Blue & White Roundtable – ‘Is it Christmas yet?’ edition

Chomping at the bit here people it's Wednesday and only one more day till real football. Get yourself a cold beer, a favorite recliner/couch and get ready for some football. Life is once again great. To 'prime the pump' we give you this week's Blue and White Roundtable brought to you by Run Up The Score. (Mike finally gets a week off).

1. Our long national nightmare is over -- football season has returned! The Nittany Lions take on the Golden Panthers of Florida International University this Saturday. FIU was 0-12 last season, with losses to such powerhouse programs as Middle Tennessee State, Arkansas State, and Florida Atlantic. There's no question that Penn State will win, but what are you hoping to see PSU accomplish against FIU? Aside from not getting injured, what can the Nittany Lions do that will make you say, "Okay, that's something we can build on for next week against Notre Dame"?

Galen: It's really a no-win situation for Penn State in that they have to totally annihilate FIU or the pundits will be out in force. I'm looking for the first team offense to move the ball with ease, if they struggle I'm going to be worried. Frankly I don't care what the defense does, it will be good this year I'm worried about Morelli and Scott. Will Anthony have the timing with his wideouts that we are expecting? Will the offensive line give Morelli and Austin the blocking they need? If the line can't block FIU we're in for a long season.

Nick: Since we're not likely to see much out of the playbook, I'm going to say let's hope the kicking game is sorted out, the ball is snapped without muffle, the hold is performed correctly and Kevin Kelly's back/hip/whatever is all healed up and he's nailing kicks down the middle of the uprights.

2. Not every Big Ten team has a functional bye week. Take a look at this week's schedule. Who is most likely to suffer an upset?

Galen: Take a look at this week's schedule … what the Hell, no one said anything about serious homework!? I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Washington State @ Wisconsin game could be interesting. WSU has a very explosive offense and will test the Badgers in the first game of the season. State doesn't have a credible defense but how good will the Wisconsin offense be after replacing their QB and best O lineman? I'm not saying Wisconsin won't have a good offense by the end of the season but the first game jitters could play in WSU's favor. I'll be tuning into ABC after the PSU game to keep an eye on this one.

Nick: Um, Toledo over Purdue? Not sure any Big Ten team necessarily has a crap the bed moment this week.

3. How are you affected by the squabbles between the Big Ten Network and Comcast? Who is The Bad Guy in this battle? If you're stuck in a situation where you won't be at the game and can't get the broadcast at your house, what are your plans for Saturday at noon?

Galen: Thank GOD I won't miss any games but if I had to I was dropping Comcast and buying DirectTV. Hey, I just recently bought a Widescreen LCD High Def TV and the Digital channels offered by Direct TV would look damn nice on my new setup. Both sides bear some of the blame but Comcast is just being their typical shithead selves. Central PA has some of the WORST cable in all the free world, it's expensive, terrible quality, and just all around shittackular.

Nick: Comcast is the bad guy here 100%, you can't argue the $1.10 is unfair to your customers when cable rates already rise without rhyme or reason, tell me with a straight face that the price isn't going to increase in the next 6 months anyway. In the meantime, you're force feeding your shitty Versus network in your fiendish plot to ensure no one ever watches the NHL again or your innumerable list of other channels I don't give a damn about on your basic service. Then on top of it, you hire a firm to go on message boards as "superfans and concerned consumers." Suck it Comcast, that's why we left cable in the first place and enjoy DirecTV. If I was so inclined I could watch the game at home, but instead will be in attendance at the Beav.

Lightning Round

If things go as planned, everyone on the PSU could see significant playing time on Saturday. Who will be the leading rusher, receiver, and passer for Penn State?

Galen: Evan Royster will get plenty of yards in mop up time, Morelli will get all the passing yards and Derrick Williams will have a great start to his junior season.

Nick: Austin Scott (rushing), Chris Bell (receiving) and Anthony Morelli (passing) – Bonus Predictions - Derrick Williams will return a kick for a TD and the defense will have a score as well.

Predict the score of the PSU vs. FIU game.

Galen: Like I said before: PSU 42 – FIU 7

Nick: This could go one of 2 ways, straight-up blow-out, woodshed beating, first team off the field at half time, some guys buried on the depth chart will see their only playing time in their Penn State careers in the 4th quarter – 63-3.

The more likely case is we get absolutely no indications what to expect from this team and just about everything "new" stays hidden under the tarp until Michigan, unless Joe has some sort of grudge against Notre Dame for last year's game. A sloppy win, maybe looking ahead to next week a bit, uncomfortably close for a lot of people and results in setting the message boards aflame with how bad this team sucks and doomsday is nigh – 31-13.

What non-PSU game are you most looking forward to this weekend?

Galen: Of course the Tennessee at California game will be a great game but I also want to see the Georgia Tech at Notre Dame simply because it's PSU's next opponent.

Nick: Georgia Tech at Notre Dame – We play Notre Dame next week and I'm interested what sort of team they'll be fielding after a lot of key losses.

There you have it for week 1. Now that the season has started I’m going to end the B&W roundtable a tad different; instead of just giving you the links for the other members I’ll give you the links and a quick preview of something interesting/funny from each members answers (when they post them) to entice you to click on their link.

Blue & White Roundtable members
There Is No Name On My Jersey – JB will miss the game to visit In-Laws. In-Laws! Get over there and give him the verbal tongue lashing he deserves.
Run Up The Score – Run thinks if you are Purdue or Iowa you should be worried about your first game.
Black Shoe Diaries - Mike expects complete domination and has his finger firmly pressed on the panic button: offense you’re on notice!
William Yurasko - William's take on reverses and gimmick plays: Thanks but no thanks!