Preview: Michigan St vs. Penn St - Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008
By Razor Sharp Sports
What a great time of year if you love college football! Last week, the schedule lacked the “Big Game or Games”. This week they make up for it with a couple of key conference match-ups. The Big East lead is up for grabs with Pittsburgh going to Cincinnati to take on the Bearcats! The ACC has a couple of match-up that could decide each divisional winner as Miami-FL takes on Georgia Tech on Thursday for the lead in the ACC - Coastal Division, while Maryland hosts Florida St for the lead in the ACC Atlantic Division. Wednesday night, it is a battle in the MAC -West Division as Ball St takes on Central Michigan. Both teams are undefeated in conference play. The Mountain West title will be on the line when BYU takes on Utah. The Sun Belt crown is on the line when UL-Lafayette takes on Troy. Then their is a little game in the Big-12, where #2 Texas Tech goes to #5 Oklahoma. The winner there would have the upper hand to play in the Big-12 Championship and possibly the BCS Championship game. Finally the game we are going to take a closer look at this week here as the Big-10 crown, a Rose Bowl bid and even possibly a BCS Championship game invite could all be on the line at Michigan St takes on Penn St.
The top spot in the Big-10 is on the line at Happy Valley for not only the two teams that are playing this week, but also for a third team in the Ohio St Buckeyes. The senario is as followed. If Michigan beats Ohio St this week, then the winner of the Michigan St/Penn St game would be the Big-10 champ. If Ohio St beats Michigan as they should as a 21 point favorite, then if Michigan St would beat Penn St, Ohio St would be the Big-10 representative in the Rose Bowl since the Buckeyes beat the Spartans. If Penn St would win, they would win the title because of the head-ups victory over Ohio St. So lets take a closer look at both teams.
First of all. lets take a look at the surprise Spartans team. Last season, Michigan St finished the year 3-5 in the Big-10 and just 7-6 overall. This season they sit at 6-1 in Big-10 play and 9-2 overall. The one key has to be the man who handles the ball most often on the offense. That would be the nation’s #2 rusher Javon Ringer. Ringer has run for 1548 yards and a nation leading 20 TDs. The ability of Ringer running the ball this week will no doubtably be the key component to a win or loss. Spartan QB Brian Hoyer has been less than spectacular this season. He has completed just 49% of his passes for 2029 yards 9 TDs and 6 ints. The defense has really been less than outstanding this season. They are allowing almost 340 yards per game and 19.5 points per game. Besides the really less than impressive numbers, Michigan St has really played an easy schedule this season. They have played just 1 ranked opponent and that was a 45-7 blowout loss to Ohio St. The SPartans did have last week off, so they have the extra week to prepare and get healthy for this key battle.
On the other side of the ball, we have the Penn St Nittany Lions. Penn St saw most of their BCS Championship hopes go flying through the uprights in Iowa 2 weeks ago when the Hawkeyes upset the Nittany Lions on a last second field goal. Still if things fall right, there is still a outside shot that they could get in. Penn St has plenty of weapons. On offense, QB Daryll Clark is a solid leader that has put up good numbers. For the season he is completing just under 60% of his passes for 1978 yards 13 TDs and just 4 interceptions. He has also rushed for 261 yards and 8 more scores. When Clark isn’t throwing the ball, he is handing it off the Evan Royster. Royster has run for 1123 yards at a 6.5 yards/attempt pace. He has also scored 12 TDs rushing. The offense is averaging 39.4 points per game and 442.6 yards per game. Defensively, Joe Pa’s crew is ranked 5th in the nation is points allowed at 11.9 points per game and 4th in yards allowed a 258.6 yards per game. They are also +8 in the Turnover ratio compared to Michigan State’s +3. Penn St has 2 wins over ranked opponents in Ohio St and Illinois plus a blowout victory early in the year over Oregon St 45-14, before the Pac-10 leading Beavers were ranked.
So how does this one play out. I expect the Nittany Lions to control the game, but look for Michigan St to try to keep the ball out of Clark’s hands by getting a strong ground attack with Ringer. The way both teams can run the ball, I expect a low scoring contest. FREE WINNER: Take MICHIGAN ST/PENN ST UNDER the total. Last week we had an easy winner on San Diego and Pittsburgh UNDER the total! Let’s keep it going here. Don’t forget you can always get a free winner each and everyday from us by going to www.freeplays.com and clicking on Razor Sharp Sports or you can always call the Razor Sharp Free Pick Phone at 1-800-549-7111.