[Music] welcome back into the lions 247 podcast I am Tyler donu we continue to work our way through Penn State's second game week of the 2024 season third episode of the week our next one will be the postgame podcast when we get out of Beaver Stadium to discuss what went down between Bowling Green and Penn State this Edition is going to be to project and pre what's going to happen there on Saturday afternoon as these teams meet for a noon kickoff you bring in Mark g mark Brennan and Daniel gallon I almost reversed your last names and applied it to the other one but happy to be with you guys once again last time we were together it was on Monday we were kind of picking up the pieces from a really impressive performance in week one we get together every Thursday last week it was not just our West Virginia game preview and players to watch but it was also our whole season predictions and also our team MVP picks and all that so that's not part of the equation this time but we do have another matchup to look at and Mark we were on our Wednesday evening late afternoon trip to the Penn State practice field yesterday got about 15 20 minute viewing window of the action followed by James Franklin a few different players and coming out of that game one I don't know if this team needed to convince itself but there is very clearly a a confidence among this group regardless of who you're speaking with yeah I mean and there's should be right I mean there were a lot of question marks we said it going into the West Virginia game where where was this team going to to kind of be coming out of it um and I don't know that they could have played really any better overall now you know I was the first one to say that one of the good things coming out of that game was that there were some learning points uh you know both on offense and defense on offense maybe the ability to spread the ball around a little bit more on defense not quite as many penalties but overall I mean for a game one you have to be happy and you know the thing that I mentioned also was the fact that that team played with a lot of swagger on on defense last year a lot of attitude it was cool seeing that translated over to offense and I think you're going to see that as these next weeks carry on given the level of competition to be able to carry that into the me of the schedule in October I think it's going to be a good thing Penn State's favored by about five touchdowns going into this week two match up against Bowling Green they stand to be heavy favorites in the next four games they have in these five weeks uh they're off next Saturday but other than that the next five weeks four home games can to be heavily favored you've got Bowling Green Kent State Illinois UCLA to finish off this span things things get interesting trip out to Los Angeles and a lot beyond that one but Daniel I think if you're trying to pinpoint one really cause for optimism in the Lash building really among nitty Lions fans on our message board across the country it's got to be what Andy codal Nikki Drew Aller and and that crew were able to accomplish offensive ly in morgant town guy to guy some coaches we keep hearing just about the excitement level surrounding and Andy codal Nikki Anthony Dona last night the starting right tackle for this team laughed a little bit before he said oh my gosh I love Coach K uh these guys have quickly embraced him and when you see the results in front of you not not so much an offseason of teaching and preaching but now you're starting to see it and you get to watch the replays of it it's sinking in for this team they're under a new Direction offensively I think it's one thing to be confident that something is going to work I think it's another thing to be confident knowing that something works and I think like with Mark what Mark said about the Swagger that this team is playing with and carrying that forward you look at the next couple weeks when you talk about Bowling Green and Kent State those are two opportunities to really put some good things on tape uh to kind of I don't know for lack of a better term hit some layups build that confidence and for and then you have Illinois and UCLA and I think Illinois will be interesting but those are two more games where you can really build up and you know now you have this working against a conference Foe and then you go right into that really tough stretch of at USC at Wisconsin Ohio State I I think that the way the schedule sets up and you talk about you in some ways James Franklin doesn't like having that power five game or Big 10 game to kick things off and I completely understand that but at the same time to be able to have the springboard of confidence now as opposed to still being like okay you did this against three Mac teams and an FCS team what you know let's see it against the Big 10 you have proof of concept against a big 12 program and I think that that's something too that gives these players a lot of confidence and I think that's something that'll carry forward we've got plenty to jump into from this week of coverage here in Happy Valley and setting the stage for the matchup and by the way if you missed did our Wednesday episode of this podcast we broke down uh the the Bowling Green Falcons what they're bringing to campus kind of where their Journey has been under their coaching staff with the Falcons beat reporter Michael Burwell of the Toledo wave so encourage you to check that out 15 plus minutes on Bowling Green we're not going to rehash a lot of that it's going to be Penn State Centric here on Thursdays uh but Mark before we get into that if folks didn't heed your advice last Thursday about our 75% offer well that doesn't exist anymore but there's a second chance to jump on board and join our VIP coverage at lies 247 for this entire season and all the way through next preseason camp yeah first of all thank you to everybody who came on board we were among the network 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some money by upgrading to an annual at 60% off and you'll get that payment out of the way now and you'll be with us through the next year so appreciate all of our subscribers appreciate everybody came on board 60% off till early next week so thank you everybody yeah and once you're locked in and you're rolling as a full-time H full paying subscriber you also get that access to Paramount plus because of our partnership and and you're and and that's where you'll Now find Big 10 Athletics on the CBS network and and you'll find us on CBS Sports HQ and it's it's a it's a but it's a good relationship and you will reap those rewards as well um so let's talk about week two um certainly not the kind of feeling that we had last week where you know is this team GNA be in the thick of an upset alert kind of moment that would be a stunning development if that's where we are on Saturday afternoon in the Press Box and Bieber Stadium but this matchup the one beyond the bye-week against Kent State much like we view those Delaware and UMass games last year it's a good time Daniel to take inventory of where this roster is where the depth chart is how much they can count on some inexperienced guys how much they can maybe get rest to the guys who've already proven themselves as Playmakers and let's begin with an update at tight end that was a spot last week where we saw Tyler Warren Far and Away lead lead that position as expected you did get a co-starter situation there with Andrew Raper getting the initial starting nod but he played about half snaps is Tyler Warren the third tight end involved was Luke Reynolds played about a dozen snaps in his college debut five star freshman that came to campus last January but they were missing khil Dickens he was listed as out before the matchup he was sidelined for a significant span of preseason camp and on Wednesday when we were back at practice it was our first time seeing number 16 out there with the tight ends in about a month in our weekly views at this team so Daniel we checked in with James Franklin afterwards he says they're happy to have khil Dickens back on the practice field in terms of getting him back into game action they got some Rust to knock off they want to gauge where he is mentally where he is physically and at the end of the day they also feel really good about Andrew Raper James Franklin said that he you know he referenced what he said last week about Tyler Warren being the most complete tight end in the country he says that there's a blueprint in place for Andrew Raper to become that kind of a player for Penn State we know they think highly of him but the other part of this khil dinkin scenario is if dinkin can return Then maybe you can tuck away Luke Reynolds again a little bit and start to work within that red shirt parameters of the four games and I know people don't want to hear that they want to see the kid play a lot but there's a lot of moving pieces here and I just kind of wanted to set it up because you've got four guys plus who are kind of you know a drift right now in that tight end