Who are the experts picking in Penn State’s matchup vs. Illinois?
Penn State is looking for a rebound this week as they prepare to take on the Illinois Fighting Illini for homecoming weekend. Two weeks after taking a tough loss at Iowa that left some notable players injured, Penn State is looking forward to a little home cooking this weekend.
The status of Sean Clifford is still uncertain, as Penn State has kickstarted a midseason quarterback competition between Ta’Quan Roberson and Christian Veilleux.
With the quarterback situation still in question for Saturday, who are the experts picking for this Big Ten matchup?
Penn State currently has a 93.7% chance to win, despite their quarterback problem. Illinois has struggled all season with a quarterback in Brandon Peters who has also been banged up.
A group of writers from College Football News got together and made their staff predictions for this week’s matchups. The consensus pick from them is Penn State over Illinois. However, there was one writer that picked the Fighting Illini to pull off the upset in Happy Valley.
Another website, Cappers, picks picked Penn State to defeat Illinois in its first game at home since October 2nd against Indiana. Regardless of whether Sean Clifford plays or not, the writer has a hard time believing this game will be close.
As mentioned, Illinois quarterback Brandon Peters has been banged up and their current quarterback, Artur Sitkowski, hasn’t looked good at all. This should bode well for the Penn State defense.
The picks are in and many believe that Penn State will defeat Illinois at home, despite who starts under center for either team. If that one outlier from College Football News is right on the upset, it will be a good day for him. However, it will certainly be tough to get past a lights-out Nittany Lion defense this weekend in Happy Valley.
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