2023 Opponent Outlook: Why We Will Beat Penn State

Happy Tuesday, TOC. Let me start by saying that I didn’t really know what this series of articles was going to be when I first started writing the CMU post. And looking back on all twelve now, I am not sure I ever figured it out. So hopefully you didn’t hate it. Best case scenario, reading them made you even more excited for the season than you already are. The fact that you all take time from your day to come check out an MSU blog means you each are among the most die-hard of Spartans. Thank you for being an audience for BBD, Andy, and myself.

Okay, that’s enough of the pleasantries. Let’s get to it. You know I didn’t come this far, predicting an 11-0 start, only to predict a loss in the final game. So yeah, MSU is going 12-0. And on that note, I want to recognize TOCer Halfshellmeijin as this week’s Reader of the Week for correctly responding to a comment in the Nebraska article to say that I would indeed post an article predicting an MSU victory over OSU and a 10-0 record. Congrats Halfshell!

Let’s get to the game now. Yes, many of you are not happy about it being pulled from Spartan Stadium and placed in Detroit’s Ford Field. There has been a lot of outrage aimed at the MSU athletic department over having allowing this to have happened. There is resentment that Senior Day will be celebrated three weeks earlier, in game nine against Nebraska on November 4. That is pretty early for a Senior Day.

But let me just come out and tell you all that the relocation of this game is going to end up playing in MSU’s advantage. The Penn State game is scheduled for November 24, which is the day after Thanksgiving. Being that it is just after Thanksgiving, do you know who was not going to be at the game? Did you say “the students”? Then you are correct. You know who else probably was not going to be there? Did you say, “a whole bunch of older fans”? Then you got another one right.

Yeah, the day right after Thanksgiving, the students won’t be on campus and the alum are not coming up for a Friday night game. It probably wouldn’t have been much of a scene at Spartan Stadium. Do you know what is going on Thanksgiving Day though? First there is the Lions game at Ford Field against Green Bay, and then there is an MSU hoops game against Arizona (in California) right after. In my typical optimistic manner, I will go ahead and say the Lions and Spartans basketball team are winning both of those games. This means that MSU fans around Detroit are going to be in a real good mood.

On the day after, when these 65,000 Spartans in a good mood (Ford Field capacity) come out for the last football game of the season, and may I remind you that MSU will be 11-0 at this point, they are coming with a feverish elation which will certainly be palpable, and which will certainly cause problems for Penn State. I’m talking about not being able to hear play calls in the huddle or at the line of scrimmage. I’m talking about the center not hearing the QB calling for the snap or the receivers being just a fraction of a second delayed in starting their route.

Meanwhile, the Spartans on the field are going to harness that fan energy and use it to make sure they put the finishing touches on a perfect season. Penn State will be a good team this season and is deserving of their #7 preseason ranking. They will score some points in this game, but they won’t be able to put fear into MSU on this day. The game will be close until the middle of the third. At that point, the frustration over their communication difficulties will mount and the small mistakes will start adding up. That 17-14 MSU lead will become 24-14 and then 27-14 by the early stages of the fourth quarter. Each team will tack on one more touchdown drive and MSU will celebrate a 34-21 win to punctuate their division win and berth in the B1G championship game.

Three more days, fellas. Go Green! Go White!