Northwestern @ Penn State preview
Beaver Stadium
Last Meeting ( Oct 31, 2009 ) Penn State 34, Northwestern 13
Matt McGloin or Rob Bolden will get a chance to add to the iconic resume of Joe Paterno.
Penn State seeks to become bowl eligible and provide its legendary coach his 400th career victory when Northwestern visits Happy Valley for the first time in four years Saturday afternoon.
After suffering three horrendous losses by a combined 81-19 score, Paterno and the Lions (5-3, 2-2 Big Ten) have seemingly righted the ship with a 33-21 win at Minnesota and a 41-31 triumph vs. Michigan last week.
McGloin came off the bench in the second quarter for an injured Bolden and threw two touchdown passes against Minnesota. He became the first walk-on ever to start at quarterback for Paterno last week against Michigan.
The red-shirt sophomore completed 17 of 28 passes for 250 yards and another touchdown against the porous Wolverines' defense. McGloin engineered scores on seven of nine possessions, including all six in the red zone before taking a knee on the final play of the game.
Evan Royster rumbled for 150 yards to surpass Curt Warner as the Lions' all-time rushing leader.
Bolden, a true freshman, started the first seven games before exiting the Minnesota game with a head injury in the midst of his best performance of the season. He completed 11 of 13 passes for 130 yards.
Not wanting to name a starter early this week, Paterno has decided to have his quarterbacks compete for the starting position this week.
Either quarterback will have a favorable matchup against a Northwestern defense that ranks 10th in the Big Ten in pass defense (245). But Northwestern (6-2, 2-2 Big Ten) won’t be a pushover in front of 107,000 fans at Beaver Stadium.
The Wildcats have won six straight road games, their longest such streak since 1931, and they became bowl eligible for the fourth straight year with last week’s 20-17 victory at Indiana.
The victory followed a 20-17 loss to Purdue and 35-27 defeat to Michigan State. And Northwestern likes November, winning six of its last seven contests and going 9-4 since head coach Pat Fitzgerald took over in 2006.
The Penn State defense will be tested for the second straight week by a multi-talented quarterback. Michigan’s Denard Robinson rushed for 191 yards and passed for 190 last week.
This week the Lions will need to gameplan for redshirt junior Dan Persa, who hails from Bethlehem, Pa., about 170 miles from University Park, and an offense that averages 414 yards per game.
Persa, who was added to the Manning Award watch list this week, is second in the nation in completion percentage (74.4) and ninth in passer efficiency (162.7). He has thrown 12 touchdowns against three picks. The shifty Persa is also the team’s top rusher, gaining 368 yards and scoring six more times.
Last week against Indiana, Persa was 18 of 28 for 212 yards and two touchdowns to Jeremy Ebert in a game that was tied 10-10 at the half.
Ebert, who has 42 catches and seven scores this season, had five grabs for 98 yards. Mike Trumpy ran for a career-high 110 yards in the win, becoming the first Wildcat since the 2008 Alamo Bowl to top the century mark.
Penn State leads the series 10-3, including 5-1 at Beaver Stadium, and has won the last three. The Lions posted a 34-13 victory in Evanston last season.