Marshall vs Penn State Picks and Prediction for Saturday September 5 2026

By: Eddie Kline Published 09/04/2026, 12:09 AM ET

Marshall Preview

Beaver Stadium will be rocking on Saturday afternoon, when the Marshall Thundering Herd square off against the Penn State Nittany Lions. Make sure you are ready for all the football action with our college football picks. The Thundering Herd (5-7) ranked fourth in the Sun Belt Conference in total offense and averaged a shade below 31 points per game for first year head coach Tony Gibson. Marshall returns arguably the best quarterback in the conference, Carlos Del Rio-Wilson, who threw for 2,043 and 17 touchdowns a season ago.

Marshall has some work to do to improve on the defensive side of the ball. Last season, the Thundering Herd ranked in the middle of the conference in total defense and gave up north of 30 points per game. Marshall likes to create havoc on defense and EDGE Braydin Ward (5 sacks) will garner plenty of attention.

Penn State Preview

The Penn State Nittany Lions fell massively short of last year’s preseason expectations and fired head coach James Franklin. The 18th ranked Nittany Lions (7-6) were fortunate to hire head coach Matt Campbell, who led Iowa State to a rare decade of college football relevance. 24 transfers followed Campbell to Happy Valley, including QB Rocco Becht (2,584 pass yds, 16 TDs). The offensive line will feature four new starters and Becht will have the security of throwing to senior TE Benjamin Brahmer (6 TD).

Penn State fell to the middle of the pack in the Big Ten Conference in total defense and allowed 20.5 points per game. New defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn was a steal and completely rebuilt a USC defense the last two seasons. Lynn made sure to beef up the Penn State interior defensive line and has former Iowa State S Marcus Neal Jr. to lean on in the secondary.

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Marshall vs Penn State Pick

Marshall has one of the best quarterbacks at the Group of Six level and has enough firepower on offense to make things interesting. Penn State will want to get off to a fast start for their new head coach, but it remains to be seen if their defense can still be elite. Take the Nittany Lions to pull away in the second half and cover at home. Final Score Prediction, Penn State Nittany Lions win 42-10.