If a Lion and a Beaver fought each other, who would win? Well, in the VAST majority of situations, the Lion would be picking needles out of his tongue after he devoured the Beaver, and this weekend may end up with the same type of result as the Penn State Nittany Lions face off against the Oregon State Beavers in what is probably the Big Ten’s marquee match up of the week.

Last week PSU put a good ole fashioned butt whoopin’ on Coastal Carolina in a 66-10 rout, as Penn State ran a muck and it also exposed the talents of Darryll Clark and touted QB Pat Devlin. Clark, who inched by Devlin to gain the starting job, still obviously is holding on to it with all of his might, but having a good, young QB waiting in the wings every game will push him every game, which could be a blessing and a burden, as we’ve all seen other QBs crumble under the pressure; but we’ve also seen teams flourish (last year’s national champion LSU used two QBs pretty much every game). With Joe Paterno doing some crazy things around the field, it’s anybody’s guess where this will go.The defense also looked mean and ready for battle, as they held Coastal Carolina to only 52 yards on the ground.

Oregon State presents a big step up in competition this week, despite the Beavers basically giving away a game to the Stanford Cardinal in their opener 36-28. The loss was a statistical anomaly, as the Cardinal was outgained by over 200 yards offensively than the Beavers, but the turnovers–2 picks and a coughed up fumble–cost the Beavers the win on the road. QB Lyle Moevao must have had his arm on ice all of Sunday as he heaved the ball 54 times, throwing for over 400 yards with 3 TDs. The running game for Oregon State, though, is quite suspect, as they only gained 84 yards on the ground against a defense that would have given them more, if you know what I mean.

Penn State comes into the game as a 15 point favorite and this will be a very long trip for Oregon State to go cross country to Happy Valley, one of the most feared places in college football. While the Beavers will certainly give the Nittany Lions a better game, I believe that with Penn State’s all-around offensive game right now, combined with the stingy run defense that will force the Beavers again to throw against a much better secondary than Stanford’s, will lead PSU to another convincing victory. My bottom line: Penn State 38, Oregon State 14.