Sitting at 2-0 on the young season, the Penn State Nittany Lions will have their second big road test of the season on Saturday afternoon as they travel to Auburn, Alabama to take on the SEC's Auburn Tigers.
Auburn, also 2-0 on the season is coming off a 24-16 win over San Jose State where for the most part the Tigers looked apathetic. That will not be the case on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. as this is a game that Auburn has had circled on their schedule since Penn State knocked them off last season 28-20 in front of a sold-out White Out crowd at Beaver Stadium.
"We should have won the football game," Auburn senior tight end John Shenker told the Auburn media earlier this week. "So we've had this one circled for a while, the guys were here last year and see what happened and what we can do better to win this game this year when they come to our house.
Tigers left guard Brandon Council echoed very much the same sentiment of Shenker saying, "We owe them one."
It's safe to say Bryan Harsin's program will be ready for Saturday afternoon's matchup. Below, we take a closer look at how the Nittany Lions' matchup against the Tigers' offense and defense.
OFFENSE:
Stopping the Auburn run game:
It's no secret that for the most part, Auburn's offense lives and dies with the run game. Last season, in five of the Tigers' seven losses they were kept to under 130 yards of rushing, the only two exceptions to that were their loss to Penn State in which they rushed for 194 yards, and a 21-17 loss to South Carolina in which they ran for 191-yards.
If you slow down the run game, Auburn's offense is in major trouble. In four of those five losses in which they were kept under 130 rushing yards, the Tigers totaled 355, 226, 318, and 159 yards. That won't be easy, however. Last season, Auburn was able to have a good amount of success on the ground against the Nittany Lions including star running back Tank Bigsby rushing for 102-yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries. Backup running back Jarquez Hunter provided tremendous relief for Bigsby in the game as well, rushing for 63-yards on nine carries. That of course was with a Penn State linebacker room that was much stronger compared to this year's linebacker room.
Through their first two games of the season, Penn State has been solid against the run, allowing just 61 yards against Purdue and 99 yards against Ohio. Though neither offense is necessarily known for high-powered rushing offenses. That being said, the one area of concern for Penn State's defense against the Auburn run game is the Nittany Lions early tackling issues this season. Through two games, the Nittany Lions have missed 25 tackles. It was an issue last year against the Tigers as well where both Bigsby and Hunter forced four missed tackles a piece.
All in all that will possibly be the biggest key to the game for Penn State if they hope to pull out a victory, wrap up the ball carriers.
The Auburn offensive line against the run this year would probably be best described as above average. They excel in zone run blocking but can struggle when it comes to gap blocking schemes. The Nittany Lions' defensvie tackles have an intriguing matchup in this one, center Tate Johnson and right guard Kameron Stutts are both adequate but can have their struggles. This should create an intriguing matchup towards the right side of Auburn's offensive line in this game for Penn State's defensive tackle rotation that has a strong combination of both size and speed.
The one thing Penn State may have going their way this season is that their edge defenders have been strong against the run this season. According to PFF, Adisa Isaac, Amin Vanover, and Chop Robinson have all graded at 70 or above against the run. Isaac is the Nittany Lions' highest-graded defender on the ground at 79.8.
Additionally, linebackers Abdul Carter and Jonathan Sutherland have done very well against the run as well. Carter did miss two tackles against Ohio but with the intensity and speed he plays with, it will be hard for Penn State to keep him off the field. Expect to see quite a bit of Sutherland as well, he's overall been very good for Penn State through their first two games and has been one of their best tacklers as well.
Overall, if Penn State can clean up the missed tackles, the Nittany Lions could potentially slow down the Auburn game just enough. Don't expect them to keep the Tigers under 100 yards or maybe even 150 yards but if they can limit the yards per carry and force Auburn to also rely on their passing game, their chances of winning this game should go up quite a bit.
TJ Finley and the Tigers' passing attack.
Last season when these two programs met, Auburn had Bo Nix under center. Now, Nix is with the University of Oregon and the Tigers have handed the reigns over to 6-foot-7, 250-pound junior T.J Finley.
Finley over his career has been about an average quarterback, he's completed 172-of-302 passing attempts for 2,047 yards, 12 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. His first season as the Tigers' full-time starting quarterback has already had its fair share of ups-and-downs. Against FCS Mercer, he completed 9-of-14 passes for 112-yards for one touchdown and two interceptions. Against San Jose State this past weekend, the results were about the same, completing 13-of-20 passes for 167-yards and one touchdown.
Overall, Finley has been a quarterback who can show efficiency but has yet to show the ability to throw the ball deep at a consistent level so far in his career. His average yards per completion is over 11-yards, which fits right into where he's thrived in his career.
His best success in his career thus far has come in the middle of the field, specifically with passes 10 to 20 yards down the field. This, of course, does play into Penn State's weakness, through the Nittany Lions' first two games this season we've seen both Purdue's Aiden O'Connell and the group of quarterbacks Ohio used this past weekend have success in those mid-range passes between the numbers.
