All those games against Cincinnati and Louisville UConn, and USF will now be replaced with Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State and yes, the Nittany Scourge. Big time. NCAA playoff conference. It all starts tonight. Rutgers is 2-22 all-time vs. their western neighbors. One of RU's mostest famousest losses was to a 1995 Penn State team that was loaded. PSU QB Mike McQueary, one of the main figures in Penn State's recent "troubles" as the guy who turned in Jerry Sandusky, was sent in against RU to mop up a big win for the Nittany Lions. Was Joe Paterno running up the score against RU here or is there a bigger question here. McQueary was later suspected of betting on college football, some say even his own games. The line on this one was 21 and to get there McQueary needed points. Let's face it, JoePa looks shocked and bummed McQueary did what he's about to do. Doug Grabner, the RU coach at the time, didn't seem to care who the hell called the pass.
Oh the intrigue! Oh the confrontations! Oh the foul language!
So they meet again today. Penn State is a big favorite. Rutgers is at home and will have a full house behind them. PSU fans are calling Rutgers home field (And again we're not corporate whores so it's simply the Rutgers home field or the like -- perhaps a piece of striped astroturf measuring 120 yards by 53 yards in Piscataway) Beaver Stadium East. Will it be today? Let's break it down.
Rutgers is 2-0 with a big win and PSU is 2-0. Rutgers has won on the road and at home and should be playing with a great deal of confidence. Worst case scenario? PSU scores early and then gets a quick turnover and makes it a two score lead early. They have the big boys to grind a game out at that point. Best case? RU gets a quick lead and lets their defense get into the game against a top flight QB in Christian Hackenberg. Johnny thinks, and it's an old adage, the team with the most rushing yards is going to prevail. Penn State has great potential with their two back system yet have struggled to really get it going. Rutgers has indeed had success and are going to need to use the run game to control tempo. Johnny will always take a proven commodity than the potential for one. Advantage Rutgers.
Not in RU's favor today? The fact its a super duper big game at home. How often do really big celebratory games go sideways? This is an interesting phenomenon to Johnny and he has followed it over the years. A team retiring a players jersey almost always loses that game. Call it a distraction from the important routine of game day or loss of focus too often a big new stadium unveiling or the first time a team has played for X at home, they lose. Yes, that's sort of what RU is facing today. The emotion coming out onto THEIR B1G field is going to be overwhelming. That too can lead to substitution mistakes, penalties and missed tackles as players go for huge crowd pleasing hits rather than tackles. Penn State also is going to be coming out sky high as this week the NCAA lifted the last of their sanctions because of the Sandusky case and suddenly they ARE eligible for a bowl game. Who controls that emotional release better? We'll know by 8:30.
It's going to be a hard hitting game. It's going to be a nasty game. Probably some penalties. It'll be chilly. It'll be wet. A rivalry is about to be born. All common sense statistics point to a Nittany Lions win. Readers know when it comes to predictions Johnny left common sense in the rear-view mirror long ago.
Fearless Forecast
Rutgers 31
Penn State 30
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