Preview: Illinois @ Penn St - Sept 27, 2008
By Razor Sharp Sports
The Big-10 kicks off their 2008 conference schedule this weekend and we have a battle between two top-25 teams. No it is not 4-0 Minnesota at Ohio St. It isn’t Wisconsin taking on Michigan at the Big House. Instead it is the Fighting Illini and the Nittany Lions. #12 Penn St is at home at Happy Valley to take on #23 Illinois.
Penn St is out to a 4-0 start this season. They have outscored their opponents 211 to 40 so far. The only problem is they really haven’t played anyone. The opponents combined record this season is 5-10 with 3 of the victories coming against Division 1-AA teams. Still you can only beat the teams that are on your schedule and that is exactly what Penn St has done. Joe Paterno knows that his first four games were time to work on the depth of his team and get ready for the Big-10 season. They have played 3 quarterbacks throw the ball, 7 running backs carry the ball and 15 receivers catch the ball. Now that the conference schedule is here, you will here the names Daryll Clark, Evan Royster and Jordan Norwood. Clark is the starting QB and has completed 61.5% of his passed for 720 yards, 7TDs and only 1 int. Royster is the starting running back who has run for 379 yards on only 47 carries. That is 8.1 yards/carry.  He has also scored 7 TDs. Jordan Norwood is the leading receiver. He has caught 18 balls for 318 yards and 4 TDs. The starting defensive unit is real good. They have allowed just 20 points in the first half and they haven’t trailed in a game this year. They are allowing just 222 yards per game.
The Fighting Illini program has really started to turn things around. After being a joke of the Big-10 for about a decade straight, Coach Ron Zook took over the program and has restored them to respectability.  Last season, Illinois went 9-4. They are 2-1 this season for a combined 11 wins in under a year and a half. In the 4 years prior to that,  they were a combined 8-38. This season, Illinois dropped their opener in a shootout to #6 Missouri 52-42. Since then they have won 2 over Eastern Illinois and UL-Lafayette. The Illini offense is again lead by QB Juice Williams. Williams has thrown for 7 TDs and ran for 2 more. RB Daniel Dufrene has taken over for Rashard Mendenhall. He has run for 300 yards so far this season. Illinois had the week off last week, so they will have an extra week to prepare.
Last season, Illinois pulled the upset over Penn St beating the Nittany Lions 27-20. Penn St could only score in 3 of their 6 visits into the redzone in that contest and had 3 turnovers. Illinois also had a kickoff return for a TD in that game. The way both of these teams can score I expect an even higher scoring game than we saw last season. As a free winner for this week take the Illinois/Penn St game OVER the total. Last week we finally lost our pick here. We are now 3-1. Lets get back on track this week.  Don’t forget you can always get a free winner each and everyday from us by going to www.feeplays.com and clicking on Razor Sharp Sports or you can alwasy call the Razor Sharp Free Pick Phone at 1-800-549-7111.