Penn State Open Thread

OSU FootballSome quick shots for tomorrow’s 8 PM kick-off:

Gameday will be in State College, the first time in a while.
Forecast: Partly cloudy and cool. Looks like it will be windy.
Spread: Ohio State is currently a 3.5 point favorite
Your Defensive captain? Captain Pythons, of course.

Rivals has a preview of the game, along with a look at “Who has the edge“. The Buckeyes have the edge, if you’re wondering. The indefatigable guys at Eleven Warriors have their preview up, along with Buckeye Planet. Not sure anyone gets more thorough the BP guys. Gerdeman gives his dos centavos at The Ozone.

The Wizard of Odds is calling it the Game of the Week and had a couple Big 10 bloggers, 11 Warriors and We are Penn State talk about the game. I got a chuckle out of this line from Kevin at WaPS:

“… and ā€” shockingly ā€” Morelli may be the best quarterback they’ve faced so far this year.”

Certainly he didn’t type that with a straight face.

QBs Ohio State has faced, with their numbers:

Tom Zetts (YSU) 112/192, 1191 yards, 4 TD/5 INT, 112.1 rating
Chris Jacquemain (Akron) 86/144, 915, 8/4, 125.9
Jake Locker (Washington) 95/200, 1193, 11/9, 106.8
CJ Bacher (Northwestern) 216/346, 2598, 14/8, 134.2
Adam Weber (Minnesota) 181/310, 2046. 19/15, 124.4
Curtis Painter (Purdue) 213/339, 2238, 22/6, 136.2
Julian Edelman (Kent State) 98/189, 1318, 7/9, 133.1
Brian Hoyer (Michigan State) 127/211, 1602, 11/4 137.4

Penn State’s #14:
Anthony Morelli: 147/247, 1739. 13/7 130.4

You decide. I’d say he looks middle-of-the-road to me.

My thoughts? I’ve been going back and forth on this one. On paper, Ohio State should win without breaking a sweat. Penn State’s resume isn’t impressive and Ohio State’s talent is clearly bigger, stronger, faster. That’s on paper. In my head, I can’t shake the feeling that there’s an ambush waiting for the Buckeyes. How is it going to go? This hasn’t been good for my digestive system. As of right now, I’m not planning on eating tomorrow. I have gone from thinking this will be a tough game (after Week 1) to thinking we’ll plow the Nittany Lions like everyone else (after Week 5) to not knowing what’s going to happen (today, right now). One thing I’m not worried about: Our Defense. One thing I am worried about: mistakes. If the game is close and the crowd is into it, I’m going to be nervous. If we’re winning by nine or ten points half way through the third quarter and Beanie’s Stiff Arm has been meting out Justice™, I will be relaxed.

Please, fellow MotSaG’ers, calm my nerves and help me get some rest tonight.

Your test questions are:

  • Final Score?
  • Who has a bigger game, Dan Connor or James Laurinaitis?
  • Between the QBs, who throws more INTs? The good QB in a hostile environment or the bad one?
  • Which defense gives up more yardage?

el Kaiser says:
OSU: 27 PSU: 16 (NB: I do not feel good about this prediction. Seems too high)
#40 or #33: Laurinaitis comes away with two turnovers and 12 tackles. Connor plays well, but is overshadowed by the Little Animal.
QBs: Morelli is going to have nightmares of Jenkins and Washington. He throws 3 picks to Boeckman’s 1.
Defense: Penn State. Beanie & Co. show they can rack up yards against a good D. OSU holds Penn State to under 300 yards total offense.

sportsMonkey says:
OSU: 20 PSU: 6
#40 or #33: Connor’s carrying the heavy load for PSU. Laurinaitis is a better LB, but he has help (and OSU’s defense is much deeper). My guess is you’ll hear Connor’s name called more often.
QBs: Morelli, like any QB who is about to face a good defense, is hoping that Joe Pa will let him open things up so that he can avoid some pressure. Not gonna happen.
Defense: PSU will give up 100 more yards than OSU.

Sylvester Yon-Rambo says:
OSU: 33 PSU: 12 I truly believe it will not be a close game at all if we score first like we have a lot this year.
#40 or #33:Connor should have a bigger day but it based on his defense being on the field a lot.
QBs: I think Boeckman will play a clean game and Morrelli will lose it for his team 4 INTs for Morelli and 0 for boeckman
Defense: OSU gets 425 yards of offense and gives up 184 yards on defense.

I am praying that all my predictions are correct…… PLEASE FOOTBALL GODS allow me one more week at least of BUCKEYE GLORY. more prayers to come next week.

Zeke says:
OSU: 25 PSU: 13
#40 or #33: Connor will probably have more tackles; however, Little Animal will make more of an impact. LA gets an INT and a couple of sacks.
QBs: Morelli, I feel like Boeckman is improving each week on timing the deep throw. Most of his interceptions early in the season were due to an under thrown deep ball.
Defense: PSU gives up more yardage.

Comments

  1. OSU 32 PSU 6
    Laurinaitis has his best game of the year. Along with the rest of the D
    Morelli will toos at least 3. Boeckman gives up 1 long ball
    PSU gives up more yards on D. OSU will get 400.

  2. “You decide. I’d say [Morelli] looks middle of the road to me.”

    One other thing about those numbers… all those QBs you listed have numbers that include the stats from playing against OSU’s #1 defense.

    Morelli’s numbers do not include OSU yet. In other words, he starts at “middle of the road,” and will only go downwards after the game Sat (no matter what the outcome).

    And far be it from this OSU fan to pick on someone else’s schedule… but its also worth mentioning that Morelli’s numbers came against the worst teams in the nation. After playing the worst of the worst, he can do no better than “average.” Something to think about.

  3. OSU 20
    PSU 10

    I think that both Connor and Laurinaitis will be overshadowed by their lesser known teammates (Lee for PSU and Freeman for OSU) with respect to the stats. Both will still be integral parts of their respective D’s, but I think Lee will actually have the most tackles for either squad at the end of the day (not really that big of a shocker since he leads their team in tackles, and this echos SYR’s comment that PSU’s D will probably be on the field more than OSU’s) and that Freeman will lead the Bucks in tackles.

    I think both Morelli and Boeckman will actually start the game pretty well but both quiet down after the 1st quarter. In the end Morelli throws more INTs, though I don’t think Boeckman will be error free (I say 2 picks to 1).

    I don’t think the story of the day will be the QBs but rather the RBs. I think Beanie has another big day (not MSU big, because PSU’s D is a LOT better than MSU’s)–he’ll crack the 100 yard mark, but more importantly he’ll allow OSU to control the ball and milk the clock (e.g. what Hart did for scUM against PSU).

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