Penn State Football Prediction Roundtable: Nittany Lions at Buckeyes

Corey Hunter, Contributor

This has been a difficult game for me to decide. I’ve waffled back and forth all week. Penn State has played exceptionally well in all three phases of the game, and last week’s dismantling of a top-tier defense leads me to think they can do it again.

On the flip side, Ohio State seems to have everything needed to win the game: they have the revenge factor from last year, they have an offense clicking on all cylinders, and they have the home field advantage.

Here’s where, when all things are equal, intangibles come into play.

This Nittany Lions squad reminds me quite a bit of the 1994 team. They had to travel to Michigan where they hadn’t won as a member of the Big Ten and weren’t necessarily expected to (much like these Lions based on the Vegas odds) and Penn State found a way to score just enough to eek out a 31-24 win.

The same resilient 1994 bunch also found themselves in a deep hole at Illinois, against one of the Big Ten’s all-time best defenses. Once again Kerry Collins and company got up off the mat and found a way to overcome adversity to get the 35-31 win.

No matter which way I lean I come back to one immutable fact and that is “winners find a way to win”. Trace McSorley and Saquon Barkley have been consistent winners at Penn State. They have found ways to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Ohio State and JT Barrett can’t always say that. And for that reason, I’m gonna go against my pre-season prediction and say the Nittany Lions pull off the win.

Penn State – 23

Ohio State – 17