room in terms of what their job is going to be on a week- toe basis the only guy that doesn't apply to is Tyler Warren he is the alpha yeah I I think when you look at KH dinkin coming back to this room or coming back to the field and J Franklin really wasn't definitive about what dinkin would do if he were to come back if he is ready I think when you talk about knocking off rust you do have that bye next week and then Kent State so there is a some opportunity to uh really Bank some rest here at the same time I mean I think Bowling Green is probably a good team to knock some rest off against to get out there and um in a bit of a potentially lower Stakes environment um to ease yourself back in I I think that would be a good scenario for khil dinkin but it is even if he does come back and even if he were to come back full strength it would be really interesting to see how all of these pieces fit together given what James Franklin said about Andrew Raper and him getting that opportunity and and getting as much run as he did it seems he's someone that they're really excited about it he's someone where he's developed nicely things are kind of coming together a little bit and clicking for him um at the college level and so I think that the more that we see of him the better that he's going to get and these next couple of weeks are a great opportunity for him to play more H but with dinkin I think that the type of athlete he is you can just do a lot of different things with him uh you can put him in the back field line him up as that pseudo fullback or HB and put him in the slot he can be the the one receiver split out wide in certain formations he brings some versatility and some athleticism there but it seems like it'll just be a question of how ready is he what do you want to do with Luke Reynolds and how much do you want to see Andrew Raper out there it seems like Mark that the leash would be pretty long at this point for for Raper um he's a guy that they would they would have loved to have been able to play more in fact they were glad they didn't have to last year but they were ready to play him if they needed to they were certainly ready to play him in week one he got the start and he told us uh during a zoom call on Tuesday I think it might have been Wednesday but whatever it was he told us that he expects more on his plate he expects more of a workload he said his primary task in this matchup at West Virginia was in the Run game and he thinks he put on the film what he needed to put on the film but he is a very talented receiver a very talented route Runner that's been his bread and butter before he put on those 30 40 pounds coming out of high school and college and so with dinkin back and I want to caution people if dinkin is back this week and you don't see him for more than just a few snaps he's trying to knock off rust I don't expect Dinkins to all a sudden jump back in and be your tight end two right off the bat but if dingens comes back works his way in he's got a dog fight mark because I I just don't I know Raper is not going to let up and I just think unless he makes some significant assignment mistakes or an injury pops up this staff is gonna have a hard time pulling that leash back in and getting Raper to the sideline well no we saw it in the blue white game right I mean Raper was effectively the first team tight end because Tyler Warren wasn't out there dinkin came in after him so yeah and you know I don't think you could discount what Reynolds has done such a short period of time it's Tyler I mean it's the job that they've done Tai how at that position has been just unbelievable you know Tai came into a really good situation here at Penn State but he kept it rolling and now the level of recruiting the level of development has just been absolutely unbelievable but with rap I I really believe that there was a concerted effort last week because if you look at the players who were successful they were established guys I mean we we can joke around about Harrison Wallace being a breakout guy but he was kind of a known commodity so but I I think that was by Design set that foundation and it wasn't just at tight end it was at receiver it was that running back where we didn't see a lot other than the established guys and I think now in these next few weeks we're going to see that start to expand to these other people because it worked with the established guys they set the tone and I think rap's going to be a guy I'm not sure I'm going to pick him as my player to watch here but I would not be surprised if he has a big game uh this week just because you probably don't need a ton from Tyler waren and I think you want to start getting a guy like Rapier who you know we've seen him practice we saw in the blue white game in that key two-minute drive at the end of the game where they went to him multiple times in key situations including for a 30- yard touchdown uh you want to get him so he's comfortable with the ball in his hands out there in front of all the fans 100,000 fans in game situations I think he will be but let's see James Franklin and Andy codal Nikki they view khil dinkin as a weapon when he's available when he's full go um I think I think it's just it's really indicative of where the room's at you miss a a week of practice you miss a month of practice you're gonna have a hard time you can't there's a lot of teams out there that would lose a khil dinkin and then be begging for him to get back as soon as possible because they need to plug him in to their plans but right now because of the tight end spot it's just you miss a day you you you miss a few sessions you could fall behind and have some ground to make up and and we we hope they can get back physically mentally to where he is and get a look at him moving forward whether it's this Saturday or or into September Daniel elsewhere at linebacker uh wasn't as rosy of an outlook for us at our watch because we didn't see Tamir Robinson on the practice field again it's a it's a 1520 minute window we don't see the entire practice but we didn't see Tam Robinson with those linebackers and he exited early last week as we addressed on the Monday podcast he got injured on special teams coverage apparently he was the Special Teams player of the week Penn State staff made that pick and we only saw four linebackers really play against West Virginia Tyler Ellen was at 20 plus snaps and then the three guys that we consider the starters were all over 40 snaps Tony Rusk Kobe King and Dom Duca uh we have really for a while now penell in Tamir Robinson as the fourth or fifth part of of this plan so his availability here especially in a game we don't think they got to go you know a long ways with roas theca and King it becomes a little more Paramount I think as a storyline yeah I I think that you look at this this linebacker depth and it's one of those things where you start sort of picking away at it you know back in January I think we felt pretty good about things but you start to pick away one guy here one guy here another guy here and suddenly the the picture changes uh pretty greatly and I do think that overall all you know with the amount of absences that are in that room right now there aren't too many programs across the country that I think would still be feeling good at this point if you lose that many guys I think that's always something to to keep in mind where um at some of these positions with injuries and depth issues there's a certain point where it doesn't matter who you are if you're Georgia Alabama Ohio State um it can it can sneak up on you a little bit um but I do think that this is a these next two weeks are good opportunity for some younger players to get their feet wet I know that we would probably be talking about Tamia Robinson as a player to watch against Bowling Green against Kent State but I think that you you know shift the focus a little bit Anthony specka someone that we've gotten some pretty good reviews on uh from his teammates and and what they've seen from him I feel like he is someone that we could see or we could need to see um against Bowling Green and then darari Nelson uh I think is we're still kind of waiting to get that look at him at that Sam linebacker he's someone where I mean the feedback for him has been really really great which just how natural this has been for him and how he's just really really taken to it which I think has been pretty interesting and so to see him out there getting a lot of run um I think would be good for good for this defense but then you keep going and it's probably going to be a good day for the Walk-Ons I think if you if you get to the if you get to that point in the game and you want to get to that point in the game especially if you only have four guys and you really need to keep them healthy so it's going to be that's gonna be an interesting position to watch um how they manage things moving forward if we see Robinson at least Suit Up or Do warm-ups you know what is he on that pregame availability report that'll be something to monitor at 10: a.m. uh