Okay, it was a crazy week; return of the pirated Blue White Roundtable

So last week was filled with a lot of "away from the keyboard" matters - such as work and life and so on - but we're back and we're getting ready for this week's game against the Temple Owls.

To get the ball rolling I thought it was fitting to renew my tradition of posting some "unauthorized" answers to the weekly Blue and White Roundtable. This week's questions are from The Nittany Line:

-Temple lost over half of their offensive line and their starting QB from a team that didn't have much of an offense anyway (107th in total offense in the country) do they have a realistic shot at moving the ball against Penn State's defense?

So far Penn State's defense has looked pretty tough when they are able to pressure the quarterback - when plays do break through the line the LB's and secondary have been pretty good at the open field tackle. Lee seems to be back to full speed+ and Hull seems to have taken some sort of agility/quickness potion during the off season (perhaps he draws strength from the wicked new mustache). But our pass coverage game is still a question mark and if we're honest, we really have no idea how our team will stack up against a top (or 2nd, or 3rd) tier program.

-Homework time! You'll have to dig deep and be creative for this one: name something about this Temple team that scares you (ok scare may be a bit much… how about gives you pause).

Temple's QB, Vaughn Charlton (do the dance) is the kid who ran and passed (somewhat at will) between the 20s on our 2007 defense. Yes, he threw 3 interceptions against 'Nova in the Owls' first game, but he also threw 2 TDs (one for 75 yards) and 317 yards. Do I think that Temple's offensive line will hold up? no. Do I think our secondary needs to be better and that there will be moments during the game where i yell "get him!"? yes.

-Temple lost to Villanova in week one on the last play of the game. If you'll remember that also happened to Temple twice last season: bad luck or bad coaching?

Meh. The games last season were heartbreakers, hard fought even(ish) battles where officiating and fluke plays ruled the outcome. There was definitely some "luck" involved in those outings. Against Villanova, Temple was up by 10 in the 4th quarter (wait. are we talking about the Bills?) - That's coaching - whether it's play/scheme calling, conditioning or even mental attitude - it's coaching.

Quick Hits

-True or False: Penn State holds Temple under 200 yards of total offense?

False

-True or False: Temple goes bowling this season?

False

-On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being "totally sucked" and 10 being "awesomeness of epic levels" – how did the Michigan victory over Chuck Weis make you feel last week? Be honest!

5 - good for the big ten, bad for weis and clausen - but still michigan.


So, there you go - our first poached roundtable of the season - mmm, tastes good with a little lemon and dill.