Penn State players and coaches have a balancing act to pull off this week, as they attempt to go about their business regularly in preparation for a showdown with Ohio State that is anything but typical.
Much is on the line Saturday in State College when the No. 3 Nittany Lions (7-0, 4-0) and No. 4 Buckeyes (6-1, 3-1) meet on the gridiron, staying among Big Ten title game hopefuls and remaining squarely in the College Football Playoff conversation being prominent.
Redshirt junior linebacker Kobe King, who prepares to face Ohio State for the fourth time at noon Saturday, nicely summed up the magnitude of the game along with Penn State’s business-as-usual preparations.
“Me personally, a win on Saturday would mean the same thing as a win last week,” he said. “We want to be 1-0 but I would say, it would change the culture in the locker room, but it’d also show us what we needed to see and what we’ll need to go going forward in order to win a Big Ten championship, in order to win a national championship. We’ve got to win this week and that’s where it starts — it starts in practice. It starts today.”
Coach James Franklin has known disappointment far more often than triumph with regards to facing Ohio State; he owns a 1-9 record vs. the Buckeyes since taking over the Nittany Lions’ program in 2014.
Franklin and Penn State defeated the Buckeyes in 2016, but in 2014 and from 2017-20, Ohio State came out on top en route to eventual league titles.
For the first time since 2017, the Nittany Lions will face the Buckeyes as the higher-ranked team.
Five of Franklin’s 10 matchups against Ohio State have been decided by a touchdown or less, including back-to-back one-point heartbreakers suffered by the Nittany Lions in 2017 and ‘18.
Penn State expects this year’s matchup to be cut from a similar cloth in terms of intensity.
“They’re a really good football team,” Franklin said. “They’re as talented of a roster as anybody in the country. They’re that way every single year. They are, as well, this year. We have to play really well. We have to play really clean. We’re going to need a great environment. Yeah, it’s a challenge. I think our guys are ready for the challenge.
“We’re going to have to have a really good week of practice. We don’t need to change anything. We don’t need to do anything more than what we’ve done each week: just get better and refine our process. Yeah, that’s the plan, is be prepared for a really good team.”
It’s beyond cliche for players and coaches to talk often about facing adversity.
But this season, Penn State has had its fair brush with difficult circumstances.
In each instance, whether it was a two-hour-plus weather delay vs. West Virginia, a halftime deficit vs. Bowling Green, grinding out a win vs. Illinois or surviving an overtime thriller on the road at Southern Cal, the Nittany Lions have prevailed.
Not to mention, injuries on both sides of the ball, including to quarterback Drew Allar and defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton, have hit Penn State at an inopportune time.
“I feel like we’ve been through everything throughout this whole season,” tailback Nick Singleton said. “We’ve been down at the half, faced a lot of adversity last week, at USC, but I feel like this team, it just shows that we never give up.
“We’re going to play four quarters every game, which, this week, I feel like we’re ready for it. We’ve been through a lot, so we know what to expect.”
With the Big Ten eliminating its divisions ahead of this season, coupled with the expansion of the CFP to a 12-team field, Saturday’s game doesn’t have the same potential to cripple Penn State’s season as it has in the past.
Still, if the regular season concluded Tuesday, it’d be No. 13 Indiana and No. 1 Oregon, the current top two teams in the Big Ten at 5-0, competing for the league championship.
Franklin’s focus is not on the past, conference standings or any rankings.
For he and the Nittany Lions, an elite adversary awaits Saturday, requiring the best of their intentions and ability to execute.
“We’re fortunate to play them,” Franklin said. “We’re excited about the opportunity. That’s what we’re focused on, is the Ohio State team from this year and the Penn State team for this year, and what we have to do to find a way to get a win.
“What I’m excited about is this team has showed all of our fans, all of our lettermen, our alumni, the students, everybody, that they’re going to find ways to get the job done. We’re going to have to do that again this week against a really good team who’s extremely talented.”
