Blue & White Roundtable: Badger Badger Badger

I see Galen covered the video department pretty comprehensively, so onto the roundtable.

The usual suspects:
Black Shoe Diaries
Happy Hour Valley
Tangled Up In Blue And White
There is No Name On My Jersey
We Want the Lion
William F. Yurasko
Zombie Nation


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

What to do: get a lead and make Wisconsin have to throw the ball, tackle!

What not to do: turn the ball over, slip on turf, blow coverages.


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?

Reason for panic in Wisconsin? or for Penn State traveling into Madison? If I was a Badger fan, I’d be afraid of a season similar to Penn State in ’99, where a Minnesota upset collapsed the rest of the season like a house of cards, not to be salvaged until the bowl game. For the Nittany Lions road games are always a concern, but if Penn State needs any additional motivation just remember the bullshit Bielema pulled on the kickoffs 2 years ago.


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?

I think the defense should be pretty well equipped to take on their backs. Getting penetration and disrupting them in the backfield will be key, as will sure tackling meaning not of that olé garbage that we saw against Purdue. The biggest impact on their running game could be our offense, if we can score then look for more aerial tactics from their side.


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?

“Jump Around” is between quarters so it shouldn’t be a concern, just witness how frightened Ohio State was last week.


In regards to the noise, it will be the first time the offense has had to deal with that issue, but I think the fact Penn State already had the night game against Illinois they should know what to expect. If this was their first exposure to a night crowd, I might be more concerned, still I wouldn’t be surprised at a couple false starts.


Lightning Round
Predict the play calling. Do Galen and JayPa open up the offense or do they get conservative on the road?

With the return of Norwood, I expect a more open playbook than Purdue. He could arguably be the offensive MVP, it seems almost night and day what his presence on the field means for the offense. Is he might be Clark’s safety blanket? I don’t know, but something has been missing the last 2 weeks that has stunted the offense we had been seeing up to that point.


What are the odds Wisconsin loses two consecutive games at home?

50/50 – they’ve already lost the first one, so they’ve only got 2 options in this one.


Does the Wisconsin band play this week?

Yes, but if they change their mind, Wisconsin can call up North Carolina Central University’s band, the Marching Sound Machine, to fill in. Ask them for the Florida State special.


How many quarters does JoePa spend in the coach’s box?

As few as possible, if he’s feeling well enough, then he won’t be up there at all. If not, maybe a half, maybe the entire game. He’ll make every effort to be on the field. For those who say Joe doesn’t do anything, the times he’s spent off the field in the box this year have been some of the team’s sloppiest execution, in part because he can’t get in the players faces and yell.