All this talk about one line in a PC and no discussion of the game.
I think PSU is going to have all it can handle and then some. It will be a physical shock for them after playing an incredibly undersized opponent the week before. I don't understand the betting line at all.
This is a super dangerous game. First half PSU will be dealing with the shock of -- these guys are as big as us, as strong as us, almost as fast as us. Bielema, for all his big personality, is a good coach and has proven he can game plan against Franklin. Ill came pretty close to beating PSU last year.
They have a running game and a decent short passing game and PSU may have serious issues defending the run. Losing Winston is huge, he's one of PSU's best players on D. PSU may have issues at safety and LBer right now and you can bet Bielema is game planning for that.
And offensively, I'm just skeptical of all the talk about how much better the PSU O is under Kotelnicki. All the fancy motion and formations starts to mean little when you're going against teams with great athletes who disrupt things. Then all the complexity can actually get in your way. A lot of the stuff that Allar has been able to do, he's not going to be able to do against Big Ten defenses. He is not going to scramble much against B1G speed, he will get caught in the backfield a lot more and if he tries running in the open field and stretching for 1st downs he is going to get hit hard.
PSU had some issues at times getting receivers open against KENT STATE. PSU has not run the ball reliably against anybody.
I'm not saying the Nits are going to lose, but it just feels like a nailbiter to me.
On the other hand, last year at this time PSU really came out well prepared for their B1G opener and just whacked Iowa. If they are sharp and get a lead, Illinois is not really built to catch up, they're kind of like a Wisconsin type team. They get behind 2 TDs, their offense isn't built for that. So I'm hoping for one of those games where PSU just plays sharp early and gets the Beav into it.