The Big Ten announced their All Conference team this evening, and Penn State cleaned house.

2008 All-Big Ten Conference Football Team
As selected by CONFERENCE COACHES

FIRST TEAM	OFFENSE	SECOND TEAM
Daryll Clark, Penn State	Quarterback	Adam Weber, Minnesota
Shonn Greene, Iowa	Running Back	Chris "Beanie" Wells, Ohio State
Javon Ringer, Michigan State	Running Back	Evan Royster, Penn State
Eric Decker, Minnesota	Receiver	Arrelious Benn, Illinois
Derrick Williams, Penn State	Receiver	David Gilreath, Wisconsin
A.Q. Shipley, Penn State	Center	Rob Bruggeman, Iowa
Seth Olsen, Iowa	Guard	Stefen Wisniewski, Penn State
Rich Ohrnberger, Penn State	Guard	Kraig Urbik, Wisconsin
Alex Boone, Ohio State	Tackle	Xavier Fulton, Illinois
Gerald Cadogan, Penn State	Tackle	Bryan Bulaga, Iowa
Brandon Myers, Iowa	Tight End	Garrett Graham, Wisconsin
Kevin Kelly, Penn State	Kicker	Brett Swenson, Michigan State
FIRST TEAM	DEFENSE	SECOND TEAM
MITCH KING, IOWA	Line	Jammie Kirlew, Indiana
Corey Wootton, Northwestern	Line	Brandon Graham, Michigan
Aaron Maybin, Penn State	Line	Willie VanDeSteeg, Minnesota
Jared Odrick, Penn State	Line	Mike Newkirk, Wisconsin
Greg Jones, Michigan State	Linebacker	Brit Miller, Illinois
James Laurinaitis, Ohio State	Linebacker	Pat Angerer, Iowa
Navorro Bowman, Penn State	Linebacker	Marcus Freeman, Ohio State
Vontae Davis, Illinois	Defensive Back	Amari Spievey, Iowa
Otis Wiley, Michigan State	Defensive Back	Traye Simmons, Minnesota
MALCOLM JENKINS, OHIO STATE	Defensive Back	Allen Langford, Wisconsin
Anthony Scirrotto, Penn State	Defensive Back	Jay Valai, Wisconsin
Zoltan Mesko, Michigan	Punter	Ryan Donahue, Iowa

 

That's ten Nittany Lions on the first team and twelve overall. But this was the coaches poll. You can see how the writers voted after the jump.

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Quarterback

I normally start with the offensive line because, well, the offense starts with the offensive line. Well today we start with Daryll Clark, who did in fact get his swagger back. His 341 passing yards were the most a Penn State quarterback has thrown since 2003 and that, along with the rest of his ridiculous stat line, was enough to earn him a Big Ten Player Of The Week award for the second time this season.

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Some of the players on the team have been quoted discussing internal strife over play calling.  It was a topic after the Iowa game, in which it seemed like the coaches weren't playing to win.  Well now it sounds like the players are echoing some of the sentiment expressed on the interweb over the past couple of week.

"Obviously we've got a lot of guys on the team who have played a lot of football, we know what we're talking about when we see a defense thrown at us," Butler said. "Sometimes we got a little carried away with 'We should be running this play or that play.' Whatever play they call, let's execute it, and let's not get carried away with what plays we aren't running."

He's not the only one speaking up:

"We were running the ball a lot, and then these last two games, we've kind of gotten away from it a little bit," Shipley said. "We started to question that a little bit. We're all guilty of it."

[...]

"It's been a slight problem," Clark said. "We have to get away from it. Regardless of what the call is, it's not like it's new. ... If Jay [Paterno] calls it, if Galen [Hall] calls it, go out and make it happen. That's that."

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More preseason rankings are filtering out -- CFN has Penn State at #17, Sports Illustrated puts the Lions at #22.  So does the Kansas City Star.

Jay Paterno is shopping around his Spread HD concoction, giving the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette a few clues:

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Our friend Sunday Morning Quarterback put out a call for requests for his Obligatory Assessment series a few weeks ago. Your humble blogger casted his lot and today we are rewarded with SMQ's Somewhat Obligatory Assessment of Penn State. And I must say he does a pretty good job, though I have a difference of opinion on a few things. (Emphasis mine)

For fans, anyway, the association with Robinson might be the biggest difference between Clark and Pat Devlin, who they haven’t seen much more of but whose highly-recruited pedigree and statuesque frame veer a little too close to Anthony Morelli for comfort. Devlin is ostensibly the "status quo" guy -- he’s not going to be taking off very much out of the shotgun, or not successfully, anyway -- an assurance of three more years of diminishing returns from the conservative, power-running philosophy

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No frills today. Just a ton of articles worth pointing out to you.

The Big 33 game is coming up meaning there are a plethora of articles on soon to be Penn State freshmen. Check them out.

Mark Wedderburn really like football.

“What I love really is the passion,” said Wedderburn, one of six Penn State commitments set to play in Saturday’s Big 33 Football Classic in Hershey. “I love to hit people. I love everything about football because it’s not a soft sport at all. You have to be a tough person inside and out.”

When it comes to Mike Zordich, like father like son.

