Blue White Illustrated

Michigan State Pregame

Penn State Sports Magazine

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that until its fourth-quarter fade at Ohio State was looking like a good bet to make the College Football Playoff. Spartans coach Mark Dantonio said he expects his team to put last week's disappointing re- sult behind it and give its best effort against the Nittany Lions. "The way we've done things here is we just move on past whatever the problem is," he said. "Whatever the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat is, we just try to move past that." In discussing the need to compartmen- talize both wins and losses, Dantonio re- called a disheartening visit to Nebraska two years ago. The Spartans were ranked sixth in the country at the time and were on track for a playoff spot, but the Corn- huskers drove 91 yards in 38 seconds in the final minute of the game to pull off a 39-38 victory. It was a tough way to lose, but Michigan State still had a path to the Big Ten Cham- pionship Game if it won its remaining three games, and that's just what it did, defeating Maryland, Ohio State and Penn State, and eventually beating Iowa in the conference title game to qualify for the playoff. "We sort of re-gathered ourselves," Dantonio said. "We still had control of what we had to do, much like [after] this loss [to Northwestern]. We had control at that point in time, knew what we had to do, knew it was going to be challenging, but we just pushed through it. We knew we were going to have to play Maryland, Ohio State, Penn State, at the time, and our guys just came to play. I think we played hard. We continued to compete and play hard. That's all I can ever ask of our football team. "What I will say is that we must do that again. That's the focus. What are we going to do next? That's always been my focus here. What's going to happen next?" The circumstances are eerily similar in that this year's Spartans, like their Big Ten champion predecessors, control their postseason destiny. If they win their re- maining four games, they will earn a spot in the conference title game for the fourth time in seven seasons. Of course, that will require them to beat Penn State this com- ing Saturday and Ohio State the following weekend in Columbus, along with Mary- land and Rutgers in the season's final two weeks. But other than the Buckeyes, Michigan State is the only East Division team that still has its fate entirely in its hands. And it's worth noting that the Spar- tans took Ohio State to the wire last year, falling 17-16 in East Lansing. They also are the last Big Ten visitor to leave the Horse- shoe with a victory, having stunned the second-ranked Buckeyes, 17-14, in No- vember 2015. But first things first. In order for their upcoming game against Ohio State to have championship ramifications for the Spartans, they'll have to find a way to defeat Penn State on Saturday. And that means stopping Saquon Barkley. Michigan State is ranked fourth in the country in run defense, al- lowing only 89.8 yards per game. It did a very effective job against Northwestern's Josh Jackson last weekend, holding him to 41 yards on 17 carries. It also held Michi- gan's Karan Higdon to 65 yards in a vic- tory over the Wolverines in October and Iowa's Akrum Wadley to 30 yards in a September win over the visiting Hawkeyes. Penn State's running game has had its ups and downs this season, but the Spar- tans are understandably wary of Barkley's N O V E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 7 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 2 NATE BAUER 7-1 | The ramifications of a game against Ohio State are never quite as sim- ple as just a monumental win or a devastating loss, and Penn State is intimately familiar with the feeling this week. Without defensive end Ryan Buchholz and potentially leB tackle Ryan Bates, the Nittany Lions will need to come up with solutions in two already vulnerable areas on the field against a typically physical Michigan State team. As was the case at Iowa, the most viable path to a Spartan upset is to keep the game low-scoring. That's certainly possible. But against a Penn State team that is still explosive, one that produced 38 points through a variety of avenues last Saturday aBernoon at Ohio Stadium, it doesn't seem likely. | PENN STATE 33, MICHIGAN STATE 16 PHIL GROSZ 7-1 | Back in August, I felt completely confident that Penn State would end up being favored in 11 of its regular-season games this fall. That is why I'm not surprised that the Nittany Lions are 8 1 ⁄2-point favorites going into their game against Michigan State in East Lansing. I think there is little question that Penn State has the better players on both offense and defense, but more important, I'm convinced Penn State has a better chance of shutting down Michigan State's No. 1 asset on offense – its running game – than Michigan State has of shutting down Penn State's balanced offensive attack. The Spartans' running game averages only 167.3 yards per game. That's only 4 more yards on average than Penn State has been generating with a ground game that has been hit-and-miss throughout the season. Michigan State's defense has struggled all year against the pass, and Penn State will use the pass in this game to create some space for Saquon Barkley to run the football. The Lions will not let Ohio State beat them twice. | PENN STATE 41, MICHIGAN STATE 20 MATT HERB 8-0 | The good news for Penn State heading into what should be another tough Big Ten road game is that it has proven itself to be a very resilient team. The Nittany Lions haven't lost back-to-back games since the end of the 2015 season, when they fol- lowed a winless November with a loss to Georgia in the TaxSlayer Bowl. Last week's finish was a gut punch, no doubt about it. But if they lose on Saturday, it won't be because they're still dwelling on what might have been. Against a Michigan State team that is less explosive on offense and less disruptive on defense than the Buckeyes, I expect the Lions to turn in a strong effort. | PENN STATE 31, MICHIGAN STATE 24 TIM OWEN 7-1 | Penn State is hurting. No matter how the Lions try to put that disheart- ening loss at Ohio State behind them, there's little doubt that game will have carryover – if not mentally and emotionally, then physically. Arguably PSU's best offensive and de- fensive linemen went down with injuries, and against a Michigan State team that already has a matchup advantage in the trenches, there is cause for concern here. Sparty has the best rushing defense in the Big Ten, while Penn State has been held below 100 yards on the ground in its past two road games. If it can't grind this out with its rushing attack, it's not winning this one, either. | MICHIGAN STATE 23, PENN STATE 21 RYAN SNYDER 7-1 | Penn State may be missing some key players due to injury, so don't be surprised if the Spartans keep it close in the first half. However, I expect the Lions to prove they know how to finish off opponents. | PENN STATE 31, MICHIGAN STATE 17 S T A F F P R E D I C T I O N S

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