Eastern and then we can go from there and try to figure out what we're actually going to see on the field some some feedback that we've gotten with Robinson is that this isn't a long-term situation but you mentioned it earlier you got a bye around the corner here if there's a little bit of an iffy situation uh where you know maybe it makes sense to get the guy through the bye and to be really fully healthy but Mark I mean uh this ultimately we got to see guys go out there and play the position and you don't want Tony roas going 50 snaps plus when you're winning by a bunch of points and so all due respect to the Walk-Ons a lot of our conversations is about the former Blue Chip recruits that that we've covered for several years and we will get to see a lot of those Walk-Ons Dom Duca used to be one of them and look at him now he's a two-time team captain and playing a ton of football but I think really Anthony specka is in that Spotlight this week he's a guy that was wearing his own jersey number when we saw him on the practice field Wednesday he was wearing a scout team jersey number last week he was on the Travel roster for West Virginia but didn't enter the matchup he was wearing that number 40 he was roaming around the linebackers and he's somebody because of the you know he showed up physically mentally and mature and and all ready to go you know it kind of LED you to believe okay this guy can make an impact and now once wy's not back on the field yet what we learned about Kon ke is being dismissed from the program and now Tam Robinson being sideline it goes from like well maybe you can sneak Anthony specka a few snaps here and there to Anthony specka is probably gonna have to play quite a bit on Saturday yeah I I don't know I mean do do they try to steal red Shir tournament hope that darari Nelson comes up I mean listen I'm looking at a West Virginia team last year that L all power five at the time right there were still five then all power five teams in rushing yards per game and Penn State with four linebackers playing do I have that right they only played Four linebackers in the entire game Tam Tamir had one snap and then everybody else had the rest yeah so effectively playing four linebackers the quote unquote starters they only started two but we know who the three starters are and Tyler Alon and they held him to 2.3 yards per carry yeah so I think kind of looking ahead to to to some other things we're going to talk about clearly the three safety look is a big part of what Tom Allen does and they have safeties who are good enough and you look at the tackle numbers they they they they they built up you know 21 tackles between uh your two quote unquote starters and are they going to need to to risk ruining somebody's red shirt at this point of the season I just don't know so it's G to Bey Mark I'm talking about speca needing to have a lot on his plate this Saturday not two Saturdays from now not three not the rest of the season I just I just get the sense because the guys you're talking about yeah they did a great job but what are you gaining if you're up by 35 points and you've got fifth year senior Tyler Ellen playing the mic I know that it's great you want that guy to get run you're rewarding your Walk-Ons oh you reward your Walk-Ons but I think if Anthony specka is physically and mentally prepared prepared and it sounds like he does check a lot of those boxes I mean I I think because you are confident you're getting tamy Robinson back you are confident that the car Nelson is gonna be playable option for you he's already got a red shirt on his plate and you think that Keon Wy can get back in the mix later to me this just seems like a very smart window to to give Anthony specka a longer look for your evaluation for his confidence and ultimately it could be something for him to tuck away in his pocket later in the season when he's not seen much action and let me look at it let me verse engineer that and look at it a different way so right now you have four guys who are healthy that you know you you can count on um what if one of those guys is injured two weeks from now and you know for Tamir it's a longer thing and I mean I just wonder are you better off saving those potential games for a guy like speca given how thin you are at this point I mean this is the dance they're doing and I mean this is the dance they're doing in coaching staffs around the country right now especially when they're going into to these matchups where they expect the margin of Victory will be large and they've got this group of freshmen they don't know who's going to maintain red shirt but you know James Franklin has said it's only two guys that have the green light and and that's out of 25ish so there's a lot of ways this to go I'm with you I just I think um that that's kind of the the staff internal dialogue that you're having right now I I just feel like you know Daniel you can weigh in I just to me the roster the way it's set up if Tam Robinson is not available specifically and we haven't seen car Jackson the last couple weeks he's the other freshman linebacker you know there are wons but I just think that you're running out of bodies and it's also a huge point to have valuable snaps that you can evaluate as a staff and and really go through the fine tooth comb with speca but I mean maybe he doesn't play at all and and and it's because of the red shirts on their mind I don't know yeah I mean we we'll see I mean the one Mark talked about rewarding the Walk-Ons like the one thing that popped into my head was something we'll talk about a little bit later but like the running back situation last year where it was like okay finally we're going to see cam Wallace and London Montgomery like we have to see these guys we have to know if they can play in in game reps they need these game reps in the non-conference and then it was Tyler holsworth uh or icing out the games um tank Smith come on yeah then tank Smith I have it open right in front of me I have the Delaware game and I'm looking at the guys who played Tanki Patrick Williams um so yeah it could go either way but anyway I didn't want you can't dis tank Smith come on no I appreciate that uh yes that was just something that popped into my head where I think that it seems like the the perfect thing and this is a little bit of a different situation because of the injury uh the injury element of it it's not like that running back room at that point last year was the stack that was the full deck that you were going with um so I I think that it is easy when you look at these games to be like okay this guy this guy this guy these freshmen we're going to see them we want to see them uh but you you really like Mark said I mean you can't forget about those Walk-Ons and how they might factor into the plans here let me ask you this Mark who do you think is more likely to see 20 snaps on Saturday Anthony speca or darari Nelson darari Nelson okay well and and I just want to know darari Nelson has worked his way up that linebacker line on drills that we've witnessed in a hurry he was pacing at the very tail of it a couple weeks ago when he made that move and now he's toward the front then he is closer to the back and and and for whatever that's worth based on what we saw but I think I'm with you maybe this is a chance for for Nelson to get out maybe they both play a bunch but uh we'll see what the snap counts look at the that's the fun of these games right I mean I mean we think it's going to be lopsided and and monitoring it in the fourth quarter which we'll be doing like we may be the only ones who are really paying close attention but I am going through last year's Delaware game and I'm not saying this team is at Delaware's level but some of the true freshman who played were Dono Williams chimy those guys did play but a lot of the Walk-Ons played Jan malort um Estella a bunch of those guys played so uh was that the week in in practice that malort I'm calling him malort how do you pronounce his name you're going down the rabbit hole now yeah uh yeah I don't know where week that he had a blown assignment in in practice probably yeah he was on our radar it's an inside joke I'm sorry um Mark let's let's move away from the linebacker let's move away from the inside jokes and talk safeties um because I want to throw this to Daniel he just got off a call with me on PO Dexter Anthony po Dexter was kind enough to give us about 15 minutes here on a Thursday um and he's got to be a happy guy right now because he's got a hell of a room when you look at who the stars are right now and then there's a lot of promise Talent uh toward the bottom of that depth chart that we're going to learn a lot about in the years ahead but Daniel this has really been I think defensively the C the central focus is what the safeties did KJ Winston was Big 10 defensive player of of the week and of course Jaylen Reid was the staff's pick for player of the game on the defensive side of the ball you spoke with Reed you spoke with Wheatley you've heard from po Dexter give us the