Contrary to popular belief, this blogging gig does not pay well. If it wasn't for the hawt chicks I wouldn't even be doing this. We all have regular day jobs and mine forced me to be on the road last week. Since it was my turn to host the BWR, we decided to take the week off. But now we're back with a vengeance. Go check out Run Up The Score and The Nittany Line for their take on the Blue White Roundtable this week.
Our first question comes from BSD reader, speedomike, so put your thinking speedo on. Oh man. I just pictured you guys in speedos. Excuse me while I throw up in my mouth. Discuss how much we will miss Tony Hunt next season while I regain my composure.
Somewhere between missing an amputated limb and not missing him at all. How is that for a wishy-washy answer? Tony excelled at getting tough yards behind a line that didn't block for him very well a lot of the time. If Austin Scott doesn't learn how to run forward and stop dancing in the hole, we're going to miss Hunt like you would miss your right hand. But then if we get an offensive line that opens up holes, Scott or Royster or whoever hits the hole hard, we may not miss him at all.
Let's talk about the championship game for a minute. What happened to the Buckeyes? Was it the long layoff? Was it the SEC speed running circles around the stodgy Big Ten school? Was it Ted Ginn's teammates breaking his ankle in celebration?
It might be easier to list what went right for the Buckeyes. Thinking. Thinking. I'm drawing a blank here. They just got whooped. The layoff had nothing to do with it. Penn State and Wisconsin proved SEC speed can be beaten. No excuses. Florida came to play and the Buckeyes didn't.
About midway through the season I was saying I thought Ohio State peaked too early. After they beat Michigan I thought maybe I was wrong. Turns out I wasn't. I just missed the fact that Michigan peaked early too.
What happened to the Wolverines? Who knew their secondary was swiss cheese? Were they that bad or was USC that good?
I think they just rolled over and died after losing to Ohio State. The defensive seniors started thinking about the NFL. The underclassmen started thinking about next year. Having said that, USC is scary good. Michigan will be pretty good with all those players returning on offense next year, but they're going to need some rubber bands and bubble gum to string together a defense.
Back to Penn State now. If you were Dan Connor, and the NFL scouts told you you could be a late second round pick if you came out this year, what would you do?
Are you kidding me? I would give my right arm for the chance to play one down in Beaver Stadium wearing that blue uniform and white helmet. I would enjoy the college experience while I could.
Penn State already has one of the best secondaries in the conference if not the nation. Next year Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Minnesota, and Iowa all break in new quarterbacks while we return King, Davis, and Scirrotto with Wallace and Ridenhour in the wings. I don't really have a question here. Just tell me how awesome that is going to be.
Having a shutdown cornerback frees up your defense to be more aggressive. We will have two. With King and Wallace manning the corners, the rest of the defense will be able to focus on stopping the run and blitzing. And now there are all these green quarterbacks to devour? I think we're going to see a lot of low scoring games next year.
It's common for the assistant coaches to go visit other teams in the off season to compare notes and pick up a few tricks. What would you like to see the coaches focus on this off season and do you have a specific coach or team you would like to see them visit?
First and foremost send Kevin Kelly to some kind of kicking camp. Bring in Matt Bahr or Robbie Gould to teach this kid some things.
Second, I would send the offensive line coaches to the Atlanta Falcons to learn some things. Their offensive line coach is one of the best in the league. He was the line coach for the Denver Broncos for years when they were plugging in 6th round draft picks and turning them into Pro Bowlers.
Lightning Round
Give me your top five teams going into next season.
- USC
- Florida
- Wisconsin
- West Virginia
- Oklahoma
Cornerback. We covered that. I need to put more thought into these questions.
Jimmy Clausen. Is he really all that?
If by "all that" you mean overhyped, then yeah. It gets even better in that Notre Dame hired the second most hyped quarterback in the history of high school football to coach him.
How do you plan to pass the time between now and September?
The Daytona 500 is February 18th. I just have to survive from the Super Bowl until then and my Sunday afternoons will be occupied just fine. Plus I got this sweet blogging gig. Excuse me, my groupies are waiting.