BWI Daily: Scouting Illinois with Scott Richey of The Gazette

The Blue-White Podcast: A Penn State Athletics Podcast

Penn State hosts Illinois for their annual homecoming game on Saturday under new Head Coach Bret Bielema. What are the Illini shaping into under the former Wisconsin coach? Scott Richey, who covers Illinois football for The News Gazette joins host Thomas Frank Carr to discuss Bielema, the team and how things have gone so far this season.

They start with Bielema's comments this week where he seemingly threw several parts of his team under the bus and Scott's interpretation of what the first-year head coach was trying to say. Then they get into what it's been like for Illinois fans and how they're reacting to their new head coach after several very unsuccessful seasons under previous Head Coach Lovie Smith. T-Frank also asks for Scott's impressions of Bielema so far.

After that they get into the roster as it stands and start that quarterback position, which has been a revolving door with the constant injuries to Brandon Peters. Richey gives an update on who might start on Saturday as well as his prediction on how Peters will fare this week based on what Bielema said earlier.

Then they discuss the offensive line and their abilities, and inabilities as players on the field. Richey gets into the strength of the Illinois offense and then says why the weakness of the offensive line is potentially more detrimental than what it does well.

The receivers are next and Richey paints an even bleaker picture for their capabilities through seven weeks of the season. Finally they end on a positive note for the Illini, focusing on the running backs, which have been the most productive part of the offense.

After that T-Frank brings up Bielema's comments from earlier this week and pushes back on what the head coach had to say about his defensive line. They get into the scheme they run, the players they're using and the adjustments they've made this year.

Injuries have also been a big part of the situation so far and Richey gives an update on one key player at linebacker that won't play this weekend, and may not play the rest of the year based on some comments this week.

Lastly, they get into the secondary and how they've tweaked some schemes and players in order to play differently after a disastrous start to the season.