Utah Valley?!? Yes, Penn State will head across the country to Salt Lake City to battle the Wolverines of Utah Valley Saturday night at 9:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. local time). It marks the final road dual of the year for Penn State with only a home dual with Pitt left on the regular season schedule.

It may sound like a strange team to schedule but it’s not. Penn State associate head coach Cody Sanderson started the Wolverine program back in 2003 and was the head coach for 3 seasons before joining brother Cael at Iowa State. Scheduling them was most likely a move by the coaching staff to help out a fledgling program. Unlike the world of football where schools never drop the sport, wrestling is always on the chopping block in administrators’ minds thanks to Title IX. There is no women’s wrestling program and wrestling teams don’t make any money so they often fall victim to budget cuts. A major wrestling program like Penn State can help out young programs by bringing them some national attention even if it’s in a small way. Every little bit helps the sport, so good for Penn State.

Match-ups, predictions, and more below.

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If the name Arcidiacono sounds familiar, well..it should. Mark Arcidiacono is a three year member of the Penn State football program, redshirting in 2009 and working his way up the depth chart in 2010 and 2011. Brandon Arcidiacono is an incoming freshman in the Rutgers Class of 2012, who is holding to his commitment for now. (Brandon did not have an offer from Penn State.)

A year later, Nick Arcidiacono (6-4, 233 pounds) is trying to make a name for himself as an offensive lineman/tight end/defensive end out of Archbishop Wood High School in Warminster, PA. Nick is currently waiting on his first offer, but is hearing from schools like Penn State, Rutgers, Boston College, Maryland, Miami, Nebraska, and Michigan State.

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With Brandon Austin's commitment last night, Chambers has forced my hand at some recruiting coverage I was hoping to push out immediately after this season. Although most of us have already seen the waves Chambers has made in the recruiting realm, there was still skepticism until that first big time recruit actually made the call. Geno Thorpe had impressive offers but was still rated a fringe Top 100 player at best like Taran Buie. To be fair to Buie, he was ranked similarly to where Austin is now when he committed, but then he fell down the rankings. Judging by his offers, Brandon Austin appears to be that first true 4-star prospect who spurned the big boys of the Big East to come to PSU.

Chambers has landed 5 players since he was hired in June, and it seems each new one is bigger than the last. Momentum is so big on the recruiting trail, and there's no question PSU is gaining steam in PA right now, Philadelphia in particular. However, PSU can't hand out many more scholarship offers unless others open up. All of that will play out over the next year, but if I had to guess, I'd say PSU ends up with a four-man class in 2013.

If that indeed becomes the case, I'd expect those four guys to form PSU's first ever nationally ranked recruiting class. Why? As the Recruit Scoop hinted, there are more big names on the way, likely AAU teammates or friends of the current commitments from the Philly/NJ area. Austin said it himself to David Jones that DJ Newbill, Brandon Taylor, and Geno Thorpe all helped lure him to State College. All these players know who's who in Philly basketball (and nearby NJ). It also helps even more when some of them play for the same AAU program (Team Philly). All of these guys will have a great family vibe going before they even step on campus and will likely continue to spread the word about Penn State basketball all through the area.

Penn State is now a viable basketball option for any Philadelphia basketball player.

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Brandon Austin, Ladies and Gentlemen!

Starz 'n Sheetz

ESPN: 4*, 93 grade
Scout: 4*, #71 overall
Rivals: 3*
247: NR

Offer sheet: Syracuse, Villanova, Temple, Pittsburgh, Miami, Tennessee, Rutgers, Georgetown, Wake Forest

Cinema

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This game pretty much followed the script we all thought it would. Penn State got off to yet another dreadful start on the road and played a similar first half to the Iowa game. The second half didn't start much better until PSU finally found a groove and went on a 23-6 run. But then MSU woke back up and put away PSU behind Draymond Green's unstoppable force. Outside of PSU's run that lasted 7:30 in the second half, MSU outscored the Nits 71-34 the rest of the game.

Penn State came out firing from three, but nearly all of them were good looks from the guys who are suppose to be the 'shooters'. When the first media timeout came, Penn State was 0-6 (0-5 from 3) with 4 turnovers. They were fortunate to only be down 4-0, but it wasn't until 8 minutes in before PSU got on the board. This team's psyche is so fragile once the first shot or two doesn't drop, especially on the road. All of the execution goes out the window. Tim Frazier started pressing and making terrible plays (6 turnovers), while the rest of the team settled for worse shots and the offense stagnated.

Defensively, Penn State was pretty good, but they just couldn't matchup with MSU's size and athleticism on the boards. MSU grabbed 47.2% of their offensive rebounds, and there were plenty of opportunities (36). Once the game got tight in the 2nd half, MSU went back to Green, who finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists. When Green got position inside, PSU couldn't stop anything whether Green finished on his own or dished to cutters.

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The second player of the 2012 recruiting class was DE/TE Brent Wilkerson, from DeMatha Catholic High School in Maryland. The 6'4", 245-pound Wilkerson decided on Penn State last March, as you can see from this enthusiastically written profile here at BSD.

When The Thing went down, Larry Johnson told Wilkerson to take his time and look around at other schools before deciding what to do for the next four or five years. Wilkerson did just that, and his final decision came down to Penn State and Nebraska. In the end, the good guys won. Wilkerson also received some sage advice from his father:

The decision to stay with Penn State did not surprise Raymond Wilkerson, though he left the choice to his son.

"When Brent was young, he always had Penn State as his dream school," Raymond Wilkerson said. "It would be easy for a kid to opt out after everything that went on at Penn State. I always tell Brent, ‘You are going to school to play football, to do something you love. But at some point the air is going to go out of the ball. What are you going to do when the air goes out of the ball? Do you like the school, the education, the social atmosphere?’

"He looked at a lot of positive things that kept him there."

And like many others in this recruiting class, Wilkerson has the redemption and rehabilitation of Penn State's image on his mind:

“The way I thought about it, I want to be one of the people to bring back what Penn State football is all about. Start the healing process and turn things around.”

Highlight Reels:

Brent Wilkerson Highlights (via 247SportsStudio)

Brent Wilkerson Highlights 2012 DE/TE DeMatha Catholic High School (via wilkersons)

Eric's awesome-as-usual preview of this clash can be found here

I almost decided to completely eschew a live game thread of what's likely to be an imminent beat down at the hands of Sparty tonight, but the thought of letting down the few of you live hoops thread die-hards nixed that idea. Tipoff is at 6:30 PM ET and can viewed on BTN or listened to on these radio affiliates, Sirius Ch 92, or XM Ch 191.

And as always: No porn, no racist/sexist/homophobic/trollish like comments, and no links to illegal video feeds of the game. Oh, and hope against hope that there's enough ATTITUDE in the air to potentially spark an upset...