He has Ohio St at #5 and Michigan at #3. Not out of the norm but a few of his other picks are. He has Iowa pretty high if we are talking PSU schedule.
Phil Steele has PSU finishing 2023 as #6
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Our season will come down to beating one of the You-Know-Who's - it usually does.
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I would think PSU is a value bet there. Texas and FSU on the other hand seem to be very poor bets. Although I don't do sports betting so?Our season will come down to beating one of the You-Know-Who's - it usually does.
Not likely that three teams who play each other will finish that high. There will have to be three loses between the head to head games, The only way they all finish top 6 is they ALL go undefeated in the remaining 30 games. Not likely.
Happened last year. Could easily happen again. They’ll be favored in every game not against each other. Of course poop happens…
With a new starting qb and all of their defensive personnel losses the past two seasons, UGA probably will lose a game or two this season. I mean, they almost lost to Mizzou last season with a qb who won two National Championships.
Moreover, Bama lost two games last season with a Heisman trophy winner as their starting qb, and they're also going to be starting a new qb, and the same goes for OSU and PSU. I always put a lot of stock in teams returning a proven starting qb. Therefore, IMO, it is uncertain how good several of these teams are going to be until we see how their new starting qbs perform in the clutch.
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Did not happen last year. PSU finished 7th. It is much tougher to predict what will happen vs what did happen even though it did not happen.
Anyone want to bet those three go 30 for 30? Not very likely. They will also need a couple bowl wins and a B10 championship game win. That is 33 for 33. Whoever makes the playoffs can then lose a game.
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And PSU did not finish in the top 6.
Anyone want to bet on 30 for 30? It is not likely.
No way they go 333 for 33. That is 10 wins per game.
I personally think Iowa could be (as opposed to is) the second best team in the conference behind Michigan. We have a better shot at knocking off OSU in C-Bus than beating Iowa at home. Their D is probably going to be second best to Michigan and their offense, while not world beaters, will be dramatically better. This could be the best Iowa team since 09 and maybe 02. Come December, I would be mildly surprised if Cade McNamara isn't 1st or 2nd team all Big Ten. Erick All was a top two tight end in the Big Ten for Michigan last year and is probably second best on this Iowa team. They will play complimentary football, punt and win a lot of games.
PSU is the weak link in beating everyone except scUM and OSU. We could lose a game to someone not named scUM or OSU. Definitely see scUM and OSU winning all their games until they play each other. Or maybe scUM loses to us but certainly they are not losing to anyone not named PSU or OSU. Same for OSU. OSU most likely beats Notre Dump and us. 30 for 30 is not far fetched.
I expect that the Iowa game will be comparable to the Minnesota game last season. I’m not saying that PSU can’t lose that game, but there’s no way that a night home game against Iowa will be tougher to win than a road game at OSU.
How many points do you think that Iowa, which barely could get a first down last season, is going to score against PSU, even with McNamara, who isn’t going to be playing with the same athletes as he did at Michigan? Also, Iowa’s o-line has been very below average in recent seasons, unlike Michigan’s.
I’m more concerned about the Illinois game, which now has surpassed Iowa in playing that style of football.
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I understand the sentiment, but BB has a lot of holes to fill. RB, Corners, defensive coordinator primarily. I'll gladly take the hype if they show up undefeated and ranked, but I don't think they are going to be as good as last year and truly, they got their credibility from the Michigan game.
Bet on teams with experience at QB. Georgia, Bama, and O$U could struggle at that position as could PSU. Penn State has such a weak OOC schedule which will help settle the position but Allar has proven nothing and will be thoroughly challenged vs. Illinois and Iowa early on.
Yeah, have a feeling Franklin will have the team ready to play vs Illinois, as the memory of the 9-Overtime 20-18 debacle loss from 2021 will be on the minds of coaches and many veteran players.
I agree, this is where a very strong defense helps win games until the new QB gets his legs.
And also an explosive running game, which PSU should have.
I think teams early on will crowd the line until Allar proves he can burn them. It may not take long to back them off.
Well, the heavy bettors from Vegas - MGM - all seem to disagree with you. Right now, the NC favorites are
Georgia + 200
Bama + 600
OSU + 700
Michigan was 4th with + 900 and PSU came in 10th with + 2500. I think the smart bet here is PSU at + 2500 as all three of those teams could beat the other.
well, with our OL and explosive running game, "crowding the line" may end up with a lot of regrets. Our RBs broke a ton of long runs against crowded lines last season.
I suspect they will run a standard D but with tight coverage, as we will have to prove we can go deep (both WRs and QB untested in this regard). Clearly, on passing downs, they'll blitz until DA shows he can beat the blitz.
Should be a fun season starting with WVa, whose defense has been iffy. Then Delaware. Then we go to Illinois to start the B1G season on the road (again!) against a really good defense. then back home against Iowa, one of the best defenses in the nation.
