Linkbacker U promises to tend to its knitting this summer

FRREESSHHHMMAAAAN!!! Not only that, but summer semester freshmen to boot. There's absolutely nothing like summer session at Penn State for those looking to get ahead in their--ahem--studies. But by having your first semester be a summer semester, you're taking some risks, especially for the two dozen freshmen football players who are starting their careers this week. Mike Poorman, Penn State prof and columnist for StateCollege.com, reads the riot act to this year's crop of hot shot freshmen...

Here is a list of do's and don'ts for the next six weeks.

Follow them for the remaining summer session, which ends with final exams on Friday, Aug. 13. Right now, it looks like summer drills will begin in Aug. 9 – that's the same week as finals. Tough week, so – like Coach Paterno says – tend to your knitting now.

DO remember that Penn State has won its last two away games at Alabama.
DON'T even think about that Joe Paterno is 4-8 against the Crimson Tide.

DO study your playbook.
DON'T play too much EA College Football 2011 when it comes out on July 13.

DON'T read any newspapers, websites or those preseason magazines at Sheetz, Giant, Wegmans or Walmart.
DO buy fruits, veggies and bottled water when you shop at those places.

DO have fun and enjoy the summer scenery.
DON'T put yourself in a position where you get a DUI or underage drinking charge.

DO listen to seniors Stefen Wisniewski, Evan Royster, Ollie Ogbu, Brett Brackett and Graham Zug and junior Drew Astorino.
DON'T think you know it all. You don't.

DO know that 83-year-old Coach Paterno has been on injured reserve for part of the summer.
DON'T send him a "get well" card; he might not like that.

DO try to ignore that Penn State has lost its three games at Kinnick Stadium and seven of its last eight games at The Horseshoe.
DON'T forget that Penn State has won 28 of its last 34 games (.823 percent).

DON'T let it bother that Joe is six wins away from winning 400 games.
DO realize that if you win five of your first seven games, his shot at No. 400 will come at home in Beaver Stadium. At 8 p.m. on Oct. 30, on Halloween Eve. Against Michigan. On national TV.

DO feel great about the "Lift For Life" fundraiser the team is holding at 1:30 p.m., July 9, in Holuba Hall. Penn State football players have raised nearly $400,000 for the Kidney Cancer Association in seven years.
DON'T forget that fans can visit the donation page.

Be sure to check out the rest of them in the article.

Riling up the masses... Summer time sucks for college football news. That leaves many of us out here trying to keep the hits coming, and the hardcore summer readers happy. What's better to do that than throw out some offensive line red meat?

"But none of this can happen if the offensive line doesn't hold up, and that's why the pundits are missing the mark in pointing at the quarterbacks. There is reason for concern on the line. They have to replace Dennis Landolt who solidified the tackle position for three years. There was a lot of shuffling along the line in the spring as the coaches looked for the right combination.

But there is also reason for hope."

Mike mentions Brian Cook's SN article about Joe Paterno's age (sigh) and how Penn State's quarterback situation is a "disaster." And dutifully points out how even the bloggers out there--who are supposed to be the ones who aren't caught up in the main stream echo chamber--are falling into the trap of generalizing about something, even though it doesn't take much to find the specifics.

Once you get past the irony of a Michigan blogger calling the Penn State quarterback situation a "disaster", step back and ask yourself, "Is it really that bad?"

That was a great line, and had to be included here. But Mike goes on to remind everyone that the quarterbacks don't mean squat unless the offensive line can hold a pocket for more than two seconds. I have a feeling you will see a lot more of these kinds of defensive articles coming out of us Penn State bloggers this summer. Probably a few into September, too. Once the media sets the storyline, it's tough to sway it. Unfortunately, Penn State's storyline for 2010 is "doubt."

School	Percent	Expenses
Indiana	58.6	$6.94
Michigan St.	56.9	$9.03
Minnesota	55.2	$5.11
Illinois	45.4	$4.77
Purdue	37.1	$4.70
Michigan	24.6	$4.45
Wisconsin	23.9	$5.44
Northwestern	23.6	$3.72
Penn State	23.0	$4.40
Iowa	16.5	$4.44
Ohio State	14.5	$4.69

Moron--er, more on, athletics revenues... We got another dose of money talk from Fanhouse, this time tackling basketball expenditures. I should warn anyone reading this who already gets chest pains when discussing Penn State basketball: reader discretion is advised for the following information.

Penn State apparently is second to last in the Big Ten when it comes to money pumped into its basketball program (men's basketball only in the article), with $4.4 million spent during the 2008-09 academic year.

Only Northwestern spends less money on men's basketball, among the 11 member institutions of the Big Ten. The table on the right illustrates the percentage of money spent on men's basketball compared to the money spent on football. That means Penn State is spending only about a quarter of the money on basketball as it is on football. That's not terrible, considering its about on par with Ohio State and Iowa. But just look at Indiana, Michigan State, and Minnesota. Those are some heavy investments in hoops. (Although I bet Minny's expenses are mostly due to Tubby Smith's presence)

Also, Penn State's gross athletic revenue was $95.97 million for 2008-09. That's good for sixth nationally among BCS football programs. The only Big Ten team to top PSU is Ohio State, which comes in at second ($119.85 million) behind Texas, of course.

Et cetera...

