Game 12: Penn State Nittany Lions outlook

Last Football game of the regular season… The Season grades and review coming soon..  How quickly it went by… but need to focus on this last game for a chance to win out in November.


Game 12:  Penn State Nittany Lions
Last Home Game: 3:30 kick off

Great Day. Weather forecast is beautiful…



This is for the Ugliest trophy in the Big Ten, if not the nation. The Land Grant Trophy.. Good Chance the Spartans get it back this year.. but do we really want it ???  The win yes, the 4ft tall bowling trophy, no…

    Since the games at home, this is a big edge for the Spartans. Need this game..  But to win the Spartans have to play focused football for 60 minutes.

The Keys to the game for the Spartans will be:

1) Shut down the PSU rushing attack: hold them to close to only 100 yrds rushing.  Spartans have been good this year at plugging the run, need to keep it up.  Spartans are only giving up an avg. of 105 / game.

2) Pressure on Daryll Clark. Need to pressure and get to him 3 – 4 times. Greg Jones needs to maintain his #1 “D” position.  The Spartans and Penn State are #1 and #2 with respect to sacks in the Big Ten.

TACKLES (Big Ten, All positions)
 Player                  Team Cl  G Pos Solo Ast Total Avg/G Sack
 ----------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Jones, Greg......... MSU  JR 11 LB    57  69   126  11.5  7.5

3) Play much better on pass “D”.  I have seen some excellent secondary play, as well as some real unfocused efforts.. the Spartans rank 8th, need to have an inspired game.  They can, I’ve seen it.. they need to collectively get it done.

4) Cousins must be protected. “O” line needs to get this done. No if, ands, or buts… He must stay vertical.   PSU’s  Jared Odrick  and Jack Crawford have 11 sacks between them. Navorro Bowman has 12 tackles for losses, they’re good.

5) Cousins needs to have a big day. He currently is #1 in pass efficiency in the BIg Ten.. and #1 in pass offense.  Blair White, B.J., Mark Dell, Charlie Gantt keep up the good work boys !

PASS EFFICIENCY          G   Att  Cmp   Pct  Int  Yds TD Effic
--------------------------------------------------------------
1. Michigan State...... 11   360  215  .597    8 3015 24 147.6
2. Penn State.......... 11   334  203  .608   10 2543 19 137.5

PASS DEF EFFICIENCY      G   Att  Cmp  Int  Pct.  Yds TD Effic
--------------------------------------------------------------
3. Penn State.......... 11   344  184   11  53.5 1959  7 101.6
8. Michigan State...... 11   399  235    5  58.9 2695 24 133.0

6) MSU must establish a running game, getting greater than 150yrds. PSU holds opponents to less than 100, so if we are greater than 150, it should be a good day.   Keshawn, Larry Caper, and Baker, and Leggett stay fresh.

7) Brett –DNBTU – Swenson hits the long ball..

