Penn State vs Pittsburgh stream, keys, predictions, and more

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STATE COLLEGE, PA – SEPTEMBER 01: Cam Brown #6 of the Penn State Nittany Lions celebrates his sack with Ayron Monroe #23 of the Penn State Nittany Lions on September 1, 2018 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /

Keys for Penn State

Improve on special teams

Franklin acknowledged in his postgame press conference that the Nittany Lions “did not play well on special teams” and it’s something that plagues college football early in the season.

Penn State gave up a 100-yard kick return to Darrynton Evans in the first quarter and three additional returns of 10 yards or more.

Freshman kicker Jake Pinegar nailed seven kicks in his collegiate debut and punter Blake Gillikin averaged 43 yards per punt. Pinegar was the Nittany Lions’ special teams player of the week for hitting all his kicks in front of 105,000 fans and coming up clutch throughout the game.

The returns, however, are clearly an issue after the team lost several players to graduation and the NFL Draft, including special teams star Troy Apke. You know Franklin has been running those drills all week in preparation for Pitt.

Watch Trace run

As mentioned earlier, Franklin believes that Trace McSorley is at his best when he runs the ball, forcing the defense to second-guess themselves and account for the quarterback’s unique athleticism.

McSorley rushed the ball 12 times, one more than he averaged per game last year, and his two rushing touchdowns were a personal single-game best.

WIth a lot of hype going into this game McSorley could use Pitt’s aggressiveness against them by moving his feet and stretching the field sideline to sideline.

Block out the noise

Pitt goes into this game as 8.5-point underdogs at home against the 13th ranked team in the country. For Pitt, this is a rivalry game in a rivalry not seen eye to eye by both sides. Most Penn State fans don’t see this as a rivalry, but Pitt pushes this game hard for fans and in recruiting.

ESPN has Penn State’s 2018 recruiting class as the fourth-best in college football with the state’s top prospect Micah Parsons, who played last week, going to the Nittany Lions.

The high school prospect to watch in the battle of Pennsylvania schools is wide receiver Julian Fleming, ESPN’s third-best high school prospect in their 2020 Top 300, and the top in-state prospect. He’s received offers from both schools, along with the traditional powerhouses such as Alabama, Clemson, and USC.

This game could make or break Pitt’s recruiting going forward, and the noise wil be loud going in.

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