Breaking Down: The Buffalo Bulls

The Buffalo Bulls are clearly Penn State's last "tune-up" game of the fall before embarking on their Big Ten schedule (@ Michigan, @ Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin in successive weeks). So save the White-0ut for Wisconsin you little scamps! The Bills went 2-10 last year in the MAC with wins against Temple and Kent State (the cream of the MAC!) This, much like the FIU game, will be a game where you want to watch for improvement from key parts of the team (O-line & D-line) and for no injuries to occur. If the team comes out of this game healthy and having gained experience at key positions then victory is ours! While I don't claim to be a master of Bulls football, I will attempt to give me meager analysis below.




Drugs are for Turds!

Passing:
Drew Willy will return to take snaps for the Bulls. Willy is a returning junior who completed nearly 60% of his passes for a little under 1400 yds. in 2006. However, when you check out his games against quality opponnents (BC and Auburn) he only threw for 191 yds. total. The Bulls do, however, return two of their top receivers for 2007 in Breaux and Roosevelt. All in all, the Bulls will be an improved passing team in 2007. This improvement, however, will not make them good enough to challenge a defense like PSU's.

Rushing:
James Starks will be the Bull to watch when Buffalo has the ball. As a Freshman Starks rushed for 704 yds while averaging 4 yds/carry. Again, if you look as his stats against quality opponents (BC and Auburn) he rushed for only 67 yds on 29 carries (2.3 yds/carry). This year I think Starks could rush for 1000 yards, however, only 64 of those will come against the Nittany Lions. (write that prediction down mother-fuckers!)
(Electric Boogaloo!) Defense:
The Bulls gave up 36 points a game last year. In the MAC. Yikes. I see no reason to believe that this trend will reverse itself in 2007. Penn State will win by 40+ points and no starter will play beyond the third quarter.

Prediction
PSU: 69
Bulls: 12

GO STATE! GET FIRED UP FOR THE FALL!

Breaking Down The Golden Pathers of FIU

Penn State will hold it's opener against the mighty Golden Panthers of FIU in a scant 90 days. Because we are only 13 weeks or so away from the start of the season I need to start breaking down PSU's opponents. The only place to begin is at the beginning.

The Golden Panthers had a dismal 2006 season going 0-12 in the ever-competitive Sun-Belt Conference. There is little reason to think that the Panthers will be able to improve on that mark this year. I'll try to break down the turd which is the 2007 Golden Panthers below (binge on FIU stats yourself here):

Passing:
Josh Padrick graduated after an awful senior season in which he completed 213 of 388 passes but had 14 INTs compared to only 5 TD tosses. True Sophomore Paul McCall will take the reigns of this high-powered juggernaut in 2007. McCall saw limited action last year only throwing 18 passes which included 1 INT and ZERO TDs. To make matters worse, the two best receivers on last years team also graduated (Williams and Smith) leaving an inexperienced QB with even less experienced receivers. There is no way the FIU passing game will be anything but dreadful in 2007.

Rushing:
If FIU is to have any respectability at all it will have to be on the shoulders of their experienced RB tandem in Ned and Reams who combined for 770 yards last year. Ned is the more explosive of the two averaging 5.1 yds/carry but it is clear that Reams will still play a large role in 2007 as he actually carried the ball 10 more times in 2006 than Ned did. The FIU rushing attack will be serviceable but they won't rush for more than 80 yards against a stingy Penn State Defense.

Defense:
The Defense was, well, terrible. They gave up 313 points in 12 games in the SUN-BELT! This averages out to 26 pts/game, porous at best. Against PSU's experienced passing game and the explosiveness of Austin Scott they will be generally outclassed.

Prediction:
0-0 will be the only time FIU is in sniffing distance of the Nittany Lions. PSU's offense will show it's quick strike ability, this will be the only thing preventing the FIU defense from being on the field the entire day. Penn State will cause 4 FIU turnovers and probably score a TD off of one. The offense will show no mercy as it needs the experience to prepare for ND the next week.

Final Score:
PSU: 48
FIU: 6

Don't forget this either. Very Classy!



GO STATE! GET FIRED UP FOR THE FALL!