All five of the writers at Black Shoe Diaries like Penn State to win by double digits on Saturday against Indiana. But not all of them appear confident that the Nittany Lions will cover the roughly 18 points by which they are favored (actual spreads have varied from 17.5 to 18.5).
Penn State has never lost a football game to Indiana. Let's look at why the crew at BSD thinks the Nittany Lions will win big. Here's what Jared writes:
Penn State is an extremely resilient team. Instead of losing focus after a tough loss, they will instead tee off on the Hoosiers. Zach Zwinak will once again set a career-best for rushing yards in a game, Zordich will score a touchdown, and Amos and Mauti each get an interception.
Tim agrees:
To Indiana's credit, they are well-improved from a year ago, but they still have a ways to go in order to compete with the 'top dogs' of the Leaders Division. Their defense outside of a couple of pass rushers, is rather porous and offensively, they rely way too much on slinging the ball around instead of establishing a staunch rushing attack. Look for PSU to pound away with Zwinak early and often, opening up the passing game for McGloin and Co.
Dan is less certain, though he still expects Penn State to come out on top:
While we've always beaten Indiana, it seems to have not been easy, especially in recent memory. I still have flashbacks to James Hardy doing whatever he wanted to Justin King in Bloomington a few years ago.
I think that this game will also be closer than what most are thinking, but I expect another Penn State win to guarantee a winning season in year one of the sanctions.