Saturday college football and we will see the Northwestern Wildcats take on the Penn State Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa. The game has a start time of 12:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on the Big 10 Network. Current Vegas odds have the Lions listed as 11 point favorites, while the total is set at 47.5.
Analysis: The Northwestern Wildcats had a rough 5-7 last year and missed the post season for the first time since 2007. This year they have 55 lettermen back, including 17 starters and look to make it back to the post season, while also being a player in the newly formed Big 10 West. The Wildcats may be in for a long year, though, as they started off with back to back home losses vs Cal and Northern Illinois and then followed that up with a lackluster 24-7 win over Western Illinois last week. To show how lackluster that win was, they were outfirstdowned by 7 in the game and outgained by 93 yards. The saving grace for this team was the fact that they had 2 fewer turnovers than WIU had. Trevor Siemian has not been that great under center this year as he has complete just 59.1% of his passes for 614 yards, with 2 TDs and 3 INTs. The offense has been a problem for this team overall as they rank 106th in total offense (343.7 ypg), 106th in rushing (115.3 ypg) and 104th in scoring (21 ppg), While the defense ranks 76th in yards allowed (397 ypg) and 39th in points allowed (20.3 ppg).
The Penn State Nittany Lions went 15-9 in the two years under Bill O’Brien, but after promising to stick around, he has now bolted off to the NFL. In steps Ex-Vanderbilt coach James Franklin and while the starting roster looks fine, the NCAA sanctions have really taken away their depth. Franklin has his team playing hard right now and they have also been given a boost from the NCAA, who recently announced that their bowl ban has been lifted. The Lions have shot out to a 4-0 start this year, which includes a win over UCF in London and a road win over a good Rutgers squad. The team has been led by Sophomore QB Christian Hackenberg, who has led the lions to the 16th best passing offense in the nation, throwing for 1261 yards and 4 TDs. He does show his youth at time as he has also thrown 5 INTs. Overall the Lions are 56th in total offense (443.2 ypg) and 86th in scoring (27 ppg), while on defense they rank 10th in yards allowed (270.8 ypg), 1st vs the run (49.5 ypg) and 6th in points allowed (11 ppg)
Pick: Going to look at the Under in this one. This Penn State defense is for real and playing with a ton of confidence as the have allowed 270.8 ypg and just 11 ppg for the year. They will be taking on a putrid Northwestern offense that has averaged just 21 ppg on 343.7 ypg. The Lions on offense are solid, but not spectacular as they have averaged just 27 ppg so far this year, while the Cats have allowed just 20.3 ppg so far. Neither offense plays uptempo, and with two solid defenses and two below average offenses on the field we should get a game in the upper 30s at best here.
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