The Out-Of-Towner: Penn State Prediction

Well football fans, are you ready for the biggest upset of the year?!  That's right.  You heard it here first.  Our beloved Hawkeyes over the 9-0, number 3 ranked team in the country, Penn State's Nittany Lions.  17-13.  Okay, so maybe I'm blinded by my faith in the power of Kinnick Stadium and my undying loyalty to the black and gold, but maybe not.

Here's the facts as I see them (or as I want to see them).  Penn State just barely squeeked by Ohio State last week mainly because first year quarterback Daryll Clark was pressured all day.  This resulted in a weak showing of 12 for 20 passing for minimal yardage.  Our Hawkeyes Defense (yeah, capital D) is rated 7th in the NCAA in points allowed at just 13.2 with only 301.6 yards per game allowed.  We are 3rd in the country with 16 picks as well.  Our run defense is allowing only just over 100 yds per game.  So all we do is play slightly better Defense this week grabbing a few key interceptions and we are in the game.

Now the hard part.  Offense.  But hey, maybe Ken O'Keefe will call in sick and somebody else will call the plays.  Ricky Stanzi has been looking much better in the pocket.  Limit how many times he is hurried and knocked down and we might make something happen.  And we can always give the ball to Shonn Greene 30 times.  We do that and we could catch lightning in a bottle.

What this game is going to boil down to is two things; 1) Offensive and Defensive lines.  Our big boys have to be able to contain there really big boys.  Use your speed Mitch King!  2) Turnovers.  We must end this game up 2 in the turnover ratio.  If we limit our mistakes and capitalize on theirs there will be mayhem in the streets on Iowa City Saturday night.

So there it is.  Get ready Hawkeye fans wherever you are.  Put on your black and gold, have faith and think big!  Remember, your heart and soul are never too far away to be at the game.

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