Here are the 3 questions to consider for Penn State football’s game against the Villanova Wildcats
Penn State football will take on Villanova at noon Saturday in Beaver Stadium and should easily win its fourth game of the season. The Nittany Lions have a vast talent advantage over their FCS opponents and it’s unlikely they’ll face much of an opposition.
While Villanova is the No. 11 team in the FCS and — with wins over Lehigh, Bucknell and Richmond — have begun the season 3-0, it still doesn’t have the size, speed or strength to compete with Penn State.
Rather than looking at the three questions that will decide the winner of Saturday’s game, let’s take a look at three questions the Nittany Lions can answer to improve their chances of winning throughout the rest of the season.
Which running backs will stand out?
Penn State’s running game hasn’t exactly excelled this season, even though the roster features five quality running backs. The Nittany Lions struggled to run against both Auburn and Wisconsin this season, but were able to run for 240 yards on 48 carries against the Ball State Cardinals. However, starting running back Noah Cain has struggled in all three games this season and hasn’t looked like the freshman who burst onto the scene in 2019.
He hasn’t shown the explosion necessary to break big gains and his rush yardage has suffered as a result. Cain has 162 yards n 47 carries, good for 3.4 yards per carry — subpar for any starter in the Big Ten, and even weaker for a running back room as good as Penn State’s.
Saturday’s game should be an excellent opportunity for Cain and the other four scholarship backs — Keyvone Lee, John Lovett, Devyn Ford and Caziah Holmes — to showcase what they can do. If Cain doesn’t succeed against Villanova, it may be time to see more of Lee — who has had his own struggles with fumbles and negative runs — or Lovett and give them a chance to show they can lead the backfield.
Lee is a powerful back, not unlike Cain, but Lovett has the type of long speed the Nittany Lions have been missing at the position this season.
Can any wide receivers beyond the starters take a step forward?
The Nittany Lions have gotten plenty of production from their top three wide receivers this season. Senior Jahan Dotson and sophomores Parker Washington and KeAndre Lambert-Smith have combined for 47 receptions that have gone for 509 yards and three touchdowns. The rest of the receivers on the roster? Well, they’ve combined for two catches for 19 yards — a 16-yard catch by Cam Sullivan-Brown and a three-yard catch by Marquis Wilson, who plays on both sides of the ball.
Penn State has gotten next to no production from the rest of the wide receivers on the roster, and this will be those players’ best chance to show they can perform this season. Dotson, Lambert-Smith and Washington should all see a relatively early exit from this game. Once the Nittany Lions have solidified their lead, it would behoove them to get the rest of the depth chart at receiver on the field.
There are several players who could show their ability at the position — including Sullivan-Brown and Wilson — and could help Penn State go deeper at the position than it has so far this season. With that being said, the real opportunities will be for players like redshirt freshmen Malick Meiga and Jaden Dottin, who can show they have what it takes to help replace Jahan Dotson’s production when he heads off to the NFL after this season.
How will the defensive ends beyond Arnold Ebiketie and Jesse Luketa perform?
The trend of monitoring young players continues. Ebiketie and Luketa have proven they’re the best two defensive ends on the roster. Not only do they both excel as pass rushers, but both have shown they can do it against the run.
Behind them, like at wide receiver, lie plenty of questions. Redshirt junior Nick Tarburton has been solid, if unspectacular, this season and is the team’s third best defensive end as things stand. However, there are other ends on the roster who could step up and unseat him, or potentially provide competition for him through the rest of the season.
Redshirt sophomore Smith Vilbert and redshirt freshman Zuriah Fisher are the two best options who could show off what they can do in Saturday’s game. Both are likely ready to play at this level, but neither has shown they can take on a major role. Playing well against the Wildcats could give Vilbert and Fisher the necessary boost to see more playing time at defensive end the rest of the season. At the very least, it will give them valuable experience for when they do have bigger roles, even if those roles don’t come until next season.
This story was originally published September 23, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
