Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/847744
P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> S T A F F P R E D I C T I O N S A year ago, I wrapped up my season prediction by saying that Penn State was still a year away from having a truly healthy program. As a result, my pick was 7-5, with the caveat that the final record would depend extensively on the outcome of toss-up games. I was thinking that last year would be the learning experience, and 2017 would be the year in which those les- sons would pay off. We all saw how that turned out. The natural expectation of a reversion to the mean makes sense, but I'm hold- ing to my prediction of a year ago. The Lions return nearly every critical ingre- dient to last season's success and will be older and wiser. Those toss-up games that de=ned the trajectory of the 2016 season should become relatively com- fortable wins. A late-October trip to Columbus is the biggest date on the schedule, and potential land mines are out there on trips to Iowa, Northwestern and even Michigan State. But based on the proven success and undeniable tal- ent it boasts, from its coaching sta> through its starters and in many cases its backups, Penn State has an opportunity to exceed its performance from a season ago. PREDICTION 11-1 What a di>erence a year makes. Last year at this time, I was the only member of the BWI sta> that believed Penn State had a chance of producing at least an 8-4 record. For the most part, 7-5 was the consensus. Now, with less than two months to go before the season begins, almost all of the preseason football mag- azines have Penn State ranked in the top 10 and are giving it a legitimate chance of competing with Ohio State for the Big Ten East Division title and making a run at the College Football Playo>. I agree with those assessments. When you look at the matchups, I believe Penn State will be favored in 11 of its 12 regular-season games. The strength of this team will be its o>ense. Saquon Barkley and Trace McSorley are legitimate Heisman Trophy candidates, and even with Chris Godwin gone, Penn State has the Big Ten's top re- ceiver corps. If the line jells, this o>ense has the potential to average 40 points. On defense, Penn State has to =nd re- placements for ends Garrett Sickels and Evan Schwan. The linebackers need to stay healthy, and John Reid won't be easily replaced. But even with those caveats, I believe this team has a chance to win 10 games and repeat as Big Ten East champion. PREDICTION 10-2 I'm a lifelong fan of Philadelphia's pro sports teams, so it's in my nature to ex- pect every season to end in shattered dreams. Penn State's upcoming campaign provides an opportunity to indulge in just that sort of thinking. The preseason hype continues to escalate, but the schedule includes road trips to Iowa, Michigan State and Northwestern, along with that cataclysmic showdown at Ohio State. The home slate should be tougher, too, with Michigan and Nebraska coming to town. The Big Ten has dealt Penn State a tougher hand by making East Division teams play =ve road games in odd-num- bered years, and it has also deleted Min- nesota and Purdue from PSU's schedule to make way for the Wildcats and Corn- huskers. From this early vantage point, it looks as though the Lions have traded up. And yet, I can't bring myself to feel very pessimistic. The o>ense was just too im- pressive at the end of last season to ex- pect a lot of backsliding. The Lions averaged 490.1 yards and 45.6 points in their =nal seven games, and except for Chris Godwin, all the team's playmakers are back. Given the schedule, I can't pre- dict with con=dence that another Big Ten East title is in the o?ng. But I wouldn't rule it out, either. PREDICTION 9-3 NATE BAUER WEBSITE EDITOR PHIL GROSZ BWI PUBLISHER MATT HERB CONTRIBUTING EDITOR was astonishingly quick. Coming off a 7- 6 finish the previous year, which in- cluded a four-game losing skid to end the season, they hadn't been included in anybody's preseason Top 25 last sum- mer. But when the first College Football Playoff poll was unveiled in week 10, they were 12th. By the end of the season, they were on the cusp of playoff con- tention, the subject of a vigorous debate among the sport's commentariat as to whether they were a more deserving in- vitee than Ohio State or Washington. They didn't get in, and to some, the Rose Bowl bid seemed like a consolation prize. But of course it wasn't. If some- one had told you on the morning of the Minnesota game that the Nittany Lions would find themselves in Southern Cali- fornia during the postseason, you'd have figured they had a layover at LAX on their way to the Foster Farms Bowl. This year, though? If the Nittany Lions were to find themselves in Pasadena on Jan. 1, 2018, few would be surprised. And therein lies one of the team's bigger challenges. While Penn State improved drastically last season, there's been a corresponding uptick in the expectation level. The Lions are likely to be ranked in the preseason top 10 for the first time since the 2009 sea- son, and players are going to be subject to the kind of hype that this program hasn't known in years. That's better than the alternative, ob-