It’s finally here! College Football is around the corner and I am pumped for the season to get underway. With Penn State football back in action this weekend, it also means that the Blue and White Roundtable is back up and running again and Akron is on the agenda this week. Thanks to Mike at Zombie Nation for the questions this week.

And our fellow roundtable panelists this week:

W. F. Yurasko
Happy Hour Valley
The Nittany Line
We Want the Lion
Zombie Nation
Nittany Whiteout
Nittany Lounge

1. We all know Penn State is going to beat Akron. But what is it about this year’s Penn State team that really scares the crap outta you? Basically, explain what will cause you to throw the tortilla chips across the room more than once this Saturday?

This is an easy one. The secondary will provide more than its fair share of groans and moans this season. It might very well begin with Akron in week 1. Akron returns star quarterback Chris Jacqouemain who threw for 2,748 yards and 20 touchdwns last season. That, in addition to the 4 returning wide outs, look for the Zips to test out our secondary quickly and often.

With the release of Penn State’s depth chart yesterday, I was quite surprised to see AJ Wallace sitting in the #2 spot behind Knowledge Timmons for the left cornerback spot. I expected both Timmons and Wallace to start at the 2 corner spots, but the right spot went to sophomore D’Anton Lynn.

This could mean 1 of 2 things.

a) AJ Wallace, despite his seniority, was still unable to instill enough confidence in the coaching staff to snatch up a starting corner spot which does not bode well for depth issues, or

b) D’Anton Lynn had a breakout offseason and impressed the coaching staff enough to secure the right cornerback spot over senior AJ Wallace.

Regardless if the Lions blows out Akron, if the Zips tear up the Lions’ first team defense for 200 – 300 yards Saturday through the air, even a victory would not be sufficient. The secondary really needs to establish themselves this Saturday against an opponent with the tools to attack where we are most vulnerable.

But if the secondary does not get it together before Iowa rolls into town, it could be an extremely long white out night. Think back to Ohio State in 2007 when Todd Boeckman shredded the Lions secondary for 253 yards and 3 TDs in front of a ramped up white out crowd. Iowa could very well repeat that performance if the secondary does not gel in time and compensates by playing it safe awarding Hawkeye receivers 10-yard cushions on every play.

If that’s the case, flat screens everywhere beware.

2. Hopefully, the backups will see plenty of playing time this weekend. Which second-stringer(s) are you most interested in seeing take the field against a living, breathing opponent? What kind of role do you want to see them play this year? (Note: if you say Kevin Newsome, you have to talk about at least one other player, too)

I’m really looking forward to watching Stephfon Green take more snaps with the first team offense. I know we’ve seen Stephfon Green on the field before, but with the loss of our fab four wideouts, we will be relying more on the running game and it will be interesting to see the lighting/thunder combo of Royster and Green. While Royster has the elusive quality to consistently gain solid yardage, Green provides the huge home run threat we have not experienced since Larry Johnson. The possibility to have both on the field at the same time is exciting for Lion fans.

3. So Penn State’s non-conference schedule sucks in terms of straight up opponent quality. That aside, tell us why or why not this opening slate will help or hurt this team later in the season.

It will definitely help, no question about it. When we have a team like we do this year that returns just 9 starters total on both sides of the ball, we will need all the warm up games we can get especially when the Big Ten conference is already a gauntlet in itself. Don’t even get into the “Big Ten is weak” argument with me. Even if Iowa, Michigan and Illinois was winless, playing them in Kinnick, Memorial and Michigan Stadium is never a cake walk. But as I mentioned earlier, Akron possesses the skill players (QB/4 WRs) to attack our most vulnerable position, but not the depth to keep up with us for 4 quarters. That can only help in developing our highly inexperienced secondary before Big Ten play. And isn’t that exactly what we want from our non conference opponents?

Everyone just seems to be bent up over this strength of schedule and how it will hurt us in the championship hunt if we go undefeated. If Penn State, or any school of Penn State’s caliber goes undefeated, it would be impossible for voters to deny them a shot at the title game unless there are 2 other undefeated teams from BCS conferences. Not only would it set the most dangerous of precedents, but the chance to award Joe Paterno one last national championship before he is carried off into the sunset is just too good to pass up. But honestly, lets cross that bridge when we beat Michigan State and actually find ourselves undefeated.

4. What will it mean for this team to have Joe Paterno back on the sidelines again, right up in their facemasks, for ALL the games?

To be honest with you, I liked the idea of Joe Paterno coaching from the press box. There is a reason why the offensive and defensive coordinators can only be found up in the coaching booth during games. The view is far superior to that on the field when it comes to analyzing and breaking down the opponent’s defensive and offensive schemes. The only downside is that Joe won’t be able to get in players’ and officials’ faces. There really won’t much of a difference whether hes in the coaches booth or on the sidelines, but I’m just excited for Joe to be able to run onto the field with the team again.

Quick Hits

1. Over/Under: Penn State’s offense gains 500 total yards.

Under

1a. Over/Under: Penn State’s defense gives 350 total yards.

Under

2. True/False: The student section will NOT fill out, even by the end of the game.

False. Fans have been waiting since January for this game!

3. Are you going to the game?

Unfortunately no, I’ll be catching it with the rest of the Penn State fans in San Diego at our official “home” this season at Hooters/Lights Out in Pacific Beach. Penn State football right next to the Pacific Ocean, can’t get much better than that unless you’re in Beaver Stadium.