First of all this season's home schedule is freaking unreal. As a season ticket holder I am very excited for the high quality home games we have lined up. It should be a great final season for Trace and a chance for many new players to make a name for themselves. Considering we host pretty much all of our top opponents at home this year you can't not be optimistic for this season. I honestly don't see a single game on our schedule that scares me. Ohio State will be tough but I like us hosting at home and I will take Trace into battle over Haskins early in the season. We will go to Michigan and win a close game on the road, expect Trace to have a game winning drive. I expect us to make the CFP this year after winning the B1G champ game. Hosting almost all of our tough games this season puts us in a unique position schedule wise. If we were on the road this year for all of these games I wouldn't have the same outlook for this team. I think that is the x factor. Go undefeated at home this year and we are sitting pretty. Trace will dominate this season. That's all I need to say about 2018 as we've all dissected it a million times already.
Going back to back is when you know you have built something special.
I believe that Penn State talent wise is set up to succeed in 2019 more than in 2018. The recent recruiting classes are loaded with talent and getting some of our freshmen into the rotation and through a full season will be huge for the potential of this team coming into 2019. With Tommy Stevens at QB surrounded by an insane amount of weapons and a crazy deep offensive line, the offense in 2019 should actually be insanely good. Think about our WR, RB and TE depth in 2019. We lose Trace McSroley, Chasz Wright, Deandre Thompkins, Mark Allen and Johnathan Thomas. Trace is obviously important but I feel good about Tommy getting his chance to shine. Chasz and Deandre are expected to start, but there's no major fall off after they're gone.
Defensively the whole D line returns except Torrence Brown. That's just insane considering how deep we are now across the line.
LBer we lose Koa and Jake Cooper. But we all know the talent in this group is on the younger side. Getting Micah, Ellis, Luketa, Tarburton, Katshir through a full year of training and growth plus getting acclimated to the college speed of the game will make this group nasty in 2019 and beyond.
The secondary we lose Amani Oruwariye who is already a projected top 100 pick in the draft, Desi Davis and Jabari Butler at CB followed by Nick Scott at Safety. I personally believe we are absolutely stacked at CB and Safety through the next 4 years, but more importantly when you have a d-line like we will have in 2019/2020 the QBs won't have much time to throw so youth at the CB position won't necessarily be exploited as much as the casual fan may think.
Gillikin returns in 2019 as well as every other kicker we have.
Now when you look at the schedule in 2019 you may think we have a bunch of tough road games when in reality we will have 1. Ohio State will host Penn State then they travel to Michigan the following weekend.Tough stretch for the buckeyes to end the season. Michigan State and Iowa will both fall off talent wise in 2019 in my opinion. We start the season with a great confidence boosting schedule for Tommy and the offense.
Penn State should absolutely be 6-0 when Michigan comes to town on 10/19. This will be the first major challenge for the Lions. Shea Patterson will be in year two with Michigan and should be good. Donovan Peoples-Jones will be a true junior and is a serious weapon at WR. They will be weak at LT and RT having to replace seniors at both positions. Here's the thing with Michigan. Last year they had insane issues offensively with the QB position being a major problem. They were also very very young. Penn State hosting this game at home at night will give the Lions the edge. This will be a tough game, but Penn State will win.
I expect that we take care of them and the next 3 opponents and head to Columbus 10-0 ranked in the top 3. The weekend before Thanksgiving will feature possibly the biggest Penn State vs Ohio State matchup ever. If Penn State beats Ohio State in Columbus for the first time since 2011 we will go undefeated in the regular season.
Ohio State will have a senior lead offensive line in 2018 which will be tough for us this season, but in 2019 they may have to fill 4 O-line slots. They have the depth behind them as all of their recruits are former 4 and 5 star guys on the oline, but if there is ever a year we could beat them in Columbus its the year Ohio State is trying to fill 4 o-line slots.
Ohio State's defense could be stacked if everyone returns for their senior seasons, but I don't expect that. I expect Bosa to leave early as well as some in the secondary and maybe a LBer.
Haskins and Dobbins will be the stars for them but both will have to go against our loaded d-line which I believe will cause them fits in 2019 behind a new oline.
A James Franklin undefeated regular season team will probably play Nebraska or Wisconsin in the B1G title game. I expect Penn State to absolutely crush either of those teams, not because I'm a crazy homer, but I don't see an undefeated James Franklin squad losing the B1G title game.
Penn State will move into the CFP as the number 1 or 2 team and god help ticket prices because they will be insane. The semifinals will be in Atlanta and Arizona followed by the champ game in NOLA. My bold prediction is Penn State will play in the CFP National Championship in 2019.
