Penn State at Michigan State: Prediction roundtable

Shane Lunnen, Contributor

Penn State desperately needs to rebound against Michigan State. I’m talking about a take no prisoners type of game after they blew a big opportunity against Ohio State last Saturday.

The Nittany Lion defense is not as bad as they showed against the Buckeyes, getting shredded by J.T. Barrett. It does not seem defensive end Ryan Buchholz will play this week after his injury. That will be a big loss to a defensive line that could not sustain a pass rush against Ohio State. Hoping they corrected it in practice this week and the next man up mentality will fuel them.

Offense is not the Spartans strong point. Quarterback Brian Lewerke had his best game against Northwestern last week, but the Spartans still came up short in triple overtime. I’m thinking  as long as Penn State has a rebound game on defense, they should be able to contain the Spartans.

The Spartan defense is strong, especially the front seven. Again the Nittany Lions are going to need to find ways to put up points against a quality defense. Everybody says feed the workhorse Saquon Barkley. Teams are finding ways to stop him, even if they give up a big splash play. Barkley will still get his carries, but this team has too many weapons to become one dimensional.

I’m thinking Penn State struggles to gain much in the first half, similar to last year’s game against the Spartans. In the second half, they will do enough to win. Maybe the defense can get a big turnover and turn it into points.  The Spartans don’t have enough offensive firepower to outgain the Lions. Penn State gets the victory, but not as big of a margin that we would all like to see.

Penn State 27
Michigan State 13