Penn State Football: Week 12 Review and Week 13 Preview

Week 12 Review

Penn State recorded their 10th win of the season on Saturday, as they defeated Big Ten doormat Indiana by a score of 34-7. 

Like many other games this season, the Penn State offense got off to a slow start, and the Nittany Lions did not begin to pull away from the Hoosiers until the second half.

In my season prediction article from the summer, I had predicted that Penn State would win this game by a score of 33-21. 

The point total for Penn State was nearly exact, while I obviously overestimated the Indiana offense, which had much higher expectations going into the beginning of this season.

There were two big stories in this game; one positive and one negative.

The negative was the play of PSU quarterback Daryll Clark.  Clark has been the spark for the offense the entire season, and his struggles in recent games have shown through in making the offense far less efficient.

One of the main strengths for Clark all season has been his protection of the football and lack of turnovers.  However, Clark accounted for two turnovers all by himself against Indiana.  One was a fumble and the other an interception. 

Clark also threw a costly interception against Iowa and had a near-fumble in the first series of the Iowa game that would have immediately given the Hawkeyes a touchdown (and ultimately did anyways after a few offensive plays).

Clark has now thrown three interceptions in the past three games, while throwing only one in the previous eight.  His completion percentage, passing yardage per game, and rushing yardage per game have also all dropped significantly.

Clark did finish the Indiana game with 240 yards passing, including two touchdowns.  But there is no doubt he still remains not in the form Penn State fans were used to seeing him play for the majority of the season. 

One has to wonder if he is still experiencing lingering effects from the concussion he suffered against Ohio State.  For a comparison, NFL quarterback Trent Edwards has also experienced a severe drop-off in production even several weeks after his concussion.

The positive story from last Saturday was the play of Derrick Williams.  Williams, one of the very few players who played well in the loss to Iowa a week prior, had a very successful game both running and passing again against the Hoosiers. 

Williams ran for 61 yards and a touchdown on only four carries, and recorded 62 yards receiving with a touchdown.  Along with yards gained in the return game, Williams’ 164 yards of total offense was nearly double that of the Lions’ next highest player.

D-Will, one of three senior receivers on PSU, has been perhaps the sole reason that the Penn State offense has enjoyed any success in the past two weeks. 

Other top performers from the game against the Hoosiers included receiver Jordan Norwood, receiver Deon Butler, running back Evan Royster, and linebacker Josh Hull.

Norwood had his biggest game since a hamstring injury in the early part of the season with seven catches for 69 yards.  Butler also managed to pull in five catches for 56 yards and a touchdown. 

Royster ran for only 63 yards on the game, but enjoyed a 5.2 average yards per carry as the PSU coaching staff tried to rest him for next week. 

Hull recorded his first sack of the season and had seven tackles to anchor the defense, which allowed a 57-yard touchdown run in the second quarter for the only points scored by Indiana.

Week 13 Preview

At the start of the season, if you were to tell the Penn State football team that they would have a chance to go to the Rose Bowl by winning a home game for the last game of the regular season, I don’t think you would have found anyone not willing to embrace that situation.

That situation is exactly what the Lions face this week, as they take on Michigan State at 3:30 pm at Beaver Stadium.

Penn State, Michigan State, and Ohio State are all currently 6-1 in Big Ten games.  Penn State has beaten Ohio State, Ohio State has beaten Michigan State, and Penn State and Michigan State are playing this Saturday.

If Penn State beats Michigan State, then they will either share the Big Ten title with Ohio State (if Ohio State beats Michigan) or win the Big Ten title outright (if Ohio State loses to Michigan). 

Either way, Penn State would earn the right to represent the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl with a win because they own the head-to-head tiebreaker against Ohio State.

If Penn State loses to Michigan State, then Penn State would not win the Big Ten title because Michigan State would then finish with a better conference record.  If they lose this game, Penn State would finish third in the conference if Ohio State also beats Michigan.

In my article from the beginning of the summer, I had predicted Penn State to defeat Michigan State by a score of 45-20.  Even though Michigan State has had a much better season than I originally anticipated, I will stand by this prediction.

It is my opinion that the Penn State team will come out and play with the same aggression and intensity that they showed for the better part of the season against Michigan State.

The sloppiness PSU showed in the beginning of the game last week can be attributed to the disappointment revolving around the program after losing to Iowa in the previous week. 

Penn State will realize the enormity of the game in front of them and win big against the Spartans to seal their trip to the Rose Bowl.

In this battle of star running backs, expect a big game from a well-rested Evan Royster; but also expect the Penn State defense to do everything within their power to stop Michigan State phenom Javon Ringer. 

Playing the game at home with a stellar defense, I think the edge goes to Penn State in shutting down Ringer.

The only back to have success against the PSU defense this year was Shonn Greene in the upset against Iowa, and he still had a sub-par performance by his standards.

Even though this game is played during Thanksgiving Break, I expect there to be a lot of energy surrounding Beaver Stadium that will propel the Lions to a fast start offensively in this game, something they have been incapable of for most of the season.

This should boost Clark’s confidence, and I expect him to have a lot of success in this game.

The chances of Penn State sneaking back into the national championship picture are essentially zero at this point, as no top ranked teams lost this past week.

However, Penn State still has the tremendous opportunity to play in a BCS bowl game and will have a great core group of players returning to the team for next season.