College Football Predictions – Penn St Nittany Lions 2020 College Football Preview
July 2020
OCTOBER 2020 – Schedule notes updated. Star LB M Parsons has opted out.
2019 Recap
Record – 11-2
ATS – 7-6
Yes, guy.
Penn St delivered the goods once again and weren’t that far off from having a special season. They started out on SUPAH HOT FIRE winning their first eight games but ran into a GOPHER BUZZSAW in week 9. They lost to a talented Minnesota team by five points on the road and only lost one other game the entire season (at Ohio St, L 28-17). They finished the season in style with a win over Memphis in a crazy Cotton Bowl (W 53-39) and head into 2020 with a lot of confidence.
2020 MEGALOCKS Opening Power Rating
East Division – TBD
Big 10 – TBD
Penn St Nittany Lions 2020 Outlook
OFFENSE
WOW. You lose your all-time leading passer and great leader Trace McSorley and still put together one of the most potent offenses in the country last season (35.8 PPG, #2 Big Ten, #15 FBS). They displayed good balance between the run (191 YPG) and the THROW GAME (221 YPG) and scored TDs at a high percentage once they got in the red zone (#3 Big Ten). QB Sean Clifford returns as the starter after booking a very impressive season LY (2,654, 23-7 TD to INT, 5 rushing TDs). He’ll be without explosive WR KJ Hamler (NFL – Broncos) but still be able to look for star TE Pat Freiermuth (507, 7 TD) and WR Johan Dotson (18.1, 5 TD LY). The rest of the WR group is talented but very inexperienced. They are LOADED at RB, perhaps more than any team in the Big Ten. Journey Brown and Noah Cain combined for over 1,300 yards and 20 (!) TDs on the ground LY and both men are back for battle. Four starters return up front including their fine senior center Michal Menet.
New OC Kirk Ciarrocca (Minnesota LY) has plenty of tools in the toolbox and we expect another big year out of the offense.
DEFENSE
The Nittany Lions were a virtual BRICK WALL a season ago and allowed a meager 16.0 PPG (#8 FBS) and just 95 YPG on the ground (#5 FBS). Over the past three years, Penn St has allowed 16.0, 20.5, and 16.5 PPG. That’s some solid D right there, yo. This year they return just five starters and have to replace several key pieces including star DE Yetur Gross-Matos who led the team in sacks LY (9.5). They still return a pair of starters up front including DE Shaka Toney (6.5 sacks LY) and note that Penn St has bagged 40+ sacks in five (!) consecutive seasons. You have to believe they’ll find a way to get heat on the QB. Star LB Micah Parsons returns from an AA season in which he led the team in tackles whilst booking 5 sacks. That’s an outstanding player to build around. A pair of starters return at the back end of the stop unit and this is the only area of concern on defense. Last year they allowed the 2nd most passing yards in the Big Ten – BUT – note that they were 6th in pass efficiency and allowed a mere 10 (!) TD passes all season. That was 2nd-fewest next to Ohio St and Kentucky in the entire FBS.
This may not be an elite defense but it’s still good enough to support a run at the Big Ten title.
SPECIAL TEAMS
PK Jake Pinegar is back after nailing 11/12 FG attempts LY (3/3 from 40+) but they’ll need to replace their excellent punter Blake Gillikin and explosive return man KJ Hamler.
Schedule Analysis
Overall – The Nittany Lions draw Nebraska (A) and Iowa (H) out of the West division. Things get real in a hurry as they open with a tough Hoosiers squad (A) and follow that up with a yuuuuuge home game with Ohio St.
Potential ATS Trouble Spot – at Indiana (Oct 24th)
Indiana is sneaky tough and this might be a lookahead spot (Ohio St).
Season Win Total
TBD
MEGALOCKS says:
TBD
MEGAmazing Tidbits
James Franklin has an impressive 56-23 record (.709) as the Nittany Lions’ HC and his 34-18 mark in conference play (.654) is better than that of Joe Paterno (.638).
MEGALOCKS Outlook:
This looks like another edition of Penn St capable of winning the Big Ten East. The defense just took a yuuuuge hit as we approached press time with the departure of LB Micah Parsons, but these guys still look good enough on both sides of the ball to give Ohio St a good game, and maybe, just maybe, win the Big Ten East.
Want more Penn St football ?
WEBSITE
https://gopsusports.com/sports/football
FORUM
http://pennstate.247sports.com/Board/Penn-State-Nittany-Lions-Message-Board-Forum-18
https://247sports.com/college/penn-state/Board/Audibles-Board-102698/
https://www.roarlionsroar.com/forum/penn-state-football
https://bwi.forums.rivals.com/forums/the-lions-den.18/
NEWS
http://www.blackshoediaries.com/
http://www.pennlive.com/pennstatefootball/
http://www.statecollege.com/penn-state-page/sports/
https://www.espn.com/college-football/team/_/id/213/penn-state-nittany-lions
TWITTER
Hashtag – #WeAre, #PSUnrivaled
Accounts to follow
https://twitter.com/PennStateFball