If the passing game is going to be ineffective this season, which I hope that it will not be, it will be difficult to run effectively with a one back set. Our running game design back in the 70s and 80s was a thing of beauty when we had a two back set and was very effective even when the passing game was below average; I love watching the classic PSU games that the BTN sometimes shows from the 80s and even 90s with the cross bucks, etc..
I know that times have changed, but I would love to see a running game like we had in Paterno's glory seasons.
There are really no comparisons between Iowa and Minnesota. Minnesota was far from 100% in that game. They were obviously not prepared to go with their backup QB. That game was over before kickoff.
Our offensive line is highly suspect, we lack talent at receiver and have a rookie QB that lacks the mobility of his predecessor and we play a much tougher early schedule with Illinois and Iowa in September. Comparatively speaking, our four wins from last September came against teams that were a combined 8 and 8 overall and 4 and 7 against 1A schools with San Jose State being the best win of the lot. Other than Michigan and Ohio State, it didn't get much stronger.
i don't think the OL is suspect at all with the exception of Center.
Fashanu is one of the best OL in the nation and is widely regarded as a top-ten NFL pick. They you've got Tengwall, Nourzad, Wormley and Wallace. These are backed up by Shelton (who had a great rose bowl), Nelson, Dawkins, Ioane and Bichmeier. The only OL in the B1G that is better, on paper, is UMs.
The offensive line became a relative strength for this team beginning in November despite them playing without their presumed best lineman. I would expect that they’ll build on their improvement from the end of last season.
Right now, there are very few Big 10 teams who you honestly can say should have a better o-line than PSU. If this o-line isn’t a team strength this season, then a lot of questions must be asked about how the coaches developed them.
That was horrible. Clifford was hurt and shouldn't have been in that game.
I think the entire line is suspect, Fashanu included. When I break down last season I see a line that was weak through Northwestern. Got absolutely destroyed against Michigan and did not hold up to a four man rush against Ohio State. Fashunu looked like a MAC level player against both Michigan and Ohio State. During the month of November, they played a whose who of bad defenses and Michigan State who was missing the majority of the two deep including the player I think was the Big Ten's best defensive player. The line didn't look good against their 2nd and 3rd teamers. Utah also had a lot of success. Sorry, I feel the line is highly suspect, at all positions. They will be better this year due to another year of experience but they weren't good at any point last year and I am not expecting to see a major leap. It would great if it happened but it is not likely.
This says PSU OL is 3rd best in BiG
This says Fashnau is the #1 OL in the BiG
Big Ten’s Top Offensive Linemen Returning in 2023
The Big Ten is set to have another set of stellar offensive linemen this upcoming 2023 College Football season.
lastwordonsports.com
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Yes, an early 1st round grade lineman is suspect and MAC level. You are a troll. Get lost.
But if we're being serious, isn't this a HUGE improvement for PSU when compared to their previous OLs ? In other words, all 3 - PSU, OSU and UM - will have strong OLs and rightly so, shouldn't be that hard to figure out. Those are the top 3 recruiting schools in the conference and they don't have to go through the rebuilding phase every year like the others.This says PSU OL is 3rd best in BiG
This says Fashnau is the #1 OL in the BiG
Big Ten’s Top Offensive Linemen Returning in 2023
The Big Ten is set to have another set of stellar offensive linemen this upcoming 2023 College Football season.lastwordonsports.com
And I still think that the B1G championship depends on 2 units - the PSU OL and the OSU defense. Both have been the weakness on their previous teams - especially the OSU defense - and huge improvement could result in a championship. Not trying to slight Michigan as their offense should be dynamite but I just don't think their defense will be as strong this year.
Just curious. Is the PSU OL projected to be deeper this year also along with being much better?
This should be, and I say should be, the best o-line under Franklin, and yes, there should be decent depth.
I'm not even a PSU fan and I have to think you're just screwing with people now. I've even seen Fashanu to go in the top 10 in a few very early projected 2024 NFL draft lists.
Yes. Last year, we had to break our depth in due to injuries. They surprised and played well. This year, we have these players with starting experience or has played key minutes as a reserve:
Tackles - Olu, Wallace, Shelton
Guards - Tengwall, Wormley, Nelson, Ioane
Center - Nourzad
The freshman class is highly rated, but zero idea if any of them are going to push for snaps or not.
I don't give a darn about a draft grade. Fashanu looked like a MAC caliber linemen when he played top tier defensive linemen, something he didn't play against in every other game. That is a fact that flies off the film. He has a boat load of talent but so far, he hasn't put it to good use on the field against anyone that mattes. He could put it together this year and I hope he does but we'll see. So, either argue or get lost yourself.
You are a troll, not worth arguing with, and most here know that. The argument was already made that linemen with a top 10 NFL draft pick grade do not look like MAC caliber linemen. End of discussion. There is no argument. Get lost.
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