Penn State welcomes the Villanova Wildcats to Beaver Stadium on Saturday afternoon for a non-conference in-state battle. Villanova makes the trip to Happy Valley with a 1-0 record after winning its season opener against Colgate last week while Penn State is already off to a 2-0 start following wins against Nevada and FIU.
Penn State is a heavy favorite this week, which should be expected for the No. 2 team in the FBS when playing at home against an FCS opponent, but will the Nittany Lions manage to flex their muscles early and often? Or will fans be ready for a bit of a slow grind to a comfortable win at the end of the game?
Here is who we are picking this week.
Andrew: Penn State 56, Villanova 7
Offensive Player of the Game: Nick SingletonDefensive Player of the Game: Amare Campbell
The Nittany Lions conclude their out-of-conference schedule with an in-state matchup against Villanova, which is ranked in the FCS, but is ultimately no match for Penn State. The blue and white will showcase overpowering talent in the trenches and the run game should thrive. Singleton has a bounce back game from last week and leads the team in rushing yards after Kaytron Allen led the way in Week 2. On the defensive side, the rush defense could be in for a big day. Linebacker Amare Campbell will show why Penn State added him in the transfer portal in the offseason with a massive game in both the run game and the pass coverage.
Sam: Penn State 45, Villanova 3
Player of the game: Drew Allar
I think Penn State will focus on getting Drew Allar and his receivers into a rhythm and feeling confident ahead of their first big test against Oregon in two weeks. That will start with trying to get a much faster start offensively. The defense doesn’t have a ton to improve on, but look for it to get fine-tuned as well. I think it’s an easy and more encouraging win for Penn State compared to the FIU game.
Christopher: Penn State 46, Villanova 6
Offensive Player of the Game: Nicholas SingletonDefensive Player of the Game: Alonzo Ford
This game will ultimately be an uphill battle for the Wildcats. When you consider they have lost four starters from their offensive line and most of their secondary, the odds of them being competitive in this one look morbid. Look for Penn State’s run defense to shine slowing down a run-heavy Nova attack and for Singleton and Allen to continue their hot streak from last week. Also, I expect Drew Allar will look much better against a weak secondary, spreading the ball around to all three of his new receivers. This win may turn out to be the easiest of Penn State’s first three games before Big Ten play.
Kevin: Penn State 43, Villanova 10
Offensive Player of the Game: Kaytron AllenDefensive Player of the Game: Zane Durant
I think most of us are on the same page with this game in that we are expecting the offense to knock off some of the rust it showed last week during an earlier kickoff. Villanova should be the easiest opponent to overpower on Penn State’s schedule this season, so I would anticipate Penn State taking care of things early on. I’m not expecting to see many explosive plays in this game as I still think Penn State will want to hold some things back going into the bye week with Oregon looming on the horizon for the big whiteout game. So I would anticipate another relatively boring and vanilla type game from start to finish. Villanova probably gets a late score
