Big 10 Showdown – Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Penn State Nittany Lions

Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Penn State Nittany Lions

Saturday, October 3—Memorial Stadium, Champaign, IL— 3:30pm EST

NCAA Betting Line: Penn State -7 ½ (47 O/U)

The Penn State Nittany Lions were not the fifth-best team in the nation, and everyone knew it despite that ranking.

Then the Iowa Hawkeyes came to town and proved that point with authority, shutting down PSU on defense by attacking their weak link, the offensive line.

Illinois on the other hand doesn’t have near the depth or talent on the defensive line that the Hawkeyes have, especially since they lost their best pass rusher in Martez Wilson, a hybrid OLB/DE.

With more time to throw against a pitiful Illinois secondary, Daryll Clark and his underrated new group of WR’s should run free against the Illini, who didn’t really even show up last week against Ohio State and seem to have already thrown in the towel on their season.

The fact that it’s a road game in Champaign shouldn’t matter that much to a seasoned senior QB like Clark, who has done a great job of taking on a leadership role.

Evan Royster and PSU’s other talented running backs are great at hitting the hole, making one cutback, and breaking free, and against an undisciplined Illinois linebacking corps, the possibility of a few long TD runs is high.

It could especially happen as PSU is trying to salt the game away and could lead to the Lions breaking open up a close game and lead to a spread victory for the Lions.

Penn State has had their way with the Illini since joining the Big Ten in 1993, going 10-2 against them.

Illinois has dropped 26 of 29 meetings against ranked teams, and Penn State falls into that category. While the Illini have some weapons like Juice Williams at QB if he gets his head screwed on right and of course Arrelious Benn at wide receiver, the skill in the trenches and really on defense in general is not near what the Nittany Lions possess right now.

PSU still hasn’t put together a complete effort on the year, and coming off a loss to Iowa at home and knowing their backs are against the wall will allow them to come out strong looking to bury Illinois early to take the crowd of it.

Expect PSU to win by two touchdowns in a game they can’t afford to lose against an overmatched opponent.

The pick: Penn State (-7 ½) and the under (47)