KENT ST vs PENN ST
When: 12:00 PM ET, Saturday, September 15, 2018
Where: Beaver Stadium, University Park, Pennsylvania

TV: 12:00 PM
LINE: -34
PREDICTION: PENN ST , KENT ST

Oddsmakers currently have the PENN ST listed as -34 point favorites versus the KENT ST, while the game’s total is sitting at 65.

Penn State eased some concerns following an uneven home opener by thrashing a state rival on the road last week. The 10th-ranked Nittany Lions will try to give the home fans a better showing Saturday when they host Kent State in their final non-conference tune-up prior to Big Ten play.

After needing overtime to get past Appalachian State two weekends ago, Penn State overcame a slow start at Pittsburgh in primetime Saturday night to crush the Panthers 51-6. Trace McSorley threw for two touchdowns and ran for another for the Nittany Lions, who forced three turnovers and held Pitt to 55 yards passing. “I’m proud of how we played,” coach James Franklin said at his weekly press conference. “I think we took a step in the right direction, cleaned up some things. Played aggressive. Played fast. Thought we really did well at the line of scrimmage, both the defensive line and offensive line.” The Golden Flashes will be playing their second Big Ten opponent, having already lost at Illinois 31-24 after taking a 14-point lead into halftime.

TV: Noon ET, Fox Sports 1. LINE: Penn State -35

ABOUT KENT STATE (1-1): Sophomore quarterback Woody Barrett has three passing TDs and two rushing scores through the first two games while tossing three interceptions. He is one of three Golden Flashes with over 100 yards on the ground, including Justin Rankin (team-high 199) and Jo-El Shaw, who had 12 rushes for 105 yards and three TDs in last week’s 54-14 win over Howard. Senior linebacker Matt Bahr had 11 tackles and forced a fumble in the victory as Kent State held the Bison to 270 total yards while forcing four turnovers.

ABOUT PENN STATE (2-0): McSorley lost some weapons from last year but he has a new one in redshirt freshman wide receiver KJ Hamler, who has three touchdowns – including one on a 32-yard run at Pitt – through the first two games. Junior Miles Sanders rushed for a career-high 118 yards against the Panthers while averaging 7.4 yards per carry. McSorley needs 12 rushing yards to become the second Nittany Lions quarterback with 1,000 for a career and he is 257 passing yards away from becoming the second to throw for 8,000.

EXTRA POINTS 

1. McSorley threw for 209 yards and two scores and ran for 47 yards in a 33-13 win over Kent State in his first career start Sept. 3, 2016.

2. Rankin had 82 rushing yards in the 2016 loss at Penn State, which was a career high until he recorded 147 last week.

3. The Nittany Lions have won all five meetings by a combined margin of 144-29.

PREDICTION: Penn State 52, Kent State 17

The post KENT ST vs. PENN ST 9/15/2018 Free Pick & CFB Betting Prediction appeared first on IdealCapper.

PENN ST vs PITTSBURGH
When: 8:00 PM ET, Saturday, September 8, 2018
Where: Heinz Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

TV: 8:00 PM
LINE:
PREDICTION: PITTSBURGH , PENN ST

Oddsmakers currently have the PITTSBURGH listed as point favorites versus the PENN ST, while the game’s total is sitting at .

Penn State survived an upset bid in its opener at home, putting the 10th-ranked Nittany Lions on shaky ground entering a heated rivalry game at Pittsburgh on Saturday night. After allowing Appalachian State to score 28 points in the fourth quarter last Saturday, Penn State survived in overtime to win 45-38, but questions surround a squad that entered the year with high hopes.

“We have a lot of things that we need to get cleaned up and corrected before our next game,” coach James Franklin told reporters after the victory. The Panthers cruised to a 33-7 win over FCS opponent Albany in their opener and will be licking their chops in the 99th meeting between the Keystone State rivals. “Anybody who wants to argue and say this is no different than any other week, it is,” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi told reporters this week. “That’s a fact. If you want to ignore that, you can ignore it. It’s a big game.” The teams have split two meetings since the rivalry resumed in 2016 following a 16-year hiatus, with the Nittany Lions winning 33-14 at home last year.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, ABC. LINE: Penn State -9

ABOUT PENN STATE (1-0): The Nittany Lions looked outmatched at times in the trenches against Appalachian State, prompting Franklin to tell reporters: “I don’t think there’s any doubt … we got to play better up front on both sides of the ball.” One of the bright spots away from the line of scrimmage was the play of freshman wide receiver KJ Hamler, who had a team high-tying 67 receiving yards – 15 on the game-tying TD catch in the final minute of regulation. Senior Trace McSorley threw for 229 yards and the one score and needs 402 passing yards to become the second passer in school history with 8,000 in a career.

