(Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
By the end of Saturday night’s game, every Penn State fan across the country had a few extra gray hairs than they had before the game took place. It looked as though Penn State’s season would be over before it started when App State took a 38-31 lead in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter. However, KJ Hamler had one of those no, no, no yes moments that just happened to save the season for the Nittany Lions. Hamler’s kick return gave Trace McSorely great field position to work with and the rest was history. McSorely showed why he’s a Heisman candidate with the poise he showed that game-tying drive.
There is so much you could point to in that game that wasn’t good for the Lions. Particularly, the offensive line and the secondary. However, I feel like James Franklin was doing a lot of experimenting and seeing what he had against App State. I don’t think he will be doing that during Pitt’s Super Bowl this Saturday night in Pittsburgh. I expect a much more prepared Penn State team this Saturday.
A lot of Penn Stater’s may be concerned with how Saturday’s matchup will go after the performance against App State. However, you have nothing to worry about. App State was actually ranked higher than Pitt in the preseason polls. The line opened up at -9.5 and now Penn State is a double-digit favorite at -10.5. Pitt will come into this game overconfident after seeing Penn State struggle last week. It is a big game for a team that doesn’t have much big game experience. They will be going up against a team that has plenty of big game experience in Penn State.
I do believe Pitt will come out swinging and Penn State will have to withstand that. Should they withstand that, I think that they will dominate once both teams get settled into the game. A score like Penn State 38 and Pitt 17 sounds appropriate. Expect a Heisman esque performance from McSorely and true coming out party for Miles Sanders. Go State, beat Pitt.