose between Michigan or Penn State (either of which would be a complete disaster for the Big Ten). No wonder the Outback Bowl wrapped up Wisconsin before this weekend.

by ignition719 on Nov 28, 2007 5:01 PM EST 0 recs

Champs Bowl

Why does everybody think PSU will beat out THEM?
Champs Bowl. Read my lips.

by aluf on Nov 29, 2007 12:32 AM EST 0 recs

Reasons

Both teams are 8-4. Michigan has that embarassing loss to App. State. And the Wolverines just haven't looked impressive at any point this season. Also, the Wolverines went to the Alamo Bowl two years ago and didn't travel well while PSU holds the all time sellout record for the game. The Alamo has a lot of reasons to jump on Penn State.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

Hail to the Lion!

by BSD on Nov 29, 2007 8:58 AM EST up 0 recs

Go Champs

I am selfishly pulling for Champs, my wedding is the same day as the Alamo Bowl. Man we go to all these lengths to avoid having a wedding the same day as a Penn State game and we wind up in a December bowl. ARGH. On the other hand I wouldn't be that upset missing another Sex Cannon , Morelli debacle.

by queler on Nov 29, 2007 3:17 PM EST up 0 recs