Welcome to one of the best days of each and every calendar year in Happy Valley. Welcome to White Out Saturday!
In front of a packed house at Beaver Stadium tonight the 7th ranked Nittany Lions will welcome 24th ranked 3-0 Iowa to town for the 2023 White Out Game. It could be a rainy night in Happy Valley, we'll have more on that shortly, but that should not take away from what should be a rocking atmosphere.
What are some keys to the game for the Nittany Lions? We're going to look to answer that this morning. So, for your pre-game reading pleasure here are three keys to victory for the Nittany Lions on Saturday night.
Protect the football
Yes, this is as basic as it gets in football but it still holds true. The turnover battle is always vital in football. Just look at last Saturday when Penn State's defense forced 5 turnovers in a 30-13 victory over Illinois.
Usually, the team that wins the turnover battle is going to win the football game. Especially when it's expected to be close like this one is. Through three games Penn State has yet to commit a turnover and protecting the ball will be key again on Saturday night.
Iowa's defense is one that has long thrived on turnovers. Overthrows and tipped passes against Phil Parker's unit often times will turn into interceptions. For the Hawkeyes, scoring points often times relies on turnovers as well. If the rain that is in the forecast comes through then protecting the ball becomes a bigger challenge, but even more important. Penn State protecting the ball can go a long way toward preventing the Hawkeye offense from scoring enough points to win on Saturday night.
Strong punting
This one builds off protecting the football. A big reason turnovers can be a killer for a team is due to the opportunity it creates for the opposing offense to have a short field. Another way for offenses to get a short field is through poor punting.
Again, Iowa's offense will struggle to move the ball. Especially without their best playmaker in tight end Luke Lachey, as well as their top two running backs being out. This will put a lot of pressure on Riley Thompson.
Thompson has been good, but not great thus far. He's averaging 42.9 yards per punt through three games this season. However, he's had a few clunkers that have driven that average down. Thompson needs to avoid that clunker of a punt Saturday night.
The big play
It's weird to say, but Iowa's defense has struggled some with the big play thus far this season. Penn State's offense has struggled to find the chunk plays thus far, but this would be a great game for Mike Yurcich's offense to start hitting big plays.
Nicholas Singleton is overdue to break a big run. Drew Allar has the arm talent to air it out all over any defense in the country, but he needs his wide receivers to do their part. Exploiting the seams with the tight ends could be what leads to big plays in the passing game today.
Regardless of where they come from, Penn State's offense hitting a few chunk plays on offense on Saturday night will go a long way toward victory.
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