Big Ten Media Days: Urban Meyer, Tim Beckman Make Splashes

Big Ten Media Days: Jim Delany Defends NCAA

Jim Delany would've preferred to talk about Nebraska joining the Big Ten, academics, and the Rose Bowl, but of course he was asked many a question about Penn State.

He "doesn't care" if the NCAA's ruling against Penn State, which went against typical NCAA protocol, establishes a precedent. Nor does he care if the NCAA technically had legal jurisdiction to do what it did. The NCAA and Big Ten "had a moral authority" to act swiftly and harshly against PSU, the Big Ten commissioner alleged. If the NCAA hadn't gone hard, the Big Ten would've, he indicated.

As for that report that he was looking into obtaining the power to fire a member school's coaches, which was resoundingly hooted at last week, Delany referred back to that moment last year when Penn State had fired its president, but had a coach telling the Board of Trustees not to fire him.

He didn't sound all that excited by the idea of Big Ten teams taking Penn State players, but said the decision to allow in-conference transfers came down to doing what's best for players. He said the rules for "Illinois and Missouri" should be the same as for Rutgers and Pittsburgh, and we might need to check on exactly which conference Mizzou is joining this year.

However, Delany notes Penn State's still a full member with full voting rights.

Elsewhere, Delany declared "the Rose Bowl needs to evolve," which sounds great, but when that evolution includes playing a part in the first-ever Division I-A playoff, it's not really hard to agree to. He lamented the death of the Pac-12 scheduling series, said the conference is going to stay at eight games, and hoped for quality out-of-conference games soon to help boost strength of schedule.

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Big Ten Media Days: Mark Dantonio, Stoically Into The Andrew Maxwell Era

Mark Dantonio smiled at one point during his Big Ten Media Days address. It's true. We didn't get a capture of it, but it happened.

The Michigan State coach has plenty to be happy (on the inside) about. He returns one of the country's best defenses and has a four-year winning streak against his state rival. But replacing Kirk Cousins with Andrew Maxwell and almost the entire receiving corps with ... some guys is this year's challenge -- Dantonio says that showcase game in Week 1 against Boise State was scheduled in part to get the new passing game some tough experience right away.

Regarding Penn State, since everything is always regarding Penn State, Dantonio said he'd listen to any interested players ("We're respectful of Penn State, but we have a job to do"), but that he's "not going to invest on going beyond that."

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Brady Hoke At Big Ten Media Days

Big Ten Media Days: Bill O'Brien, Never Scared

"It's time to get on board," Penn State coach Bill O'Brien began at Big Ten Media Days. He did not deliver the line with hesitance. "I see it as an opportunity, a little bit of adversity," adding that Penn State still has more players than a NFL team does. Hey, he made a Super Bowl, so.

The rookie coach of perhaps the most troubled program in recent college football history delivered a call to fans and boosters to recognize that there's still a "fast, tough team" that still needs to be rooted for.

He shot down concerns over other schools on his campus picking through his roster (and also denied he was contacted by Illinois' Tim Beckman, who'd said he sent PSU a list of targeted players), then delivered once again his recruiting pitch for current players he hopes to hang onto: excellent academics, top facilities, elite competition. "They can do whatever they want as long as they contact our compliance office," O'Brien said, adding that he wasn't bothered by the Big Ten lifting transfer restrictions.

"The sanctions are what they are," he said regarding a possible appeal. Don't expect one.

He can't comment on the Silas Redd news -- the top running back is reportedly meeting with Lane Kiffin this morning. Later he said he expects Redd to return while detailing his offensive depth. I don't think we should expect that, but we can understand why O'Brien has to say he expects it.

As for roster matters, "we've got depth at wide receiver," "I'm proud to have [Matt McGloin] as our starting quarterback," "our tight end position has decent depth," "our running back position with Silas coming back, we feel good about the depth there." "Defensively, we feel good about the depth there."

"There's a lot of discussions going on with our team," O'Brien said about possible uniform changes this year. Pulling out all the recruiting stops during a troubled time, perhaps.

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Big Ten Media Days: Tim Beckman In The Penn State Import Business

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Big Ten Media Days: Urban Meyer, Big Ten Gentleman

Head to Ohio State site Land-Grant Holy Land for a transcript of Urban Meyer's Big Ten Media Days comments.

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Big Ten Media Days: Bret Bielema Leaving Penn State Roster Alone

"I'm gonna be [Penn State's] biggest fan this year," Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema said after pledging not to pursue transfers from any PSU players. The Nittany Lions aren't eligible to win the division the Badgers happen to play in, so there's really no risk in hoping for 11 weeks worth of success there.

That's a unique stance, as so far pretty much every other coach has said he'll take a look at PSU's roster. Bielema was followed by Purdue's Danny Hope, who indicated he's just fine with accepting a Penn State transfer, and Illinois has reportedly already taken backup tackle Ryan Nowicki. Bielema, of course, was involved in a kerfuffle with Urban Meyer over poached recruits, so he'd kind of look bad if he went and took a roster player from a Big Ten rival.

Also, Bielema twice mentioned he's been married for 19 weeks and five days. This is important to remember.

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Silas Redd Misses Big Ten Media Days To Meet With USC, According To Report

Whether anybody likes it or not, the story at Big Ten Media Days on Thursday and Friday in Chicago is going to be Penn State. I mean, Penn State was a major story at Pac-12 Media Days (and the SEC's and ACC's and so on), with USC's Lane Kiffin pretty openly pitching for PSU back Silas Redd to head west, or at least as openly as rules allow. Speaking of Redd:

Penn State players now are coming to Big Ten media days. Michael Mauti subbed in for Silas Redd. John Urschel and Jordan Hill also here.

— Rittenberg/Bennett (@ESPN_BigTen) July 26, 2012

And here's one explanation:

Silas Redd, sitting down w USC coach NOW. That sort of explains why he isn't at Big 10 Media Day

— Colin Cowherd (@ESPN_Colin) July 26, 2012

That's after the latest reports had Redd giving USC's offer serious thought.

On Wednesday, Redd and Hill missed a gathering of a couple dozen Nittany Lions who swore their faithfulness to Happy Vally, but we chalked it up to Media Days travel. (Mauti was one of the two spokesmen for the group, so we know he's solid on PSU.)

Now, with only Redd missing out, the elephant remains squarely in the room.

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Big Ten Football Media Days 2012 TV Schedule

Why, if it isn't 2012 Big Ten Media Days time.

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Penn State Players Won't Attend Big Ten Media Days After All

Why wasn't star Penn State running back Silas Redd in that group of Nittany Lions who pledged their commitment to the program this morning? Well, he was en route to Big Ten Media Days in Chicago, of course. But now plans have changed, as Penn State's contingent won't include any of the three players who were expected to go to Chicago.

No Penn State players will attend Big Ten media days. Silas Redd, John Urschel and Jordan Hill had been scheduled to attend.

— Rittenberg/Bennett (@ESPN_BigTen) July 25, 2012

Redd was a topic at Pac-12 Media Days, where USC coach Lane Kiffin all but openly begged for Redd to head to L.A.

Let speculation now run wild. Are all three of these players looking to leave? Is Bill O'Brien just protecting them from endless questions about non-football stuff? Is PSU worried about them coming into contact with rival coaches? Does Jordan Hill not speak English? These are all things that could be speculated by anyone looking to speculate.

(It's probably mainly the questions one.)

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For more on Nittany Lions football, visit Penn State blog Black Shoe Diaries, plus Big Ten blog Off Tackle Empire, SB Nation Pittsburgh and SB Nation Philly.