ABOUT PITTSBURGH (1-0): Kenny Pickett’s first collegiate start came in the stunning upset of second-ranked Miami late last season and the sophomore picked up where he left off in the opener against Albany, throwing for two TDs and running for another in the first half alone. Rafael Araujo-Lopes caught both scores from Pickett to match his TD total from last season while Maurice Ffrench found the end zone twice – once with a nine-yard rush and once on a 91-yard kickoff return. Senior Qadree Ollison, who had a season-high 96 rushing yards in just 15 attempts at Penn State last year, led the ground attack with 73 yards versus the Great Danes.

EXTRA POINTS

1. McSorley needs 48 rushing yards to become the second quarterback in Penn State history with at least 1,000.

2. Panthers DL Keyshon Camp had two sacks and two tackles for a loss against Albany.

3. Penn State leads the all-time series 51-43-4.

PREDICTION: Penn State 38, Pittsburgh 33

The post PENN ST vs. PITTSBURGH 9/8/2018 Free Pick & CFB Betting Prediction appeared first on IdealCapper.

APPALACHIAN ST vs PENN ST
When: 3:30 PM ET, Saturday, September 1, 2018
Where: Beaver Stadium, University Park, Pennsylvania

TV: 3:30 PM
LINE: -23
PREDICTION: PENN ST , APPALACHIAN ST

Oddsmakers currently have the PENN ST listed as -23 point favorites versus the APPALACHIAN ST, while the game’s total is sitting at 54.

No. 9 Penn State said goodbye to perhaps the most dynamic player in college football but they have plenty in place to stay at or near the top of the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions begin another season with high expectations with a tricky opener when they play host to Appalachian State on Saturday.

Saquon Barkley, who electrified the Penn State program while scoring a school-record 51 touchdowns in three years, is now a rookie with the New York Giants, yielding the full glow of the limelight to senior quarterback Trace McSorley – the second-leading passer in program history. A late collapse and a one-point loss at Ohio State followed by a last-second defeat at Michigan State kept the Nittany Lions from a chance at a second straight Big Ten title last year, but they’ve won 14 straight at home. The Mountaineers are no pushover after picking up 30 wins – including a 3-0 bowl record – over the last three years and garnering six first-place votes in the Sun Belt Conference preseason coaches’ poll. They pulled off one of the biggest upsets in college football history exactly 11 years to the day with a 34-32 triumph at a highly-ranked Michigan team.

TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network. LINE: Penn State -24

ABOUT APPALACHIAN STATE (2017: 9-4): Zac Thomas will take over under center and can lean heavily on senior running back Jalin Moore, who had 1,037 yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground last year. Thomas Hennigan hauled in seven TD catches as a freshman in 2017 and will lead a talented receiving corps. The defensive side features a standout in the secondary in Clifton Duck, who led the Sun Belt with six interceptions as a sophomore last year after winning league Freshman of the Year honors the prior season.

ABOUT PENN STATE (2017: 11-2): McSorley lost three of his top four targets and Barkley yields to Miles Sanders, who averaged 6.2 yards per carry as his backup a year ago. “I can’t wait,” Sanders told reporters of his chance to start. “I don’t like doing too much talking. That’s never been me. I’m just ready to show what I can do, show the Big Ten, show everybody.” Juwan Johnson (701 receiving yards) and DeAndre Thompkins (443) step into the spotlight in the passing game, while a committee of tight ends is expected to try to fill the void left behind by Mike Gesicki, the program’s all-time leader in catches, yards and TDs at the position.

EXTRA POINTS 

1. McSorley (7,369 career passing yards) needs 1,089 to pass Christian Hackenberg and become the school’s all-time leader.

