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Penn State football: The 10-2 season is back on track. That’s worth celebrating
By Luke Glusco
Published:
It’s okay to enjoy Penn State’s domination of Minnesota.
No, it’s not a huge accomplishment to beat up a depleted opponent, but the Nittany Lions’ 45-17 victory Saturday did work for the program.
Committed and potential recruits were on hand for the White Out, and fans greeted them and the current Nittany Lions with an electric atmosphere for the 14th edition of the full-stadium night game extravaganza.
The Golden Gophers entered unranked, losers of 2 straight and without 6th-year senior starting quarterback Tanner Morgan available. Typically, that wouldn’t be the ideal opponent for a White Out, but the Lions needed a confidence-booster and the fans needed a reason to celebrate after both groups were demoralized a week earlier.
No. 16 Penn State (6-1, 3-1) kept itself relevant for another week, earning yet another appearance on national television. FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff visits Happy Valley for the first time next Saturday to broadcast the Lions’ tilt with No. 2 Ohio State (7-0, 4-0).
Next weekend vs. Ohio State
The Lions will almost certainly get ripped by the Buckeyes, who will have the best quarterback in the country leading their offense rather than a redshirt freshman making his first start since a high school game 3 years ago.
CJ Stroud, unlike Athan Kaliakmanis, won’t be rattled by a color-coordinated crowd upwards of 110,000 in Beaver Stadium. His offensive line won’t false start 5 times in the first half. And he’ll have at least 4 receivers to work with who are better than anyone Minnesota could put on the field.
The Buckeyes are even playing some decent defense this season, so Sean Clifford won’t be able to afford 2 3-and-outs and an interception to start the game. “Good Clifford” will need to show up from the opening kickoff if Penn State is to have any chance to keep up with the Buckeyes. After his early struggles, Clifford did go 19-of-26 for 277 yards and 4 TDs the rest of the way against the No. 6 team in the country in total defense entering the weekend.
Easing the Michigan sting
Penn State re-established itself as an upper tier team in the Big Ten against PJ Fleck’s boat rowers, completing a sweep of its league crossover games. It ran the ball effectively, with freshman backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen both topping 75 yards and 5 yards per carry. The defense — a week after getting gashed for 418 rushing yards — made power back Mohamed Ibrahim work his tail off to get to 100 rushing yards for the 15th straight game, holding him to 102 on 3.4 per carry. The secondary is now holding opponents to under 50% passing after limiting Kaliakmanis to 9 completions on 22 attempts.
The less impressive stats: only 1 sack and a draw in turnovers, with each team getting 1 INT.
Beyond the numbers, the win is huge. It means Penn State won’t have a 3-game swoon this year like it did last year on the way to a 7-6 finish. This year, after Ohio State, the Lions should run the table against Indiana, Maryland, Rutgers and Michigan State. Those programs are all hurting in various ways.
Setting the stage
James Franklin’s team should finish 10-2 and play in a New Year’s 6 bowl. And if they do, they’ll do it with freshmen and other young players carrying much of the load.
This season can be a springboard to 2023 and 2024, when Drew Allar will take the reins at QB, Singleton and Allen will be in their prime and Abdul Carter will be leading a ferocious defense. With any luck, the offensive and defensive lines will have grown in size and number by then, too. Two major offensive line recruits will arrive in January.
The first step in any future breakthrough is getting back to best-of-the-rest status behind Ohio State and Michigan. After Saturday, Penn State is almost there. Only B1G West-leading Illinois (6-1, 3-1) currently is in that conversation, and the Illini’s loss is to woeful Indiana.
Penn State might not be so far away from again being a major player in the B1G, despite its big-game struggles and 11-11 record over the previous 2 seasons. But they’ll have to prove it over the next 5 weeks.
Luke Glusco is a Penn State graduate and veteran journalist. He covers Penn State and occasionally writes about other Big Ten programs and topics. He also serves as the primary copy editor for Saturday Tradition.