The Penn State Nittany Lions travel up the Jersey Turnpike to battle Big Ten foe Rutgers University on Saturday afternoon. Penn State comes into the game at 8-2 overall and 5-2 in the Big Ten. With two games left in the regular season, the Nittany Lions still have a good chance to earn a New Year's Day bowl game. Host Rutgers comes into this game at 4-6 overall and just 1-6 in the Big Ten. They still have an outside shot at a bowl game but will need to win out to secure a bid. The opening kick is scheduled for 3:30pm EST.
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The Penn State Nittany Lions have already qualified for a bowl game this season and are now just trying to position themselves for the best possible bowl. Penn State heads into the final two games of their season with an excellent chance to finish the season with 10 wins. Penn State sits at 8-2 with road wins over Purdue, Auburn and Indiana. Two wins over Rutgers and Michigan State will put the Nittany Lions in a position to have 10 wins and a top-ten finish that would likely earn them a New Year's Day bowl game. Penn State comes into this game on a two-game win streak after defeating Maryland 30-0 at home last week. Once again, the Nittany Lions defense stepped to the forefront and led the team to an easy win. They held Maryland to just 134 total yards of offense, 74 through the air and 60 on the ground.
“We have 13 different players with a sack right now. Back-to-back games with six sacks or more haven't hap pened since 2007. On top of that, no sacks on offense and the offensive line are playing their tails off right now with a lot of moving parts. Defensively, we held them to 27 yards in the first half. On top of that, because of the way our defense and special teams are playing, our offense had the ball on their side of the field for 27 plays as well. Again, Pinegar, I can't say enough about him. It was the fourth game that we've had this year without allowing the sack, that's the first time that's happened since 2011. Just so you are aware and there's no gray area out there, Joey Porter was not available tonight. That was a non-football injury situation that we were working through. I just want to be very, very clear about that. Hopefully, we will have Joey back soon.” Penn State head coach James Franklin said after his defense's dominant performance.
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— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) November 17, 2022
Penn State, despite its defense's dominance as of late, have been pretty well balanced this season. The Nittany Lions are 21st in scoring offense this season. They have the 47th best ground attack and the 40th best passing attack. The Nittany Lions defense is the 13th best scoring defense in the country. They are 23rd against the run and 48th against the pass. Penn State is slightly above average in turnover differential, ranking 32nd in the nation.
Key Injuries: CB Joey Porter Jr. (appendix) is listed as questionable.