Penn State Football took care of business before their Whiteout crowd, defeating Washington 35-6. In addition, they saw Georgia and Miami lose on Saturday, allowing the Nittany Lions to move up to No. 4 in the College Football Playoff rankings this week and close in on hosting a first-round game in December.
This week, Penn State travels to West Lafayette, Indiana to take on the Boilermakers of Purdue. Let’s dive into this matchup.
Penn State vs. Purdue Football Series History
If there is one team Penn State has had a lot of success against over the years, it’s Purdue. In 20 previous meetings, Penn State has won 16 times and they have tied once. Penn State is on a ten-game winning streak against Purdue. The last time Purdue knocked off the Lions was in 2004.
Key players for Penn State
Quarterback Drew Allar surpassed 2,000 passing yards in last week’s win over Washington. He threw for 220 yards and a touchdown, bringing his totals to 2,006 passing yards, 13 touchdowns, and five interceptions. He hasn’t been asked to do much in this offense, but he keeps the offense on track plenty enough.
Tight end Tyler Warren continues to be one of the main weapons in the offense. But last week against Washington, he did his damage on the ground, scoring two rushing touchdowns at the goal line. He now has three rushing touchdowns this season and seven touchdowns overall. In addition, he is still the leading receiver for Penn State by about 200 yards.
The defense as a whole deserves credit for last week. Washington has a nice offense entering the week and Penn State held them to just six points. Running back Jonah Coleman was held to just 24 yards on 11 carries. Stud receiver Denzel Boston caught just two passes for 35 yards. The defense came to play, especially edge-rusher Abdul Carter, who had two sacks. Carter could be playing his way into being a top-five pick in April’s draft.
Key players for Purdue
It has obviously been a rough year for Purdue, which enters this week with a 1-8 record and is the only winless team in conference play at 0-6. They sit at the very bottom of the Big Ten standings.
Their quarterback is Hudson Card, who has 1,113 passing yards and completes 60% of his passes. He has an 8-to-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
Purdue sports two solid backs in their run game, led by junior Devin Mockobee. He has rushed 104 times for 612 yards and three touchdowns. He also has a receiving touchdown and 123 yards on 13 catches.
Also in the mix is senior Reggie Love III. Love has 358 yards and two touchdowns on 73 carries and 13 yards on five catches.
Keys to victory for Penn State
1. Stay focused, don’t look ahead. It will be very easy for Penn State to overlook a 1-8 Purdue team, especially knowing that Penn State is likely three wins away from hosting a College Football Playoff game. A potential speed bump does await next week at Minnesota, but the Lions just need to focus and take care of business this week against a team they haven’t lost to in 20 years.
2. Keep feeding Abdul Carter. The highly-touted draft prospect had another big game last week against Washington with two sacks. Card has been sacked 17 times. Think Carter isn’t foaming at the mouth to boost his sack total, which currently sits at 8?
3. Stay as healthy as possible. Running back Nick Singleton is banged up. No need to really risk him in a game like this. Get him ready for the stretch run and the playoffs. Get the jump early on Purdue and see if they can’t get their starters out at some point in the second half and get ready for a key game next week at Minnesota.