Comparison States going into the Game.....
TEAM STATISTICS                         MSU          PSU
--------------------------------------------------------
SCORING.......................          341          314
  Points Per Game.............         31.0         28.5
FIRST DOWNS...................          229          228
  Rushing.....................           74           99
  Passing.....................          137          116
  Penalty.....................           18           13
RUSHING YARDAGE...............         1537         1895
  Yards gained rushing........         1717         2058
  Yards lost rushing..........          180         16
  Rushing Attempts............          362          389
  Average Per Rush............          4.2          4.9
  Average Per Game............        139.7        172.3
  TDs Rushing.................           14            19
PASSING YARDAGE...............         3015         2543
  Comp-Att-Int................    215-360-8    184-344-11
  Average Per Pass............          8.4          5.7
  Average Per Catch...........         14.0         10.6
  Average Per Game............        274.1        231.2
  TDs Passing.................           24           19
TOTAL OFFENSE.................         4552         4438
  Total Plays.................          722          723
  Average Per Play............          6.3          6.1
  Average Per Game............        413.8        40.5
KICK RETURNS: #-Yards.........      42-1126      32-588
PUNT RETURNS: #-Yards.........       21-191       22-114
INT RETURNS: #-Yards..........         5-65         11-226
KICK RETURN AVERAGE...........         26.8         18.4
PUNT RETURN AVERAGE...........          9.1          5.2
INT RETURN AVERAGE............         13.0          20.5
FUMBLES-LOST..................         14-8         14-7
PENALTIES-Yards...............       72-605       48-369
  Average Per Game............         55.0         33.5
PUNTS-Yards...................      50-2103      46-1909
  Average Per Punt............         42.1         41.5
  Net punt average............         36.5         32.3
TIME OF POSSESSION/Game.......        29:08        31:58
3RD-DOWN Conversions..........       54/141       75/150
  3rd-Down Pct................          38%          50%
4TH-DOWN Conversions..........         6/11         3/6
  4th-Down Pct................          55%          50%
SACKS BY-Yards................       30-193        34-197
MISC YARDS....................           13            0
TOUCHDOWNS SCORED.............           41           40
FIELD GOALS-ATTEMPTS..........        19-21        11-16
ON-SIDE KICKS.................          1-1          0-0
RED-ZONE SCORES...............    34-40 85%    16-25 86%
RED-ZONE TOUCHDOWNS...........    22-40 55%    27-43 63%
PAT-ATTEMPTS..................    38-39 97%    39-39 100%


SCORING OFFENSE          G   TD  XP 2XP DXP  FG Saf  Pts   Avg
--------------------------------------------------------------
3. Michigan State...... 11   41  38   0   0  19   0  341  31.0
5. Penn State.......... 11   40  39   0   0  11   1  314  28.5

SCORING DEFENSE          G   TD  XP 2XP DXP  FG Saf  Pts   Avg
--------------------------------------------------------------
1. Penn State.......... 11   13  12   0   0  12   1  128  11.6
6. Michigan State...... 11   31  28   0   0  15   0  259  23.5

PASS OFFENSE             G   Att  Cmp Int  Pct.  Yds  Avg TD Yds/G
------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Michigan State...... 11   360  215   8  59.7 3015  8.4 24 274.1
5. Penn State.......... 11   334  203  10  60.8 2543  7.6 19 231.2

PASS DEFENSE             G   Att  Cmp Int  Pct.  Yds  Avg TD Yds/G
------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Penn State.......... 11   344  184  11  53.5 1959  5.7  7 178.1
10.Michigan State...... 11   399  235   5  58.9 2695  6.8 24 245.0

KICKOFF RETURNS          G   Ret  Yds   TD   Avg
------------------------------------------------
1. Michigan State...... 11    42 1126    1  26.8
11.Penn State.......... 11    32  588    0  18.4

RUSHING OFFENSE          G    Att   Yds   Avg  TD  Yds/G
--------------------------------------------------------
5. Penn State.......... 11    389  1895   4.9  19  172.3
6. Michigan State...... 11    362  1537   4.2  14  139.7

RUSHING DEFENSE          G  Rushes  Yards  Avg.  TD  Yds/G
----------------------------------------------------------
2. Penn State.......... 11     360   1033   2.9   5   93.9
4. Michigan State...... 11     364   1165   3.2   7  105.9

TOTAL OFFENSE            G  Rush Pass Plays Yards Avg/P TD Yds/G
----------------------------------------------------------------
1. Michigan State...... 11  1537 3015   722  4552   6.3 38 413.8
3. Penn State.......... 11  1895 2543   723  4438   6.1 38 403.5

TOTAL DEFENSE            G  Rush Pass Plys Yards  Avg  TD Yds/G
---------------------------------------------------------------
2. Penn State.......... 11  1033 1959  704  2992  4.2  12 272.0
6. Michigan State...... 11  1165 2695  763  3860  5.1  31 350.9

Should be a close game, but in perfect weather on a late autumn day.. in front of a aggressive Spartan fan base.. Spartans might be able to pull off a win…

SpartyMSU predicts:
MSU Spartans ........... 34
PSU Nittany Lions ....  31


Sparty ON !!