Game 2 Preview: Oregon State @ Penn State

vs.

Gametime: 3:30 pm

TV: ABC

Audio: Here

Weather: Hannah seemed imminent earlier in the week, but now we’re down to 30% chance of rain. Bring your poncho either way. High of 73.

Well, we might as well talk about the suspensions first. We have a couple points we’d like to get across. First, there’s still a lot that no one knows about the situation, so let’s not jump to conclusions. That said, if the pot didn’t belong to the players, then I think we can all move on with our lives. If it did, this is borderline insane behavior by them because of the level of scrutiny the school is under. I think those points are obvious.

Next, Paterno probably felt that he needed to suspend these guys just to avoid a huge backlash in the media, especially after the negative reaction to his appearance on Outside The Lines. He probably feels that it will send a message, and that it’s a non-conference game. Maybe if it’s a Big11Ten game, he plays the “let’s not jump to conclusions” card, much like we already did.

Third, this makes our prediction in the B&W Roundtable (that there wasn’t enough time for the incident to affect the game) look idiotic. But we’re not really surprised by that.

We’ll find out more about this whole mess in the coming weeks, but right now, we have to deal with the loss of half our defensive line. So what does this mean for the game?

Well, obviously, it’s going to affect the D. Luckily, Oregon State’s running game is less than stellar (120 yards against Standford is nothing to brag about). Hopefully the Lions can shut down the run and concentrate fully on the passing game and specifically QB Lyle Moevao, who threw for 404 yards last week. If the depeleted D-line can get pressure on Moevao, it should help out the secondary a little.

Luckily, OSU’s run D might be as bad as their ground game on offense. They gave up 238 yards last week rushing to Stanford last week, so Penn State should rely on the Royster/Green monster combo as much as possible tomorrow. Clark will have to step up and make the throws when necessary, and we also think he’ll get some rushes (some designed, some scrambles) this week. We think we’ll see Devlin too, and hopefully he stays as calm as he was last week.

Does the D-line stuff make us worried? Of course. But we were far less worried when we saw these dudes:

Frightening.

Player(s) To Watch- Oregon State: Wide Receivers Shane Morales and Sammie Stroughter
These guys combined for 15 catches and 308 yards last week. Yikes. The secondary is going to have to tighten the screws this week.

Player(s) To Watch- Penn State: Defensive Line
This is kinda obvious, but the key to this game, at least early on, will be the play of the D-line unit in the absence of starters Evans and Koroma. They need to get pressure on Moevao and allow the Lions build a lead.

3 Bold Predictions:
-Derrick Williams returns either a punt or kickoff for another touchdown.
-Moevao throws for 300+ yards, but most of it will be in futile comeback mode.
-Andrew Quarless will not suit up again this season. Or ever.

Well, before we get to our score prediction, we just want to comment on an Oregon State blog called “Building the Dam”. The dude who writes this devoted a post to how mundane and mediocre Penn State is, and basically just rips on the program. We were impressed for a second until we remembered that he writes a blog for a team that just lost to Stanford. Clown.

Anyway, we think this one could be close early on, but as long as we stay in the lead and try to make the Beavers play catch-up, they’ll eventually make some mistakes, as they soon realize they’re not playing in front of a lame Pac-10 crowd. The defense will muddle through, and Royster, Green, Clark and co. will be firing on all cylinders. Look out, Beavers.

Game Prediction: PSU 44, Oregon State 21