If last week's recruiting was slow (typical of the Big Ten--HA HA. Because their players are SLOW), this week was even slower, as only Iowa and Nebraska added recruits to their 2013 haul this past week.

As the only changes with this week were with Iowa and Northwestern, most of the ranking notes from last week still apply. Rivals is the only service to rank all of Illinois' nine players; both Rivals and Scout gave grades to seven of nine, while ESPN only ranked two of their commits. Michigan's numbers are once again stellar, if no longer perfect, with 17 of 18 being rated by Rivals and ESPN, though 247 and Scout has all 18 rated. Michigan State's Rivals and Scout grades are for six of seven, and ESPN from four of their players. The only service that graded Northwestern's second commit was 247, and only ESPN didn't rank all of Ohio State's players; ten of their eleven were rated by that service. As has been the case for weeks, Penn State's numbers are based off of six of eight recruits for Rivals, Scout, and ESPN, and seven of eight for 247. Purdue's second commit, last week's JuCo transfer, is still not taken into account over at 247. Lastly, Wisconsin's 247 grade is from five of their six commits, and their ESPN number is for four of six.

For this week's changes, Iowa's Scout number is from six of their eight players, while they only had three commits rated by ESPN (their new commit this week remains unranked by all service). As with previous weeks, the only service that didn't rate all of Nebraska's players was ESPN, which only graded five of their seven; Nebraska's newest commit was a consensus three-star on all boards.

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When Kevin and I took over Black Shoe Diaries last summer, we promised our readers and the kind people at SB Nation headquarters that we would do whatever we could to improve the site and expand its readership. Without getting into humblebragging, we believe we've accomplished that in spades. Now it's time to hand the keys to your new blog overlords, Mike and Jeff.

We can't say enough about how helpful and influential they've been throughout the past year, both on the front page and helping us organize and brainstorm behind the scenes. Needless to say, you're all in very good hands and will be for a long time.

Thanks to everybody, and we mean everybody. That includes the righteous people at SB Nation, our fellow writers, and everyone who has taken a little time out of their day to read Black Shoe Diaries. It's been a pleasure to be a small part of your daily routine, regardless of how long you've been following our work.

The Big Ten released its official 2015 and 2016 conference football schedules. Much of this was known beforehand, but here's what Penn State is looking at for those seasons.

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Rest in Peace, Robin Gibb

You Keep Using That Word. I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means: Thought the worst of conference expansion was behind us? Oh, readers, you beautiful naive sophisticated newborn babies. No, this weekend brought more confusing, conflicting, and capricious reports on Florida State's potential move from the ACC to the Big 12. A post from the SBN mothership cites writers who've decided that it's "inevitable," and others who have called it "wishful thinking." Chip Brown seemed to know what he was talking about the last time around, and he says it's up in the air.

One high-level Big 12 source said, "I think we'll end up at 12 and a half - to start with." That source speculated Florida State and Clemson could end up in the Big 12 or Florida State and Louisville after the very intense flirtation between the BIg 12 and Louisville when West Virginia was ultimately selected. Notre Dame would be the "half"in that equation until it's ready to give up its independence in football.

There are still a lot of details and consensus to reach before anyone can safely say who joins the Big 12, how many or when?

But who can blame FSU--I wouldn't want to be in the ACC either. The newly announced Big 12-SEC partnership, combined with the longstanding Big Ten-Pac 12 affiliation, have in effect whittled the six power conferences down to two. Sorry, Pitt.

Summertime, and the Living's Easy: Well, unless you're on the Penn State football team. Craig Fitzgerald, with what I imagine was manic gleam in his eye, has devised a new, and entirely insane training regimen for the squad, including his sadistic twist on a day at the beach. Tanning it is not.

The running workout would conclude with a series of sprints and agility drills on a nearby sand surface located just past an outdoor running track. It looked like a 50-yard by 20-yard beach. Fitzgerald referred to his new creation as "The Pit".

Winter Classic, Here We Come: It used to be that "because JoePa said so" made a convenient excuse whenever anyone wanted to hold an event that wasn't Penn State football in Beaver Stadium. "Why can't we hold commencement there?" "Wouldn't it be cool to have a concert?" "How about a hockey game?" Well, I don't know about graduation or any music festivals, but Bill O'Brien and Guy Gadowski are on the same page: Beaver Stadium would make an awesome outdoor hockey arena. First up: the new varsity Nittany Lions. After that, well, it would make a logical meeting point for a Pens-Flyers game. But while Gadowski and O'Brien plan a hockey game, they'll have to wait a little longer for a renovated scoreboard.