synopsis of what this week uh is the buzzes around the safety bunch I think I you I was going over things and I I realized that Anthony Poindexter was not asked about KJ Winston who was the Big 10 defensive player of the week who's this guy that's getting all this first round Buzz coming into the year but I think that that's I think some of it is uh kind of a testament to the Improvement and the job that someone like Jaylen Reed did and kind of where Zachy Wheatley is and how important we think Wheatley can be to that room moving forward um but I I think the overall feedback Anthony po Dexter said that it's really great to hear all the good things people are saying but at the same time they gotta go play those games they they have to be out there on Saturdays and and keep performing um but I I think that he realizes that he has something pretty good in that room he is really complimentary of uh Winston Reed and Wheatley um he kind of took every question to be about those three guys uh when he was asked sort of the the more General things um about the safety group but I think that some of the praise that we continue to hear for Jaylen Reed is just how cerebral of a player that he is Anthony po Dexter said that Reed is pro is one of the smartest players he's ever been around uh in terms of the processing aspect um and that you know he has but at the same time he has a unique ability to play both the second and the third level which we've seen from that line position and you know just how Reed was all over the field on Saturday with Wheatley he said that they you know had a had a meeting at the end of last year they had a long talk and told him what he needed to do and uh po Dexter said that instead of moping or pouting that he went out and did it but they saw in Winter workouts that he was taking whatever they told him to heart and that he's tweaked a few things and they're seeing the results from it right now and I think that that was a little bit of a I don't know if an unknown is is the right word for it but you know Wheatley was someone who was not completely on the radar at the end of last year and you come in and you're talking about playing this three safety set and putting a lot of potential on those guy or a lot of responsibility on those guys and I think that on paper and what we knew about wheatle in terms of his potential it made a lot of sense and it all fit but when you tried to square it with the performance from last year I think that you did kind of have to be like okay we're need to see something from this guy and we heard from James Franklin in the spring that the light has gone on uh based on what pointex said today that that's really continued and I think that we'll see at some point we'll see that takeaway King pop up and make those types of plays that we've really known him for from behind the scenes the way his his teammates are talking about him this week Jaylen Reed you know he can walk around town with his chest out I mean it is it is remarkable to hear the way he's being described it's not surprising we know there's a lot of respect but he has clearly entered another realm based on some of the feedback we've gotten AJ Harris saying that that that was kind of a common influence for him before the game someone who gave him some good encouragement before he went out and played really well on his first start at cornerback and just generally AJ Harris said we watched the film and this guy's popping off off the film you know the whole time just like we saw it on TV those guys when they go in for film study number one was flying around as well let's stay in the defensive backfield Mark and let's go over to Terry Smith's SPN at cornerback James Franklin said after practice on Wednesday evening that he doesn't remember having depth at cornerback like this and completely validates what we heard from Terry Smith back in the early days of April when he mentioned back then that he felt like this had a chance genuinely to be a deeper group than they had last year when they had three allconference players at the top of the pecking order at cornerback here they are it's a revamped starting lineup maybe a rotational starting lineup because James Franklin says those shots are up for grabs on a weekly basis in that room but it's the two transfers that step up and then you see a lot of Cam Miller uh behind them and then you see some of Ellie Washington he's gotten a lot of Praise from James Franklin a couple times this week and then we know they got plenty of other pieces uh what do you think about this unit and in this particular game on Saturday feels like a chance to really Flex the depth we've heard of I would love to see more of alavian Collins who got more Buzz than anybody in that room this offseason and kind of surprisingly only played a defensive snaps in week one yeah I think I said earlier in the week I love the way the transfers came in and played with that same attitude we saw at pen State last season even though we they weren't here Mark I think your mic is off for I'm sorry I the one thing I loved was the way those two transfers came in and played with the same attitude that we saw out of uh the Penn State defense last year even though they weren't here you could see how well uh they fit in and I'm with you I mean we heard from a Daven Collins Terry Smith told us about him a bunch of PE people on defense told us about him uh about how tough he is about how he gets after it his work ethics so would not be surprised if we see more and more of him and then cam Miller seeing him in different spots I think he played a little bit of that lion uh so is it as deep as they've been I mean they were pretty good last year I mean they were pretty deep last year so um for Franklin to say that is you know he must really like what he's seeing but when you're able to bring in transfers like that who make an immediate impact um I think it kind of speaks to what they've done in the portal they've done a really good job at identifying areas of need listen we everybody was thinking this is going to be a little bit of a rebuilding year in that cornerback room and it just turns out that they reloaded I also think that speaks to the fact of what Terry Smith is doing and that players at other schools can look at what Penn State's doing at cornerback in general who they're sending into the league and what Terry Smith's all about as a coach it was a heavy a load for both Kimber and Harris in week one I don't think there'll be heavy loads for a lot of starting Defenders and by the way if you're a Bowling Green fan for whatever reason tuning into this and you feel disrespected you probably should I we've been talking a lot about the end of this game and getting guys in but that's where it is from our perspective um Daniel let's finish off with one note from our our weekly coverage before we talk about predictions for this specific game and players to watch that is Omari Evans he was available to us after practice on Wednesday uh you got a chance to hear from him speak with him and that was about a week after you wrote a story on James Franklin's comments that he could be ready to take off for his career as a junior we saw him go for launch deep Target down the field felt like it could be a tone setting moment for this offense moving forward their aggressive nature at the end of the half led to another touchdown what did you hear from Omari Evans was there a tone shift at all from what you heard from him before kickoff well Omari Evans made it clear that he did not push off when he caught his his 55 yard pass he said that was not OPI he was the one being held and he just had to to free himself up there um but I question or did he just was that an opening statement from him I I think someone asked him I asked him about the catch he just and he just added that he and I'm like so are you catching you know crap about that from people and uh he just said yeah I was being held it wasn't me okay yeah um but I thought it was interesting too he said that was the second time in the game that they ran that play I think that there was I remember the play earlier where he was running open uh deep uh and the protection broke down up front so Drew Aller couldn't get the ball to him but you know I do think that that's something just kind of to note where something worked in terms of the scheme the execution didn't necessarily work but they Penn State Andy codal Nikki noted that then they were able to come back to it in a big spot and get big result I know um but yeah I think that Omari Evans there's there's a bit of an air of confidence about him I think that he's always been a more softspoken guy especially in those larger larger media scrums I think he was a little bit more talkative when I had him one-on-one at media day um but he answers your question and I think that he said that he he I asked him if he felt validated by what James Franklin said what he was talking about coming into the year and then going out and doing it and he said that that felt really good um to get that on tape