Mike Hull and Team USA are playing right now on NFL Network.  He's taking part in the Team USA vs. The World game, which is in conjunction with the NFL's Pro Bowl week.  Somehow the game is tied 0-0.  Suprisingly, The World team is playing well together as a unit, while Team USA looks like all talent, no chemistry.

Hull's played very well so far.  He just forced critical fumble at midfield.  He's been getting consistent pressure on The World's QB a few times, and coming up with a lot of tackles.  Yesterday, Hull was selected as one of the four captains.

Hull selected as Captain of Team USA

Check out the game if you're free.  It's actually pretty good.

UPDATE:  Hull just intercepted the World Team in the endzone.

Incoming Penn State linebacker Mike Hull was recently selected to USA Football's 2010 Junior National Team.  The team will play in the "Team USA vs. The World" game on Jan. 30th at noon in Ft. Lauderdale.  The "World" team will consist of international players from all over the world.  The game airs live on NFL Network and the game is an official "NFL Pro Bowl Week Event."

Rittenberg mentioned it briefly in his blog last week.

ESPN Big Ten Blog

I think this is pretty cool for Mike.  Last summer USA Football put on a Junior World Championship, which featured a similar Team USA facing playing seven other international teams in a tourament.  Team USA won rather easily, as you would expect.

This team appears to have quite a few big-name recruits on it.  You can check out the players and the game at www.usavworld.com.  I've included some links below.

Team USA Roster

Mike Hull's Roster Page

These international players will be in for a rude awakening when Mike busts through the line and nearly decapitates a Canadian running back.

Cory Giger writes an interesting article about Wiz's switch to center, that pretty much echoes what RUTS and many in the comments said... that Wiz is just not getting the job done at center.  Wiz is pretty honest with his answers and admits he needs to be better.

The most telling part of the story to me was:

[ Wisniewski was asked Wednesday if he would rather still be playing guard. There was a brief pause before he gave an answer that hardly sounded convincing.

"I mean, I like them both," Wisniewski said. "They're similar -- both get to hit people. I like them both."]

Read the whole story at The Altoona Mirror website.

With the season upon us (finally!), and some Big Ten teams actually stepping up and playing some good outside competition early on in the schedule, here's a good read about the Big Ten's current image problem.

Perception of weakness

I thought the most interesting note from the piece was about the Big Ten's problems in bowl games (well, except for Penn State, since we still get it done in bowl games).  Jerod Mayod, New England's first round pick from Tennessee, had some interesting things to say.

"Mayo believes it's not coincidence that the Big Ten has mostly fallen on its face in bowl games because those games are generally played in ideal weather. Big Ten teams must be built to withstand often-rugged late-fall weather.

If an SEC team had to play in Michigan or Wisconsin in January, the outcome might be different.

"It definitely would be," Mayo said. "When you're used to playing in weather like those guys are, it plays to their advantage. You have to build a team that's able to run the ball, and that's what they do."

Interesting story on Penn State's pillaging of Maryland recruits.  Talks about the Larry Johnson and DWill impact too. Let's hope we can land Tavon Austin and Jelani Jenkins to take this class over the top. 

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/college/football/bal-sp.pennstate08jul08,0,436148.story

Reading some of the comments, it appears that Maryland fans were less than thrilled with the reporter's assessment of the program and the state of recruiting..