Kickoff: Saturday, September 5 at 2:30 PM CT
Location: Beaver Stadium
TV: FS1
DraftKings line (Aug. 30): PSU -24.5
Over/under: 54.5

The setup

Penn State and Marshall have met twice, in 1929 and 1930; the second game was 65-0. The 96-year gap is longer than Beaver Stadium’s current seating bowl has existed.

Personnel snapshot

• Marshall: Tony Gibson enters Year 2 as head coach. 9 starters return—6 on offense and 3 on defense. Key offensive linemen back include Tariq Montgomery and Jalen Slappy. Marshall’s offense averaged 405.4 yards and 30.8 points per game last season.
• Marshall quarterback: Carlos Del Rio-Wilson returns as Marshall’s starting quarterback. Last season, he threw for 2,043 yards, 17 TD and 5 INT.
• Penn State: Matt Campbell enters Year 1 as head coach. 4 starters return—2 on offense and 2 on defense. A key defender back is Audavion Collins. Penn State’s defense allowed 326.8 yards and 20.5 points per game last season.
• Penn State quarterback: Rocco Becht is projected to start for Penn State. Last season at Iowa State, he threw for 2,584 yards, 16 TD and 9 INT.

Three quick analysis points

• The roster reset: Matt Campbell debuts after Penn State head coaches went 11-4-1 in their first games. History gives the new era about a 72% chance of beginning without a loss before the roster is considered.
• The matchup wrinkle: Penn State added 62 newcomers, including 40 transfers with 337 combined starts. This is a rebuilt team carrying roughly 28 full seasons of starting experience.
• The quarterback angle: Rocco Becht brings 39 starts, 26 quarterback wins, 9,274 passing yards and 64 touchdowns. He is new to Penn State but leads active FBS quarterbacks in wins and starts.

Prediction

I make final predictions on my TikTok/YouTube/Instagram/Facebook pages @uthinkuknowsports.

Full disclosure: I use AI tools to format my research into an article encompassing all of the information.