Penn State Football: Week Seven Review and Week Eight Preview

The explosive Penn State offense revolved around Daryll Clark in this performance.  Clark had 244 yards passing, including a touchdown pass, and also had two rushing touchdowns.  He spread the ball around very evenly to seven different receivers and made good decisions throughout the game.

 

The one exception was an interception in the end zone, where the only explanation seems to be that Clark failed to see the linebacker who was dropped back in zone coverage.

 

Jordan Norwood had a solid return from his injury with 59 yards receiving on three catches.  Norwood was still wearing a special brace under his uniform to protect his strained hamstring, so I would venture a guess that he still was not 100 percent.

 

Deon Butler was the Lion’s leading receiver for the game with 70 yards receiving and a touchdown.

 

Evan Royster had his least productive game of the season by far, but also was not relied on very much for yardage.  Royster had 60 yards rushing, including a touchdown.

 

However, Royster had several seven or eight-yard rushes at the beginning of the game that helped move the PSU offense down the field and into scoring position.  The lack of a breakout run kept Royster’s stats from looking overly impressive.

 

In their impressive 48-point performance, the PSU offense also owes a lot to the defense and special teams.  The Penn State defense and special teams gave the offense great starting position all game long, especially at the beginning of the game.  Derrick William’s punt return for a touchdown in the second quarter also added to the point total.

 

 

 

Week Eight Preview

 

This Saturday the Michigan Wolverines will come to Beaver Stadium for an afternoon matchup.  Coming into this game, these teams are going in totally different directions. 

 

Michigan is coming off an embarrassing home loss to lowly Toledo, who held the Wolverines to 10 points despite giving up an average of 35 points per game in their previous five games this season.  Penn State is, of course, coming off a major victory that vaulted them to the No. 3 national ranking.

 

Nonetheless, this is the game that Penn State fans have been looking forward to ever since the schedule was released.  Not only is it homecoming and a later start, but Penn State has also lost to Michigan nine straight times.  The last time PSU defeated Michigan was in 1996.

 

In my original article, I predicted Penn State to beat Michigan by a score of 34-13—and that was back when I thought Michigan might be a good team this year.

 

For the sake of consistency, I will keep my original prediction for this game.  However, I truly believe that Penn State will win by a much wider margin than this.

 

Last season Penn State played their best game of the season by far on homecoming against Wisconsin, who is ordinarily a very tough opponent (although obviously not this year either).  Penn State beat the Badgers 38-7 on that day with an offense that can be generously described as pathetic.

 

There is no other environment like Happy Valley and Beaver Stadium for a home Penn State football game.  That environment will be magnified tenfold for homecoming, and in particular for Michigan.

 

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