Blue and White Roundtable :: Bootleg Edition

I'm pretty sure no one would have a problem with this. So here it is. ZN will take on the latest Blue and White Roundtable, we'll call it the "Bootleg Edition."

Fine Penn State blogs that participate in the BWRT:

http://www.nittanywhiteout.com/
http://www.blackshoediaries.com/
http://thenittanyline.blogspot.com/
http://gloryofoldstate.blogspot.com/
http://www.yurasko.net/wfy/
http://tangledupinwhiteandblue.blogspot.com/
http://thebigeleventh.blogspot.com/
http://mvn.com/ncaa-pennstate/
http://runupthescore.wordpress.com

1. The announcement Wednesday is that contract talks are on hold until the conclusion of this season, and that Joe might not even need a contract to coach, how do you see this saga ending? Is this the final year for Joe Paterno?

ZN: If Penn State wins more than 10 games and notches a January bowl victory, that’s it for Paterno. He, the administration and the other powers want him to get—as left-field as it sounds—one more double-digit season before he goes. Ideally, he’d want an undefeated season. Paterno’s said that before. As messed up as this off-season has been, it is still possible. So I’ll go with yes, it’s his final year. Bradley will be named, and everyone will be screaming “why didn’t they f***ing do that when we still had a shot at Terrelle Pryor?”

2. Joe will clearly not be on the sidelines in 10 years time. Whether he is awarded another extension or is forced out against his will, a new face will inevitably be on the sidelines for the Lions in the years to come. Which candidates would top the list when it comes to a coaching search? Should it be an in-house hire or should we start off with a blank slate?

ZN: I’m selling my self out to the idea of giving Bradley a shot. I know it would still leave the door open to Jay Paterno staying, but it’s a risk I think Penn State should take. If there were a short list of candidates—Penn State will have to do this, just to make it seem like someone else has a chance—it would be Scrap, Greg Schiano, and Al Golden. Throw in a Randy Edsall or Brian Kelly for the outside shots. Other than that, it’ll really be between Scrap and Schiano.

3. It almost seems as if we find another athlete in trouble with the law each morning when we read the newspaper. What has gone wrong with the once pristine image of the Penn State program?

ZN: Not as much as people think. It’s not the program. The recent run-ins with the law are just exacerbated by the rest of Penn State’s problems. Face it, more college football players are getting in trouble, not just at Penn State, everywhere. Penn State is still a clean program. Arrests have not as much to do with a program’s reputation as recruiting scandals, gambling scandals and academic scandals. Penn State’s had none of them. Hey, it’s not like Joe Paterno is allowing Chris Bell to play, or Chris Baker to play until his fate is decided. Then we’d be in trouble.

4. After 14 years in the Big Ten, Penn has not dominated the conference in football as most presumed when we joined winning only 2 Big Ten titles in that span. In 1994, Joe Paterno’s undefeated Nittany Lions were also backstabbed by its Big Ten brethren when most conference members voted for Nebraska instead of Penn State. Is the Big Ten the right home for Penn State? Or would Joe Paterno’s dream of an all-eastern conference be a much more ideal conference for the Nittany Lions?

ZN: Go back to 1989, and the eastern conference would have still worked like a dream. But now, it’s nearly impossible. With the Big East on the rise, and the ACC not going anywhere, Penn State doesn’t have the pull to lure some of those teams away. Plus, it would look real bad if Penn State backed out of the Big Ten to form its own conference. We’d never hear the end of it, “PSU couldn’t hack it in the Big Ten, so it quit.”

5. With the lack of our traditional rivals in the Big Ten conference, and our unwillingness to reschedule any of them in any consistent manner, which teams are emerging as Penn State’s chief rivals in the Big Ten? (USC-Notre Dame proves that rivalries aren’t all about geographic significance.)

ZN: I would LOVE to see Penn State and Nebraska strike it up more than twice every couple years. Get them on at least every three of four years. Both programs need a boost right now, and what better way than to have a slam dunk September match up each year? I know, there are others out there like Pitt, Syracuse, Maryland, West Virginia, but Nebraska and Penn State have more national history between them. I think this would even top Penn State vs. Miami on a yearly basis, although that would be my strong No. 2. Oh, wait. That wasn’t the question. Sorry. Ohio State is becoming a marquee game. And with Penn State having a better record vs. Ohio State than Michigan since 2001, it’s been more competitive than the conference’s “big game.” I also really like what the Penn State vs. Michigan State rivalry has become.

Bonus question: Are you going to the Blue White Game?

ZN: No. I went to five straight, and it rained for three of them. Following the 2005 game, I was doused with mug from a moron in a JEEP. Then I totaled my car on Rt. 80 West a few days later when I hit an icy bridge at mile marker 190. Four other cars hit that ice and wrecked. Oddly enough, none of us hit each other. Weird. I’m rambling a lot today.