| Is Northwestern doing their every even year thing where they crap the bed in non-conference, and then win the West? I've said no before, like when they lost at home to Akron, but none of Northwestern's three non-conference losses were any good. Duke? Miami(Ohio)? Southern Illinois? Even when Northwestern has had mediocre offenses, they've always had defenses they could count on. This year, I'm not so sure that's true. They did give up just 17 in their loss to Miami last week, but they gave up 28+ against Nebraska, Duke and Southern Illinois. Offensively, the Wildcats have a decent line, particularly the interior line which salted away the Nebraska win by just running the ball up the middle for the final 12 minutes. Penn State was able to bottle up the Central Michigan run game without bringing much additional pressure, and if they can leave their safeties high, and force Ryan Hilinski to beat them underneath, that is not how Northwestern wants to play. Hilinski has done pretty well pushing the ball down the field, but in their three losses he's completing just 60% of his passes, with 3 touchdowns and 3 picks. Plus 5 sacks, including 3 from FCS Southern Illinois. The Wildcats are putting the ball in the air far more than they are accustomed to, including 60 passes against Duke. The weather might be iffy, with rain, and wind chills in the 40s. Maybe the game can get ugly enough, like how Illinois upset the Nittany Lions last year in a sloppy Happy Valley. Problem is, that might benefit a resurgent Penn State ground attack, more than a pass happy Northwestern offense. Sean Clifford is playing the cleanest ball of his life, perhaps because he has a running game for the first time since 2019, with one bad interception in the opener. An efficient Clifford, and a dynamic run game is way more than enough. |