The Penn State football team kicks of their 2022 season this Thursday night at 8 p.m. EST on Fox. The Nitanny Lions will face of with the Purdue Boilermakers for the first time since 2019. PSU won that matchup handily 35-7 in the friendly confines of Beaver Stadium. The all time series between the two Big Ten schools now sits at 15-3-1 in favor of Penn State.
Purdue is coming off a 9-4 season including a thrilling bowl game win (48-45) over Tennessee in the Music City Bowl. In Big Ten play Purdue produced a formidable 6-3 record. Furthermore those six wins included wins over then ranked #2 Iowa and then #3 Michigan State. The two wins over top three ranked opponents in the same season marked the first time Purdue has achieved that feat since 1960.
Jeff Brohm was hired in December of 2016 and owns a 0-1 record against Penn State and James Franklin. This will be the first time Penn State will visit Ross-Ade Stadium in the Brohm era. Brohm will be an underdog at home according to the betting lines being a consensus +3.5 point underdog.
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Purdue will return 14 starters from last years team who started at least one game. Eight starters on defense and six starters on offense. Arguably non are bigger then All-Big Ten Quaterback, Aidan O’Connell who enters his sixth and likely final season. It will be a challenging test for the Penn State defense and new defensive coordinator, Manny Diaz.
O’Connell threw for 3,712 yards, 28 touchdowns and produced an overall QBR of 85.7. The yardage mark was good for 11th in all of college football. The touchdowns ranked 17th and the eye-catching QBR was good for fifth best in division one play.
Purdue’s defense will return eight starters from a year ago. Purdue’s defense ranked #34 overall in 2021 allowing 22.4 points per game.
Linebacker Kieren Douglas and Safety Marvin Grant return to lead the 2022 defense. Both players could find themselves in the conversation for defensive awards at seasons end. Douglas totaled 67 tackles, 40 solo tackles and one interception. Grant will be relied on heavily in the passing game covering a majority of the field. Grant recored 76 tackles, 53 solo and defended three passes.
To hear from Purdue’s head coach on Thursday’s season opener, click here.
Both teams come into the season unranked. However, that should not deter you from thinking this will be a hard fought contest. Even though these teams do not play each other every year it is still a Big Ten matchup. You can count on strong defense and a low scoring game as Big Ten games traditionally go.
No one wants to start their season 0-1 overall and in conference play. If either team wants to find themselves inside in the top 25 of the end of the year this will be a game they must win. Also, if either school has hopes of playing in the Big Ten title game, winning this game will go a long way in achieving that goal.
