Big Ten Blogger Roundtable: Week 8

This week's Roundtable questions are brought to us by The Hoosier Report (http://hoosierreport.blogspot.com).

1. Call your shot. We are halfway through the Big Ten season (or, at least, most of us are). What will be your team's final record? Where, if anywhere, will your team be spending late December/early January? Who will win the Big Ten?

Well Penn State is 2-2 right now I really believe that besides the Ohio State game PSU will be favored in the rest of their Big Ten games, given that I can foresee a 6-2 record with a win against the Buckeyes or 5-3 with a loss to OSU. If PSU ends with either of these records I see them going to the Outback Bowl again, the only way this changes is if there is a 4 way tie at the top (discussed in the Blue White Roundtable) then maybe the Capital One Bowl would be in reach...of course they could just not show up the rest of the season and the Lions play in the Gaylord Music City Bowl. I think barring any crazy shenanigans Ohio State or Michigan will win the conference at 7-1, maybe 8-0.

2. How is your team's coaching situation? Clearly, this varies from school to school, with some coaches approaching retirement (Carr/Paterno), some who are just starting out (Brewster/Fitzgerald), the unique case of Bill Lynch, and others who seem to be in their primes. If your coach is on the tail end of his career, where do you see things going from here? If he's still early in his tenure, any buyer's remorse? If he's in he's somewhere in the middle, are you happy or wishing things would go a different direction? How does your view correspond to the "majority" view among your school's fans?

I see Joe coaching until after next season, maybe through 2009(I think his current contract is up next year or something, not sure though). And after that a huge power vacuum will come over Happy Valley, I really think it would be best for program stability to hire from inside the program, Jay Paterno, Tom Bradley, Galen Hall? I'm not sure who would be the best qualified though. I think the majority of the fans probably reflect this view, but a very vocal minority will be calling for a new up and coming coach willing to take the school in a new direction. (Greg Schiano anybody?)

BONUS BASKETBALL QUESTION: If you plan to cover basketball, give us a brief outlook for your team. Who is your best player? What do you expect from the team?

I don't plan to cover basketball but the best player on our team is Geary Claxton (Sr.) he led the team in rebounds last year and was among the leaders in scoring. The team is suppose to be on the up and up, one preseason preview has the Lions finishing 4th in the Big Ten, pretty respectable, but there was another preview that listed the Lions as finishing 11th. Guess we'll have to wait to find out.