Penn State is undefeated heading into East Lansing, but Joel Klatt knows the Nittany Lions need to be on high alert for the road trip.

There are a lot of factors on both sides of the contest that are playing against James Franklin’s squad. For Penn State, they hit the road after back-to-back contests against ranked opponents. While the Nittany Lions won both of those games, the toll of the continual grind can wear teams down.

On the other side of the ball, Michigan State is still looking for a statement upset this season. The Spartans have to feel good about their chances in this game, especially considering they have back-to-back wins over a Top-10 Penn State team.

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Add in the fact that Michigan State traditionally plays strong defense and this game has all the makings of a grinder:

“This is a terrible spot for Penn State…think about what it takes out of you to win back-to-back games against ranked teams…and by the way, they got away with a win against Michigan. Michigan was really the better team in the second half,” explained Klatt.

“Now you’ve gotta turn right back around and go on the road against a defensive power. This is likely to be a low-scoring affair, you’re likely to start running out of some energy, you go on the road. This is a classic trap game where Michigan State has history against Penn State…I’m a bit nervous for Penn State this week. I think a win in any form – win by 3, by 2, whatever, it doesn’t matter – if they can get out of this week with a win, that is a HUGE plus for Penn State.”

You can check out Klatt’s full comments, courtesy of BTN:

Saturday’s kickoff is set for 3:30 pm EST on ABC.