It's Penn State-Rutgers week: Kick time, the spread, early storylines, and more
Penn State-Rutgers week is here.
The Nittany Lions (6-4) and Scarlet Knights (5-5) renew their Big Ten East series at Beaver Stadium. It will be Senior Day for head coach James Franklin’s team.
Rutgers pounded Indiana 38-3 on Saturday in Bloomington while Penn State lost 21-17 to Michigan at Beaver Stadium.
“We have played hard, but we haven’t made enough big plays,” Franklin said.
“You take Jahan Dotson out and we’re not making enough big plays or explosive plays. We’ve done that for a really long time, and I don’t know if we’ve had very many explosive runs all year long, so that is something we’re going to have to look at hard, but I think that’s the biggest issue. We just don’t have enough explosiveness besides Jahan Dotson.”
Let’s preview the week ahead.
Time and TV info
The Big Ten Network will televise the game, which will start at Noon inside of Beaver Stadium.
It’s the third straight Noon start for the Lions and their second BTN appearance of the season.
The Penn State-Rutgers spread
Penn State is listed as a 17-point favorite according to consensus Las Vegas odds from VI.
Game week schedule for Penn State
It’s a normal media schedule for Franklin this week.
Tuesday will feature player interviews and a lengthy news conference with Franklin. On Wednesday, there will be more player calls in addition to a chance to watch practice plus another opportunity to interview Franklin and a player.
Thursday brings the Penn State Coaches Show, which Franklin typically appears on for the last half hour, and that will be it for the week until Saturday after the game.
What’s up with the Scarlet Knights?
Rutgers has won two of its last three contests after losing four straight earlier in the season.
During Saturday’s win over Indiana, quarterback Noah Vedral was a pedestrian nine of 17 for 97 yards and a rushing touchdown as the ground game did most of the work. The Scarlet Knights carried a whopping 50 times for 218 yards and five scores. Isaih Pacheco led the way with 79 yards on 21 carries, and he scored twice. Bo Melton was the leading receiver with five catches for 50 yards.
It will be worth keeping an eye on whether or not Rutgers linebacker Olakunle Fatukasi plays after missing the Indiana game.
Penn State-Rutgers notes
–Penn State has a whopping 29-2 all-time series leads.
–The Nittany Lions haven’t lost to the Scarlet Knights since a 21-16 setback in 1988.
–Since 2014, PSU has topped the Scarlet Knights by a combined score of 185-39.
–Last year in Piscataway, the Lions won 23-7.
Weather outlook
Here’s the early projection from Weather.com:
“Mainly cloudy. High 47F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.”
Early Penn State-Rutgers storylines
Here’s a rundown:
—Fatukasi‘s health will be a topic to watch this week. He also leads the team in sacks. It was not immediately clear why he didn’t play against the Hoosiers.
–Speaking of health, how banged up is Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford after taking a beating against Michigan?
–Franklin said that Jahan Dotson wouldn’t have been able to come back in even if Penn State burned a timeout on its final fourth down play. Will he be available and 100 percent for Rutgers?
–What’s the status of center Mike Miranda? He missed a sizable chunk of this game due to injury.
–Which players will go through Senior Day? Some are obvious, but it will be interesting to see if Clifford, defensive tackle PJ Mustipher, and safety Ji’Ayir Brown do, among others. All are eligible to come back if they want to.
