Badgering the MTB Staff: Penn State Picks

The end of the regular season is nearly upon us and as we look towards a bittersweet Senior Day it's time for our contributors to take one last swing at predicting the game. 

It's been a very good 2013 for our staff's predictions, so here is a quick reminder of where we stand with one game left: 

So, it appears that Arman has wrapped up the points lead, but will this week separate any of the staff in the record department? 

Let's get to the picks! 

Andy:  Wisconsin 41, Penn State 21
This game is pretty simple, Wisconsin at home on Senior Day equals a jacked up Chris Borland and a jacked up James White. Look for big games from both of them, but the area of concern for me is still the secondary outside of Sojourn Shelton. If Minnesota wouldn't have been so inept in the pass game things may have looked a lot different. Watching the game over I counted at least four missed passes and a number of close calls on pass interference. Christian Hackenberg isn't Philip Nelson and the Badgers will give up a few late scores after an early Penn State touchdown in the pass game. However, it won't matter because the Badgers run game will cruise to victory. 

Arman:  Wisconsin 41, Penn State 6
Wisconsin keeps its streak of no offensive touchdowns allowed, as Penn State struggles to get into the red zone against the 5th ranked scoring defense in the country. The Badgers offense on the other hand, finds easy sledding against a PSU defense which gives up over 350 of offense per game. Wisconsin running backs James White and Melvin Gordon get going early and don't let off the gas pedal, with White scoring twice, Gordon once. Corey Clement scores as well, late in the game. Jared Abbrederis and Derek Watt also haul in TD passes from Joel Stave who performs well with a clean pocket for most of the night. Penn State coughs the ball up twice, allowing Wisconsin to continue pouring it on. Badgers win big, locking up a top 14 BCS ranking and likely birth to the Orange Bowl.

Paul:  Wisconsin 35, Penn State 7
Penn State struggled mightily on the road this season (losses at Indiana and Minnesota) and the Nittany Lion defense has looked like the French Maginot Line – easily circumvented and ultimately useless when it counts most. I had a hard time pegging Wisconsin's point total — toyed with ranges from 34 to 56 — but the cold weather made me knock my projection from 45 to 35 points. The Badger defense makes it easy to predict that Penn State won't hit double digits against UW's starters

Jay:  Wisconsin 31, Penn State 10
It's senior day and I don't see this large group of seniors leaving Camp Randall without a win. Penn State has struggled on the road and, well, Wisconsin has had only one legitimate challenge all year at home against BYU.

I see White getting a good chunk of carries, and Abbrederis will catch his passes. I don't foresee anything overly exerting and we'll sit and wait to see where the B1G Championship game result sends us come January.