and to show what he can do he said that when he comes in every day he knows that Andy codal Nikki is going to want to use his speed figure out how to use what he does well in this offense and so you know he's someone where I I do think that you need to see him string it together a couple weeks in a row uh to really really get the feeling that he's taken a big step but in terms of how you start a year I think that it's it would be really hard to ask for more if you're Omari Evans especially given know the few number of passes that were in that game um that I I think he had a decent snap count um but it just seemed like he made the most of his opportunity out there and I think that he feels good about it he's shown what he can do and I think that he feels like he'll keep getting that opportunity which I think is also big Omari Evans now three consecutive regular season games with an explosive play down the field I believe it was 25 yards against Ruckers 60 against uh Michigan State Black Friday and then a big chunk down to the field uh setting up Harrison Wallace touchdown uh so three those obviously follow the firing of Mike yuch in the first 10 regular season games last year any guesses on his longest reception seven yards or four yards it was five five yards was his longest reception he had one for five and one for four uh before uh that before catching one for 25 after Mike yuch was fired so that's been a direct correlation I think since we saw the OC change Nick Singleton and his success in the explosive play department has been a direct correlation that we've seen since the offensive coordinator changed there are a lot of other Dynamics involved here but I think those are two guys we can specifically point to that are just executing and producing at a different level uh since Mike yich was was shown the door after that Michigan matchup let's talk about this matchup uh as best we can from Penn State's angle I think Mark you always start with the psychology in a matchup like this you're coming off a really impressive week one win where you know it was an adverse situation you knew you had to be amped up to match the energy going onto the road now you got the friendly confines of Beaver Stadium it always feels nice to be home you've got a team that's coming in as a five touchdown Underdog you've got a bye-week ahead of you maybe you have some family plans plans to get together with friends this is like I'm not saying it's a trap game because it's I don't think it is but we're g to see how Penn State is it a little sleepy looking coming out of the gates or is this team fired up and exhibiting the same energy that we saw down in Morgantown yeah and and I think it's important they play well early not in the sense that you're going to lose the game if you don't but I think just to show that that wasn't a fluke and just to show the level of seriousness that you're approaching this season with you know you can't be fancying yourself a college football playoff Contender if if you're going to come into a game like this and Sleepwalk through the first half so number one I think is just playing with the same sort of intensity a little bit more poised than you showed last week especially on defense with the uh with all the penalties uh knock on wood you know prevent injuries and then um a as always you know I think just do not make stupid turn stupid turnovers just keep the Positive Vibes uh kind of going and again knock on wood everybody stays healthy I think that's kind of the biggest thing for them but I think psychologically they'll be okay but if they're not that may say a little bit of something about their leadership so this is a little good good little test for leadership coming off a big win these are the tests and you know little Milestone moments that you know James Franklin loves to take the temperature of his team he loves to kind of know what we need to concentrate on next week coming out of a game like this um you know if they win by 40 there's going to be things he points to and you talk about sleepwalking I mean Daniel this is a Bowling Green Team that scored uh 38 points on the road at Georgia Tech in an upset last year uh they also had to score at 14 to6 at halftime Inn Arbor during their trip to Michigan last September Michigan ended up taking care of business in the second half but they have been in some environments and in fact in two weeks from now as we heard from their beat reporter in our last podcast they're going down to Texas A&M for another one of these kind of Marquee matchups and before they took away into their Mac schedule but Daniel when you look at this one they're going to want to run that's how they got it done on the ground got it done a lot last year when they found their success they were a seven and5 team during the regular season uh and and they had terion Stewart go for 160 and three touchdowns against an FCS opponent on the road for them that plus an opening kickoff return for a touchdown really put them out of reach in week one against a team from a different level but can they try to establish a run against Penn State sure is there much hope of it based on what we saw last week good luck to the Falcons I think that these these types of games are are really good measuring stick for all areas of your team because if something pops up against Bowling Green there's a chance that it could pop up against Illinois or USC or Wisconsin I I invoked it in my prediction but 2021 Villanova game uh definitely it's definitely a lesson I think that I've learned in in covering a team when what you see in the nonconference and you maybe try to handwave it away pops up later on later on in the SE season um so I I think just in that case it was they couldn't run the ball right they couldn't run the ball with authority against the wild cats out of the FCS and at that point you're running out of benefit of the doubt and it never never resurfaced the rest of the way yeah I think at that point we were kind of like ah it's it's a bit of a let down I think it was the week after the Auburn game like oh yeah like they'll be fine and then a couple weeks later you're in Iowa and it's things are decidedly not fine um but so I I think that want to see a well-rounded performance and I I think that if something doesn't work or is not working the same way you can really look at why right here but this Bowling Green Team I'm really intrigued by them um I did not pick them to keep this game close but you you look at the job that Scott ler has done there I mean it looked like for a while it was just not going to work out at all I think his first three years were bad even by kind of wilderness of the max standards and I mean this is a this is a Bowling Green program that uh you won 10 games uh back in 2015 under Dino babers I saw that team I covered that team and saw how it helped end Randy edel's Maryland tenure um but this is a program that has had pockets of success and with ler it kind of looked like it just wasn't going to work out uh and he's got a foundation there they've figured something out these past two years and I think that you want to have that on your radar uh coming into to this year I mean I think that they're a better program than what you'll see from Kent State in two weeks um and so I'm very curious to see what kind of issues pop up for Penn State how they adjust to it and how they and how they fix it I I think that that something I'm definitely going to be interested in Mark we spent a lot of time this week talking about the momentum that that Penn State was able to develop at West Virginia but not every area not every player carries it their own momentum into this matchup and and you'd like to see momentum inducing moments on Saturday before they hit their early by week and I think the name I I go to is KRON Allen you know he had that 20 yard touchdown reception which he did the heavy lifting on that play finished it w with a lot of physicality as he often does and scored that touchdown but 10 carries for 20 yards on the ground that's not a KRON Allen stat line that that we're accustomed to kind of seeing I'd be surprised if he doesn't start you know that's the way it's worked forever they had Nick Singleton get the first snap at West at West Virginia I believe Kon Allen checked in for the second play of the game in for Andrew Raper um so he was involved fast but I think he' probably be the official starter um and then I think they're gonna probably get the ball in his hands early and give him a chance to beat KRON Allen because when he's right uh if you attached everything that we saw this offense do last week and that's part of the equation we know what what KRON Allen is when he's right because he's been right for for the last two years consecutively and so I I think building that momentum with him out of the back field is something I'll be looking for against Bowling Green yeah first of all he's going to be fine I mean as you said Tyler we've seen enough of him when you're in a game like that not every single thing is going to click the one