What would a win over Ohio State mean for Penn State? That and more in this week’s mailbag
Our latest mailbag of the season is here and we have the answers to your questions. As a reminder, if you have any questions send them to psu_mailbag@centredaily.com for inclusion in the mailbag in the future. From big picture to small minutiae, we’ll answer your queries about the Penn State football program.
What would an upset over Ohio State mean for Penn State? — Seth
Everything. This would be a transformative win for Penn State as a program and would give the Nittany Lions an opportunity they haven’t had since 2016 — the last time they defeated the Buckeyes. Winning serves several purposes here.
Strictly from a 2022 season perspective, it opens the door for Penn State to make the College Football Playoff. Assuming Ohio State will go on to beat Michigan down the road, the three teams would be tied for the Big Ten East lead and then they would have to head deep into tiebreakers to determine who would play for the Big Ten title in Indianapolis. Well, let’s say Penn State gets the edge in tiebreakers after it presumably wins out. That becomes the second Big Ten title opportunity the program would have under James Franklin and the same since that 2016 season.
The difference this time would be the Nittany Lions only having one loss heading into the final College Football Playoff rankings. They’d have one of the best wins in the country and — once again presumably — a conference championship to go with it. From strictly a 2022 viewpoint, a win would open the door to make the playoff for the first time in program history.
From a broader perspective, it would give the Nittany Lions a chance to ascend to a tier of program they aspire to reach. It opens the door to Penn State putting itself in the tier of consistent playoff contenders and would only improve the recruiting that Franklin has hung his hat on since he took the helm. Everything about the program would suddenly be infinitely more appealing than it already is and Franklin would have the playoff to sell to prospective future players.
Of course, every single bit of that is a big “if” and one that is unlikely to come true. The Nittany Lions are over two touchdown underdogs against the Buckeyes for a reason. They are at a disadvantage — one that could go away in the future if they can pull of the upset on Saturday. Now, what will it take for that to actually happen? Well…
What does Penn State have to do to have a chance to pull off an upset? — Josh
A whole lot going Penn State’s way. Let’s break it down on both sides of the ball to make it a little more cohesive.
On offense, Sean Clifford has to be even better than the player he was to close out the Minnesota game rather than the one he was at the start of it. Clifford closed out that matchup by dicing up the Golden Gopher defense, consistently making good decisions and making the necessary throws to help the Nittany Lions blow out Minnesota. Smart decisions won’t be enough this week, however, with Ohio State presenting a significantly more difficult task.
The Buckeyes are going to score, and Clifford needs to match that at the very least. He needs to get the Penn State receivers and tight ends involved early and often — and he needs to create big gains with his legs. Do all of that, and the offense will have done its part.
Defensively it’s a different story. The Ohio State offense is going to get theirs no matter what. The Penn State defense should prioritize taking the ball away and limiting the Buckeyes rather than stopping them. Earning an extra few possessions for Clifford and the offense will give them an advantage in opportunities that will likely matter.
Essentially, this will come down to giving the offense as many chances as the defense can — and the offense capitalizing on those to turn them into touchdowns as frequently as possible. And yes, touchdown, not just points. Field goals won’t be good enough this weekend. Franklin and his staff will need to be aggressive from every standpoint to have a chance. Do that, give the offense chances and have it take advantage of them, then the Nittany Lions will have a chance to beat Ohio State for the first time in six years.
Send in your questions
That’s it for this week’s mailbag. Don’t forget to email us at psu_mailbag@centredaily.com to get your questions answered. We’ll have you covered this Saturday for Penn State’s game against Ohio State, so be sure to head to CentreDaily.com for all of the coverage you need.
