The Penn State Nittany Lions meet the Ball State Cardinals in week 2 college football action from Beaver Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Ball State Cardinals will be looking to build on their 31-21 opening victory over Western Illinois in their last game. Drew Plitt threw for 188 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 17 of 28 passing while Will Jones led the Cardinals with 93 rushing yards and a touchdown and Carson Steele had 78 rushing yards with a score as well. Justin Hall led Ball State’s receiving group with 8 catches for 137 yards and a pair of touchdowns while Yo’Heinz Tyler had 4 grabs for 32 yards and Jayshon Jackson had 3 receptions for 23 yards. Jaylin Thomas had a team-high 9 total tackles while Christian Albright had a team-high 4 solo tackles. Tavion Woodard recorded both of Ball State’s sacks in the win and Nic Jones added an interception as well in the victory.
The Penn State Nittany Lions will be out to build off of their 16-10 win over Wisconsin on the road in their last game. Sean Clifford threw for 247 yards and a touchdown on 18 of 33 passing while Noah Cain led Penn State’s ground attack with 8 carries for 46 yards and a score. Jahan Dotson led Penn State’s receiving group with 5 catches for 102 yards and a score while KeAndre Lambert Smith had 4 receptions for 71 yards and Parker Washington had 47 receiving yards. Defensively, Ellis Brooks led the Nittany Lions with 11 total tackles and a team-high 8 solo tackles with a sack as well while Arnold Ebiketie had 7 solo tackles with a sack of his own. Jaquan Brisker and Ji’Ayir Brown each had an INT as well in the winning effort for Penn State.
Ball State is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall and 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games in September while the under is 6-0 in their last 6 games against the Big Ten. Penn State is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games overall and 7-1 ATS in their last 8 games played in September.
These two teams had close calls against teams that are on two completely different levels, so give the edge to Penn State there. However, that game had to take a lot of emotion for the Nittany Lions after Wisconsin almost came back down the field to make a game of it, so I’m wondering if a letdown is potentially in order. I’m not saying the Cardinals win outright, but this is a talented Ball State team that I’m really high on and I feel like giving up more than three scores is just too much. I’ll take Ball State and the points here.