Penn State Preview: Purdue

The newly ranked Nittany Lions will take to the road for the first time in four weeks as they  head to Purdue for a battle with the Boilermakers.

Overview

The Nittany Lions are coming off of one of the biggest wins in program history after knocking off #2 Ohio State last Saturday. The Boilermakers are coming off a hard fought loss verus a very talented Nebraska team last week. The big thing in this one will be if the Nittany Lions will be able to get over their big win and ” bring the juice” on Saturday in an environment that will be the complete opposite of last week.

Notes

Location: Ross-Ade Stadium, West Lafayette, Indiana

Time: Noon (eastern)

Television: ABC or ESPN2

Opponent: Purdue Boilermakers (3-4,1-3)

Ranks: PSU- 24 Purdue-  102

Line: PSU -14

Last meeting: 45-21 PSU (2013)

Injuries: WR Brandon Polk ( assumed out)

Last Thoughts

It will be interesting to see how Penn State comes out of the gates on Saturday afternoon, the hope is that there will be no hangover from the Ohio State game. Ross-Ade Stadium is a tough place to play in becuase there is no atmosphere and the team will not be able to feed off of the crowd like they do at home. Purdue is an interesting matchup, they throw the ball ALOT, 44 times a game, mostly becuase they are always trying to catch up. They also have an interm coach in Gerad Parker who took over for Darrell Hazell who was fired two weeks ago. Purdue’s passing attack is led by sophomore QB David Blough who has 308 attempts on the year with a 56% completion percentage with 2065 passing yards to go with a solid 14 TDs, but a stunning 11 INTs. His favorite target is DeAngelo Yancey who has 28 catches for 491 yards and 5 TDs, last week’s hero Grant Haley will have the assignment of covering Yancey.

Luckily, Purdue’s defense is not good. They’re giving up 33.3 points per game to go along with 441 yards allowed. Saquon Barkley could be in for a career day as the Boilermakers are allowing 250 rush yards per game. Barkley only had 99 yards on 12 carries lastv week and I expect OC Joe Moorehead to get his best player more involved this week. The Nittany Lions should lean on Barkley early in this one, then gash the Purdue secondary in the second half to put this one away.

I do believe the team will come out a little flat to start, Purdue might even strike first, but Penn State’s talent will overwhelm the Boilermakers as the game goes on. I think the team will look to Barkley to carry them for their sixth win and give James Franklin three staright bowl eligible seasons. Look for the secondary to get some timely picks of Blough as well.

Prediction: Penn State 41 Purdue 17