By Jimmy Boyd(contributor)
The No. 18-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions and top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide will meet for the first time in a decade on Saturday. Nick Saban and Joe Paterno have meet five times prior to this in the Big Ten with Paterno holding a 3-2 edge.
Penn State heads into Bryant-Denny Stadium coming off a 44-14 win over Youngstown State. Bama rolled to a 48-3 victory against San Jose State last weekend. The latest college football lines have the Tide as a 11.5-point favorite.
Penn State took a while to get going in their opener and actually trailed 7-3 at the end of the first quarter. True freshman quarterback Robert Bolden was surprisingly named the starter for the Nittany Lions. This would mark the first time in Paterno’s 45 years at the school that a first year player has started at QB. Bolden threw for 239 yards and two touchdowns in his debut with one interception.
Evan Royster will break the school rushing mark at some point this season and has been in the Penn State backfield for four seasons now. He was lackluster in the opening game, rushing for just 40 yards on 11 carries. PSU will need a much better effort out of Royster against a stingy Alabama defense.
Penn State's 6’6" wide receiver Brett Brackett used his size to snag eight catches for 98 yards and two scores. The senior came on from nowhere after catching just three passes a year ago. Derek Moye is the top option in the passing game and recorded five receptions for 61 yards.
The defense will be challenged by the balance of the Alabama offense, but stopping the run is a major priority. This side of the ball is lacking the normal star power and allowed 21 of 25 passes thrown against them to be completed last week.
The defending national champs opened the 2010 season in fine form with a workmanlike win over San Jose State. Veteran quarterback Greg McElroy completed 13 of 16 passes for 218 yards and a touchdown. The senior takes care of the ball having thrown an interception in only three games of the 15 he has started. He is 30-0 as a starter dating back to his high school playing days.
The backfield for the Tide is absolutely loaded. It doesn’t look like Heisman trophy winner Mark Ingram will play this weekend, so expect to see a heavy dose of Trent Richardson and Eddie Lacy.
Richardson rushed for 66 yards on 10 carries and scored twice. Lacy was just as effective, rushing for 111 yards and two more scores. Most teams would see production drop off with the loss of such a talented player, but Alabama has enough depth at running back to sustain for that loss.
Julio Jones made a highlight reel touchdown catch in Week 1 and finished with 93 yards on six receptions. The ball was spread around to a variety of receivers as at least five players had three catches or more.
Alabama’s defense will be without their best player, Marcell Dareus, for the second straight game. He will return at Duke after serving his two-game suspension.
This is just one of the marquee matchups of a loaded schedule for college football on Saturday. The line has not moved much meaning the money is pretty consistent leading up to kickoff. Alabama’s biggest concern is there are only two returning starters on the defensive side of the ball, but they will be going up against a true freshman quarterback.
Penn State was good against the run last week and has to duplicate that effort if they want to have any chance of winning this game. I think the Tide’s experience on offense will be too much to overcome as Penn State struggles to score points
No comments:
Post a Comment