Gametime: 8:00 pm

Records: Iowa: 3-0; Penn State: 3-0

Series Record: Penn State leads, 11-10

TV: ABC

Audio: Here

Weather: High of 59, 70% chance of rain. 100% chance.... OF PAIN.

You waited all summer for football season to come.  Then when it finally arrived, your patience was awarded with three of the most boring games imaginable.  The defense was good, the offense didn't really click, but all in all, you learned almost nothing about the team because of the quality of the opponents.  You thought to yourself, "Well this is sort of a crappy way to start the season."

Well friend, that wasn't really the start of the season.  Saturday. 8 pm. 110,000 screaming fans.  Iowa.  This is when we learn about the 2009 Penn State Football team.

This is the start of the season.

Last week was an interesting one for the Pick 'Em, as Greg shot into the lead with a solid 7-4 mark, as his faith in Temple, Iowa, Cal and Texas Tech paid off.  Will, on the other hand, stumbled a bit, going 3-8.  We were both way off on the Florida game, but we're guessing a lot of other people were too.

This week conference play starts in the Big11Ten, and the lines tighten up quite a bit.  With Big11Ten teams playing each other, we'll be picking fewer games, but we'll try to keep a couple national games on the schedule each week too.  This week, we have the Miami-Virginia Tech matchup as well as the Cal-Oregon game.  As usual, we're using Danny Sheridan's odds as our source.

Here's the list for Week 3 (home team in CAPS):

And here's how we're picking:

Not too exciting, as there's only one game we picked differently.  The Ohio State-Illinois clash will decide Week 4 for us.

Here's a look at the standings after three weeks of play:

Will: Last Week 3-8, Overall 10-20

Greg: Last Week 7-4, Overall 14-16

Devon from Nittany Whiteout provides the questions this week.  Other participants:

W. F. Yurasko
Happy Hour Valley
The Nittany Line
Zombie Nation
Penn State Clips
Nittany Lounge

also, making their debut in the Roundtable is 2theLion.

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?

Obviously it's been the rushing game. When you're a Penn State fan, you come to expect a solid rushing offense. Until the most recent game, it hasn't really been there consistently. Sure, Royster scored some TD's from the run and the offense moved the ball overall, but the lack of a succesful run game is just something we're not used to seeing and something we're hoping changes as we enter the Big11Ten portion of the schedule.

As for a success, the receivers have probably played above expectations to this point. Zug has been consistent, Moye has made some nice catches tight ends Quarless and Shuler have made some very nice plays and found themselves putting some points on the board. There receiving corps was supposed to be a big question mark, but so far they have played well.

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?

They probably have a small psychological advantage. They've already had to come back to win a game and they've had preserve a lead in the fourth. They've probably built up a lot of confidence in themselves because of those early tests, even though one of those games was against powerhouse Northern Iowa.  The PSU players, however, don't yet know where they stand as a team. Sure they're ranked high and people expect them to be a good team, but they have yet to open things up prove to everyone -- including themselves -- what they can do.

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?

It's going to be a big adjustment on both sides.  Iowa is obviously being hit pretty hard on offense, and it's not easy to replace your best O-lineman, especially when he's the left tackle.  Johnson-Koulianos is a solid receiver as well, so don't be surprised if the Hawkeyes have some trouble on offese.

For Penn State, it looks as if Bowman might play, which could definitely help if he's near 100%.  Lee is such a good player, it will hurt a lot if he's not able to go.  He's everywhere when he's on the field, stuffing the run and blowing up plays in the backfield.  The other backers and the secondary will just have to pick up the slack.

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?

We're not really big into predicting an undefeated season because it seems like a jinx waiting to happen. Ask the Family Clothesline. In fact, we don't even like to talk about 0's in anything sports related. You don't talk about a perfect game as you enter the 9th, a shutout after the 2nd intermission or an undefeated 12 game season after you won the first 9!

It's just bad juju.

Anyway, back to the question. We didn't predict an undefeated season to start the year, figuring that the Big11Ten had sort of balanced out a bit and there may be just too many teams capable of beating one another.  Michigan is better than we may have expected, Iowa will be strong and shouldn't be judged for nearly losing to Northern Iowa and Ohio State will be Ohio State. Heck, even Illinois and Michigan State -- despite some disappointing losses -- are capable of beating anyone in the Big11Ten.  We also expect PSU to be able to beat anyone in the conference and if they play like they can, they will.

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?

Move the RV lot closer to the stadium. We party in the RV lot and it's too damn far away.

We would also ban the wave.

