Penn State idle this Saturday, returns Oct. 31 vs. Purdue still chasing first Big Ten win

Penn State has no game on Saturday, Oct. 24. The Nittany Lions are on a bye after four straight losses, and their next game is at home against Purdue on Saturday, Oct. 31. Sportsnet Pittsburgh and The Sporting News both point out that Penn State is still looking for its first Big Ten win, and the Boilermakers are the next chance to get one.

The week off comes after the narrowest of the four losses, an 18-21 defeat at Michigan. Before that, Penn State lost to Wisconsin by four, at Northwestern by 21 and to then-No. 19 USC by eight. That leaves the Nittany Lions 3-4 overall and 0-4 in the conference. The three wins all came in September against nonconference opponents Marshall, Temple and Buffalo. Penn State outscored those three teams 127-22.

League play has looked nothing like that. In four Big Ten games, Penn State has averaged 18.5 points and allowed 27.5. The defense that shut out Marshall has given up at least 21 points in every conference game. Three of the four losses were decided by one score, so close games have cost the Nittany Lions as much as anything else.

Michigan, the team that beat Penn State last week, plays Saturday. SB Nation lists No. 6 Indiana at Michigan for noon on Fox. On this site's board, Indiana is favored by 7.5 points across 12 venues. Novig has the Hoosiers at -270 on the moneyline and Michigan at +257. theScore Bet's +260 is the best Michigan price anywhere.

What it means for Purdue

The Oct. 31 game matches two 3-4 teams heading in opposite directions in the league. Purdue is 2-2 in the Big Ten. It won at Illinois 24-17 and beat Minnesota 41-13, then lost 26-38 to Washington last time out. Penn State has dropped four conference games in a row.

The Boilermakers' results swing widely. Their first two Big Ten games were a 38-52 loss at UCLA and a 10-49 home loss to then-No. 3 Notre Dame. Then the defense settled down: Illinois and Minnesota scored 30 points combined. Over seven games, Purdue has scored 219 points and allowed 226, so its games have been high-scoring on both sides. Even Penn State's best defensive stretch has not been tested by that kind of output in conference play.

The Nittany Lions score enough to beat a team that allows 32 points a game. Their 18.5-point league average has been held down by stalled drives, not by a lack of chances; they scored 20 or more against both Wisconsin and USC and still lost. With a week to prepare and the game in State College, Penn State gets as good a setup for ending the slide as the second half of its schedule is likely to offer. A loss would leave the Nittany Lions 0-5 in the league with the postseason picture slipping away. A win would bring them back to .500 overall in a season that started 3-0.

The week off should also tell Penn State more about the rest of the conference. Indiana, which lost only to No. 4 Ohio State, plays a Michigan team that is now 4-2 after its win over the Nittany Lions.