Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Penn State Nittany Lions
Fri Nov 20 · 11:00 PM CT
By Pablo SanchezUpdated 4d ago·2 min read
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Rutgers hasn't beaten Penn State since 1988, and this year's edition of the series arrives with both programs starting over at the top.
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Best BetPenn State
Penn State winning outright isn't really in question given a series record that's been one-sided for 38 years running. The bigger question is how much Rutgers can make Campbell's first-year group sweat before the outcome is decided, especially with Becht still working back from shoulder surgery. Back the Nittany Lions, but don't expect the same margin of comfort recent editions of this game have delivered.
Rutgers
+Antwan Raymond returns off 1,241 rushing yards, 13 TDs
+KJ Duff a proven big-play receiving threat
−Offensive line pass protection was a major issue
−Quarterback job reportedly still undecided into camp
−0-10 all-time in Big Ten era meetings
Penn State
+32-2 all-time in series, 17 straight wins
+Rocco Becht brings proven starting experience
+Matt Campbell arrives with a strong track record
−First year of a major roster overhaul, nearly 50 new players
−Becht still recovering from offseason shoulder surgery
−Untested cohesion under a brand-new coaching staff
Both sidelines walk into this one with brand-new answers under center. Matt Campbell handed the Penn State offense to Rocco Becht, the experienced transfer he trusts more than anyone on the roster, while Greg Schiano still hadn't settled his own quarterback race by the time spring wrapped, with Boston College transfer Dylan Lonergan pushing his in-house competition deep into fall camp. That's an unusual amount of uncertainty for a series Penn State has owned for nearly four decades.
Becht's recovery from offseason shoulder surgery is the real swing factor in Happy Valley, and how quickly nearly 50 new Campbell imports — almost half of them following him from Iowa State — gel by late November says more about this game than the record book does. Rutgers has its own version of that problem up front, where an offensive line that couldn't protect anybody last season still has to prove it fixed things, no matter who wins the job at quarterback.
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RUTG Rutgers
PSU Penn State
None of that stops oddsmakers from treating Penn State as the heavy favorite before a snap is played, and given what's happened here for 38 straight years, that's a defensible starting point.
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Nov 13?vs Nebraska—
Nov 6?@ Wisconsin—
Oct 30?vs Michigan—
Oct 16?@ Maryland—
Oct 3?vs Indiana—
Sep 25?vs Howard—
Sep 19?vs USC—
Sep 11?@ Boston College—
Sep 3?vs Massachusetts—
Penn State Nittany Lions
Nov 13?vs Minnesota—
Nov 6?@ Washington—
Oct 30?vs Purdue—
Oct 16?@ Michigan—
Oct 9?vs USC—
Oct 2?@ Northwestern—
Sep 25?vs Wisconsin—
Sep 19?vs Buffalo—
Sep 12?@ Temple—
Sep 5?vs Marshall—
Recent form.
Rutgers isn't walking in empty-handed. Antwan Raymond returns after a 1,241-yard, 13-touchdown season in the backfield, and KJ Duff is a legitimate matchup problem on the outside coming off 60 catches for 1,084 yards and 7 scores. If Schiano's line holds up even a little better than it did a year ago, this offense has the pieces to make Penn State work for it.
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
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Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Penn State Nittany Lions
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Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
The bigger story here might be Penn State itself. This is a program still just getting its footing under Campbell after firing James Franklin last October and watching him land at Virginia Tech, where he's spent the offseason needling his old school and poaching a few of its players. A first-year staff installing a new system in November isn't the same animal as the Penn State teams that ran off 17 straight wins in this series.
History says blowout. The state of both rosters says this could be the first Rutgers-Penn State game in a decade where that's not a foregone conclusion — even if the final score still probably tells the same old story.
