Penn State fans don’t get too excited yet, the Nittany Lions are only three games into the season. They blew out a struggling Auburn Tigers team that is averaging two interceptions per game and barely squeaked past San Jose State the week before 24-16. The Lions still have a lot more room to improve specifically at the quarterback position.
Sean Clifford had an efficient game on Saturday and earned some respect completing 14 of 19 passes for 178 yards and a rushing touchdown. A couple of those incompletions could’ve turned into 6 points if he wouldn’t have under thrown his receiver. Most of the damage came on the ground against Auburn with both freshman running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen combining for 176 yards and four touchdowns.
Was James Franklin’s Contract Extension a mistake?
A huge question Penn State fans have is, “Why not start Allar?” Head Coach James Franklin continues to put his trust in his sixth-year senior, but will see how that fairs when they go up against a top ranked team like No. 4 Michigan or No. 3 Ohio State. Franklin has a record of 2-13 against top-10 ranked teams and 11-17 against top-25 ranked teams.
He is 1-7 against Ohio State, 3-5 against Michigan and 3-5 against Michigan State. In his past two years as head coach of the Nittany Lions he has a record of 11-11. Last year’s team started out 5-0 until falling to Iowa and going 2-6 the rest of the way.
Could the Nittany Lions run the table?
Attempting to beat every Big Ten team on their schedule itself will be a challenge considering the last second win they got against Purdue. The Nittany Lions certainly have the talent to put up a good fight against anyone, but Clifford will have to be much better than he has been, if he wants to win the big games against the top teams in the nation. Franklin’s decision making and coaching will need to improve drastically from the last two seasons if Penn State wants to be considered a true threat to win the Big Ten and run the table!
If Penn State can do what they did to Auburn this week and repeat that multiple times throughout this season then they will be considered up at Ohio State and Michigan’s level as a top ranked team. The toughest matchups that remain on their schedule are Ohio State (Home), Michigan (Away), Minnesota (Home) and Michigan State (Home). Three of those games are throughout the month of October and will be a tough stretch to win all of them. The Nittany Lions jumped up 8 spots on the newest AP Poll and are now ranked No. 14 in the country.
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