thing that I didn't like and I'm just GNA be straight here toward the end of the game his body language he was sitting on a bench by himself looked like he was down in the dumps uh some PE you know players were coming over to him patting him on the back I don't think he had anything to be down in the dumps about I mean that's what that that's my point of that I mean um yeah he didn't look angry or anything he just looked looked a little disappointed and listen you're not the only beat reporter who's referenced this in conversation this week yeah well I mean I was right there it was right in front of us so it it was hard not to uh it was hard not to see it and I'm not trying to be critical of the guy but I think this entire team is going to have to realize that there is going to be give and take I would I would not be at all surprised if there's a game where KRON Allen rushes for 120 yards and Nick Singleton has 18 or something you know people are opposing defenses are going to have to pick their poison and it's okay and that's where I thought uh Franklin's comments about Julian Fleming really hit home that okay he wasn't getting the ball but he was still out there doing his job and KRON was out there doing his job too he was blocking he was doing all the things that he needed to do caught the ball uh you know scored a touchdown made a play in space so I don't think he had anything to be down about and I agree to you I wouldn't I'm probably uh foreshadowing where I may go a little bit later in this but I would not be at all surprised if KRON Allen has a big game uh this week not that they're going to need a big game out of him but I think just in terms of Hey listen for whatever reason it was a little bit down the coaching staff knows that and they know how to deal with these players um now the other name you mentioned Julian Fleming uh he had 35 snaps last week that was tied for the most among receivers along with Harrison Wallace um and then Kaden Saunders is the other wide receiver though I wanted to bring up to you Daniel talked about them a bit earlier in the week but now we've gone back on the practice field we saw kayen Saunders repping with the receivers we did see that last week too but now that's two consecutive weeks we think logged in offensive work and maybe he becomes more of a factor or maybe he's another one of those guys that they say let's let him return punts and let's get him through the bye and then unleash him as a receiver but what would you like to see from Kaden Saunders if he is a go on offense and then what are your expectations for Julian Fleming a guy who as James Franklin alluded to did a lot of the dirty work at West Virginia in terms of The Blocking and Route running and distracting the defense uh he played a lot out of the slot probably more than we anticipated more than half his snaps were out of the slot what are your expectations there I think with Kaden Saunders you're if you see him on offense you want to see him do something with the ball in his hands you want to see him get the ball maybe see where he's at physically um if they do put him out there and try to have him in a role that's bigger than just catch the punt don't drop it fair catch you know do do your job basically um and so I I think that if if he is at the point where he can get the ball and get in the space I'd be really curious to see what that looks like especially in this offense because we've highlighted him as for a while now as someone who can really benefit from what Andy codal Nikki does uh I think with Fleming I think my expectation to see a little bit more of the same from what we saw from him last week but the way that football and sports and general work sometimes is you get rewarded for doing the Dirty Work doing that job um you know making things happen I think that a lot of times the things sort of even out over time um You can call it karma if you want anything like that um so and I think the the players on the team are aware of it too I think that Drew Aller is definitely aware of of what Julian Fleming does and so I I think that Fleming is someone who can maybe see some of that come back around um over the course of a game I mean I don't think that they'll be forcing it to him just to get him a touchdown just because um even though that would be cool in his first game as a Penn State wide receiver at Beaver Stadium considering where we were in 2019 and 2020 with him um but I I think that he's someone who things will things will balance out and you do things the right way it can come back around for you in a good way I I want to take a moment real quick because before we got to 2019 2020 him going Ohio State we had 2018 when he was the hottest new kid on the Block in Pennsylvania and we saw him I think Grace Brennan may have gotten some shots of it he was hanging out pregame in the tunnel with Micah Parsons who at that time was the ascending Micah Parsons that everyone knows but he was relatively early in his soft freshman year at that point so it felt like you were watching kind of the next version of Micah because at that point Julian was on his way to becoming the number one receiver recruit in the country and you had Penn State fans gathering around them yelling stuff to Julian and he was a wanted man and I remember you know interviews with Julian coming out of that game and others and just feeling that sense for how Happy Valley was calling to him and it didn't make sense for him and and to Penn State and his credit they didn't burn Bridges with each other when this thing came to a close and we've told that story before on the podcast we won't tell it again but he's here he's happy and the staff is really happy to have him and so now I know he's going to have a big group in in that audience I know he's in that crowd and it would be quite something if they did get him involved on that first possession um I think I think you hear a a really strong reaction from this crowd because Beyond just his family and friends or whoever is going to be there I think Penn State fans in general have a better appreciation of maybe what he went through at Ohio State where how he's grown up and how Penn State interpreted his whole recruitment versus how they viewed him when he came to campus in a Buckey's uniform a couple different times so Mark you were you were part of that coverage with me back in the day I mean he was at the top of everybody's wish list and and at that point I think he still had a couple more High School Seasons to go but he really was following the footsteps of a guy like Parsons yeah I mean remember we saw MC Camp he was like lighting up Gonzaga and dtha and you know he's from a little school here in Pennsylvania and the job he was doing with was amazing you know Tyler as you say that I I wonder do they give him do they announce him as a starter in this game how cool would that be you know what I mean and that's no offense to to anybody else but I mean we do know that that Liam Clifford was announced as a starter in every game last year and did he did he start maybe one uh but regardless it would be cool if they announced him as a starter because I think it is cool to see how this has come full circle and I could only imagine what that would mean to his mom and his grandparents and everybody else I think it would be a really nice nice thing to do so yeah hopefully I do that I think it would be I think it'd be cool but it's been uh I mean the portal is a whole different thing I mean there were times when you know years ago when this sort of thing would happen and you know it actually draws to mind laugher when he was an assistant at Michigan came into Pennsylvania and got Chad Henny when everybody thought that Chad Henny was going to Penn State and I think to this day Chad henn's probably Enemy Number one that was was probably one of the bigger losses Terrell prior was another one of guys who ended up elsewhere in the Big 10 from Pennsylvania and to see that that actually happened this time and for it to come full circle I I agree man it's just really nice to see we'll see a great point I didn't even think about him maybe showing up and introducing himself as a starter but that that could be a really strong gesture not to say he hasn't earned it again he was tied with Harris Wallace for the most snaps last Saturday he I know a lot of people were looked at the box score and came to the message board or on Twitter they were like did he play like yeah he he played he played a lot he they were texting me during the game people were texting me it's like people my friends who are fans do you realize that I'm actually working during the game it's like hey Brennan what's going on with Julian Fleming it's like hold on a second I'm dealing with a lightning delay here let me get this done oh man well the last guy it wasn't Dave it wasn't Dave the last guy I wanted to make sure we got to before we we each picked our players to watch here um is Sanders a haak he's he's coming to Beaver Stadium after missing a a longdistance field goal 46 y down in West