Inside, Outside Will Not Run That Kickoff Gimmick

Somehow, "72 days until football"  seems like a very short time, but it's still ten full weeks until Penn State takes the field against Akron.  JUST TWO WEEKS UNTIL FOOTBALL!!1!1!  Either way, football will be dominating every aspect of our lives before we know it, so it's time for your trusty BSD writers to pick at some issues that will not only impact Penn State, but the college football world at large.  It's a little something we'll call Inside, Outside.


Inside - Injuries: they suck.  The loss of Cajun Connor means the linebacking core goes from potentially All-World to potentially mostly All-American.  Who do you see as the starting set of linebackers by the time the Big Ten season rolls around, and how much does this really hurt a defense that already seems a big light?

Mike: I was really looking forward to seeing Mauti play this year. But it wasn't exactly a given that he was going to start. Josh Hull started every game last year and proved to be a solid player by the end of the year. Without Mauti our lineup will be Bowman, Lee, and Hull. That's still an upgrade over last year when we had Bowman, Hull, and Sales. And with guys like Zordich, Stupar, Gbadyu, and Yancich on the bench, Penn State will be just fine at linebacker.

RUTS: The starting linebackers would have been the same with or without Mauti's injury -- Bowman, Hull, and Lee.  If one of those guys should go down, however, it's a steeper drop to the next players on the depth chart.  It's interesting that Bani Gbadyu appears to have been moved to MLB as Hull's backup.  Gbadyu has been a tweener throughout his career at Penn State, sort of an oversized safety and an undersized linebacker.  Given the lack of depth at various defensive positions, the coaching staff is getting a little creative with their personnel.  The Mauti injury should also give guys like Mike Yancich and Nathan Stupar a little extra playing time.

Kevin: I'm not convinced that Hull had the MLB position locked down, at least not as a full-season gig. My only reference is this video:

But that's neither here nor there. I think we'll see Bowman, Hull, and Lee just about all year, with some obvious rotation involving the new guys, which will hopefully help us build toward replacing the two super stars in 2010.

So few teams are running the power running game, at least in any consistent or threatening sense, and so the silver lining is this still makes the LBs a very tough unit to get outside on.

Outside - Although Wisconsin hasn't been to a [BCS] bowl game since 2000, they seemed to have built some serious momentum during the first half of the decade right into Bielema's first year.  And now the wheels seem to have fallen off.  They duck two of the better teams in the league, Penn State and Illinois, but with last year's complete failure of a season and the recent lawsuits being filed against him by his own players: does this guy stand a chance?  If not, how long until he's out, and who is his competition for Next Mediocre Big Ten Coach To Be Fired?

Mike: This is Bielema's last year. Mark it down. The guy is like Midas, only everything he touches turns into a turd. His team play with no inspiration. His recruiting classes suck and he's steadily getting worse every year. I love the fact that Paterno has killed him 86-14 since his stupid offsides kickoff stunt. We'll see how much Barry Alvarez is willing to go to bat for him after they miss a bowl game this year.

Bill Lynch is the other guy on the hot seat. And my surprise pick is Tim Brewster. This year Minnesota comes back to reality and returns to sucktitude. There will be people doubting him at the end of the year, but he won't get fired. That will be next year, and in a shocker Minnesota will bring back Glen Mason.

RUTS: Oooh, boy, Wisconsin sucked last year.  They choked away second half leads against Michigan and Ohio State, were blown out by PSU, and damn near lost to Cal Poly if it wasn't for some missed extra points.  If you really want to shine the turd, you can say that they lost to Michigan, Ohio State, and Michigan State by a combined six points, but I don't think it's much of a secret that Bielema has to produce this season.  As far as other candidates, I'd agree that Lynch at Indiana is a good candidate, but is nobody really going to bite on Rich Rodriguez at Michigan?  What happens if they put up another 2-6 conference record?  Nothing?  Looking at their conference schedule, getting Indiana and Purdue at home appear to be the only sure wins right now.  And while we're looking at schedules, I wouldn't entirely rule out a Zook Implosion, either.  Illinois is going to have absolutely no defense this season, which doesn't allow for many Bad Juice Days.

Kevin: I just don't see this thing turning around. They had a lot of returning talent and were an utter failure after starting the year ranked in the Top 15. There are constant rumblings about moral, and this lawsuit over hush-hush suspensions isn't helping.

He has a chance to buy one more year with two talented teams off the schedule, but there are also some dangerous road games against Minnesota and Northwestern that could be his undoing. The real test will be if, after a season on the ropes, he can pull it together for the trip to Hawaii or if that turns into another Cal Poly. I think a loss there with no signature wins and he's done.

And I think RichRod is safe in the short term: the buyout was too big, and the contract too rich, to simply throw it away and buy him out after two years. All coaches should really be given at least 3 and maybe 4 to make a difference, shorter than that is just asking for prolonged turmoil.