Here’s what Fox’s ‘Big Noon Kickoff’ crew thinks of Penn State’s chances vs. Ohio State
Former USC stars Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart and former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn stood in awe Friday outside of Beaver Stadium.
The trio arrived in State College on a flight from Los Angeles ahead of their dress rehearsal for their Saturday “Big Noon Kickoff” show. Bush, having never entered the 62-year old stadium, was impressed by the sheer size of it.
“It looks huge,” Bush said of Beaver Stadium. “It’s humongous.”
It’s the first time that the “Big Noon Kickoff” TV show has been broadcast from Penn State. With its set being placed outside of Gate B at Bryce Jordan Center on Friday, fans sprinted to the crew of Jenny Taft, former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer, college football analyst Bruce Feldman and the aforementioned Bush, Leinart and Quinn.
Quinn’s flight was delayed for two hours and he looked to catch up on the festivities in Happy Valley, ahead of Penn State’s matchup with Ohio State. His first move in State College was to do a radio show with former Penn State linebacker LaVar Arrington at Cafe 210.
The Nittany Lions are set to host a Stripe Out game against Ohio State on Saturday with sections alternating between blue and white colors for the game. While it may not have the pomp and circumstance a Penn State White Out does, Quinn is looking forward to it.
“Just getting into the stadium tomorrow, I’m just excited to see what that place looks like when it fills up for the Stripe Out,” Quinn said.”
Bush may be the most excited for the matchup. The former Heisman running back believes that the battle between Penn State running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen against Ohio State running backs Miyan Williams and TreVeyon Henderson will be at the forefront of the game. Williams and Henderson have combined for 154 carries for 990 rushing yards and 13 rushing touchdowns, while the freshmen duo of Singleton and Allen have 160 rushes for 957 yards and 11 touchdowns.
“They’re fast they’re explosive, they run hard, they’re ahead of the game,” Bush said of Singleton and Allen. “When I think about the success that they’ve had on the field as freshmen running backs, I was not this far ahead of the game as they are right now. I did not have as much production during my freshman year as they are now. The experience that they’re getting as starting running backs at the college level is only going to help them over the next few years.”
How Penn State can knock off Ohio State
The talk around the game and the atmosphere was rampant. Penn State was crushed by No. 4 Michigan 41-17 at the Big House on Oct. 15. Feldman believes that the Nittany Lions with their home-field advantage will give the Buckeyes a better fight.
“We had the game a couple of weeks ago at Michigan, and I felt like they (Nittany Lions) just got embarrassed on both sides of the ball in the trenches,” Feldman said. “They’re going to be challenged and we’re going to get to see them respond and play better than they did a couple of weeks ago. I think they’ll give them a better game.”
Penn State is since coming off of a 45-17 Homecoming victory over Minnesota on Oct. 22. Quarterback Sean Clifford had a strong game, completing 23 of his 31 passes for 295 yards, four touchdowns and one interception and was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week.
“Ohio State is that good, but it doesn’t mean that Penn State can’t pull off an upset,” Quinn said. “We’ve seen every single week so far for the past four to five weekends where the top teams have been knocked off. At home with this atmosphere, I think they matchup well with the DBs versus the wide receivers of Ohio State. The defense will bring a lot of pressure. C.J. Stroud is a different quarterback. He completes like 25% less of his passes when he’s under pressure.”
Bush discussed the impact a capacity crowd of 106,572-plus fans could have on Ohio State’s offense.
“I want to see how Ohio State reacts to this environment because they haven’t been in this environment all season long, and the last time that Ohio State was here was during the COVID year,” Bush said. “This is the best offense that Ohio State has faced up until this point. There’s a lot of variables in that. Ohio State is going to get into some third-and-long situations, and that crowd is loud and they’re able to be able to feed off of that energy. Anything can happen.”
What does Penn State need to do to win against the No. 2 team in the country? According to Leinart, it needs to start with redshirt senior quarterback Clifford. Clifford is 115 for 187 (61.5%) on passes for 1,445 passing yards with 13 touchdown passes and three interceptions and has rushed 32 times for 141 yards and four touchdowns. He trails Trace McSorley (77) by two touchdown passes for the all-time school record.
“I love Sean (Clifford),” Leinart said. “We’ve been covering Sean for a long time. He’s been around football for a long time. He’s won a lot of games, I think he needs three touchdown passes to become the all-time touchdown leader here, he’s a great leader, he’s highly experienced, and he needs to have his best game. I think he’s in a position where he understands it. He has to play his best if they want to pull off the upset. He’s the ultimate warrior.”
Backup freshman quarterback Drew Allar is waiting behind Clifford. Allar has already completed 18 of 31 (58.1%) passes for 209 yards, two touchdown passes and no interceptions. He’s cleaned up in garbage time either when Penn State has a lead or trails and played in a meaningful game against Purdue, where he entered while Clifford went down.”
Leinart believes has a strong career ahead of him.
“Drew is the future,” Leinart said. “Obviously, he’s a big guy, he’s talented, and he can throw the football. We saw him get action against Purdue in Week 1, I know he’s played a little bit this year. I think the future is really bright at that position.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2022 at 6:34 PM.
