It is a Big Ten clash on Saturday, as Indiana visits Penn State. Indiana is ranked second in the first College Football Playoff rankings, and looks to continue their undefeated season. Penn State is still looking for its first win in Big Ten play this year, and hopes to play the role of spoiler. These are three bold predictions on the clash.
Indiana continues to dominate. Not only is the team 9-0, but the games have not been close. Indiana has won six of their nine games by 25 or more points. Furthermore, just one game has been within one score, a 20-15 win on the road against Iowa. They have won the last two games by a combined 95 points. Last time out, Indiana faced Maryland. The Hooisers started slightly slow, with an interception on their first drive and then giving up three points. The slow started ended there. The team led 20-3 heading into halftime and won the game 55-10.
Meanwhile, Penn State continues to struggle. After starting the season 3-0, the team lost in double overtime to Oregon. Since then, they have continued to lose. The losses have been close, with a five-point loss to UCLA, and then one-point losses to Northwestern and Iowa. Last week against Ohio State was not close, though. Penn State managed just 200 yards of offense, falling to Ohio State 38-14.
Fernando Mendoza continues his Heisman campaign
The Indiana offense has been amazing this year. They are second in the nation in points per game while sitting fourth in yards per game. Further, they are the best team in the nation on third downs this year. The run game has been impressive, sitting sixth in yards per game. Still, the passing game has been just as impressive. The team is 112th nationally in passes per game, but the team is still 49th in passing yards per game.
This is led by Fernando Mendoza, who is in contention for the Heisman Trophy this year. He has passed for 2,124 yards this year with 25 touchdowns. Further, he has just four interceptions. This has led to him being third in the nation in QBR with a 90.0 rating. Moreover, he has run for 220 yards and four scores this year. He is coming off a slight down week by his standards, with just 201 yards, a passing touchdown, a rushing touchdown, and an interception. Still, he will rebound against this Penn State defense.
The Penn State defense has struggled, sitting 52nd in opponent points per game while sitting 39th in the nation in opponent yards per game. They have been good against the pass, sitting 16th in opponent yards per game. Still, teams are running more against Penn State than passing this year. Mendoza will dominate this game, passing for multiple touchdowns and over 250 yards.
Ethan Grunkemeyer continues to struggle
The Penn State offense has been a disappointment this year, sitting 58th in points per game and 114th in yards per game. The passing offense has been horrible, sitting 115th in the nation in passing yards per game this year. Meanwhile, the Indiana defense has been good this year. They are third in the nation in opponent points per game and eighth in opponent yards per game. Indiana has been solid against the pass, sitting 23rd in the nation in opponent passing yards per game.
The Penn State offense has also struggled more since Drew Allar went down with an injury. Ethan Grunkemeyer has taken over as the starting quarterback for the Nittany Lions and has not been good. In his last two games, he has completed just 34 of 56 passes for 238 yards. He has not accounted for a touchdown, while being sacked five times and intercepted three times.
Indiana is eighth in the nation in takeaways per game, while also sitting fifth in interception percentage this year. Louis Moore has been dominant in the secondary this year. He has five interceptions on the season to go with a pass breakup. Meanwhile, Amare Ferrell has five pass breakups and three interceptions this year. One of them will have another interception in this game as Grunkemeyer continues to struggle.
Indiana dominates early
Indiana has made a habit of building massive leads as of late. In the game with Michigan State, Indiana opened a 21-10 lead before winning the game by 25 points. Then, against UCLA, Indiana opened up a 35-3 lead before winning by 50 points. Last week against Maryland, it was a 20-3 lead before winning 55-10.
Indiana has given up over 15 points just one time this year. Meanwhile, they have scored 30 or more points in seven of their nine games, with five games of 50 or more points. Meanwhile, Penn State has given up 22 or more points in five straight games. They held it close in the first half last week, down just 17-14, before letting the game get away from them.
They will not have to worry about the game getting away from them in the second half this week; that will happen early. Indiana has shown no mercy this year in taking out opponents. They are working on a resume to prove they belong as the top team in the nation. Ohio State beat Penn State by just three points in the first half and 24 points overall last week.
Odds at the time of writing, according to FanDuel, have Indiana as an 8.5-point favorite for the first half, and then a 14.5-point favorite for the game. Indiana covers both spreads in an effort to show that they are better than Ohio State in this game, and move to 10-0 on the season.
