Greetings Hawkize readers,
It’s your partner in crime Sideshow Bob here with the first installment of what I hope to make a weekly feature called The Mailbag. It’s where we answer your questions/comments/thoughts/rants we receive via email or Twitter (you can find our address on the “Contact” tab just below the Hawkize banner). We’ll post the one’s we like, have clever responses to, or that will make good discussion. And so, without further ado, it’s The Mailbag.
Nick in Denver: Not sold on Penn State at all. Their #8 preseason ranking is way overrated considering the number of players they lost.
I’m with you Nick. I don’t want to turn this into math class, but let me throw some numbers at you. The Nittany Lions are returning just seven players from both sides of the ball. We all know Daryll Clark at quarterback and Evan Royster at tailback. But other than those two and the defensive tackles their team is very unproven and inexperienced, particularly at receiver and in the secondary. Not one starter returns from either unit. Penn State also loses three first-team All-Big Ten starters on the offensive line. All this considered and one can have legitimate questions about how far the Nittany Lions will go this year and why they deserve such a high preseason ranking. My take is they only got that ranking because of Clark and Royster and the Penn State name. Penn State homers will say they can reload. But going strictly with what you know you got, Royster and Clark are Penn State’s biggest and only guns. Yea, they’re good. But are they #8 in the country good? We’ll find out on September 26 when the Black & Gold combine rolls into town.
Bill in Iowa City: I’m putting the under/over for number of Panther players the Iowa defense knocks out of the game at 4.
I can speak for the entire Hawkize crew when I say we’re taking the over.
Drew in Iowa City: A nice week 1 Big 10 vs. Big 12 game to start out the year in Missouri & Illinois in KC. The only day of the year I’ll be an Illini fan.
True, have to go with the lesser of two evils. Side note on Ron Zook: The guy gets all sorts of accolades for being a great recruiter. But you have to wonder how much better his recruiting class would have been if he could send text to recruits while in the shower (third paragraph from the bottom of the article). Imagine the exchange between the Illinois AD and Zook when he is pitching why he needs a waterproof cell phone and why he thinks its a good idea. Que the SNL Weekend Update with Seth and Amy, “Really!? Really Ron?!”. BTW, you know if the NCAA hadn’t changed the rules about texting recruits, the headline “Ron Zook inadvertently sends pix message of genitals to Chicago recruit” would have happened sooner or later.
James in Minneapolis: You know the Gophers are 6 point favorites this weekend at Syracuse?
Of course they are. They only ended last year with five straight losses and one of the most humiliating stadium closing performances in the history of sports. I mean serious, 55-0 on your last game in the dome. I’d call it a “fuck you” to the fans but the Gophers don’t have any fans, just people who kill time before the Vikings game. Six points against a team that went 3-9 last year sounds about right. Of course, the big story in this game will be former Duke point guard Greg Paulus staring at quarterback for the Orange. Question: If Syracuse beats the Gophers this week, who feels worse? The Gophers for losing to a point guard playing quarter back, or Greg Paulus because no one will take his first victory in his first start in college football seriously because it was against Minnesota? Better question if Minnesota loses, how bad is the Sid Hartman blowup the next day in the Minneapolis Star Tribune? I’m predicting he calls Tim Brewster a “snake oil salesman” in his column and then goes on a Michael Douglas “Falling Down” style rampage across Minneapolis.
"I want breakfast and Tim Brewster fired!"
