Penn State Phryday

Yinzers,

Hopefully, a milestone will be reached tomorrow. I apologize for the use of the passive voice, but it seemed like the most appropriate grammatical structure to capture the spirit of the thing as Dicky Dunn in Slapshot would have done. For any of the readers out there who did not know, Joe Paterno is going for his 400th win this weekend when the Wildcats of Northwestern come to Happy Valley. This is an amazing feat within itself, considering most coaches do not coach in 400 games in their careers. So, here we go.

Northwestern Wildcats
The Wildcats come into this game with a record of 6-2 (2-2 in the Big Ten). Northwestern's two losses came at the hands of then undefeated Michigan State and Purdue and all six of their wins have been games in which they should have won. Simply stated, they have beaten the bad teams and lost to the good teams. Generally speaking, Northwestern has been sticking to their same game plan for the last four years, their quarterback. Dan Persa is the quarterback this year, and they have thrown 234 times in 8 games. Persa is also the leading rusher for the Wildcats with 360 yards on 121 attempts. The "balance" in the Northwestern offense simply means that they drop Persa back and give him the decision to run or pass. Persa's favorite target is wide receiver Jeremy Ebert, who leads the team with 7 touchdowns. If Northwestern is to be successful on offense, they will have to take advantage of the depleted Penn State secondary and use high percentage passing routes. The key to victory on defense for Northwestern will be to get to the quarterback...if they can. Northwestern's defense is ranked 63rd overall, so they need to step it up if they want to be successful.

Penn State Nittany Lions
The Nitany Lions are coming off a big victory in the Big Ten as they beat Michigan and Denard Robinson 41-31 last week, under the lights in Beaver Stadium. Sophomore Matt McGloin got the start and threw for 250 yards and a touchdown while Evan Royster put up 150 yards on the ground with 2 scores of his own. The score was a little bit misleading, considering Denard Robinson ran for 190 and passed for 190. All that matters is they got the win. The Northwestern Wildcats and Dan Persa are not nearly as dangerous on offense as Denard Robinson is. Penn State's balance was there, which kept the opponent's defense off-balance. If they want to be successful and get JoePa his 400th win this weekend, they will need to do the same. Feed the ball to Evan Royster and take advantage of mismatches down the field. On defense, keep Persa contained and get him on the ground early and often. These are the basic keys to success in the Big Ten.

Game time is 3:30 pm on either ABC or ESPN2, depending on your region.

For the Glory,
B Brog