The Big Ten Network's Dave Revsine put up a post detailing some takeaways after visiting each school in the conference for the preseason specials they have been doing over the past few weeks.  He hands out some superlatives which reflected pretty favorably on this year's squad so far.  Exciting to see a neutral third party who has seen every team in person consider us the best team in the conference heading into the season.

The rest of the post is some reading, but here are the superlatives we are mentioned in:

Best Team: Penn State.  I say this with one caveat – we saw Ohio State on its second day of practice, so it really was tough to gauge just how good the Buckeyes are. But I was really impressed with PSU. Their only real area of concern is in the secondary, and I'm not sure how many teams on their schedule can make them pay for that (though I'd certainly be worried about that game at Illinois, if I were them). Daryll Clark looked completely in control at QB, the RB crew is as good as any in the conference, and the defensive front seven will be very good.

Best Offensive Line: Iowa. I was really impressed with the Hawks, and I think they'll be outstanding when they have everyone back at full strength. 

Honorable Mention: Ohio State and Penn State. I think the Nittany Lions will be fine here – much better than JoePa is letting on. 

Best Tight Ends: Penn State. If Andrew Quarless has truly put his off–the-field issues behind him (and all indications are that he has), he could be the best tight end in the Big Ten. What puts Penn State over the top, though, is that Mickey Shuler would be in that conversation as well.

Best Defensive Line: Ohio State. Again, it's tough to truly judge the Buckeyes, since they weren't even wearing shoulder pads the day we saw them. But they certainly look the part physically, and we've seen most of these guys enough in past years to know how talented they are. Lawrence Wilson looks like he's ready to go after two straight season-ending injuries, Thaddeus Gibson and Cameron Heyward are tough to block, and they are solid at tackle, with Doug Worthington and Dexter Larimore, among others.

Honorable Mention: Minnesota, Penn State. Both these teams stand out due to the quality of their tackles, an area where the Big Ten is not particularly deep this season. OSU wins out solely due to its depth. The Gophers, in particular, will surprise some people, with Eric Small, Garret Brown and Jewhan Edwards making up a formidable trio.

Best Quarterback: Daryll Clark, Penn State. Terrelle Pryor is obviously remarkably talented, and Juice Williams is in the hunt if he can cut down on his mistakes, but I think Clark is still the best guy in the conference.  He looked incredibly confident in his role this year – such a contrast from a year ago, when he was battling with Pat Devlin in camp.

Best Campus Run: Last year, I gained 10 pounds on this trip (consuming a steak at every stop might just do that to you), so I focused a bit more on exercise this time around. While I was relegated to the hotel workout room at a few of the stops due to weather, time constraints, etc, I did get a chance to do a campus run at PSU, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. 

While each has its own redeeming features, it's hard not to choose Wisconsin for the prettiest run.  Two lakes, nice architecture – it's tough to beat. Penn State also has a beautiful natural setting, and Indiana's campus area is gorgeous, but the nod goes to Madison here.

Best Running Backs: Penn State. Evan Royster and Stephfon Green make up a fabulous 1-2 punch. Between those two and Darryl Clark, the Nittany Lions should again be dynamic on offense.

Best Linebackers: Penn State. The loss of Michael Mauti does hurt. They were raving about him, and it was easy to see why. I watched him in a couple of individual drills and was really impressed.  He's the next great one. Still, even without Mauti, it's hard to not to like a group that includes Sean Lee and Navorro Bowman.

Most Exciting Freshman: Devon Smith, Penn State. I love this guy.  Five-foot-seven and an absolute burner. They threw deep balls to him on two straight passes in 7-on-7 drills where he as at least five yards behind the DB. Look for him to be an instant big-play threat.

There are many other categories in his post, but even if he didn't outright saw we look like the best team, that is the  impression you would get in the aggregate from all the other notes.  An impression you certainly would not be getting if all you saw were videos of Paterno's current take on the team.

(Also: if this is, like, way too much blockquoting as to amount to stealing content or something, feel free to take it down.  No idea how this stuff works.)

This article on Fanhouse by Clay Travis brings up some circumstantial evidence to point out that Notre Dame is making less than Northwestern, or any other team in the Big Ten (or SEC):

"...For example, Syracuse, a member of the Big East for football and basketball, took in just $4.7 million from the Big East in 2007. Even assuming that Notre Dame gets half of this number (which it likely doesn't, because football floats the boat in college athletics), Notre Dame's television and shared Big East conference revenue in 2009 will be, at best, $11.35 million.

Why's that number important? Because in 2008, every school in the Big Ten will clear north of $15 million from the conference, a number that will only increase in years to come. Every school in the SEC will bank, conservatively, $17 million. (Looking at the numbers it's likely the SEC will hit $20 million within a couple of years.) The reason for these increases is simple, spiraling television money. The Big Ten Network distributed $7.5 million to each conference school last year, and in conjunction with the 10-year, $1-billion deal that the Big Ten signed with ABC/ESPN, there's a whole lot of new television money floating around. Let me repeat that, the Big Ten Network alone has almost equaled the payout for Notre Dame's sacrosanct contract with NBC..."

And you have the love the last line:

"...Touchdown Jesus will stick out his palm. Yep, at long last the Fighting Irish will be begging for a piece of the Big Ten pie."

Check out the whole article, a pretty good read IMO:

http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/06/15/as-notre-dames-tv-money-dwindles-so-too-should-its-independenc/

The Wall Street Journal has an article that makes a pretty strong argument regarding how combined starts on the offensive line translated into success last year in college football.

Unfortunately, at 39 combined starts going into this season, we are specifically listed as a team you can look to "take a step back."  Ouch.

Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123984090891223207.html#articleTabs%3Darticle

(word word word word word word word word word word word word word word)

Just started following JayPa's twitter a few days ago and there were a couple comments regarding the Blue/White game and spring practice so far that I thought may interest people.  A lot of confidence, some Zug praise, and even a BSD mention:

(No idea what the protocol is for linking to a Twitter, hopefully this isn't a problem.)

From http://twitter.com/JayPaterno:

"Won't be easy to gauge progress as we'll keep the game pretty basic on Saturday. We've got some things we don't want to show."

"WR corps is doing well. Can be a major asset for us this fall. They've got to stay healthy. We can be creative with this group."

"Zug had a great spring-don't think he dropped a pass. Don't forget he made key plays in games Vs OSU, MSU & others."

"Both the O-Line & the secondary have started to gel & are starting to play well together as units."

"Sat watch TBs Shane Thompson & Brandon Beachum. Both power runners had good springs. QB Matt McGloin had a good spring too."

"We expect Powell, Zug, Brackett, McDonald & Moye all to do well. They all have played in games & competed in clutch situations."

"I thnk that the WR corps will have a breakout year. It is talented & more experienced than people realize."

And...

"RE: Black Shoes Diary-I don't read much stuff about us. I look for info on our opponents when I check the net & the news."