How can Penn State football prevent the upset against Indiana? Here are Saturday’s 2 key matchups
Penn State football will take on Indiana this weekend in a night game at Beaver Stadium. The Nittany Lions are looking to stay undefeated and defend their No. 4 ranking while Indiana will look to repeat its 2020 upset.
Here are the two key matchups that will decide if the Hoosiers can knock off Penn State.
Jon Sauber: Indiana QB Michael Penix Jr. vs. Penn State’s defense
Michael Penix Jr. excelled for Indiana in 2020 and helped lead the team to a 6-2 record in the pandemic-shortened season. His first three games of 2021, however, did not quite meet that standard. But after a good performance last week, the Indiana quarterback might be back on track just in time for the Hoosiers to take on the team that launched him into stardom last season.
Penix gets most of his work done as a passer but — as Penn State fans will remember from last year’s overtime loss — he can run the ball as well. That isn’t the priority in his game, but it’s enough of a threat that Penn State will need to monitor it and be sure not to leave clear rushing lanes for him.
The redshirt junior is coming off an ACL tear in his right knee that ended his 2020 season — his second ACL injury in that knee — and was slow to show he was willing to trust the previously injured knee. His first three performances were not at the level of the quarterback who helped take down the Nittany Lions in the 2020 season opener, and called into question how ready he would be for this matchup.
Penix only completed 48.2% of his 87 passes in his first three games of the year against Iowa, Idaho and Cincinnati, while looking uncomfortable as a passer. He appeared tentative to trust his right knee and was hesitant when he simply needed to let loose. That wasn’t the case against Western Kentucky last week. He connected on 66% of his 53 passing attempts for 373 yards in the game and looked much more confident in the process.
He’s going to need to be that version of himself this weekend in order for Indiana to pull off the upset for the second year in a row.
Penix is the best passer Penn State will face up to this point in the season, but the Nittany Lions have already proven how dominant they can be. The unit is one of the best in the country and excels against the pass. They can rush the passer with players like Jesse Luketa and Arnold Ebiketie off the edge and use defensive backs like Tariq Castro-Fields, Joey Porter Jr. and Jaquan Brisker in the back end in case the rush doesn’t get home.
The group will have yet another opportunity to prove how good it is this week against the Hoosiers and Penix. Making him look like the quarterback from the first three weeks of the season would almost guarantee a victory for Penn State.
Kyle J. Andrews: John Lovett and Keyvone Lee vs Indiana’s front seven
Penn State has struggled in the running game so far this season. Averaging 33.3 attempts per game, the running game has just produced around 113.3 yards per game on 3.4 yards per attempt. Some of it has to do with the push from the offensive line, the scheme fit with the zone running game and the running backs not finding the hole.
It’s all hands on deck and two players to look out for are John Lovett, who’s averaging 4.2 yards per carry, and Keyvone Lee, who averages five yards a carry. The two players have usually taken a back seat to Noah Cain, especially with Lovett being out the first two games of the year. They’ve combined for 33 carries to Cain’s 48 on the year and nearly have the same combined yardage (154) as Cain’s 164 on 15 less carries.
As rough as it’s been for Penn State to find the open holes in the running game, Indiana’s front seven has mashed runners for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Opposing teams are averaging just 108.5 yards per game and 3.8 yards per carry on 28.5 attempts per game. Linebacker Micah McFadden leads the team with five tackles for loss on the season and defensive lineman Ryder Anderson trails behind him with 4.5.
Despite the talent that Indiana has in its front seven, the Hoosiers can be gashed in the running game. Iowa rushed for 158 yards against the Hoosiers in Week 1 on 4.4 yards per carry and two touchdowns. While Cincinnati only rushed for 3.3 yards per carry, it still had 118 yards on 36 carries and three touchdowns.
Penn State has the talent and maybe the right idea with giving Lovett and Lee more usage over the span of the past few games. Lovett rushed 11 times for 45 yards against Villanova. He seemingly gave the team a spark against Auburn, too, rushing just two times for nine yards. As for Lee, his running was efficient against Ball State with eight carries for 68 yards, but his carries were cut down against Auburn — two for 15 yards. Against Villanova, they boosted his carries to seven for 15 yards.
Penn State will have to get both of those backs more involved to get the running game going.
This story was originally published September 29, 2021 at 4:52 PM.
