BSD Mailbag 10.21.16

It’s Ohio State week! And I’ve got answers to your questions!

Is anyone here giving us a legitimate chance to win? and are they sane?—jaytay13

Well, Garrett and Ross both have Penn State over Ohio State (I’m not really counting Eli here because his prediction...well, you guys know the drill). Having not met either of them in person, I cannot attest to their mental stability. But they do write for BSD, so all of that is questionable.

I’m in on Franklin, this team is gelling, and we looked better against Maryland than we had since Illinois in 2015. The rest of the season looks really good for this team.

We will lose to Ohio State, likely by more than two scores.

Which units benefit more from bad weather, respectively? OSU OFF v. PSU DEF and PSU OFF v. OSU DEF?—Blumski13

I think it’s the OSU offense that benefits the most, because if the weather’s that bad it helps take the crowd, which will be smaller, out of it. And the white out crowd can be a huge factor in momentum, as most of you know.

Do we see a different playbook for this game? Given that we have nothing to lose in this game (and are expected to lose) Does Franklin and Moorhead pull out something different in the playbook? Do you expect to see an aggressive playbook or do you think they will play this game not to lose instead of playing aggressive to win?—jetskijoe

I’m not so sure “different” is what we’ll see—more like “MORE”. Since we’re coming off a bye week, the offense likely was able to implement more of Moorhead’s playbook so we’ll expand on the glimpses of the RPO that we saw utilized to great effect by Trace McSorley in the last game (and at the end of the Minnesota game). I expect we’ll see more disguised looks and building around masking our weaknesses on offensive line (imho, Paris Palmer and Brian Gaia) and developing plays specifically targeted at any perceived weaknesses in the Buckeye defense.

I really, really hope we take advantage of Mike Gesicki’s stellar play so far this year, and the mismatch he creates with any member of the secondary. If he’s a huge factor in the pass game at the beginning, that opens up Chris Godwin et al downfield.

Where can we find a list of recruits visiting this weekend? And can we tweet at them?—Blumski13

The most comprehensive list can be found on 247, but that’s behind a paywall. Patrick should have something up on this here site later on today about the visitors on campus this weekend.

Silly rabbit:

Forgetting OSU for the moment, can we flip any damn ND commits? Jeter just decommitted, although he’s saying that ND is still at the top of his list. Hainsey? Adams? Hinish? These are all PA guys and are at the top of our list of needed positions. Landing any one of them would be a coup.—Puzio

Jeter won’t be coming to Penn State. He’ll be visiting Michigan this weekend, and he decommitted from the Irish in the wake of receiving his Wolverine offer, and that’s a little bit of a coincidence.

I agree that landing any one of the other guys would be a coup. Right now, there’s not any strong indication that they’re flipping but if the Irish continue to lose, it wouldn’t be too difficult to see—by many accounts, Hainsey’s 2nd choice was PSU and Franklin just went to IMG Academy to see him earlier this month.

Adams, the #4 player in the commonwealth, would be an even bigger get - we are, after all, Linebacker U, not imaginary girlfriend u. But the staff hasn’t really been going after him since he committed to ND, despite him being thought of as a PSU lean at the time.

Hinish is another one that would be good to get (though our depth at DT is greater)—keeping great talent at home is what #DominatetheState was all about, after all—but he’s another one the staff hasn’t really been pursuing since his commitment, less surprising than Adams’.

Personally, I just really want to flip the Ademilola twins from New Jersey out of the class of 2018. Because they’re a linebacker and a defensive lineman, and they’re freaking twins. How awesome would that be.

Penalties against OSU in regulation. Over/Under is 4—Life of the Marte

Ugh. Over. and it won’t be that close. PSU might be around four (we’ve averaged 5 penalties per game), but Ohio State is one of the most penalized teams in the nation, averaging 8 penalties (and over 65 penalty yards) per game. That’s their worst ranking in any statistical category, so they will get flagged.

How many crappy calls will go against PSU and will we have to listen to a week of Urban Meyer bitch when one call goes against anOSU and he doesn’t like it. (Follow the rules Meyer and don’t complain that they should get rid of it just because the great and powerful Urbz doesn’t like it.)—RWReese

There probably will be a few, because there are some in every game. There were some in the Maryland game, there was the horrible ejection in the Michigan game—Big Ten refs are awful. But unless I’m forgetting something, I don’t think Meyer is anywhere near as bad as Jim Harbaugh when it comes to the bitching (feel free to post a link in the comments if there’s an instance I’ve lost sight of).