None of the Nittany Lions linebackers are particularly strong in coverage which creates a plus matchup for Auburn in this game. Auburn tight end John Samuel Shenker has five receptions through two games for 64 yards and one touchdown. Don't be surprised if he matches or surpasses his season target total of six in this one. Though notably, the NIttany Lions were able to contain Purdue tight end Payne Durham in their week one matchup, allowing just 3 receptions for 43 yards on eight targets.
One of the biggest keys for the Nittany Lions' pass defense will be getting pressure on quarterback TJ Finley. Some quarterbacks thrive with pressure, some do not. Finley is one of those quarterbacks who in his career has not. In 2021, when under pressure, the 6-foot-7, 250-pound quarterback completed just 18-of-42 passing attempts for 262-yards and one touchdown. This season he's 4-for-7 for 66 yards while throwing one interception. While the numbers may look adequate, Pro Football Focus has given Finley a 35.6 passing grade when under pressure this season. It's simple if you get Finley under pressure, there's a good possibility it will cause potentially massive struggles.
With his 6-foot-7, 250-pound frame, Finley is a rather statute quarterback with little ability to escape the pocket and extend plays. He's only been sacked once so far this season but last year was sacked 10 times on 54 dropbacks. Auburn's pass protection the last few seasons has been satisfactory but without Bo Nix's scrambling abilities, the chance for sacks and negative plays in the backfield with Finley under center is quite higher.
Through their first two games of the season, the Tigers' pass blocking will be strong but the Nittany Lions will surely provide a strong test.
In terms of receiving targets, the name to know for Auburn is Ja'Varrius Johnson, the 5-foot-10, 160-pound is the Tigers' most dynamic receiving threat. He'll line up mostly in the slot but will also take snaps on the outside as well. The speedster will make the most of his opportunities, so far this season he has seven receptions for 158-yards.
Senior wide receiver Shedrick Jackson is another name to know, he has five receptions for 64 yards this season. He'll line up on the outside for the Tigers.
Defense:
Attacking Auburn's defense:
Through their two games against Mercer and San Jose State, Auburn has shown quite a few positives defensively. For starters, their run defense has been phenomenal. They allowed 74 yards and just 2.4 yards per carry against Mercer and 1.9 yards per carry against San Jose State.
This will be a big test for Penn State's rushing offense that seemed to find a spark last week against Ohio in true freshman Nick Singleton. While Singleton won't be expected to match his 10 carries for 179-yards and two touchdowns, he should see a sizeable workload. He had great success running to the outside against the Bobcats, that will be more difficult to do with the athletes the Tigers have on defense but if the Nittany Lions can get the run game going especially outside, it should open up quite a few more passing opportunities and looks for the Nittany Lions.
Through their first two games, Auburn's pass defense has kept opposing quarterbacks to a 59.2% completion percentage for 472-yards and two touchdowns. San Jose State had quite a bit of success through the air with 275 passing yards. If the Nittany Lions offensive line can give Sean Clifford time in the pocket, he'll have a great chance to follow up his strong performance against the Tigers from last season with another.
The Tigers' pass rush this season so far hasn't had a lot of success much like the Nittany Lions. While they've amassed 18 total pressures on opposing quaterbacks, they've been able to only hit the quarterback twice and have totaled just one sack. They have, however, totaled 15 hurries in their 18 pressures. When under pressure this season, Sean Clifford has completed 7-of-15 passing attempts after completing just 39.3% of his passes last season while under pressure.
Overall, Auburn's defense is a strong one, it was last year, and it remains the same this season. They'll likely keep the Nittany Lions run the game under control, don't expect to many big runs out of the Nittany Lions backfield.
The Tigers' secondary, however, remains a weakness much like last season. With Penn State's deep wide receiver unit and tight end room, this is a rather favorable matchup for the Nittany Lions. As long as the Nittany Lions offensive line can contain the Auburn pass rush, for the most part, Sean Clifford should be able to put together a quality game. The biggest key for Clifford will be avoiding costly mistakes such as his fourth-quarter interception against Purdue in week one.
Expect Mike Yurich and the Penn State offense to also target cornerback Keionte Scott early in this one, Scott this season has allowed six receptions for 97 yards on eight targets.
The Nittany Lions tight ends last season against the Tigers, had a big game, totaling six receptions for 130 yards including Brenton Strange who had four receptions for 71-yards. The Tigers will look to counter the Nittany Lions' tight end room with star linebacker Owen Pappoe. Pappoe this season has allowed four receptions on four targets for 23-yards.
Special Teams:
The Tigers return all four specialists from last season Kicker Anders Carlson, the brother of Oakland Raiders starting kicker Daniel Carlson is 9-for-9 in extra point attempts and 1-for-1 in field goal attempts this season. Punter Oscar Chapman has punted just four times but has shown a sign of potential struggles, averaging just 39.8 yards per punt.
In the return game, cornerback Keionte Scott can be dynamic when it comes to punt returns, he's averaged 14.0 yards per return so far this season. Damari Alston will be their top kick returner along side Jarquez Hunter. Hunter aveaged 19.5 yards per return last season.
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