Penn State-Illinois storylines, what offense must do, more: Fifth Quarter

Penn State is a hefty favorite for Saturday's matchup with Illinois.

Does that suggest bookmakers and bettors are confident that Sean Clifford will play and lead the Nittany Lions' offense to a resounding win by at least 25 points, or is it more of a bet against a Fighting Illini team that rolls into town at 2-5 and with not much going for it at this point of the season?

We'll find out soon enough, but until then, it's time for a deep dive into the matchup and more with this week's installment of Friday's Fifth Quarter.

We'll start with the obvious ones and then cover some others:

--Who will Penn State's starting quarterback be? 'Nittany Nation' received positive vibes on Wednesday night when Sean Clifford joined Ta'Quan Roberson and Christian Veilleux for practice reps while the media was on hand, but James Franklin was hardly committed to saying that he would certainly start on Saturday. Thus, the wait continues.

--If Clifford can't play, can the Nittany Lions' offense function? That was the second big question of the week, and it's entirely based on the first, of course.

--Will all of Penn State's running backs be ready to go? Devyn Ford and John Lovett were hurt at Iowa, and Franklin said they'd continue to rotate with the guys who are available. We'll have to wait and see who all that is, though.

--Illinois has its own quarterback quandary, as it's waiting to see if Brandon Peters will be cleared to play, and if not, Rutgers transfer Artur Sitkowski will lead the way. Bet on the latter.

--Speaking of the Fighting Illini, head coach Bret Bielema had some incredibly pointed comments about the lack of success members of the roster he inherited are having. Some have wondered if that will cause Saturday's visitors to be less than enthusiastic on game day.

--How will PSU replace PJ Mustipher, who is out for the year? Expect heavy doses of D'Von Ellies and Coziah Izzard in addition to maybe seeing Amin Vanover working inside alongside Derrick Tangelo.

We can talk breathlessly about how Penn State's offense will look with or without Clifford, and if it's Roberson, James Franklin did have this to say earlier this week:

"I think with Sean, there's a lot of things we can do. I wouldn't necessarily say that our offense will change stylistically, but you want to say 'okay, you know, Ta'Quan, what what do you feel really good about? What are the 15 normal downs plays, what are the five third down plays, what are the five red zone plays that you feel best about, and rep those as much as you possibly can, and then same thing with Christian Veilleux, but we'll see how that goes. That will be a conversation that we'll need to have."

That's all fine and well and true, but to me, there's nothing more I want to see this week than whether or not the by week has fixed the Nittany Lions' rushing attack.

If Clifford plays, the ground game will be important to try and limit the number of times he is faced with contact situations. If he doesn't, it will need to work so that Roberson can be put into as many advantageous situations as possible. Either way, Penn State should be able to handle Illinois without a functional run game, but it won't fare as well at Ohio State or throughout November without one.

From this point of view, the fixes that will make the ground game hum instead of sputter are a combination of things that can be coached -- technique, alignment, etc. -- and things that can only be solved by the players on the field, like effort and blocking physically. If the tape and a new emphasis on those during the time off equals better performances in those areas, then Penn State should run all over the Fighting Illini just as Wisconsin and others have.

Obviously, quarterback play is paramount and what everyone will be focused on, but how the run game performs will also be a must-watch.

Class of 2023 offensive line recruit Joshua Miller will be in town on Saturday ahead of a scheduled but intentionally undefined announcement on Nov. 2.

Whether or not that will be a commitment, simply a list of top schools, or something else is anyone's guess, but the 6-foot-6, 322-pound offensive lineman has plenty of big-time Power-Five offers and is clearly a priority for the Nittany Lions in the next cycle, and so the program is likely to roll out the red carpet for him, and of course everyone else on hand, too.

However, a Noon game recruiting crowd is usually pretty small, which means that there should be plenty of time for a full-court press from the staff with the three-star and his family. Whether or not that will lead to a commitment next month or in the future is anyone's guess, but what he has to say coming out of the trip will tell us a lot, and that's why it's worth putting the trip on the radar here.

It's that time of the week again:

Penn State wins if it doesn't turn the ball over on offense and ... never mind. We'll spare you the regular runaround here and just note that the Lions will have to beat themselves to lose this one. Is that disrespectful to Illinois? Perhaps, but nothing we've seen from them on film or paper over the last few weeks suggests that they can come into Beaver Stadium and win a road conference game, even if the Penn State backup quarterback has to start.

Penn State loses if it scores less than seven points and gives Illinois endless opportunities with the ball inside of the Nittany Lions' 30-yard-line via turnovers. This is a team that just had 93 yards at home against Wisconsin despite not committing a turnover. That's hard to do and says a ton about how the offense is functioning.

The waiting game continues to see who will start for Penn State under center in addition to which if any starters or key reserves might not be available.

Until we get those answers, enjoy Friday and what appears to be a perfect weather weekend in State College, and we'll be back with more throughout the day and at Beaver Stadium on Saturday.

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