We'd also use our IT backgrounds to figure out that stupid card reader system so everyone could get into the game on time.

Lightning Round:

Who runs for more yards, Iowa or Penn State?

Penn State. We have faith.

Last year's Whiteout game drew 109,626 people to Beaver Stadium. How many come this year?

109,732.

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

Ohio State.

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?

Revenge.

Hey, we think Iowa is a cool place.  Not only was one of the great baseball movies filmed there, but...well, that's about all we can think of.  But despite being home to the field of dreams, Iowa's football team has been nothing but a nightmare for Penn State fans this decade.

Now that we have written the lamest intro to any blog post ever, let's get to the heart of this thing.  When we think about Iowa, on the surface, they don't seem that scary.  But while the Lions lead the all-time series 11-10, they're just 1-6 against Iowa in their last seven matchups.  Only Michigan has caused as many problems for Penn State this decade as Iowa has.  Even the Lions' record against Ohio State is much better.

Now, we all know how important this weekend's game is in both the conference and the national picture, so we're already pumped.  But just to push you over the edge, we are going to drag you through the horrow show that is the Penn State-Iowa rivalry in the 2000s.  As a side note, we did this same thing last year with Michigan, and it seemed to break the spell.  Of course, Michigan was terrible last year.  It won't be as easy with this Iowa squad.  But no matter how pissed off you feel while you're reading the following, just think how much sweeter it will be Saturday night if the Lions prevail and you're jumping up and down hugging some hot sophomore.

Buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy ride...

We have plenty of stuff planned for later in the week to get everyone pumped for the huge matchup against Iowa this coming Saturday.  But for now, let's take our weekly trip around college football and see what happened in Week 3.  Click "Read More" to check out the fake headlines.

For those of you who are easily freaked out, you might not want to read this.  The Pittsburgh Trib is reporting that Sean Lee is doubtful for this weekend's big game against Iowa.  Lee was having another great game on Saturday against Temple, making 12 tackles, when he had to leave early in the fourth quarter with a knee sprain.

No one wants to see this again.

If that's not enough, Bob Flounders of PennLive reports that Navorro Bowman may play Saturday, but he won't be close to 100%.  Yikes.

But before you breaking out in a nervous sweat over this news, it looks like Iowa will be missing some key players as well.  ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg says that LT Bryan Bulaga, TE Tony Moeaki and WR Derrell Johnson-Koulianos were all missing from Iowa's two-deep depth chart issued today. So maybe that will even the playing field a bit.

Also, let's not forget that the defense is pretty talented and has looked rock solid so far.  Lee and Bowman are the last two guys you'd want to have out of the lineup, but two players won't cause a complete breakdown.  Better to have guys who are 100% out there.  In the meantime, let's just hope for the best.

Overheard before the game: "Nothing says college football like Temple's helmet."

Quite impressive.

Onto the recap...

Gametime: 12:00 pm

Records: Temple: 0-1; Penn State: 2-0

Series Record: Penn State leads, 33-3-1

TV: Big Ten Network

Audio: Here

Weather: 68 degrees and sunny.

Another September weeked, another Penn State home game against a cream puff.  Click "Read More" to check out the rest of the preview...

After a terrible start to the season in picks, we rebounded a bit in Week 2, as Greg went 5-5 and Will posted a 4-6 mark.  We're inching our way back to respectability.

As usual, we're using Danny Sheridan's odds as our source.  Illinois has a bye this week, and Wisconsin is battling Wofford, so there are no lines for those two.  We tossed the Florida-Tennessee matchup in there, even though we both would've picked Florida even if the line was 50.  Texas-Texas Tech is the other national game on the list.

Here's the list for Week 3 (home team in CAPS):

And here's how we're picking:

Here's a look at the standings after two weeks of play:

Will: Last Week 4-6, Overall 7-12

Greg: Last Week 5-5, Overall 7-12

This week the questions come from Galen at The Nittany Line.

Be sure to go check out the other participants:

Nittany Lounge

Zombie Nation

Nittany White Out

Happy Hour Valley

1.) Temple lost over half of their offensive line and their starting QB from a team that didn’t have much of an offense anyway (107th in total offense in the country) do they have a realistic shot at moving the ball against Penn State’s defense?

No. They were also a team that didn't run the ball well, if at all, so that's not going to improve either. Replacing all that and sending a fresh quarterback into the Beav is going to make for a long game.

It doesn't help them all that much that the Penn State defense has been playing very well, even if it's only been against teams like Akron and Syracuse. If there's one game that the Lion's have a chance to get a shu--...

Nevermind.