Avalanche conditions are expected Saturday night in Beaver Stadium, but it’s not forecasted to snow at Penn State.
It’s White Out Week.
“The Avalanche of Sound” was coined on the official White Out shirt in 2017.
The 2023 White Out will begin at 7:30 against Iowa. If you won’t be at Beaver Stadium, you can find the broadcast on CBS.
Iowa’s come to town as a bit of a wounded duck offensively. It’ll be without starting TE Luke Lachey, who suffered a gruesome season-ending knee injury last week. The team will also be without RB1 and RB2. Kaleb Johnson and Jaziun Patterson won’t be suiting up.
Although Iowa is down key starters, its offense isn’t completely wounded.
Leshon Williams will start at running back and he’ll be flanked by Kamari Moulton. Williams carried the ball 12 times last week against Western Michigan for 145 yards. Moulton had himself a nice day too with eight attempts for 50 yards and two scores.
Commanding Iowa’s will be Cade McNamara, who has experience with a loud Beaver Stadium crowd. McNamara was Michigan’s QB for the 2021 helmet stripe game. But that was a noon kick.
On Penn State’s end, Saturday will be a “prove-it” game. Iowa’s defense has shown to be stout against the run. After last week’s game against Illinois, I expect Penn State to face a similar front.
With a week of practice and film study, have coordinator Mike Yurcich and the rest of the offense found a way to beat a stacked box? Yurcich would be wise to shift from the T formation to more spread-out formations as it did once last week. Tight ends Theo Johnson and Tyler Warren drew favorable matchups when that happened, which led to a panicked Illini timeout.
The tight ends will be useful in getting Drew Allar up to speed and in rhythm.
Allar will need to show that he’s learned from last week. It was his first Big Ten road start, after all. He didn’t play badly by any figment of the imagination, but he can certainly play better. If he does play better– and I think he will– that’ll free up space for Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen.
Iowa’s defense can stop the run Its only giving up 91 yards per game and 3.52 per carry. For reference, despite all the flak I’ve given them, the Penn State run defense, is only giving up 93 yards a contest and has a better per carry average of 3.12 yards.
Penn State’s D will need to continue that form. Iowa’s offense is all but one-dimensional. McNamara is only averaging 139 yards passing through three games. He’s also thrown three interceptions– two last week,– compared to his four touchdown tosses.
Penn State’s defense is up to the task and the offense will bounce back. The weather could factor in if the rain comes, but the White Out record will get a +1 in the win column this week.
Weather forecast: Temperature (°F): H:64/L:52, showers, 43% chance of rain, NNE winds @ 6 MPH. (weather.com)
Spead and over under: PSU: -14.5, O/U: 40.5
Prediction: Penn State 31, Iowa 10
