Indiana Hoosiers vs Penn State Nittany Lions Game Preview and Prediction - 10/02/2021

Game Time: 7:30 pm ET, Saturday, October 2, 2021

Venue:  Beaver Stadium, University Park, PA

Where to Watch:  ABC

DraftKings:  Point Spread:  Indiana +11.5, PSU -11.5; Over/Under:  52 points

Bet365:  Point Spread:  Indiana +10.5, PSU -10.5; Over/Under:  52 points

BetMGM:  Point Spread:  Indiana +10.5, PSU -10.5; Over/Under:  51.5 points

 

Indiana Hoosiers:  2-2 (7th place, Big Ten East)

Penn State Nittany Lions:  4-0 (4th place, Big Ten East)

 

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Indiana Hoosiers:  won on the road on Sep. 25 against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers 33-31.

Penn State Nittany Lions: won at home on Sep. 25 against the Villanova Wildcats 38-17.

 

 

 

Indiana is coming into this game with a 2-2 record overall and they are 1-1 in their road games this season where they will be in this game. This will be their 2nd conference matchup of the season and they are already 0-1 in their conference games this year. That conference loss was against the Iowa Hawkeyes in their season-opener while their other loss came against the Cincinnati Bearcats. Their 2 wins this year came against the Idaho Vandals and the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in their last game. They barely escaped that game against WKU with the win, winning that game by 2 points. Michael Penix Jr. played well in that game as he completed 35/53 passes for 373 yards, zero touchdowns, and zero interceptions. Stephen Carr had a great day in the run game with 109 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 25 carries as he led his team in rushing. No one else did much on the ground in that game though. Ty Fryfogle had a nice day for the receiving corps as he led them with 98 receiving yards on 10 receptions while Peyton Hendershot was right behind him with 94 receiving yards on 6 receptions. Miles Marshall even racked up 64 receiving yards on 5 receptions. Micah Mcfadden led the defense in that game with 8 solo tackles and 4 assisted ones. He also recorded the only sack for his team in that game and no one on the defense had an interception either. They have scored 119 points in their first 4 games and they have allowed their opponents to score 117 points against them. Their offense is averaging 363.5 YPG while their defense is allowing 337.5 YPG.

 

 

PSU is coming into this game with a 4-0 record overall and they are 3-0 in their home games this season where they will be in this game. This will be their 2nd conference matchup on their schedule and they are already 1-0 in their conference games this year. Their conference win came back in their season-opener against the Wisconsin Badgers while their other 3 wins came against the Ball State Cardinals, the Auburn Tigers, and Villanova in their last game. Sean Clifford put on a show in their last game as he completed 19/26 passes for 401 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 1 interception. John Lovett led the team in rushing with 45 yards on 11 carries. They did not have much of a run game in that one but they did not really need one to win that game either. The receiving corps had a massive day though. Parker Washington led the team in receiving with 148 yards and 2 touchdowns on 5 receptions while Jahan Dotson was right behind him with 7 receptions for 117 receiving yards and 1 TD. KeAndre Lambert-Smith also had a nice day finding the end zone for 1 TD and 88 receiving yards on 2 catches. PJ Mustipher led the defense with 3 solo tackles and 1 sack in that one. There were multiple players on the defense who recorded 3 solo tackles and 1 sack. It was Ji'Ayir Brown who came away with the only interception for them in that game. They have scored 126 points in their first 4 games and they have allowed their opponents to score 60 points against them. Their offense is averaging 421 YPG while their defense is allowing 325.8 YPG.

 

Penn State was able to score a lot on offense when they went up against weaker teams but when playing tough ones like Wisconsin and Auburn, they struggled to score a lot of points in those games. Indiana does not have a very good defense though as they have allowed their FBS opponents to score over 30 points against them in every game so far. Penn State has a good offense and they will be able to move the ball in this game against Indiana. Indiana will not die so easily as they have fought hard in every game this season finding ways to score points in their last few games. This game will likely have a lot of points scored from both teams so the best bet to make here is on the over.

 

Indiana Penn State Prediction:  Our NCAAF Pick for Saturday, October 2, 2021 (7:30 pm ET start time) is PSU 37 Indiana 27.

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Indiana Hoosiers: 145-170 ATS in all games. 89-116 ATS as an underdog. 66-78 ATS in road games.

Penn State Nittany Lions: 44-25 ATS as a favorite of 10.5 to 21 points. 138-122 ATS as a favorite. 100-88 ATS in home games.

 

 

Indiana Hoosiers:  D. Matthews Jr. (WR) day-to-day - Leg injury. J. Head Jr. (DL) day-to-day - Undisclosed injury. C. Keys (DB) out for season - Knee injury.

Penn State Nittany Lions:  S. Wormley (OL) day-to-day - Undisclosed injury. H. Beamon (DT) day-to-day - Undisclosed injury.

 

 

Indiana Hoosiers: Stephon Carr is one player to watch here. He leads his team in rushing yards and in touchdowns. He had a big day last week where he rushed for over 100 yards so look for him to carry that performance over into this one and have another big day.

 

Penn State Nittany Lions: Jahan Dotson is one player to watch here. He leads his team in receiving yards and in touchdowns. He is coming off of a game where he had over 100 yards receiving so look for him to make some more big catches in this one as his team looks for another conference win here.

 

"It was just simple rhythm and making my reads. It was just trusting my eyes and trusting my reads." - Michael Penix Jr. on his performance in their win over WKU.

 

 

 

“It was a great crowd. I want to thank the fans for the crowd that we got. That's gonna be obviously important next week. I think right now we've got 4,000 tickets left for next week's game. We need this place rockin' and sold out. So I'll throw that out there.” - James Franklin on the home crowd in their win over Villanova despite the Villanova players saying it did not phase them at all and was low intensity.

 

 

WR Marshall, Miles 

WR Fryfogle, Ty 

WR Matthews Jr., D.J

TE Hendershot, Peyton 

QB Penix Jr., Michael 

RB Carr, Stephen 

 

WR Dotson, Jahan 

WR Washington, Parker 

WR Lambert-Smith, KeAndre 

TE Strange, Brenton 

QB Clifford, Sean 

RB Cain, Noah 

 

Passing: M. Penix Jr. (821)

Rushing: S. Carr (336)

Receiving: T. Fryfogle (224)

Touchdowns: S. Carr (3)

Sacks: R. Anderson (2)

Tackles: T. Mullen (15)

 

Passing: S. Clifford (1158)

Rushing: N. Cain (164)

Receiving: J. Dotson (362)

Touchdowns: J. Dotson (4)

Sacks: A. Ebiketie (2)

Tackles: E. Brooks (17)

 

Coaches:

Indiana Hoosiers: Tom Allen (6th season)

Penn State Nittany Lions: James Franklin (8th season)

 

61 degrees F partly cloudy, 69% humidity, 0% chance of rain, up to 6 mph wind speeds W.