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| The Blue-White Roundtable will come to order! | |
It's Wednesday, so that means it's time for another round of the Blue-White Roundtable. The Nittany Line has the questions this week. RUTS and TINNOMJ respond along with myself. You know how it works by now. On to the questions.
Penn State just landed its first running back verbal. Of course we need more depth but is Brandon Beachum the answer?
He certainly helps. Along with Beachum we will have Evan Royster, Brent Carter, and Stefphon Green in the backfield after Austin Scott and Rodney Kinlaw graduate. I feel a lot better about our situation now. I would still like to see another running back or two in this class. I think Green has more potential at cornerback so if we get a few more kids we can move him over there after his redshirt year.
You're the hot new coach everyone is after - which Big Ten school not named after a mountain lion would you want to coach and why?
I think Michigan State looks like a really great job right now. The pressure to win at Michigan and Ohio State has to be difficult to deal with. Expectations are low at Michigan State right now thanks to several abysmal years under John L. Smith. Plus you have the advantage of the fertile recruiting grounds of Michigan. If they upgraded their facilities to help with recruiting the Michigan State job would be a pretty sweet one right now.
Michigan coach Lloyd Carr has his team poised to win a Big Ten championship and possibly more. If the Wolverines slip up is Carr's job at risk?
This could be a moot point since Lloyd Carr is rumored to be retiring this year. But if he isn't planning on retiring, I think he will get the boot if he gets anything more than two losses. After the 7-5 disaster of the 2005 season, he was on a very short leash. He appeared to regain his King of Ann Arbor status midway through the 2006 season when it became evident they had a chance to play for the National Championship. But then the last two games really gave the fans a bad taste in their mouths. This year expectations are high. If he can't win at least the Big Ten championship with Henne, Hart, Manningham, and Long he'll be thrown under the bus.
I hope he doesn't though. Other than his tendency to be a little grumpy in front of a microphone, he's a pretty classy guy. Guys who represent their university with class deserve to be judged on more than just wins and losses.
Speaking of Michigan... the Wolverines and Irish just signed a contract to play for 20 freakin' years. What one out of conference foe would you like to see Penn State lock up for 20 years?
Nobody. I don't want to see us locked into anything for 20 years. With most athletic directors changing head coaches more often than they change their underwear, the college football landscape changes too often. Imagine if we had locked ourselves into a 20 year series with Syracuse back in the 1980's when they were good. How happy would we be with that arrangement right now? Entering into a 20 deal with another school is like getting married. They are stuck with each other. If down the road the relationship isn't serving one of the partners, there's nothing they can do about it. They're stuck.
If I may go off on a tangent about the Michigan-Notre Dame series for a second, the thing I really don't like about this deal is it lessens the chance of Notre Dame joining the conference. What incentive do they have to join if Big Ten schools keep putting them on the schedule? They get the strength of schedule advantage for playing Michigan and the mushy middle of the conference. Some years they get lucky and beat the Wolverines. Then they sweep Stanford and the service academies and badabing, they're in a BCS Bowl. At some point I wish the Big Ten would get together and tell the Irish either you're in or you're out. Unfortunately I guess now I'll have to wait until 2031 to see that.
Lightning Round
Name something that Tailgaters do that really bugs you.
Don't park so close to my vehicle. I know you're planning on walking downtown or going to find your buddy's tailgate party, but I'm planning on partying right here so how about giving me a little space?
Did you see the Simpsons movie yet?
I only see one or two movies a year in the theater. So I'll probably wait until it comes out on DVD.
That's all I got. Go check out the other guys.
The Nittany Line
There Is No Name On My Jersey
Run Up The Score