Blue & White Roundtable

The Blue & White Roundtable is back after a week hiatus and back on track. Contrary to the popular belief, some of us bloggers don’t get to spend work hours writing articles and sometimes real life intervenes but at any rate here is this week’s questions brought to you by Mike from BSD.

Our first question comes from BSD reader, speedomike, so put your thinking speedo on. Oh man. I just pictured you guys in speedos. Excuse me while I throw up in my mouth. Discuss how much we will miss Tony Hunt next season while I regain my composure.

First off, I look damn fine in a Speedo if you think Barney Gumble would look good in a Speedo, but on to the question at hand.

Don’t let my answer fool you; Tony Hunt was one of the best runningbacks to grace the sidelines of PSU. For four years he was overshadowed and had little supporting cast, yet he managed to finish 2nd in career rushing at Penn State. That being said, if Austin Scott can play a full year injury free, I don’t think Hunt’s rushing will be missed. Paterno said at the beginning of 2005 that Scott and Hunt are so similar that you could swap jerseys and you probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference – running that ball that is. Scott can’t block worth a damn but the Lions can make up for that by making Matt Hahn the third down back. Hahn is a good blocker, can catch the ball out of the backfield and is a pretty fast fullback. So unless Scott is still injured I don’t think PSU will miss Hunt, but he WAS special.

Let’s talk about the championship game for a minute. What happened to the Buckeyes? Was it the long layoff? Was it the SEC speed running circles around the stodgy Big Ten school? Was it Ted Ginn’s teammates breaking his ankle in celebration?

Ted Ginn wouldn’t have made a 27 point difference but it was nice to see his team make at least ONE good tackle even if it was on their teammate. I think the layoff had a bit to do with it but I think the gameplan was horrible and the coaches refused to make adjustments. As I said before: when did the Buckeyes steal Penn State’s defensive playbook for the Notre Dame game? Everyone in the world knew that if you pressure Leak he falls apart like a Korean car, yet Ohio State would only bring 4 and sometimes 3 men. I was amazed. The SEC speed thing gets blown WAY out of proportion and is perpetrated by SEC fans and media alone. If the SEC is so fast why did Penn State shut down Tennessee and why did the “overrated” Badgers stop Arkansas with their Heisman runner-up?

What happened to the Wolverines? Who knew their secondary was swiss cheese? Were they that bad or was USC that good?

USC is good but not that good. The Wolverines weakness was masked by their kick-ass defensive line that could get pressure on every down against inferior offensive lines, but when they faced anything that resembled a good offense that could block, their cover was blown. Their secondary just wasn’t that good but they really only faced two good offenses and those two lit them up. It will be interesting to see them next season after losing some of their D-line and their best corner. Their offense will be great, but it will have to be to win as many games as they did this year.

Back to Penn State now. If you were Dan Connor, and the NFL scouts told you you could be a late second round pick if you came out this year, what would you do?

If it was late second round at best I would come back with a gigantic insurance policy. Let’s face it, Dan will be much ballyhooed next season and could play himself into a sure fire first rounder. I would take the chance at a million dollar signing bonus and come back, especially if I had the defense that he has to come back to. Penn State’s D next season should be as good or better then this year’s team.

Penn State already has one of the best secondaries in the conference if not the nation. Next year Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Minnesota, and Iowa all break in new quarterbacks while we return King, Davis, and Scirrotto with Wallace and Ridenhour in the wings. I don’t really have a question here. Just tell me how awesome that is going to be.

King, Scirrotto, and Connor will be All-Americans next season unless something drastic happens. Toward the end of the year, King was truly “lock-down,” often playing up tight on the opposing team’s best receiver. I doubt King will have many balls thrown his way next year. Is there anything Scirrotto does wrong? The guy just gets better every game. I think you will see A.J. Wallace move into the second corner spot and Davis move back to safety like Johnson did this year. The real worry is Defensive line – who will step up and demand double teams like Jay Alford did this year? I don’t know if Penn State has someone, although it will be fun to watch one of the talented freshmen develop at the Defensive End spot. Someone is going to break out next year; my vote goes to Maurice Evans.

It’s common for the assistant coaches to go visit other teams in the off season to compare notes and pick up a few tricks. What would you like to see the coaches focus on this off season and do you have a specific coach or team you would like to see them visit?

If Penn State is going to continue to use Williams in the backfield as a quarterback, I wish they would visit Arkansas and see how Nutt uses McFadden in the Wildcat formation. I think the coaches need something different then a Williams dive into the line for 3 yards.

Lightning Round

Give me your top five teams going into next season.

1) USC
2) Michigan
3) Florida
4) Virginia Tech
5) Wisconsin

I put Michigan at #2 to just piss off the SEC fans.

A.J. Wallace is too good to keep on the bench next year. Where do you see him playing?

I already answered this question – man you have a short attention span! I think he takes over the 2nd corner spot and Davis moves to safety

Jimmy Clausen. Is he really all that?

…and a bag of chips! Not really. His head wouldn’t fit into one of those new super jumbo jets. Wait till his Swiss cheese line lets him get pounded a few times, then we’ll see how good he is.

We're sorry Mr. Clausen, but our Jet won't accommodate someone of your needs.

How do you plan to pass the time between now and September?

Lots of beer and TV – 24 anyone?

As always leave your thoughts and rants in the comment section below and head on over to Black Shoe Diaries and Run Up the Score to see their answers.