Michigan State Football: What do we know about Penn State for Week 7?

Michigan State football travels to Happy Valley to take on Penn State. Can the Spartans slow down the high-octane offense of the Nittany Lions?

Both Penn State and Michigan State are coming off emotionally draining home losses. Both teams had questionable play-calling in the game (albeit MSU had the worst of the two). The Nittany Lions’ loss to Ohio State was more devastating because they let a large lead slip and on fourth down had a terrible play call and lost the game.

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Penn State has junior tailback Miles Sanders and he has looked good against sub-par competition, except for last Saturday against OSU. In that game, he rushed 16 times for 43 yards. The previous week against Illinois, he ripped off a 200-yard game. MSU has been stout against the run thus far and may present a challenge to the Nittany Lions.

However, Trace McSorley is the X-factor in this contest. Ohio State did not have an answer for his RPOs and escapability. Often, McSorley made something out of nothing. He had 175 yards rushing and 286 yards passing, he almost single-handily beat the Buckeyes.

The Nittany Lions also have freshman phenom receiver KJ Hamler, a former MSU recruit. He has 13 receptions for 308 yards and four touchdowns — he had 138 yards alone against OSU. He has the speed to kill opposing defensive backs and Penn State will no doubt being to him on jet-sweeps, and over the top of the defense for the big play.

Junior Juwan Johnson is PSU’s other playmaker and he is a big one at 6-foot-4 and 231 pounds. He has over 200 yards receiving, but only one touchdown. For Penn State is a big three-headed attack with McSorley, Hamler and Sanders. It will be difficult for MSU to slow the triple-threat down.

This is one of the games where the opposition is going to have to keep pace in order to have a chance to win.

Michigan State has struggled recently and with head coach Mark Dantonio coming out this week in support of his team and philosophy of football it appears not much will change going forward. However, the Penn State defense has allowed teams like Appalachian State and Illinois (for three quarters) to hang around.

A question mark coming into the season with Penn State was their defense, however, they did play well against OSU. Albeit, it was a night game and a ‘white out’ contest that everyone was hyped about with College GameDay being there.

Michigan State will attempt to have long time-consuming drives to keep the Nittany Lion defense on the field. In order to do this (which they have yet to do this year), they will need to execute on offense.

Prediction: Michigan State 24, Penn State 45. Michigan State at this point does not have the horses to compete with Penn State. They are still attempting to get healthy and the crazy environment at Happy Valley is difficult for even the most mentally sound teams.