CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Five => Big Ten => Topic started by: Big Beef Tacosupreme on September 27, 2017, 10:58:16 AM
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Fancy Formatting in the title? Not gonna happen under my watch!
Last year, Indiana nearly pulled off the win. They held Barkley to something like 55 yards on 30+ carries. They are one of two teams to have actually contained him. (Michigan is the other)
Iowa showed last week that a strong linebacking unit can at least slow down the Nittany lion offense. And for a second straight week, Penn State will play a very strong unit. Tegray Scales is a very scary man.
Further, Penn State's attacking style defense works well, except when it doesn't. And when it doesn't, it usually results in a big play (See Iowa last week). This usually isn't a problem, because the PSU offense is typically good for 30+ points. However, against Indiana they won't have that cushion.
Finally, Indiana was able to rest most of their guys last week, while Penn State was beaten up by a fired up Hawkeye team. The line is Penn State by 18 points, and I think that's WAY too high.
On the flip side, Indiana apparently does have some key injuries, and they will be playing at Beaver Stadium.
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Penn St leads the series 19-1.
The series began in 1993. Indiana's lone win was in 2013.
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I could potentially see a slight hangover from Penn St after such a thrilling contest.
JK Dobbins gashed Indiana's defense and Barkley is better than Dobbins, so as long as Penn St doesn't get too cute they will score.
This is in my opinion the best offense Penn State's faced thus far this season, some talented WR's, decent QB play. If IU could somehow get off to a roaring start then I think it could come down to the 4th quarter.
I think this will probably resemble the OSU contest, IU's quick tempo catches Penn St a little off at first, they are about even at half but eventually Penn State's talented backfield takes over.
Penn St 38-24
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Penn State survived their first legitimate test of the year, and the most promising thing for Indiana last weekend was not their easy win over Georgia Southern, but Virginia going on the road and handling Boise State, making that Hoosier over Hoos win look a lot more impressive. True freshman Morgan Ellison, who was a late flip away from the MAC looked like an absolute steal in running wild last week. But a struggling Georgia Southern triple option rushing attack was finally able to get its legs against Indiana, which is troubling with the best running back in the country looming. Yes, there is the fluky factor, but Georgia Southern hadn't been running on anyone else, last in the Sun Belt in rushing, and they picked up 242 yards on 54 carries against Indiana. They rank dead last in the Big Ten in run defense, and that is a recipe for disaster. Perhaps because Michigan's defense is getting all the headlines, or because when you think Penn State, you think Barkley, but the Nittany Lion defense is suddenly back too. Franklin won it with offense last year, but the Penn State defense might be the most improved unit in the conference. They aren't going to completely smother you like Michigan will, but they'll bend, not break, and force a bunch of turnovers. They've forced a conference leading 10. When you take arguably the most talented team in the conference then add the intangible of best turnover differential, that's the type of thing championships are made from. Indiana's games have been all about ball security. They are 13th in the Big Ten in turnovers created with just 3, but 4th in turnovers, with just 4 themselves. They are one of only 4 schools in the FBS with no interceptions created, and the only team in the conference with fewer than 2. For them to have any chance in this one, that will have to change. But with the best running back in the nation going up against the worst run defense in the Big Ten, I see no reason for McSorley to take any unnecessary risks through the air.
PENN STATE 37, INDIANA 21
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Barkley held to just 56 yards rushing, team 39 yards? Is that why they moved him to QB? Indiana was very helpful turning the ball over four times.
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this would have been interesting to see if IU didn't cough it up 4 times. IU is obviously not good enough to spot Penn St 21 points on the road and have 4 turnovers.
great kick return by Barkley, it's obvious Penn St is doing everything it can to get the kid the Heisman, and he's probably most people's front runner right now.
I've never been a big fan of putting my best player on Kick or Punt returns though, the risk of injury on those plays is too high for me to risk the best guy on the team.
but if he's the best at it on the team, I guess maybe you take your chances. although I might only use him in those spots against OSU and UM, the big games. you don't need him there for IU.
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Barkley held to just 56 yards rushing, team 39 yards? Is that why they moved him to QB? Indiana was very helpful turning the ball over four times.
Well, sometimes defenses actually cause turnovers too.....like the one that Charles caused on the PR fumble return for a TD by Nick Scott. And the one that Campbell caused with the strip.
That said, IU for whatever reason has a gameplan on Barkley; they held him to even less yards and per carry avg last season. The problem is, they don't stop much else, hence the 45 points. And Barkley beat them in about 3 other ways.
Nothing against IU on Saturday, but I told my buddy that if PSU had played Michigan, they'd have lost b/c PSU may not have scored at all. McSorley's been very erratic in his play and VERY inaccurate passing.
PSU's OL has been a major disappointment for me so far this year. I really felt they'd take a major step forward but they haven't. I think a lot of the ailments of the special teams (our All B1G kicker is 5/11 with 4 blocks this year) have been due to younger OL's just getting busted off the line.
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Barkley held to just 56 yards rushing, team 39 yards? Is that why they moved him to QB? Indiana was very helpful turning the ball over four times.
Yeah, Indiana was 100% all in on Barkley. That's why Trace had such a huge day, despite not being his normal accurate self.
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My guess is most teams are going to gameplan for Barkley and then see if Mcsorely can beat them.
It'll be interesting to see what UM and OSU do against Penn St, because I think both will be able to get pressure on Mcsorely with just their D lines, so maybe they drop some guys in coverage, make the window's a little tighter for Mcsorely.
Some of it might just be the WR play as well, it seemed like every 50/50 ball the PSU WR's just came down with a majority of them the last 6-7 games last season. maybe that dynamic or law of averages whatever you want to call it is just starting to even out.
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We did lose Godwin to the NFL. He was the primary receiver last year. It looks like Desean Hamilton is starting to assume that role this year.