Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1507572
1 4 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M This Could Be The Year That PSU Prevails In Columbus GREG PICKEL: This is a fun question, because both of us could easily be wrong by the time Thanksgiving arrives. Penn State could beat both Ohio State and Michigan. It could also lose to both, as it has in five of James Franklin's nine previous seasons, including the past two. The conventional wisdom around the sport, though, is that the Nittany Lions will beat one of them this year. Logic sug- gests that Michigan is the Big Ten East bully they are more likely to topple, simply because the game will take place in Beaver Stadium, where the Wolverines are 2-2 during the Franklin era. But two games into the season, I'm more inclined to predict they leave Columbus with a victory. I'm not sold on Ohio State's quarterback situation, and I think the Wolverines will have a better chance to take advantage of some of the current question marks — like whether the Lions are strong enough in the trenches to stop opponents from running while also estab- lishing a consistent ground game of their own. All told, I tend to agree that this Penn State team matches up with its East Division rivals perhaps better than any previ- ous team of the Franklin era. Winning on the road is hard in any conference, let alone a league that may be the best in the country, but the Nittany Lions appear to have that capability. So, I'll go with a road victory over Ohio State being the easier task and a highlight of the Lions' 2023 regular season. The Lions Have Typically Fared Better At Beaver Stadium MATT HERB: It's hard to quantify the effect that home field advantage can have in any college football rivalry, but it's been especially noteworthy in the Penn State-Michigan series, at least in the eight years that James Franklin and Jim Harbaugh have been competing against each other. The Wolverines have prevailed in three of the four games that have taken place in Ann Arbor during that span, posting an average winning margin of 32.7 points in their three victo- ries. Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions have taken two of four at Beaver Stadium. The average margin in those two wins was 18 points, and the losses were by 12 points in 2015 and four in 2021. In other words, Penn State has been an entirely different team at home than it's been in the Big House. Yes, I know: PSU's biggest early-season concern on defense — an undersized and pliable tackle corps — dovetails all too well with Michigan's biggest strengths on offense — a power- ful line and a formidable backfield featuring Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards. It's clear, too, that the Wolverines aren't going to be intimi- dated by a hostile road environment; they proved that last year by beating the stuffing out of Ohio State in the Horseshoe. But history has shown that the Nittany Lions are capable of rising to the occasion at home. I'm not predicting they'll do so this year, just that they've demonstrated the potential. Their his- tory in Columbus is not quite so encouraging. Which Upcoming Game Will Be Tougher To Win: Ohio State On The Road Or Michigan At Home? Point – Counterpoint Penn State's last victory over Ohio State was a 24-21 thriller at home in 2016, followed by six straight losses, whereas the Nittany Lions have split the last six games evenly (3-3) with Michigan since 2017. Penn State gets Michigan at home in Beaver Stadium this season on Nov. 11 after traveling to Columbus on Oct. 21 to face the Buckeyes on the road. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL