WTI: Hart of Gold

Craig:	Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to WTI: Joy hath returned to my Hart edition.
Geoff:	That was a deeply necessary victory.
Craig:	Indeed. Necessary is the only word to describe it.
Craig:	It becomes "important" based on this week's result.
Craig:	But we will get to that soon enough.
Geoff:	Notre Dame's band came into Michigan Stadium with flip folders for both pregame and halftime once again. They sounded fine enough, but their pregame was...not exciting.
Craig:	It just doesn't work. But a band from Indiana played Mellencamp. Let's act shocked.
Geoff:	I think a band with their history can do better.
Geoff:	Ours looked good, once again. Cody caught the toss, but I don't think we're going to see a rubber-spined drum major in the near future.
Craig:	He's trying REALLY hard though.
Craig:	I loved this week's show. It was great. I loved the sense of whimsy, the appropriate use of the video boards, the musicianship, and "Freebird".
Geoff:	It's a classic rock show in disguise, but all the extraneous Guitar Hero pieces bring it together. And "Freebird" was awesome.
Craig:	I enjoyed even having the colored dots at the open.
Geoff:	My only criticism is that the "Sweet Child O' Mine" arrangement was a little too straight, but that's a tiny thing in a great show.
Craig:	It was. It really was. Full marks, lads.

Craig:	What's on tap this week?
Geoff:	A Bobby Darin show. I'm guessing "Splish Splash", "Beyond The Sea", and "Mack the Knife".
Craig:	I do love "Beyond the Sea"
Geoff:	And no, I don't know if Kevin Spacey will be involved.
Craig:	Maybe he can give the pregame pep talk
Geoff:	We're batting 1.000 when Academy Award winners give the pregame speech.
Craig:	OK, let's more on...The Penn State game. We don't do previews anymore
Geoff:	They only end in tears or victories over pitiable competition.
Craig:	But I think this week is the real test. Bold pronouncements like that make me sound MSM.
Geoff:	But it's a big deal. It'll tell us whether we have a chance in the Big Ten. Our second season starts on Saturday.
Geoff:	Morelli vs. our secondary will be an interesting battle to watch. And Hart vs. Linebacker U is going to be a real fight.
Craig:	Indeed. And the gamesmanship of will we have Henne is more noise than signal I think.
Craig:	And if it's Mallett, I think that can be made to work. I wasn't "wow" with Mallett, but I thought he got the job done. If Braylon bailed out the freshman Henne back in 2004, maybe it will be Mike Hart doing it here.
Geoff:	Absolutely. I think Henne's out. Mallett performed well when he was asked to manage the game.
Craig:	And maybe Mallett got a few more pages of the playbook. And the defense a few less.
Geoff:	Penn State's not going to try confusing us too much. It's going to be execution vs. execution. Hart will carry the mail. Hell, he'll carry the mail truck.
Craig:	He is the Postmaster General. He's nothing but Pottery Barn catalogs and Publisher's Clearing House mailings
Geoff:	Hey, I may *already* be a winner.
Craig:	It would be a nice change
Craig:	And if we can win in the trenches, I think we have a very good chance. But, all things with time. We'll know what the deal is by 7 PM Saturday.
Craig:	And for this week's roundtable question: In "honor" of the Michigan State visit to Notre Dame Stadium this week, HSR asks "Should fans of a school root for the other teams in their conference during non-conference play?"
Geoff:	We should, but that doesn't mean we always do.
Craig:	See, I can understand it in the abstract.
Geoff:	I find it impossible to root for tOSU. The closest I can get is to not root against them.
Craig:	You want your conference to look strong, especially in an era where conference strength is such a topic of debate in the media. Look no further than this week's SI cover. But, I mean, I can't root for tOSU, and I have a really hard time rooting for Michigan State. The best I can do is not loathe them.
Craig:	And we know, from the reactions of early September, that CLEARLY Sparty feels that you do not root for your conference. But in conversations with Oregon fans, they were stunned that we would be rooting against our conference mates.
Geoff:	I think this year it's really important for the Big Ten to do well in whatever non-conference action we have remaining. After App St, Duke, Iowa State, and last year's Florida BEATDOWN(S), the Big Ten Network, Harbaugh, and Jim Delaney, the conference has a need to repair its image in the public eye
Craig:	So, again, I don't know that there is a "right" answer here. We'd love to hear your thoughts on it though in the comments.
Craig:	It has been a rough year for the Big Ten, there's no question.
Geoff:	If Sparty loses to Notre Dame this weekend, the Big Ten may collapse into a naked singularity.
Craig:	Well, OK, yes, I will give you that
Geoff:	It would be just like MSU to do that to us.
Geoff:	I hate those guys.
Craig:	Well, that is all we have for this week. Next week, we preview Michigan's first trip outside of Ann Arbor this year, which is actually our first road trip of the year as well. We're going to EVANSTON! (Wait, that sounds sad, really)
Geoff:	I'd say we're road-tripping to Chicago for a game but 1.) No, we're not going to see the Bears, and 2.) No, it's not 1907.
Craig:	So until next time, I'm Craig...
Geoff:	...And there are none who call me Tim.
Craig:	We better not risk another frontal assault, that rabbit's dynamite.
Geoff:	Can he play safety?
Craig:	Yes, yes he can...
Geoff:	Have him take the SAT and see Lloyd in his office later.
Craig:	Fetch me the Holy Hart Grenade of Syracuse!

The Major: I'm sorry, I'm going to have to stop this. It's too silly.