Ohio State #3 v Penn State #18 October 31st 2020

This week’s match-up between Ohio State and Penn State will be with limited in-person attendance at Beaver Stadium. You can watch the game on ABC at 7:30pm Saturday night.

Last Week Indiana v Penn State

Indiana upset Penn State last weekend in overtime, although many feel Penn State is better than they performed in their first game of the season. Ohio State is favored by 12 points after last weeks results. Quarterback Sean Clifford led the team in rushing which is not ideal and the team was plague with errors in every aspect of the game.

Ohio State Last Week

Justin Fields was near perfect in Ohio State’s opening game against Nebraska in the Shoe (20 or 21 for 276 yards). And he ran for 55 yards on the ground, often when the team needed him the most. Ohio State struggled on the ground in week 1, hopefully they find a way to get their backs open in some gaps to complement their passing game. The four backs (Trey Sermon, Master Teague, Steele Chambers and Xavier Johnson) combined with Fields did add up to some decent yards, but there was not a dominate back.

Receiving was led by Garrett Wilson (129 yards and a touchdown) and Chris Olave (104 yards). With Julian Fleming, Jameson Williams, Jeremy Ruckert, Jaxson Smith-Njigba, and Luke Farrell also getting catches. Olave might miss this coming game with an injury.

Justin Fields

Fields needs to show his skills against good competition in the short season if he wants to be considered for the Heisman trophy. This nationally televised game is the perfect opportunity.

Going against Fields is Shaka Toney on the defensive line of Penn State. The Nittany Lions hope Toney can disrupt the Buckeye quarterback enough to keep them in the game.

Penn State 2020

Penn State has had injures in the backfield leaving them thin in the running game. With no fans in the stands, they might have trouble this year unlike years in the past when they gave the Buckeyes a challenge. Journey Brown and Noah Cain are out for the season with injuries. Now there is no starting experience at running back for the team.

The big difference is at quarterback where Sean Clifford made mistakes last week to lose the game for the Lions. And they only had two passes for more than 20 yards last week, allowing Indiana to load the box.

Penn State cannot get into a score match with the Buckeyes but need to keep the score low to try to sneak out a win.

Our prediction:, Ohio State 40 v Penn State 24.