Speaking as part of the Penn State Coaches Caravan event at the Omni William Penn Hotel on Monday, both coaches raved about the prospects of hosting an outdoor hockey game at the home of the Nittany Lions' football team.

"Personally, I think it'd be really exciting," Gadowsky said. "We'd have to borrow [O'Brien's] building. That's probably more up to him."

Gadowsky looked at O'Brien, who passed the buck himself.

"You'd have to check with [supervisor of outdoor athletic facilities] Herb Combs," O'Brien said with a chuckle. He then reflected on his visit to Boston's Fenway Park for the NHL's 2010 Winter Classic game between the hometown Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers before throwing his weight behind the proposal.

"That's a great deal. I've seen it first hand, that's pretty neat, so yeah, I'd be all for it."

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We already took a look at Bill O'Brien's Super Cool New Offense. How about the defense?

Well, Defensive Coordinator Ted Roof warned us. Coach Roof ran multiple fronts, multiple coverages, and preferred aggressive defenses. And all of those things directly contrast with what PSU fans witnessed for most of the last decade.

What's the verdict? The Blue-White scrimmage gave us 'different'. Here are a couple of plays that stood out to me.

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You know what would make that headline even more MSM'y? Leaving out the "Rumor Mill" part and dropping a question mark at the end. It's the classic media cop-out for stuff that you can't confirm, heard from another media outlet, but don't want to take responsibility for if it turns out to be completely false. We see it all the time in political reporting. Sports is no different.

Anyway... Rob Bolden is rumored to be transferring, having apparently been granted a release from his scholarship. Curtis Drake is rumored to be off the team, but I'm not going to remotely speculate why, because it's not right to start rumors about a potential serious problem a young man may be dealing with.

The Bolden thing isn't surprising. In fact, to many of us, it's somewhat of a relief. The kid had so much potential, seemed like a nice guy, but was tortured into a ball of mush taking snaps constantly worrying if he'd get pulled after a few incompletions. Competition is always good for a player, particularly quarterback. But getting dicked around as Bolden was by the previous staff, that's simply painful to watch a young man have to go though. Now that the quarterback race is supposedly down to Paul Jones and Matt McGloin, Bolden is taking this as his cue to move on.

And good for him. I hope--as I'm sure many of you can agree with--that he ends up at a program where he succeeds. Good luck to him, wherever he goes.

The Drake thing is another monster. He's had some trouble before. Two fights, injuries. But we're waiting on some sort of confirmation from anywhere of what might lead to the rumor being true that Drake is off the team.

Under normal circumstances, this all would be a big deal, one to worry about. This off-season, though, loosening up the quarterback logjam isn't a bad thing. Drake was reportedly coming along as a decent cornerback. That's where this could be a problem for Penn State. The secondary is dangerously thin. Losing out on a warm body back there, never mind one that had shown promise at the position, will create one more headache going into fall camp.

But as with any story like the ones rumored to be floating around tonight, we just have to wait and see.

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"You gotta move forward. I don't see the dark clouds. I see sunny days and blue skies. With respect for the past, we are moving this program into a new era of Penn State football."

-Coach Bill O'Brien

*I'm absolutely certain she's not actually singing, and pretty sure that guy has no idea how to play the guitar. Additionally, great case-in-point on YouTube commenting which, if you haven't seen it already, is being well documented by the Mothership in the CAPS LOCK REAL TALK series.

Speaking of the past and September 1991. Penn State beat Cincinnati 81-0 that month. It took 10 Minutes Or Less 12 minutes and 22 seconds to cover the action. That's still a point every nine seconds.

But we digress, although speaking of the past. Penn State hasn't had a regular starter at QB since 2009. That doesn't sound right but it definitely is. BOB agrees with the rest of us that it's time:

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On Tuesday, the National Football Foundation welcome 14 new former players to the College Football Hall of Fame. Leading the class was 1990 Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer, who, when he left the college game, held 59 NCAA records, including most passing yards and most passing touchdowns. If there was anyone worthy of induction into South Bend, Ty Detmer would be near the top of that list.

One name was glaringly absent when the class was announced though. It was a player who went 33-3 as a starter and won two national championships. It was a player who was named MVP of what ended up being the national championship game for three straight years. It was a player who was named the back-up quarterback of the all-century team by Sports Illustrated and the player who led the team which many have thought of as the greatest college football team of all-time in the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers. That player was Tommie Frazier.

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