Thursday morning, Nittany Sports Now gave its predictions for Penn State-Illinois.
Now, we’ll take a look at what the national analysts have to say.
PSU and Illinois are scheduled to kick off at 7:30 Saturday night on NBC.
CHRIS ‘THE BEAR’ FALLICA, FOX SPORTS
“This is one of those classic games that James Franklin will cover,” Fallica wrote. “He’s 17-0-1 against the spread (ATS) since 2000 when favored between seven and 24 points. But on the field, I think they can have success throwing the ball and forcing the Illini to play from behind — something they really haven’t had to do this year. Nebraska had opportunities to get a stop and get up multiple scores on the Fighting Illini but just couldn’t do it. I think the talent level at Penn State is much better than that of Nebraska and expect the Nittany Lions to win by three touchdowns.
PICK: PENN STATE WINS AND COVERS
MATT HERB, ON3SPORTS
“A year ago, Penn State intercepted Luke Altmyer four times and coasted to a 30-13 victory in Champaign,” Herb wrote. “The Nittany Lions can’t count on another scattershot passing performance from Illinois this year, even if they’re able to summon up the intimidating White Out-type environment that James Franklin wants to see on Saturday night. For one thing, Altmyer has looked much more poised than he did a year ago, having tossed 10 touchdown passes and no interceptions through four games. What’s more, the Illini have already shown they’re not fazed by a hostile road venue. They played a night game at Nebraska last Friday and rallied for a 31-24 overtime victory. Altmyer completed 21 of 27 passes for 215 yards and four TDs to silence the nearly 87,000 Cornhusker fans on hand.
Penn State has got more playmakers than Nebraska on both sides of the ball, and it should win this game, provided it doesn’t beat itself with turnovers and penalties. But given the improvement that Illinois has shown in its passing game, the 18-point betting line seems awfully high, regardless of what the analytics say.
PICK: PENN STATE 28, ILLINOIS 20
BRIAN DOHN, 247SPORTS
The last time Illinois rolled into Beaver Stadium … well, I believe the game is now over,” Dohn wrote. “It took a long time for the Illini to pull out a nine overtime win in which two touchdowns were scored in regulation and there were five straight scoreless overtime periods. Why does this matter? Because Penn State’s offense is more explosive and is playing with a different kind of rhythm under first-year coordinator Andy Kotelnicki.
Both programs are undefeated and have a solid road win on their resume (Penn State with West Virginia and Illinois with Nebraska) but the Nittany Lions have more explosive talent and are getting more comfortable in the offense now than when the season began. If PSU can control Illinois’ running game (695 yards in four games), and they have the front seven to do it, then this should be a pull-away result.
PICK: PENN STATE 34, ILLINOIS 17
CBSSPORTS
Seven analysts picked this game for CBSSports and all seven had Illinois covering.
One analyst— Tom Fornelli— even picked Illinois to win.
As always, we will see what happens.