"I think Penn State is getting a great one," Ohio head coach Jim Ryan said of Zordich.

"Physically, he is just put-together, he has fine size for an inside linebacker and he has that football savvy. You can tell he's been well-tutored by his father."

And if any hardcore Penn State (or Philadelphia) fans get close enough to the Hersheypark Stadium surface Saturday night, the younger Zordich will be easy to spot.

Actually, the question isn't whether you can spot any similarities between the two Michael Zordiches.

No, the real question is, can you spot any differences?

Mike Yancich injured his elbow in practice and will be out for 6-8 weeks. But it doesn't sound too serious.

Yancich was injured Monday during a practice session. He tore his left bicep, and a fragment of his upper arm bone pulled away from the main bone mass.

Yancich will not need surgery and said he will be sidelined for 6-8 weeks.

"They said as of now, it's not so serious that they have to go in and put a screw in and surgically repair it,'' Yancich said Wednesday afternoon after the Pennsylvania team finished a practice at Hershey High School.

"It's minor, but it's still a fracture and they have to treat it as a fracture. The [doctors] told me the torn bicep will heal on its own.''

This just in: A.J. Price is friggin' fast.

Several boys were particularly key to the Seahawks’ vast success this past spring season, including newcomer to the program, A.J. Price.

The talented Price had excelled throughout his high school career in both football and basketball. He recently earned a scholarship to play collegiate football at Penn State University. Over the past two years, Price, currently completing his senior year, has been one of the region’s top football wide receivers.

In outdoor track, he was an outstanding addition to the Seahawks’ team.

"A.J. was the backbone of the team," said Buckley. "He was the one that pulled the guys together. He gave us a spark that got everybody excited. He has been kind of the glue."

Following a dominating performance at regionals in which he finished first in three events – the 200 dash, the 400 dash and the long jump, and third in the high jump – Price was geared to have another top competition at the state meet. But at states he injured a hamstring during the 4x100- relay event. With the nagging injury, Price tried to compete in the 400 finals and was leading the race for a while before ultimately falling back and finishing eighth as a result of his hamstring.

Shipley Taking Charge

Interesting article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette today about A.Q. Shipley and the offensive line.

To say the leadership of Shipley transcends the offense isn't hyperbole. After all, it was during his redshirt freshman season of 2005 when this 6-foot-1, 297-pound former Moon standout played some on both sides of the line for a Lions team that finished 11-1 and ranked No. 3 in the country.

Two 9-4 campaigns followed, but Shipley is determined to help the Lions allow him to go out on top of the Big Ten.

"I'm real excited for this year," Shipley said. "It's my last year, and we have a big senior class, a great leader class. There are some great leaders in this senior class.

"We're all excited and are going for big things, going about our business of doing the things we've been doing."

The offensive line is the biggest reason I'm optimistic about this season. Morelli took a lot of heat in 2006, but the disappointments from that season came from the line's failure to protect the quarterback and create running lanes for Tony Hunt. In 2007 the line was greatly improved. With two solid running backs and three veteran wide receivers and this line we should have all the offense we need this year as long as Joe cuts them loose and lets them play.

Etcetera

Philly.com talks to several recruits and sheds light on what they are being told about the future of Joe Paterno and the Penn State program.

Schiano to Penn State Still a Longshot? We'll see about that. 

Lake the Posts gathered the Big Ten Bloggers together and assembled a forecast for the Big Ten standings based on our collective predictions. The general consensus of the Big Ten Bloggers is that Penn State will finish second.

Oh, and Off The Tracks  asked me to do an interview thingy.

I ran out during my lunch hour this week to get my copy of Phil Steele. I've been pouring over it ever since trying to take it all in. My mind is pretty much in information overload right now. Kevin came up with the idea of reviewing Phil's All Big Ten team. He took the defense. I'll do the offense here. Here is the list if you haven't seen it already.

Of course the first thing I looked for was the Penn State representation. In all eight of our eleven projected offensive starters appear on the list. Only Norwood, Wisniewski, and the starting quarterback failed to make the list. But our first team representation was limited to just A.Q. Shipley, and I'm ok with that. However Andrew Quarless on the second team makes me scratch my head. That's high praise for a player that only caught 14 passes and grossly underachieved in most people's opinion.

But on the flip side, Deon Butler must have spit in Phil Steele's Wheaties or something to get fourth team status. Butler out-performed second teamer Greg Mathews and third teamers Kyle Jefferson and Andy Brodell in catches, yards, and touchdowns last year.

And Arrelious Benn a first teamer? That makes me do a double take considering he only caught one touchdown in conference play last year. And had Penn State not missed six hundred tackles on that play he wouldn't have even had that one.

Everyone is riding the Curtis Painter train this year. (Get it? Boilermaker? Train? Aw shut up.) I'm just not sold on him as the best quarterback in the conference. Yeah he had a ton of yards and a bunch of touchdowns, but my God, the kid threw the ball 569 times. I think I could throw for 3000 yards in Joe Tiller's offense. I'm more impressed by passing efficiency where Todd Boeckman blew the rest of the conference out of the water. He deserves to be on the first team more than Painter despite what Mel Kiper says.

Other than all of that I think it's a pretty good list.