- The biggest reasons PSU stifled Rutgers running game last year, Safety Adrian Amos and defensive End Deion Barnes and linebacker Mike Hull are no longer playing for PSU. Their replacements aren't as good. Add in that PSU lost their starting MLB in Nyeem Wartman, and PSU is in big trouble against this Rutgers team.
- Denman is playing much better than he was playing last year and Miller Is a very effective pulling Guard. Add in Nelson, who made some terrific blocks against WSU and I think Rutgers will be able to run on PSU.
- Josh Hicks and Robert Martin are better than Saquan Barkley. Robert Martin made NFL moves on WSU defenders last week. I think we can control the game with these two.
- Laviano has been fairly accurate, but today he'll need to perform under pressure. I hope he doesn't get rattled by the crowd. His number 1 priority has to be to avoid turnovers. He should be able to put up decent numbers as Rutgers should be able to focus its resources on blocking Zettel, PSU's best lineman, and give him enough time to find open receivers. I wouldn't be surprised to see Flanagan have a big day. If Laviani is struggling, the staff cannot afford to hesitate to go with Rettig.
- Penn State won't be able to cover Flanagan, Arch, Grant, Agudosi and Patton. Agudosi has to be able to catch the ball. If he can demonstrate consistency, Rutgers could blow out PSU. Receivers are going to have to be aggressive in going after the ball, as the ball may not always be thrown perfectly. As long as they can adjust to the flight of the ball, which Carroo was so good at doing, we should be fine.
- We have better athletes than Temple, though I don't expect us to get the ten sacks that they did. The left tackle they are playing doesn't react quickly, and lacks strength and technique to recover from mistakes. If Turay was 100%, we could project a big day for him, but I'll be happy with a few. The rest of their line isn't that great. Our defense should be able to bully their offense.
- Hackenburg will get his yards on our young/depleted secondary. But our offense will be able to keep pace.
I think we keep pace and pull it out with a field goal in the last few minutes.
Rutgers 20
Bad Guys 17
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