2. Moore has 3,170 rushing yards, 688 behind the school’s all-time leader (Marcus Cox, 2014-16).

3. This will be the first meeting between the teams.

PREDICTION: Penn State 42, Appalachian State 16

The post APPALACHIAN ST vs. PENN ST 9/1/2018 Free Pick & CFB Betting Prediction appeared first on IdealCapper.

MICHIGAN ST vs PENN ST
When: 11/26/2016 3:30 PM

TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN. LINE: Penn State -12.5
PREDICTION: Penn State 27, Michigan State 20

They’ll probably try to avoid it, but no one can blame members of Penn State’s football team if they are playing a little scoreboard-watching during warm-ups Saturday.

Three-and-a-half hours before the eighth-ranked Nittany Lions (9-2, 7-1 Big Ten) take the field for their Senior Day finale against Michigan State (3-8, 1-7), there is a pretty significant conference game taking place at the Horseshoe in Columbus, Ohio, between No. 3 Michigan (10-1, 7-1) and No. 2 Ohio State (10-1, 7-1).

If the favored Buckeyes take care of business and defeat the Wolverines for the 12th time in 13 years, Penn State will take the field with a chance to go to the Big Ten title game in Indianapolis by virtue of its dramatic 24-21 comeback win over Ohio State earlier this season. However, Michigan, which defeated the Nittany Lions 49-10 back on Sept. 24 at the Big House, owns the tiebreaker if it can upset the Buckeyes.

Penn State was just 2-2 after that ugly loss in Ann Arbor and some restless Nittany Lions fans were calling for head coach James Franklin to be fired. But seven consecutive Big Ten wins, including one that featured a 17-point fourth quarter and 14-point comeback against Ohio State, has changed the atmosphere in State College dramatically.

“It’s surreal,” defensive end Evan Schwan said. “I never thought as a freshman that we’d be in the position we are now. I’m very proud of everyone on the team, the fans and staff for sticking with us and working through the tough times.”

Schwan knows all about those times. He was an underclassmen during the toughest years in program history, when the NCAA levied brutal sanctions — banning the team from a bowl game for two years, gutting its scholarship counts and allowing players to transfer without having to sit out.

Now, Schwan is one of 12 seniors who are helping lead the way and getting crucial contributions from their younger teammates who have elevated their game in what’s been a dominant run since their last loss to the Wolverines.

An offensive turnaround under first-year coordinator Joe Moorhead has reaped massive reward. The defense has done the same with two of its biggest pieces — linebackers Jason Cabinda and Brandon Bell back.

Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions aren’t erring on special teams and are winning second halves every week.

They’ll try to continue those trends against a Michigan State team that has gone the other way. The Spartans won the Big Ten title last season but haven’t been able to ride a youth movement like the Nittany Lions. Michigan State has started nine true freshmen this season and will likely be without top defensive lineman Malik McDowell again in this one.

“Obviously, this is a unique situation,” Franklin, who went 6-6 and 7-5 in his first two seasons at Penn State, said. “Like I mentioned before, we’re tough to beat at home when that stadium is rocking with 107,000. We’re going to need that on Saturday.”

Michigan State has shown that it won’t go down easily. The Spartans nearly upset Ohio State last week at home, losing 17-16 after failing to convert a go-ahead two-point conversion with 4:41 remaining. Running back LJ Scott continues to play his best football, running for a career-high 160 yards and a touchdown against the Buckeyes while also catching a 64-yard touchdown pass. The sophomore has run for more than 100 yards in four of the last five games.

“There are positives out there,” Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said. “There are a lot of positives and we’re a very young football team in a lot of respects, but it doesn’t help ease the pain when you lose and you lose close.”

Michigan State has led in every game it has played this season but still finds itself at 3-8 overall and 1-7 in the Big Ten heading into the finale at Penn State. Last week’s loss to Ohio State was no different as missed opportunities and a handful of crucial penalties kept the Spartans from the win.

The failure to convert the two-point conversion in the fourth quarter was just one example of not executing down the stretch and it was followed by a sack and interception in the last minute.

“I think we’ve had chances throughout every football game we’ve played this year,” Dantonio said. “We’ve been ahead, and then something’s happened. That’s the game. We gotta be able to make plays at the end of a football game, this one’s no different.”

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