Blue White Roundtable :: Iowa

It's time for another Blue White Roundtable. Iowa comes to Happy Valley this Saturday night, in what has been billed as everything from "revenge" to "litmus test" to "who cares? It's the Big Ten." Let us begin.

In to particular order:
W. F. Yurasko
Happy Hour Valley
The Nittany Line
We Want the Lion
Zombie Nation
Nittany Whiteout
Nittany Lounge
Penn State Clips
2 The Lion

Blue White Roundtable - Week 4, Iowa Hawkeyes

1. As this week's matchup with Iowa represents not just Penn State's first conference game, but their first real test, take a look back at the 3-game preconference schedule. What was the one thing that stood out to you most, either as a success or a failure?

Penn State, for all the coaches and players denied, just plain didn't care. The Nittany Lions knew they were going to win the games with little real effort, and they were proven correct. The problem with three straight cupcakes -- although I believe all three teams were better than we thought/think -- is that there isn't a sense of urgency for four weeks.

Had Iowa come to town in week two, like Oregon State did a year ago, you can bet your ass that the Nittany Lions would've done everything in their power to play lights-out against Akron. Every second of that first game would've been used to work out the kinks and get absolutely ready for the real thing the following week. This is exactly why Penn State's schedule, while good for a young team, isn't doing as much justice as it could.

2. Iowa, on the other hand, has been tested twice already this season, both by D1-AA Northern Iowa and by Arizona, a solid Pac-10 team. How much of an advantage, if any, will the Hawkeyes have over Penn State as a result?

I hate to say that Iowa hasn't turned things around after that week one near-disaster. After watching them paste Iowa State in Ames, and really have total control over a very good Arizona team, it looks like Iowa is a complete team. Now, there are injuries the Hawkeyes have to deal with, but so does Penn State.

I wouldn't put all my stock into the Arizona win, however. It's not like Iowa came out and obliterated the Wildcats. The running game, while productive, is far less talent-filled than Penn State's. And you cannot tell me Ricki Stanzi is the better quarterback going into this game. Just because a team has been "tested" doesn't mean that team is now better for it.

3. It seems like both Penn State and Iowa have been hit pretty hard by the injury bug early in the 2009 season, with Iowa losing the services of RB Jewel Hampton, LT Bryan Bulaga, TE Tony Moeaki and WR Darrell Johnson-Koulianos and Penn State potentially without both Sean Lee and Navorro Bowman, along with Graham Zug. How will both teams adjust to playing without some of their star players?

Well, it looks like Lee will be out this week, but Bowman and Zug should be able to get on the field. But these two teams are so different talent-wise, that I think this injury situation is much more disastrous for the Hawkeyes. Iowa has very good players, but not many great ones. Penn State has great players on its second team. It just comes down to which team has talent to burn; Penn State right now has enough to go all night long.

4. Last year, a loss to Iowa knocked Penn State out of the championship race. This year, they're in a similar place, as they largely control their own destiny. Do you see Penn State running the table in the Big Ten, and if not, where is the most likely slip-up?

Ah ha! You're not going to get me so easily. First off, I don't believe in the phrase "control your own destiny" in any form. If you believe in the destiny concept, that means your path is predetermined. So, you have no control over said destiny. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Penn State could win the conference this season with a loss, or even two. The Big Ten has been a bit spoiled recently, with most of its conference champs going undefeated or sitting alone at the top by year's end. This season, with most of these teams looking better from top to bottom, it's not unlikely that every team will have at least one blemish on its resume. Penn State hasn't logged consecutive double-digit wins seasons since 1993 and 1994. It could happen this year.

5. This will be the fourth year that Beaver Stadium hosts a White Out, and it's universally regarded as one of the best traditions in the NCAA. What suggestions would you have to further improve gameday conditions at the Beav?

The whole thing needs to be scaled back a bit. The cliche says you can never have too much of a good thing. I bet to differ. One White Out game per season is the perfect number. You want to have that one really big game each year to tote out the big guns. But this leads me to wonder, what's going to happen with the Ohio State game? Will there be just a student White Out? You can't have two White House games in the same year.

But the whole thing about scaling it back... Look what happened to the piped in music. Back in 2006ish, Beaver Stadium really started to use canned pop tunes over the PA system. Everyone sang along, so the Penn State people figured it was popular enough to keep going. But what happened after three seasons of it? Everyone got sick of it, because there was nothing left to the imagination. Same goes for the PA system artificial sounds. What's with the thumping clip that plays on third downs now? Do Penn State fans not understand that we must cheer when the defense is on the field? I could go on all day with this, but I'll leave it here. The crowd should be always left wanting more. Penn State has failed to do so.

Lightning Round:

Who runs for more yards, Iowa or Penn State? Penn State.

Last year's Whiteout game drew 109,626 people to Beaver Stadium. How many come this year? Rain: less than that. Clear: more than that.

If you had to win just one of the two, would you rather Penn State beats Iowa or Ohio State? Iowa. I hate losing streaks.

Does Corso put on the Lion or Hawkeye head? Lion.

Does Penn State get revenge, or does Iowa make it 7 of 8 against the Lions? PSU wins.