Tim Shaw is a good boy... Willie Harriot, when alcohol is involed, was a bad boy, and will pay for it... The sky isn't falling, and Joe will coach in 2010 (wow, this was an actual news story apparently)... The STEP program is still on some minds... Penn State vs Alabama through the years... Speaking of PSU-Bama, the hype continues to swell

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Linkbacker U gets the most bang for its buck

Adjusted for inflation, like Brutus Buckeye's head... It turns out that Penn State has a better football winning percentage than Ohio State over the last five seasons. Wait, what is that? No way. You must be lying. Nope. Brett McMurphy over at Fanhouse broke down, in rather fantastic fashion, how much dough each BCS conference team spends on its football program.

Turns out, the Nittany Lions have actually the best win percentages in the Big Ten over opponents that have spent more money (.466), and less money (.891) than Penn State. You see, that's the catch here: Ohio State isn't out-spent by anyone, and thus doesn't have any record at all against programs in that category. So there! [sticks out tongue]

School	Expenses (in millions)
1. Ohio State	$32.30
2. Iowa	$26.90
3. Wisconsin	$22.71
4. Penn State	$19.13
5. Michigan	$18.03
6. Michigan State	$15.86
7. Northwestern	$15.71
8. Purdue	$12.66
9. Indiana	$11.84
10. Illinois	$10.49
11. Minnesota	$9.25

Penn State came in fourth in the Big Ten as you can see in the chart, along with McMurphy's thoughts on his findings.

"My two cents: Looking for a reason Minnesota has only one victory against Ohio State since 1981? How about the fact Ohio State's football budget is 3½ times greater than Minnesota's. There's certainly nothing golden about the Gophers' Big Ten worst budget. Not so coincidentally, their last winning league record came in 2003. But, hey, it could be worse: they could be Indiana. The Hoosiers haven't had a winning league record since 1993. Penn State's budget ranks as only the league's fourth-highest, but the Nittany Lions' 29 league wins since 2005 are second only to Ohio State. Iowa's budget ranks third nationally, but the Hawkeyes haven't won the league title since a co-championship with Michigan in 2004. Big Ten's best bang for the buck: Penn State. Most financially irresponsible: Iowa."

So to all those folks out there complaining about rising ticket prices, you're getting the best on-field product in the entire conference, for the amount you're paying. No other team does more with the money it invests into its football program.

But that's not all. Penn State pulls in a hefty $42.63 million in football revenue per year. That's good enough for No. 1 in the Big Ten, and fourth nationally, only behind Texas, Florida, and Georgia. The Buckeyes are No. 10 nationally with $35.89 million, while Michigan is right behind at No. 11.

Maryland, My Maryland (and potential OOC opponent?)... With all the news yesterday about Syracuse, I came to wonder, "Is this going to be a theme from now on?" As in, will Penn State make a point now of scheduling higher-profile BCS teams for future non-conference schedules. Granted, Nebraska coming to the Big Ten left a big hole in the 2013-14 schedule, when the Huskers were originally set to play Penn State. But what about other teams that have been rumored to have spoken with Tim Curley?

I am actually ashamed that I missed this article way back in 2008. Maybe it was the whole Big Ten title thing going on at the time. But it seems like Penn State and Maryland were in talks for a series.

"Friedgen said he wants to play Penn State, but the schools have been unable to agree on games. He said Penn State had proposed a deal in which the Nittany Lions would get two home games to Maryland's one.

But Penn State athletics spokesman Jeff Nelson said yesterday, "We have had discussions with Maryland about playing but have not asked for a two-for-one at any time in those discussions."

One way to break a stalemate, Maryland officials said, might be to schedule a game at a neutral site. That would be a simpler negotiation than deciding how to set up a home-and-home series."

Now that Penn State has shown a willingness to schedule neutral site games, and will already have tested out FedEx Field, the idea of a series with Maryland doesn't sound so implausible.

Of course, there's the bickering factor. No one has heard a thing about this series renewal since 2008. And with both sides leaving the negotiating table in seemingly bitter fashion, this could be a dead issue. But never say never, especially now that Old Man Curley is feeling feistier these days when it comes to scheduling football opponents.

The sweetest kind of payback... CBS's Dennis Dodd never really collects my interest enough to go any deeper into his writing than a quick scan. But he does offer up an interesting Big Ten expansion conspiracy theory good enough for even a hardcore conspira-theorist. We all remember Jim Delany's tongue-in-cheek letter about how the Big Ten wouldn't sacrifice its academic standards to win football games--a clear shot across the SEC's bow. Dodd suggests conference expansion is just a big step forward in Delany's war with SEC commish Mike Slive:

"We all know that expansion is about money and market share and television, but could it have an ulterior motive? Consider the Rose Bowl's place in a world of 16-team super conferences. With an expanded Pac-10 and Big Ten, the Rose would be partners with 32 of the biggest and best football programs in the country, almost 27 percent of Division I-A. That list would include USC, Ohio State, Michigan, Texas and Oklahoma.

In that scenario, the possibility of national titles being monopolized by the Pac-10 and Big Ten suddenly goes up. The possibility of a mere 16-team SEC becoming marginalized also goes up. That's a long way to go for payback by Delany but it's worth contemplating."

Oh, that's so juicy, it's almost good enough for a Daytime Emmy nomination.

Et Cetera... Nebraska fans won't go lightly, says CN... Stewart Mandel thinks Evan Royster could, possibly, maybe make some Heisman noise in 2010... Phil Grosz updates us with all the inside info ($)... Syracuse series reactions are always fun, so check out the utter schizo-ness on the BSD comments thread... and NWO has some neat photos of inside the New Meadowlands Stadium

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