Looking beyond 2019 Penn State will also be stacked in 2020 but breaking in a new QB will be a big test. The 2021 season has an insanely tough schedule. We start the season at Wisconsin, then we host Auburn two weeks later. We go to Iowa, to Michigan State and to Ohio State.
If we are going to get to the CFP the stars are aligning for a run in 2018 and 2019 that I think is very doable.
Start saving your pennies.
Going back to back is when you know you have built something special.
I believe that Penn State talent wise is set up to succeed in 2019 more than in 2018. The recent recruiting classes are loaded with talent and getting some of our freshmen into the rotation and through a full season will be huge for the potential of this team coming into 2019. With Tommy Stevens at QB surrounded by an insane amount of weapons and a crazy deep offensive line, the offense in 2019 should actually be insanely good. Think about our WR, RB and TE depth in 2019. We lose Trace McSroley, Chasz Wright, Deandre Thompkins, Mark Allen and Johnathan Thomas. Trace is obviously important but I feel good about Tommy getting his chance to shine. Chasz and Deandre are expected to start, but there's no major fall off after they're gone.
Defensively the whole D line returns except Torrence Brown. That's just insane considering how deep we are now across the line.
LBer we lose Koa and Jake Cooper. But we all know the talent in this group is on the younger side. Getting Micah, Ellis, Luketa, Tarburton, Katshir through a full year of training and growth plus getting acclimated to the college speed of the game will make this group nasty in 2019 and beyond.
The secondary we lose Amani Oruwariye who is already a projected top 100 pick in the draft, Desi Davis and Jabari Butler at CB followed by Nick Scott at Safety. I personally believe we are absolutely stacked at CB and Safety through the next 4 years, but more importantly when you have a d-line like we will have in 2019/2020 the QBs won't have much time to throw so youth at the CB position won't necessarily be exploited as much as the casual fan may think.
Gillikin returns in 2019 as well as every other kicker we have.
Now when you look at the schedule in 2019 you may think we have a bunch of tough road games when in reality we will have 1. Ohio State will host Penn State then they travel to Michigan the following weekend.Tough stretch for the buckeyes to end the season. Michigan State and Iowa will both fall off talent wise in 2019 in my opinion. We start the season with a great confidence boosting schedule for Tommy and the offense.
Penn State should absolutely be 6-0 when Michigan comes to town on 10/19. This will be the first major challenge for the Lions. Shea Patterson will be in year two with Michigan and should be good. Donovan Peoples-Jones will be a true junior and is a serious weapon at WR. They will be weak at LT and RT having to replace seniors at both positions. Here's the thing with Michigan. Last year they had insane issues offensively with the QB position being a major problem. They were also very very young. Penn State hosting this game at home at night will give the Lions the edge. This will be a tough game, but Penn State will win.
I expect that we take care of them and the next 3 opponents and head to Columbus 10-0 ranked in the top 3. The weekend before Thanksgiving will feature possibly the biggest Penn State vs Ohio State matchup ever. If Penn State beats Ohio State in Columbus for the first time since 2011 we will go undefeated in the regular season.
Ohio State will have a senior lead offensive line in 2018 which will be tough for us this season, but in 2019 they may have to fill 4 O-line slots. They have the depth behind them as all of their recruits are former 4 and 5 star guys on the oline, but if there is ever a year we could beat them in Columbus its the year Ohio State is trying to fill 4 o-line slots.
Ohio State's defense could be stacked if everyone returns for their senior seasons, but I don't expect that. I expect Bosa to leave early as well as some in the secondary and maybe a LBer.
Haskins and Dobbins will be the stars for them but both will have to go against our loaded d-line which I believe will cause them fits in 2019 behind a new oline.
A James Franklin undefeated regular season team will probably play Nebraska or Wisconsin in the B1G title game. I expect Penn State to absolutely crush either of those teams, not because I'm a crazy homer, but I don't see an undefeated James Franklin squad losing the B1G title game.
Penn State will move into the CFP as the number 1 or 2 team and god help ticket prices because they will be insane. The semifinals will be in Atlanta and Arizona followed by the champ game in NOLA. My bold prediction is Penn State will play in the CFP National Championship in 2019.
Looking beyond 2019 Penn State will also be stacked in 2020 but breaking in a new QB will be a big test. The 2021 season has an insanely tough schedule. We start the season at Wisconsin, then we host Auburn two weeks later. We go to Iowa, to Michigan State and to Ohio State.
If we are going to get to the CFP the stars are aligning for a run in 2018 and 2019 that I think is very doable.
Start saving your pennies.
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