Week 10 Prediction

Alright, time for another bounce back week, and what better way to bounce back from a humiliating loss than to play the Fighting Illini of Illinois!  That’s right, in the middle of growing concerns about the Washington Redskins mascot, we’re going to play a team whose Native American mascot, Chief Illiniwek, was banned as “offensive” by the NCAA back in August 2005.  To be honest, I’m surprised I haven’t heard more chants of “where’s the chief?” (as in “where’s the beef?”) from opposing fans.  Oh well, I guess I’m just more creative.  Coincidentally, ESPN’s College Gameday will be live from Florida State this week, which means we may get a repeat of this from 2 weeks ago.  Since Penn State vs Illinois will start at noon on ESPN, Lee Corso’s antics may cut into the pre-game festivities.  Let’s hope he keeps it brief and a little less offensive this time around.  Anyway, let’s get to the break down.

The Good

After an impressive start, the Illini have collapsed in true Illinois fashion and are currently in the middle of a 17 game conference losing streak.  In other words, they haven’t beaten a single Big Ten team since 2011!  Additionally, this game will take place in the friendly confines of Beaver Stadium, where Penn State seems to play much better than on the road.  Since the 2^nd week of the season, Penn State has gone W, L, W, L, W, L… so guess what, it’s time for a Win!  Oh, and I forgot to mention Penn State has a very sizable talent advantage even with fewer scholarship players.  As the opening line of Penn State -11 would suggest, the separation between PSU and UI is almost the same as PSU and OSU.

The Bad

Nathan Scheelhaase (pronounced “Sheel-house”) is back for his 10^th year as the duel-threat quarterback for Illinois.  Ok, so he hasn't been there that long, but it sure feels like it.  By himself, he’s actually very talented, and he showed earlier in the season just how much he's benefited from new offensive coordinator Bill Cubit’s coaching.  The problem, for Scheelhaase at least, is that he has zero reliable weapons around him.  The only other potential bad news is if Penn State is still down emotionally after last week and they come out flat for a noon kickoff, potentially in bad weather.  However, I don’t think Bill O’Brien or the seniors will allow this to happen.  Fingers crossed!

The Story

Not too many story lines in this one.  Some players are probably still mad at Tim Beckman for trying to poach players back in the summer of 2012, but any animosity that remains is a fading memory at this point and probably won’t have any significant impact on this game.  I think the team is more motivated by trying to get things back on track than revenge.  In other news, maybe we'll get to see this on the sidelines tomorrow!

The Prediction

Penn State’s defense continues to struggle against yet another (somewhat) spread attack, even though the defensive line continues to bring pressure and even picks up a few sacks.  Christian Hackenberg throws another TD to Allen Robinson, who goes for over 150 yds, and then connects with someone else in the endzone as well, most likely a tight end like Jesse James.  In his new role as the starter, Bill Belton has a great day against one of the worst rushing defenses in the country (assuming we don’t throw it 55 times like the last time we played a bad rushing defense).  Belton crosses the century mark and scores twice on short yardage plays.  Illinois puts up some points, especially through the air, but they just can’t hang with the better teams in the league (and yes, despite last week, Penn State is still one of the better teams in the Big Ten).  Final score: Penn State 34 – Illinois 21

As always, I’ll do my best to tweet throughout the game, so follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus.  Since it’s a noon game, I hope to post the wrap up on Saturday night, so look out for that.  And as always, go State!