I literally got these questions via email from JB ten minutes ago. I pasted them into the browser and I'm going to answer them cold turkey without any thought going into them. So it's basically like every other roundtable. I'll do my part. You do yours.
Run Up The Score
There Is No Name On My Jersey
The Nittany Line
The Nittany Notebook
William F. Yurasko
PSU is lined up to play Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl. How are you feeling about the match-up and Penn State's chances?
I didn't know what to think when I first heard about it, but after doing a little research I'm liking our chances more and more. From what I've learned they are a run heavy team which plays into our strength. And their defense is pretty shabby which means we should be able to put some points on the board. They managed wins over Texas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma State and lost to Oklahoma, Miami, Missouri, Texas Tech, and Kansas. I think I heard the opening line was Penn State favored by 5.5 points.
The BCS, fire away.
I kind of already did, but what the heck.
I'm sick of this system. I'm sick of a system that takes the best teams in the country and pairs them up with Illinois and Hawaii. Last year it was Boise State (though they did beat Oklahoma in an instant classic). Other than pairing the #1 versus #2 the BCS is worthless. If you're going to tell me we have to keep the bowl system because of its rich tradition, give me teams steeped in tradition. Don't give me Hawaii. And it bothers me that every year there's controversy about who deserves to be #2 and every year ESPN tells us controversy and chaos is good for the game. No it's not, because no matter who wins the BCS championship there will be one or two teams who feel like if they had played in that game they could have won it too. College football fans deserve a real playoff system. Not this money making system.
Will you be rooting for Tosu in order to help boost the profile of the conference or will you unmitigated hate win out?
I'll be cheering for all of the Big Ten teams. It hurts us all when Ohio State and Michigan get blown out which looks like might happen again this year. But if Ohio State is down by 30 points in the fourth quarter and they show some little kid in a Laurinaitis jersey crying in the front row, I must admit a smile will come across my face.
LIGHTNING ROUND
Are you going to the Alamo Bowl?
Alas, no. My 33 year string of not going to a bowl game is still intact. With a three year old and a four month old it's just too hard to do anything these days. I'll get to one someday though. It may be 2020 until then unless they start having bowl games in Philadelphia.
How much playing time do Devlin and Clark see?
Maybe one series for Clark if it's a blowout in either direction. If he's lucky Devlin will get a few snaps of mostly handing off the ball. The real key is these two guys getting the bulk of the first team snaps in the three weeks of practice before the Alamo Bowl.