Umass-Penn State
Time: 3 PM CST
Spread: PEN -27
total: 47

Odds courtesy of Bovada

Penn State has rolled to a 3-0 record to open the season, and won its only Big 10 against Rutgers, by a field goal, 13-10. Opening night, PSU barely escaped a close affair with UCF, winning 26-24. Sandwiched between those games was the lowly Akron Zips, who PSU defeated 13-10.

Almost unbelievably Christian Hackenburg has already thrown for over a thousand yards (1,082). He’s thrown 62.2 percent of his passes for completion, good for an 8.52 yard average. He has been sacked eight times, however, and has more INTs (5) than TDs (4). He’s still good for a QB rating of 136.3 but last year was a 151.9.

Hackenburg had his best performance opening week against UCF, when he threw for 451 yards. Even in that contest, he had two INTs to his one TD. The receivers on PSU have racked impressive yardage at the cost of the team neglecting the run. Junior Geno Lewis has caught 20 passes for 380 yards, and has one TD on the season. Sophomore WR Sean Hamilton has just as productive with 26 receptions for 337 yards. He has yet to score a TD, however.

Penn State is expected to have no problems this week with UMass. College football odds reflect that with the Nittany Lions favored by 27 points in this affair.

UMass has yet to win a game in three contest this season. The Massachusetts have been fairly incompetent in all areas. The team ranks 80th in passing yardage (224 per game) and 118th in rushing (82.3 per game). The team averages just 25.3 points per game while allowing nearly 10 points more than that. UMass’ backfield has been ineffective with Wilson and Blyden combining for 40 carries and 156 yards. Wilson has the lone TD from the backfield. Wilson suffered an ankle injury and will not be available for this contest. He may miss the rest of the season, which cripples UMass.

Senior QB Blake Frohnapfel is a physical specimen at 6’6” 229, but he’s not much a quarterback. He’s completed just 48.9 percent of his passes, and last season he was god for 77.3 percent in one appearance. Clearly, that was not representative of his ability.

Still, Frohnapfel has thrown five TDs with just two INTs, but he has been sacked eight times. His QB rating is still good at 117.5, and if anyone is going to resurrect this UMass team, it’s him. But that’s unlikely and UMass will find itself 0-4 after this matchup.