Catch our Q&A with ManDance and TJ of Tower of Bammer fame in Part I of this week’s Gameweek Pulse. Today we catch up with Outside the Sidelines of Roll ‘Bama Roll fame for his thoughts on tomorrow’s clash under the lights.

One of the biggest question marks for Penn State fans heading into this Saturday’s game will be the impact of the absence of star DE Marcell Dareus. With last year’s national championship defensive MVP sidelined against the Nittany Lions, and a 7 new players on the defensive side of the ball last week, who else should Penn State fans be concerned with.

Defensively the one to watch is Dont’a Hightower, who may even be the most talented defensive player we have even when taking Marcell Dareus into consideration. Mark Barron should also get a nod in the secondary. Aside from those two, however, it’s all just a ton of heavily-recruited, highly-talented, but ultimately inexperienced and unproven players at this point. You could probably pick just about any player we put on the field and potentially dub him a major concern for you guys, but by the same token we don’t know if the performance on Saturday will meet the potential.

A true freshman quarterback playing his second game in a hostile environment under the lights, an unsettled offensive line, a featured running back that struggled against Youngstown State and a brand new linebacking corp is what awaits the Crimson Tide. What is the mood around Bama nation and are fans even remotely concerned/nervous about Penn State this weekend?

For all of the recent success, I think every true ‘Bama fan has far too many haunting memories from 1997-2007 to dismiss any legitimate opponent, especially one with the coaching prowess and on-field success of a traditional powerhouse like Penn State. Most Alabama fans are confident that their beloved Tide will ultimately get the victory, but I don’t think there are any delusions in the fan base that the Tide will have to play well in order to do so, and that has been especially tempered by the absence of Mark Ingram and Marcell Dareus, as well as the ankle sprain to Courtney Upshaw. For now I think I would probably describe the mood as cautious optimism.

Greg McElroy, Julio Jones, Cody Mandell, Dont’a Hightower, and a depth chart chalk full of talented replacements. Even with the possible loss of Mark Ingram, are there any weaknesses to exploit on this Alabama team?

see three potential weaknesses coming into this game, in no particular order: (1) special teams with specific concern over our new punter and kicker, (2) the defensive backfield, and (3) the effectiveness of the pass rush without Dareus and with Upshaw at least somewhat hobbled by an ankle sprain. The offense has no glaring flaws, and should perform at a high level, but I do think there is legitimate room for concern on special teams and on defense. It’s a good team, with the potential to be a great one, but even so we have some flaws that can be exploited.

What will Penn State need to do to actually have a shot at the upset?

I think Penn State will have to win this game offensively and on special teams. The special teams battle is ripe for the picking for the Nittany Lions, but it’s a bit hard to see our offense not having success. To counter that, I think PSU will have to make some headway against our defense. Ideally, I tend to think the PSU coaching staff would love to extend the game and win in a low-scoring game at the end, but our offense will probably forbid that from happening. To respond, then, I think Penn State has to have some success against our defense and score some points. Establish the run to a degree, stay out of obvious passing situations, protect the young quarterback with screen, draws, and a short-passing game, and then try to take advantage of our rebuilt secondary at opportune times.

Breaking from the game this Saturday, what is your opinion on the issue of oversigning and do you believe it is in Alabama’s best interest for Nick Saban to practice it in the name of competitive advantage?

I have no issues with oversigning, absolutely none whatsoever to be precise. A football scholarship is not a revolving four-year welfare program, you have to do the things required of the coaching staff to keep your scholarship, just as a class president with a 4.0 GPA in high school must meet minimum academic standards to remain on scholarship. A scholarship should not be a golden ticket that you stamp whereby you earn four or five years of immunity from irresponsibility and bad behavior. A scholarship is a privilege, not a fundamental right to which one is forever entitled.

Besides, for all of the outrage regarding oversigning, it should be noted that Saban never sends kids packing for athletic shortcomings. Saban has held on to many kids in his tenure at Alabama that were outright bad football players and who had no meaningful chance of ever contributing simply because they did everything right off-the-field, while at the same time highly-talented players with legitimate NFL potential get sent packing. That’s why kids like Chris Capps stays in his good graces and on scholarship, while kids like Alonzo Lawrence and Rod Woodson find themselves leaving Tuscaloosa after less than a year. In that regard, it’s not even necessarily a pure issue of competitive advantage, it’s just a matter of doing things right off the field. Truth be told, the biggest competitive advantage gained is not in additional personnel via oversigning, per se, it’s in keeping the bad seeds from spreading and becoming cancers that infiltrate an entire football program.

To be frank, I have little sympathy for those who cannot make it. It’s simple, do the things you are supposed to do — be on time, take your academics seriously, show up for study hall, don’t fail drug tests, don’t get arrested, etc. — and if you can do that then the coaching staff is not going to come down on you. In effect, the coaching basically requires nothing more than it’s players be decent human beings who are at least somewhat responsible. That’s a very low standard to set for kids in the first place, and for those that cannot meet that standard really have no business keeping their scholarship in the first place. Personally, I don’t understand the outrage over it, and moving forward it’s a practice that I hope Saban continues.

Quick Hits:

Will you be attending the game?

No, I will not, but a couple of the writers from RBR will. You can meet up with the RBR crowd at Egan’s bar.

Will Alabama cover the 12 point spread?

I’m going to go with no. That’s a fairly large spread for a quality opponent. I think we win, but I’d be surprised if we cover the spread.

Predict the final score.

With the caveat that I’m terrible at predicting scores, I’ll go with a 28-20 final with ‘Bama pulling out the victory.

I would like to thank Outside the Sidelines for taking the time to share their thoughts with us. What better way to gauge the mood of the opposing team’s fans than from the fans who take the time and effort to write about their favorite team. You can check out our responses to his questions over at Roll ‘Bama Roll. Go State!