Blue-White Roundtable: Badger Badger Badger Edition

September 3, 2010 – | View Comments

With less than two weeks until Penn State takes on Youngstown State, the mixing and matching of the spring and summer is starting to die down. The starting lineup and rotation is mostly set, and we’re taking a look as just how each position stacks …

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Blue-White Roundtable: Badger Badger Badger Edition

Submitted by Devon on October 9, 2008 – View Comments

Thanks to Tangled Up in White and Blue for this week’s round of questions. Penn State gears up for it’s most important game of the year so far this Saturday against Wisconsin, and I can’t wait.

The rest of the cast of PSU blogs:
There is No Name on My Jersey
Tangled Up in White and Blue
Y. F. Yurasko
Happy Hour Valley
Black Shoe Diaries
The Nittany Line
We Want the Lion
Zombie Nation
Nittany Whiteout

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

In order to win this one, Penn State is going to have to control the lines. If our defensive line can continue to stuff the run effectively, and force the shaky Allan Everidge to pass, Wisconsin won’t be putting up too many points. On the flip side, Wisconsin is easily the best defense we’ve played this year, and Royster is going to actually have to work for 100 yards. If he does, and Clark has time to throw, I think we’re sitting pretty.

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?

This game is a major turning point for Wisconsin. If they are going to get into a good bowl game, hell, if they’re going to get into the Alamo Bowl, they might well need a win here. With tough games against Illinois and @Michigan State, this team could potentially go 3-5 in Big Ten play. I just think they’re not that good of a team. They barely squeaked by a very “eh” Fresno State team, and looked as bad as a football team can look in the second half against Michigan. I don’t want to play on emotions, but this will be a tough one for the Badgers.

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?

Wasn’t P.J. Hill was supposed to be really good? He’s only had one big game, and that came against Akron. As I said before, he really seems to have regressed. John Clay, on the other hand, scares me. As much as PJ Hill is a bruiser, Clay is a playmaker and a dynamic running back. Josh Hull had a big game for him, and gained our confidence against Purdue, but he’s going to need to be great in this one in order for us to stuff the run. We struggled to contain Dufresne, but the defense had to account for Juice Williams. We’ve done well against straight-ahead rushes, and that’s the Purdue gameplan. We’ll bend, but not break.

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?

This is what scares me the most about this game. Under Bret Bielema, Wisconsin had never lost a home game before last week and now I’m supposed to believe that they’ll lose two in a row? We know Paterno et al have had the unfortunate tendency to close up the playbook for big road games, but if they keep it open, Penn State should be fine. I think the senior leadership, guys like Scirotto, Cadogan, even Sean Lee on the sidelines, they’re going to make sure everyone comes out ready to play.

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

I think Penn State is going to start this one pretty conservatively, and it’ll be a dogfight early on. However, they’ll open up the playbook in the second half, and Penn State wins going away.