How can Penn State football defeat Arkansas in the Outback Bowl? Here are Saturday’s 2 key matchups
Penn State football will attempt to close out its 2021 season with a win against the No. 21 Arkansas Razorbacks Saturday afternoon in Tampa, Florida, in this season’s iteration of the Outback Bowl. The Nittany Lions are coming off a 30-27 loss to the Michigan State Spartans in the regular season finale that dropped them to 7-5 overall. The Razorbacks finished the season 8-4 with a 4-4 record in the SEC.
Let’s take a look at the two key matchups that will determine if the Nittany Lions can knock off Arkansas.
Jon Sauber: Penn State’s wide receivers vs. the Arkansas secondary
This matchup is less about the Arkansas secondary, which has been good this season and has the ability to limit the Penn State passing game, and more about what the Nittany Lions are going to do moving forward at wide receiver. The team’s leading receiver will not take the field in Tampa and will put the team at a disadvantage offensively.
Senior wide receiver Jahan Dotson opted out of the Outback Bowl and will forgo his final year of eligibility to enter the 2022 NFL Draft. The team’s top offensive playmaker was crucial to its production, with Dotson leading the team in receptions with 91, receiving yards with 1,182 and 12 touchdowns. He’s difficult to replace with a full offseason to do so and nearly impossible to replace with only a few short weeks to prepare.
That task will fall primarily to sophomore wide receiver Parker Washington, who was redshirt senior starting quarterback Sean Clifford’s clear second-favorite target this season. He accrued 57 receptions, 722 receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns, all three of which were second on the team. Washington has the route running ability that could help replace Dotson and the athleticism to be a deep threat like his teammate. The sophomore doesn’t have the same level of experience, and it remains to be seen how he would fare when drawing the same attention as most top receivers.
Beyond Washington, sophomore KeAndre Lambert-Smith is the only other obvious candidate on the roster to replace some of Dotson’s production. He was the clear third receiver, earning 31 receptions for 447 yards and two touchdowns, finishing third on the team in receptions and yards. However, he struggled with drops at times throughout the year and has yet to prove he can be a reliable option for Clifford.
Even with Washington and Lambert-Smith, there remains questions about who the third starter will be in Tampa. Sophomore Malick Meiga was fourth among the receivers in receiving yards, but he only had 78, and redshirt senior Cam Sullivan-Brown was fourth in receptions with four. Either would make sense depending on if the Nittany Lions want to see what they have for the future in Meiga or give Sullivan-Brown a send-off, should he decide to forgo the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Kyle J. Andrews: Penn State’s front seven vs. Arkansas’ offensive line
With the absence of defensive end Arnold Ebiketie (9.5 sacks) and defensive tackle Derrick Tangelo (two sacks) due to opt outs to prepare for the 2022 NFL Draft, Penn State will have to reach down even further in the depth chart for a defensive line presence. Fred Hansard, Coziah Izzard and Dvon Ellies have played ample time throughout the season with the injury to PJ Mustipher against Iowa. Smith Vilbert and Nick Tarburton have the opportunity to get involved at the defensive end positions to flank the trio of defensive tackles.
On the back end of the front seven, Brandon Smith and Ellis Brooks both announced that they’d both opt out of the bowl game and enter their names in the NFL Draft. Brooks accounted for 100 tackles (54 solo), 3.5 for loss and a sack, while Smith had 81 tackles (45 solo) and two sacks on the season. The Nittany Lions still will have Curtis Jacobs playing the SAM linebacker position in their 4-3 alignment, which should allow him to stand out among the group with Jesse Luketa, who has played both linebacker and defensive end this season. Jacobs has 51 tackles (31 solo), six for loss and two sacks and an interception to go with Luketa’s 52 tackles (30 solo), 7.5 for loss, .5 sacks and an interception.
Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman builds his teams through the trenches. After all, he served as offensive line coach with the Razorbacks from 2013-2015. Dalton Wagner and center Ricky Stromberg announced that they would return to the team prior to the Outback Bowl. Stromberg was named as a second team All-SEC selection by The Associated Press and has the third-best (77.2) run block grade among SEC centers, according to Pro Football Focus.
The Razorbacks average 4.9 yards per carry and have 1.9 rushing touchdowns per game. With wide receiver Treylon Burks opting out to prepare for the NFL Draft, expect Arkansas to pound the rock against Penn State. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the run will work against the Nittany Lions because they allow just 3.5 yards per carry and 0.8 rushing touchdowns per game. With his biggest passing threat gone, quarterback K.J. Jefferson will have to make a concerted effort to involve others at receiver. Receivers Warren Thompson, De’Vion Warren, Tyson Morris and tight end Blake Kern should see their opportunities to snag the ball increase as well.
