Despite keeping up with Ohio State for the majority of last Saturday’s game, Penn State faltered in the fourth quarter as the Buckeyes took control for good and sealed a 44-31 victory. Against a top-3 team in the country, the Nittany Lions gave all they had but came up short in the end. Penn State will have to rebound quickly and this weekend is a good one to do it as the Nittany Lions travel to Bloomington, Indiana to take on the Hoosiers. Here are the keys to a seventh PSU win this season.
1. Get the running game going against a bad rushing defense
Indiana comes into Saturday’s game 83rd in rushing defense, allowing over 155 yards on the ground a game. So far, Penn State sits just outside the top 50 in rushing offense, gaining 170 yards on the ground a game. That is a surefire recipe for success for Penn State if it can get the running game going early. Indiana is a team that gives up a lot of yards on the ground and hasn’t really found a way yet to stop the run game against any opponent this season. With the Nittany Lions averaging 4.8 yards per carry this season, now has never been more important to lean into their strengths.
2. Contain the receiving game
While Indiana has a 3-5 record overall and 1-4 conference record heading into Saturday’s game, the Hoosiers have found a way to have a somewhat successful passing game. Starter Connor Bazelak’s main target this season, Cam Camper, is out for the remainder of the season with an ACL tear. That’s going to require players like Emery Simmons, Josh Henderson and D.J. Matthews, to step up in a big way in a must-win game for the Hoosiers if they want to maintain bowl eligibility. That sense of urgency could spell disaster early and the chaos of it all falls right into the hands of the Penn State secondary.
3. Sean Clifford builds off his successes of the last two games
Penn State hasn’t been a team known for its passing, but Sean Clifford has really done a quality job in the pocket his last two games, throwing for nearly 670 passing yards in that time. The touchdown-to-interception ratio has not been good, especially after throwing three against Ohio State, but he’s been stepping up to make passes and has done it with accuracy, completing 70.5 percent of his passes in this two-game stretch. It’s a small sample size, but there is substance to build off of and success to be had.
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