Blue and White Roundtable

Holy crap Wednesday got here in a hurry – time flies in football season doesn't it? It was our turn for this week's questions so I took Nick's X-Box and banished him to the deep dark regions of The Nittany Line until he came up with questions and here they are. Good job Nick, good job. Don't forget to head on over to the rest of the Roundtable and check out their responses because what would it be without the other guys? Me and Nick talking to ourselves, that's what.
TINNOMJ
BSD
RUTS
William Yurasko

Update: I didn't want to add this until I was sure he was posting today but we've added another to the growing list of Roundtable participants, please welcome the Nittany Blog

Which is worse: having your parachute fail to open while skydiving or losing to Appalachian State?

Nick: If, by chance, you lived, I would take the parachute failure, you can forever brag that you survived the fall and it's a short albeit intense time of fear. On the other hand, if you care about your school and team, a loss to Appalachian State where they are taking the game to you and winning almost the entire game, is a soul deadening loss that will forever leave an empty hole in you. Over time the pain may subside and greater triumphs will eventually occur for your school and team, but the hole will always remain there festering, forever a target of ridicule and shame. Realistically though, it's just a football game in the big picture and would take the Appalachian State loss.

Galen: Without a doubt losing to Appalachian State; if your parachute didn't open due to some boneheaded mistake you made you wouldn't have to live with it for very long, now losing to a Div I-AA school… well that stays with you the rest of your life.

Is it too early to worry about the running game?

Nick: No, that's absurd. What idiot thought up this question? Penn State did not run very well against Akron in the first game last year and that turned out not to be terribly indicative of the rest of the season. FIU was not interested in letting us run and the best thing about the first game is that the coaches adjusted. Don't want to give up yards on the ground? Fine, we will pass all over you. This team has all the weapons it needs and I really like the fact we have 2 potentially great tight ends that can catch. Austin Scott was good, if not overly effective, and Evan Royster impressed against the tired defense. He looks like he could be the real deal next year and I would run him as the back-up over Rodney Kinlaw. In my opinion, Kinlaw looked poor against FIU and made matters worse by fumbling once and nearly giving it up two additional times. Keep your damn hands on the ball, use both if necessary, the fumble alone should have been a wake up call and to repeat the same mistakes is just sloppy and unfocused. Also, a brief side note on FIU, where the hell was Ned? I was scanning the sidelines looking for him and he was a no show.

Galen: Sure it was only FIU but they did put a lot of pressure on the offense and dare Penn State to throw and the Nittany Lions were more than happy to oblige. For the first game with offensive linemen in different positions I think they did an acceptable job and the coaches did a good job of adjusting at halftime which is really more important than anything. Scott will get his yards before it's all said and done and I believe Kinlaw provides a good change of pace (sorry Nick).

Is just a win enough to satisfy you this weekend against Notre Dame or are there qualifiers on a victory to make it acceptable?

Nick: A win would be enough for me, but if I'm honest with myself, what I really want is utter domination a la Nebraska 2002 or an 81-0 Cincinnati drubbing. Upon hearing the news yesterday, I want to watch an overwhelmed Jimmy Clausen break down in tears, spend 3 hours in deafening loudness and lose my voice for the next week. A beatdown of epic proportions, just run up the score:

Galen: Hell no a simple win isn't acceptable I want a beat down. Notre Dame looked like garbage against Georgia Tech and PSU's defense is just as good or better. If ND can score more than two offensive touchdowns against the Nittany Lions I'll gladly admit Chuck Weis is an offensive genius. This game is Penn State's to lose; Notre Dame isn't going to stroll into Happy Valley for a 6:00PM start and outplay this team this year. Call it arrogant or whatever but Penn State will have to give the game away to lose.

Lightning Round

Got a ticket, praying for a ticket, or watching the game somewhere else this weekend?

Nick: Praying for a ticket – I will be at the game to soak up the atmosphere and festivities and in the mean time "hoping for a miracle." If everything falls through, I'll head to a bar. My fear is that a disproportionate number of Notre Dame fans are going to buy the resales and if that's the case, Penn Staters should be ashamed of themselves.

Galen: *evil grin* got my ticket and I can't wait.

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

Nick: TCU at Texas (7 p.m.), Virginia Tech at LSU (8 p.m.), South Carolina at Georgia (5:45 p.m.) are all on late during the Penn State game and Oregon at Michigan (3:30 p.m.), Boise State at Washington (3:30 p.m.) will have the end preempted by the Penn State game, so I'll go with Miami at Oklahoma at noon as my game this week.

Galen: Oregon at Michigan – let's see how the Wolverines rebound.