If history had unfolded as originally planned, this would be Urban Meyer’s 5th season as Penn State’s head football coach. How many national titles has the team won in that time?—Smee

I’m gonna go with one, same as what OSU won. Rather than be ineligible for playing for the MNC like the Buckeyes were in 2013, I think our cupboard was a bit barer than theirs so Meyer would have needed one more year to stock up; but 2014 would have been our year as well. Last year, though, no one was stopping Alabama.

Will there be a BSD tailgate for this game?—icavalera

Dude, I’m always tailgating. Not all the BSD crew will be with me, but there likely will be a few of ‘em.

More potentially entertaining—Les Miles at Purdue or Bo Pelini at Purdue?—Former_DC_Buck

I always find Pelini’s pressers, and the possibility that he might go apeshit at any moment, completely entertaining.

Plus, I loved that he fully embraced internet memes of himself while at Nebraska. He should be back in Power 5 college football, and soon.

Who do you want to see take Purdue's job? Will we get Bo back?—Sperbro

I think that would be amazing, but I’m not sure it’s a great fit. Les Miles is completely unrealistic, as is, in my opinion, PJ Fleck—Fleck is the flavor du jour and will likely end up at a much higher profile program than Purdue (it’s similar to last year, when Maryland fans were hoping to hire Mark Richt—not gonna happen). It likely will be a coordinator of a big time program, not a former head coach; Mike Bobinski probably doesn’t want to repeat the mac-xperience they just went through.

Do any State College bars (that would show the game) allow dogs? I’m doubtful, but I’m going down this weekend and if I can’t find a bar to allow dogs, I will have to watch it at a friend’s apartment while they are at the game. Or crash a tailgate with a TV.—C.McKean

Zola is pet friendly, but only if their outdoor seating is open - and considering what the weather is looking like, it may not be.

Have you ever worn a dress and heels to a football game? Saw it at an SEC game THIS YEAR.—LarzLion

HA. I barely wear a dress and heels on non-football games—why would I wear that at football games? Our weather in State College, too, is far too erratic count on wearing that type of clothing too.

Plus I actually like to be comfortable. You can be pretty in a jersey, jeans and sneakers, too, ladies.

Rogue One: Wolverine movies equivalent or Captain America movies (not 1990) equivalent.—Former_DC_Buck

I really hope it’s Captain America movies equivalent.

Though, have you seen the new trailer for Logan? Holy hell. Looks amazing. If it is that good, Rogue One could be either one.

Ever see The Babadook? Creepy ass movie.—Chris Lucia

I haven’t seen it, but I’ve heard good things. To be honest, I’m not normally a fan of most horror movies; I don’t get too scared, so I don’t see the point. I generally laugh through them or roll my eyes at the obvious reused tropes. I only would like to see the (not super gross) original ones. I’ve heard Babadook is one of them, so I should probably check it out.

Ever make it up to Burkittsville? Would you have been at PSU or HS when the first one came out? We had just started our second year of life in exile out of the glorious Ohio homeland and in the heretical suburban Maryland wasteland.—Former_DC_Buck

Nah. It’s only about 40 minutes from where I grew up; I was a senior in high school when Blair Witch came out and we threatened to go up there multiple times, but never did. I actually have never sat down and watched the movie—not because I was scared of the subject material, but because of all of the stories of people vomiting from the shaky camera work.

Witches? Meh. Puking? Get me the hell outta there.

Who do you think is the Zodiac Killer? I’ve been reading a bit about this lately. I think Arthur Leigh Allen, Richard Gaikowski, and Ross Sullivan are all decent suspects, but there are pretty significant problems with all of them as well.—ckmneon

I literally know nothing about this other than the stupid meme this year about Ted Cruz. If you have a book suggestion for me to check out on it, I’m game - I almost googled it to look into answering this question, but I know myself well enough to know that doing so would trap me into a wiki spiral that would likely keep me up until 3 in the morning. So, instead, I’ll add a poll. How’s that, BSD’s resident statistician?

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Hey, you. You who, like me, are normally in or around the DC metro area. I’m aware that metro is teh suck right now - but you should still go downtown to Exiles, on U Street. As I’ve stated in the past, the staff is great, as is the food and craft brews (and buckets of non-craft on special during the game). The bar is beautiful. They’ll treat you right.

(I know it’s from two weeks ago, but it’s not game day yet)