Time for another edition of the Blue-White Roundtable. With preseason practice starting up there is actually football to talk about. The excitement for the season is building every day. Only seventeen days left...or one Daryll Clark.
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This week it was learned that Travis McBride is no longer with the team. With Spencer Ridenhour having transferred out of the program that's now two safeties we've lost. How much will this affect the defensive secondary?
As long as Tony Davis and Anthony Scirrotto are on the team and healthy we're fine. If we have to dip into reserves we could be in trouble. Our options are Mark Rubin, Jason Ganter, and Nick Sukay. Rubin is a converted wide receiver who sat out a year from injury and never played in the secondary until last year. Jason Ganter is career backup legacy in his fifth year. And Nick Sukay, while talented, is a true freshman.
David Jones had it out with Paterno at the Penn State media day over scheduling Coastal Carolina in 2008. If you were Tim Curley and Joe Paterno, what would your strategy be toward out of conference scheduling keeping in mind you had to have seven home games?
I think the administration should be ashamed for scheduling Div. I-AA teams like Youngstown State and Coastal Carolina. Every year the ticket prices go up and next year the Nittany Lion club "donation" is going up. And each year the out of conference games get worse. It's disgraceful when we get seven home games a year the fans are expected to loyally pay all that money and give up entire weekends in travel to watch games against Temple, Buffalo, FIU, Youngstown State, and Coastal Carolina.
We get four conference games every year. That means we have to have three out of conference games at home. That is a fact of life. In order to do that we're going to have to have a few teams willing to come in and take a beating for a $400,000 paycheck. But there is no reason why we can't schedule two legitimate BCS teams and rotate them so every year we play one at home and one on the road. They don't even have to both be upper echelon teams. Make it one elite team and one average team. I nominate Pitt for the average team.
Who is James Terry? We just got a commitment from a kid that held offers from Temple, Delaware State, and Towson. Should we throw Larry Johnson under the bus or give him the benefit of the doubt?
Look at all the NFL talent LJ has coached up: Jimmy Kennedy, Anthony Adams, Michael Hayes, Courtney Brown, Tamba Hali, Jay Alford. The guy has an eye for defensive line talent. You have to give him the benefit of the doubt here. He's definitely earned that. Last year everyone scratched their heads when he recruited Abe Koroma out of Hershey when nobody else was. Now by all accounts Koroma is going to be the starting defensive tackle as a redshirt freshman.
Who is your pick to finish at the bottom of the Big Ten this year?
Man, you hate to root against Indiana after the death of Terry Hoeppner, but the Hoosiers have some serious issues. They is no worthy backup quarterback after Kellen Lewis. The offensive line is terrible. The defense is small, slow, and inexperienced. And I think the death of Hoeppner is going to hang over the team like Randy Walker's death loomed over Northwestern last year. I can't see them winning a conference game this year.
Lightning Round
I'm coming over to raid your beer cooler. Where do you park on game day?
We're planning on parking on the hill behind center field at the baseball stadium.
Do you put up any goofy flags or tents? Play any unique music? How will I find you once I'm there?
I mentioned before our buddy Kling is a huge Raider fan. He used to put up a Raider flag prompting a bunch of odd stares. This year we're working on putting together a Black Shoe Diaries flag so y'all can find us and stop by to say you were in the presence of genius.
When I open your cooler what will I find?
I don't know. What are you bringing me? Usually our cooler just has Coke in it. We keep the Captain Morgans on the table. You might find a few Yuengling Lagers, or as I call it the Nectar of Life.
That's all for this week. Go check out the other guys.
The Nittany Line
There Is No Name On My Jersey
Run Up The Score