Blue & White Roundtable: 'Sconsin Edition

Other possible participants:

There is No Name on My Jersey
Tangled Up in White and Blue
W. F. Yurasko
Happy Hour Valley
Black Shoe Diaries
The Nittany Line
Zombie Nation
Nittany Whiteout


1. What must Penn State do or not do to come out of Madison victorious?

Do:

• Score when you get into the red zone. Leaving points on the field might be okay against Purdue, but it won't fly against the Badgers.
• Establish the running game. Let the best part of your offense set the tone. Then you can...
• Open up the playbook. Bust out some plays that will baffle the Badgers D. Get points on the board early and then don't look back.
• Stop the Badgers running game. P.J. Hill and John Clay are looking to pound the Lions D. Penn State must make Allan Evridge win this game at any cost. Speaking of which...
• Pressure Allan Evridge. He's looked shaky at best so far, and he's barely clinging to his job. Sack him a couple times early and then he's finished.

Don't Do:

• The opposite of all that stuff.
  

2. The Badgers are really down after dropping out of the rankings and losing their grip on a Big Ten title and a BCS Bowl. There is concern that the Badgers are emotionally spent and could collapse. Does Wisconsin bounce back and beat Penn State or do they collapse? Is there reason for panic in Madison?

Hey, by now we all know how the mainstream sports media works. They panic in Week 1, they panic in Week 7, they panic in Week 12. It doesn't matter what week it is or what happens, someone is always worked up about something.

That being said, there really isn't reason for panic in Madison. Do we think that the Badgers are going to win this weekend? No. Is an 0-3 start in the conference the worst thing in the world? Also no. There are a lot of factors at play here. There are good teams in this conference and Wisconsin is facing them early. Sometimes you don't live up to preseason expectations (like Wisconsin last year). And of course, when you don't win the games you're supposed to win (i.e. Michigan), you may end up with a bad record.

There's no reason to get too worked up about it though. In case no one remembers, we had a couple rough years not too long ago, and we seemed to have bounced back pretty well, now that we're rid of Morelli. There's no reason Wisconsin can't do the same. They just have to play hard the rest of the season and try to turn things around. And quit whining.


3. The Big Ten has a good crop of running backs this year including Wisconsin true freshman John Clay who is averaging 6.7 yards per carry. How much playing time does Clay see this week compared to P.J. Hill? How does our defense fare against them?

John Clay is good. When we read 6.7 yards per carry, our initial reaction was that it was probably inflated by a couple home run plays or running third down draws on 3rd and long. We call that the "give up" play.

So we checked out game recaps and play by play write ups. Against Michigan he had 3 carries. One of those was a 40+ yard run. That helps.

Against Ohio State he had 10 carries, on all downs, and put together regular runs of 10+ yards. He had a couple of 0's and 1's in there too, but he still moved the ball to the tune of 6.9 YPC.

Is this the week that Clay gets more carries than PJ Hill? We don't really think so. He's still going to be sprinkled in there and probably break off a couple nice ones, but we feel confident in PSU's rushing defense that's only allowing 80 yards per game.

We also feel confident that PJ Hill will campaign, via the internets, to maintain that number one spot.

I can make a play.

4. Between the third and fourth quarters the Wisconsin students do the "jump around", which shakes the stadium. How do you think the loud, jumping, night atmosphere will affect Penn State?

I think they've played in an environment like that a couple times already. Listen, they're playing collegiate football at a high level, every stadium is loud and rocking (unless you play for Northwestern or Indiana). They're taught to deal with it, they know how to deal with it. Maybe for some first timers this might be surprising and have some effect, but a lot of these guys have been around for a while and know what to expect. Also, we love Jump Around in Camp Randall.

One of the coolest things out there.

Over under for years before Penn State students take it and claim as their own?

Lightning Round

1. Predict the play calling. Do Galen and JayPa open up the offense or do they get conservative on the road?
Open it up. You have to. Wisconsin may have lost 2 already but they're dangerous for sure. Open it up and put them down.

2. What are the odds Wisconsin loses two consecutive games at home?
Hopefully pretty good.

3. Does the Wisconsin band play this week?
Doesn't look like it.

Actions like this will get you suspended.
Just like our blogger account is about to be.

4. How many quarters does JoePa spend in the coaches box?
Zero. He's on the sidelines. That why he's paid the big bucks.