Talking Fullbacks: Tom Fornelli Joins Pardon My Take to Preview the B1G Opening Weekend

With the B1G returning tonight (good luck to Mr. Cat's Badgers!), Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports joined us on Pardon My Take to preview all things coming out of this midwestern football conference. Who can win the conference? Who are some of his best bets? And much, much more. It's also not a talk about football without discussing fullbacks. Mr. Commenter, noted fullback lover, picked Fornelli's brain:

Mr. Commenter: I want to talk fullbacks real quick. The Low Man Trophy. You're on the committee. You're one of the inaugural committee members. And you've always kind of been at the bleeding edge of nominating players. I think you've mentioned a couple of the guys that ended up being finalists every year that we've done the award. So right now, my entire watch list just from my eyeballs, consists of Army's entire roster and then the fullback from BYU, Mason Wake. So those are the two guys that have jumped out to me. Do you have any other suggestions, people we should keep our eyes on? 

Tom Fornelli: Well, I mean, Mason Stokke from Wisconsin is an obvious choice because they're still one of the few programs that's using a fullback. But I also feel like, maybe this is cheating, Dan, I want to get your ruling on this, because Garrett Groshek is the No. 1 RB on Wisconsin's depth chart, as far as I know. Isn't he really more of a fullback playing running back?

Mr. Cat: Yeah, it's going to be a committee this year. So, I think you're going to get, there's definitely going to be some hard decisions for the Lowman Trophy, like what does he really classify as? I agree. Because there's like three or four guys, we have a freshman named Bagley, so you're right. It's going to be a very, very hard year for the committee. 

Mr. Commenter: Well, I don't like to put people in buckets right off the bat, but to be fair, every Wisconsin fullback has already won the Lowman Trophy. Just the position of fullback at Wisconsin was the winner last year. 

Mr. Cat: But it's very hard. There's a line, where it starts all the way back with Bernstein, where it's like, is he a fullback? That's all the way back to 2003-2004. I mean, Ron Dayne - is he a FB or a RB? He's a RB, but he's got a FB's body. So, who knows.

Mr. Commenter: I think if you're classified as the thunder in a thunder and lightning backfield, like T.J. Duckett when he was teamed up with Warrick Dunn, that qualifies you as a FB.

Mr. Cat: Yeah, PJ Hill. He was fucking fat. I thought he was going to be a Heisman Trophy winner. That was stupid. John Clay, he was fat. I could go down the list. And you know what? If Bret Bielema had run John Clay in the Rose Bowl, they probably would have beaten TCU.

These guys could talk fullbacks all day long, especially Mr. Commenter. When Tom Fornelli joins Pardon My Take, you know something big is going down with the B1G. And this time? It's the start of the conference season. Let's do it.