Virginia late in the game uh may not have been a high pressure in the game situation but I'd imagine it felt high pressure for Sanders sahak considering the short leash he had last year getting benched at halftime of game one Daniel we we fully expect sahak to be the first kicker involved uh against Bowling Green we've referenced earlier this week might it make some sense for James Franklin to get looks at other guys in in other situations over the course of September we'll see but sah haak would probably be able to control his own destiny here this is one where if they could win by five touchdowns or six touchdowns but he has a rough day it's G to be one of the primary talking points going into the bye definitely I I think that you want to see something positive out of Sanders a haak out there you want to see him do something that can build his confidence and I am interested to see how they split things up how they use these these different kickers Chase Meyer Ryan Barker um how how you sort that out because you know while James Franklin said that they have a ton of confidence in Sanders theak on Monday he wasn't directly asked if Sanders sahak was still the the starting kicker um Franklin said that he has confidence in sahc and thinks that he'll he'll make the next one um that he goes out there and attempts is that going to be Saturday um I I do think that he deserves a chance if he has performed the way that he has in Camp these past two years um I think that you have to try to get it in game and I think that this is a good opportunity um to to get it there um so we'll see I mean I think you're definitely right that if this is if Penn State covers the spread but you you look back and you see like one of three on field goals or 0 for two or even one or two depending on the the circumstances I think it's really going to be a bigger question mark going in because i' I've repeated I say it so many times but when you're at this level you just can't lose games on the margins you can't lose three points here two points there um it's just not not something that is Championship level football so we'll see what this looks like um maybe the Bowling Green defense comes out inspired stops a couple Penn State drives at around the 20 so it's not quite go for it territory but you we we'll see what this actually looks like Saturday all right let's dive into our players to watch I'm adding a little bit of extra flavor to this one guys I know I didn't alert you on it but I I want your initial player to watch whoever you wrote down there but also a a younger and inexperience component of the roster that you think will get out there in the second half it could be someone we already referenced maybe someone we didn't but give us a prominent name or whoever you had and then give us another player and and I think we're starting with you here uh Daniel I think that the the overall player to watch that it had was dejon Lane uh you know we saw him out there both on special teams and on defense against uh West Virginia uh I don't put him in that young inexperienced category even though he is because we know he's a Greenlight um and so I think that this is the opportunity if this game goes the way that we expected to for him to get a ton of run uh to get some really valuable experience and to put some things on film I mean 62 211 can run run like I think he could be a lot of fun back there Anthony po Dexter sort of talked about the the chain that they have going on at the safety spot where you had Jaylen Reed who played with Jaylen brisker and Tig Brown and then you have KJ Winston who played with T brown Keat Ellis and Jaylen Reed and now you have uh dejon Lane coming in and getting to play with Jaylen Reed and KJ Winston and the example that that that sets and that standard that really passed along so I'm excited to see what Lane can do early um I I do think we'll see him and then for the younger inexperienced players I mean Anthony Ivy and Tyler Johnson like let's let's see something I I think that this is a a good opportunity for that um I am excited to see potentially see tyer Denmark and Josiah brown but I think that given what we've seen in practice who's in their own numbers instead of scout team numbers and who we saw out on the field at different points against West Virginia Johnson and Ivy are kind of in that when James Franklin talks about filling out that you know mythical three across two deep like those are guys that if you want to fill that out at this point you need them to step up so what can they do um how are they with Drew Aller what's what's kind of there for them can they break through now in in year three or at least give some signs that okay these are guys that you can put out there in a in a tough situation or you know against against Ohio State against Washington that type of game um I am I'll start with my guy we haven't seen much of yet we haven't seen any of him in game action oh I'm sorry I'm I'm jumping the gun mark I I cut you off I'm sorry bad host bad host move I I'll write that in my notes I apologize if you really want to go you can I'll adjust no no no it's okay I'd love to hear what you have to say first um as the player to watch I'm checking out the box score from Bowling Green forom and our man Julius low Ridge or LOF Ridge rushed 16 times for 112 yards seven yards per carry for forom they give up a lot of yards to for him folks a lot of yard if our guy Julius is rushing for that many yards I'm anxious to see what an angry KRON Allen is going to do and I'm not he's really not angry but a motivated KRON Allen uh you know again we talked about you know maybe things didn't click for him in that first game but I have a feeling I agree with you Tyler that that they'll continue flip-flopping start he'll get the start I think he's going to get a bunch of bunch of carries and I find it difficult to believe that this sort of defense is going to be able to kind of hold him in check so I know the Temptation is to go with some of the younger players but I think it's important to get him I'm not worried about him not playing well this season but I think it would be good for him and the offense to get him uh kind of going and then over on defense I'm gonna go back to our linebacker discussion um you know will we see speca won't we see specka I'm not sure but I do know this much it's important for them to get darari Nelson a bunch of snaps uh you know you're moving him from from safety to linebacker and at some point you may need him this season so I think it would be really good for them to get him as many snaps as they possibly can if this game gets a little bit lopsided so he can get out there and kind of learn on the Fly it's one thing practicing it's another thing being out there in the game in front of all those fans and getting it done so dard Nelson is going to be my young play to watch I'm G to go uh with with my young inexperienced guy to watch first um someone who didn't play last week but out of all the defensive lineman he's the guy that we think has the best shot to make an impact this year came in as at this freshman class and that's Max Granville and he was the last guy to get in this year um remember he reclassified in July showed up after a family wedding like three days before preseason camp put on some pads and was sharing the field with you know 24 24 year old offensive lineman in s Wormley okay welcome to the Big 10 welcome to Penn State good luck to you we've now heard from about three or four people within program facilities most recently yesterday in six years senior Smith ilbert who's been around a lot of different defensive ends calling this kid chop 2.0 let's see it let's get a chance to see it against bowling Green's offensive tackle uh it could be an experienced offensive tackle at the Mac level but going up against a talent like Max Granville who you you pluck off the high school fields of Texas as one of the more feared EDG rushers nationally in that 2025 class before you were classified that's still a matchup I'll take Granville versus an experienced Bowling Green tackle and I think we'll get some chances to see it we've seen Max Grenville avoid wearing the scout team jersey the last couple weeks that's a good sign in terms of involvement he was on the Travel roster uh repping down to Morgantown before the game with some of those primary defensive linemen so granville's a guy i' watch wouldn't surprise me that if he gets him run you know even 10 snaps or so if he was managed to pick up a back or a very noticeable QB here hurry something where you got a bunch of us in the Press Box tweeting about it oh Max Grenville just flashed look at that H because I think that the door will be open for it I was tempted to go Cooper cousins as my Savvy veteran pick because he feels like The Savvy veteran around campus now he's gonna get a lot of run I I I I'd imagine he's gonna get probably at least about a half's worth of snaps by the end of the day but I'm gonna go and kind of foreshadow Daniel's uh prediction or piece of it and say cam Wallace