Friday, October 03, 2008

Blue-White Roundtable: Week of Purdue

Zombie Nation brings us this week's questions. Please find my answers below, however, for more lucid and less drunken ramblings please check the following blogs:
Tangled Up in White and Blue
YF Yurasko
Happy Hour Valley
Black Shoe Diaries
The Nittany Line
We Want the Lion

1. Name one unit-to-unit match up Penn State must win Saturday. How
does PSU win that battle?
Wow. That is kind of specific. I'm going to assume we are talking about players who are on the field at the same time.
Penn State's Linebackers have to play very well. They are going to be facing Purdue's spread offense and will have to cover a variety of players from players lining up wide to the slot to running backs. I am not concerned about Penn State's ability to score points, however, it is critical that Penn State's Linebackers play well.
2. This trip to Purdue is setting up to be a classic trap game. Do you
agree? Why or why not?
I agree that it is setting itself up to be a trap game. Penn State looks far better on paper, OTT agrees with me, which means that PSU can get complacent. Penn State is also coming off a big win and will have another big game next week. There certainly is a possibility for the team to look past Purdue.
I hope that our more experienced players (D-Will, Norwood, Butler) will remember the let down PSU experienced against Michigan in 2005. I hope the memory of that letdown will be shared with younger players this year as an example of how important it is to keep focus.
3. Purdue will be doing a "Black Out" this week. Putting aside that
it's going to raise money for charity (each shirt sold sends money to
United Way), what are your feelings on other schools organizing
"[insert color here] Outs?"
I don't like them. It is clearly a pitiful attempt to try to steal the energy and the popularity of the "White-out". If they didn't learn from Georgia what can happen to you during a "Black-Out" than what I say here will certainly have no effect. I, for one, am looking forward to see Penn State wearing white and shining like a beacon in the middle of a field draped in black.
Lightening Round.
-Royster over 100 yards?
Absolutely. Purdue has a terrible run defense. What will be astounding is that PSU has a shot to send three players over 100 yds. I think Royster, Green, and Beachum could go over 100.
-Curtis Painter throws first TD ever vs. PSU?
Yeah. He will.
-Pat Devlin gets meaningful playing time?
Not a lot and maybe not meaningful. However, I think he will play and play well.

GO STATE! BEAT PURDUE!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Completely agree with the 2005 MIchigan reference... this team does seem a little more focused.

J Money said...

Holy moly, guys... you didn't invent the "[insert color here] out" concept.

JB said...

We aren't claiming to have invented it. We are claiming to have perfected it. I also don't recall very many "(insert color here) out" until after 2005. Maybe I just missed all the pre-2005 black-outs, maize-outs, crimson-outs, etc. that were going on. However, I really doubt it.

Bring on the black out. Maybe it will be cool and successful. Maybe not!

T-Mill said...

Great preview, guys. good luck today!

B.Lane said...

Eh, actually South Carolina did a Black Out way back in 2001. The atmosphere was great, but it didn't work out too well re: the outcome of the game (huge loss to Florida) but it certainly isn't a 'new' concept. And sure the Black Out by Georgia didn't go so well this year, but last year it worked out pretty darn well for them when they smacked Auburn around. Don't get me wrong, Penn State's White Outs are impressive and I think it's great how they get into it, but I don't think PSU has any claim over the 'color out' concept.