because once Tron Allen is done knocking down doors and Nick Singleton is done doing his thing cam Wallace is going to get a real opportunity to to show what he can do as the primary ball carrier in an offense and and and and I was tempted to go Bo perula too but we've seen pieces of Bo perula and I think we saw more buer last week cam Wallace was was in that you know mop up kind of Duty last week he got some touches but going back to the blue white game when we first got eyes on him and what we've heard feedback since then his blend of physicality burst and and willingness to embrace contact as a blocker it's going to keep him on the field when he gets his chances and when Nick Singleton and kch Allen ultimately move on with their career but I think he'll have a shot to to maybe log double digit touches on the day we've heard so much about his abilities As Natural receiver it was a position that he probably could have been recruited to the power conference level playing um maybe we can see a little bit of that in the mix as well I think by the end of the day he'll have enough sample size out there to put up some nice stats maybe get to the end zone um I don't know that we'll get Quinton Martin maybe if we do uh it'll be a little bit smaller of a sample size so I'm going uh with Granville as the young guy and cam uh cam Wallace who's got one college game under his belt as a you know kind of a more vocal Point pick for players to watch here all right fun exercise let's dive into our predictions for the score now and Mark we'll begin with you uh back in 1998 number n Penn State played host to Bowling Green at Beaver Stadium the last time the Falcons visit at Beaver Stadium and Penn State won 48-3 Joe Paterno's 300th win uh interestingly enough Penn State also beat Bowling Green for Joe Paterno's 200th win this is only going to be James Franklin's 90th win but I think it's going to come kind of in the same similar easy fashion I'm going with that same score from back in 98 48-3 and are we doing players to watch now or or uh bold predictions now you have any more players you no I have enough yeah so yeah we uh if you if you follow our coverage on the site along with our predictions each week and we give our kind of a projected score and our rationale for that we also give our bull predictions and uh I know I was on the money last week I don't know about you guys 100 plus receiving yards for Harrison Wallace if you want to your own horn for what you predicted too go for it but Mark do lead us off with the bull predictions then we'll jump to to Daniel gallon for his predictions yeah I'm going back to our discussion earlier in the show and Daniel hit on some of this I I I really think that they're going to look to get the ball in Julian Fleming's hands I think level of respect from the coaching staff uh and and the fellow players for for what that guy did in his first game and then you know they hear some of the buzz about hey where was Julian Fleming what happened I think they're gonna kind of reward him Drew Aller I'll bet is thinking kind of the same thing so I don't know that they will Design specific plays for him but I bet you that they kind of go out of their way to find him I'm going to to to predict that he's going to approach I don't know he's going to get there his career high of six receptions in game he'll be he'll be close I think maybe four or five maybe not quite get to six but I think he has a big game for him Daniel go ahead I think Penn State will win big I don't think I'm going out of lim there I have 48 to4 um the more I thought about this game the more I kind of thought I could have bumped that up into the 50s probably especially when you consider that they scored 63 points against UMass and Delaware last year um but my bold prediction while while we were sitting there I I went went back through all of my bold predictions from last year because I was pretty sure that I had made this exact prediction but I think we just must have made it on the podcast I didn't have it on print anywhere my bold prediction is we're going to get a 50-yard touchdown run from cam Wallace it felt like there was a ton of time last year where we kept saying all right we're gonna see Wallace and Montgomery out there and then it was the tank Smith show in the fourth quarter um you know we saw Wallace last week I thought he was really close to breaking one against West Virginia late um I think that he can probably do that against Bowling Green I think that he's someone who has a lot of really interesting traits that can play at this level and I think he's goingon to get the chance to really show that for the Beaver Stadium crowd all right um so yeah I'm I'm on board with you with Cam Wallace in the spotlight and and so my score like you guys I'm not thinking Penn State sweats this out 45 to six and like you Daniel the more I thought about it um I was kind of wondering should I have bumped that into the 50s because Bo perula could look could get some opportunity and I don't know if Andy cot Mickey is just going to Wild Cat it I think he might want to put some stuff on tape and might want to give both some more encouragement and confidence and some of these games you play all the way through you don't just take a knee early in the fourth quarter and keep taking knees so yeah we'll see again I'm not trying to just Pound Down Bowling Green but I think that's where Penn State is right now in this matchup uh I am curious you know does Penn State have the the defensive depth and and willingness down there to to keep Bowling Green out of the end zone late that's always another question when you predict it but I think that Bowling Green won't score a touchdown on the day they'll get two field goals one way or the other maybe earlier in the game um my uh ultimately I think that that Drew Aller gonna look comfortable in Beaver Stadium gonna build off what we saw last week um and I think you'll see more of those proof of progress in the form of explosive plays um I think again you'll get to see a lot of the sideline empty by the time this one gets deep into it um and my b prediction is scores of uh touchdowns of 40 plus yards on both sides of the ball um so we saw that last week for the offense I think we'll see it again but I think that the defense is going to do something special whether it's a strip sack and a pickup that's raced back for a touchdown or maybe a pick six down the sideline they'll get involved with the big splash play make sure everyone's talking about them another week heading into the buy but all of us think Penn State improves to two- 0 each of us predicted that West Virginia would not cover that spread last week uh that was you know went from 12 to eight we all predicted double digit scoring totals or margins of of victory for Penn State so uh there we are with our picks Mark Daniel be back with you in the Beaver Stadium Press Box for the first time since the blue white game we'll be there on Saturday morning and again 60% off VIP coverage and you can join us uh nice and early with our Press Box coverage and and throughout Saturday and until we get into that postgame podcast mode uh Saturday late afternoon early evening thanks a lot guys hey who's the third quarterback who's gonna play H that's that's a good well I'd imagine it would be Ethan gruny uh based on I mean how much did you I I was on defense last night as you guys know so you guys got to tell me how much involvement was there for Jackson smolik because he was back at practice in his pads here we got a quick segment now he was back in his pads uh he was wearing his 14 but I didn't see him do much of anything I know he threw a couple balls that turned out last week how active was he he was thrown he he was tossing it around not quite as much as grunk but I I'd say we do a quick whip around and say who who you think the third quarterback's going to be Tyler you start I'm taking over yeah I I I think that yeah I think it'll be grunk okay we'll go we'll go in uh what is it I'm trying to clock Dan you go next I think I think gron Meer there you go I'm going to go with Jack Lambert I think he's going to be the third quarterback to play I think they're going to try to reserve that red shirt for for for for grun remember they they only played smik last year the one game when prula hurt his finger or whatever it was and he came in for like one snap so we we'll see it'll be fun to it'll be fun to chart the Freshman your Freshman rap piece is gonna be much more fun this week than it was last week not that it wasn't fun last week Tyler but I think it's gonna be more even more interesting that could have been your Bowl prediction Mark Jack Lambert will play Third quarterback but we hey you called your shot here at the end Daniel I assume you don't want to just whip out a segment out of your pocket and throw it we're good walk away all right thanks I'm good I'll see you very soon uh on behalf of of Daniel and Mark and everyone at Lions 247 I'm Tyler down here this has been the Lions 247 podcast we'll talk to you on Saturday